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The Center for Integrative Science Learning is about empowering tomorrow’s leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. PBA students and faculty work closely with students at Conniston Community Middle School to help create fun and enlightening activities that can lead them on a fulfilling path toward careers in STEM-related fields. Part of the Center’s mission is to create classroom learning activities that can be incorporated into the students’ science and math curricula. Such hands-on activities are designed to be engaging and multi-disciplinary so the middle school students begin to understand the many ways different aspects of science and mathematics intersect. The Center initiated 16 multi-disciplinary lab modules in the pilot period alone, and has seen eight other modules developed and approved in collaboration with Conniston’s teachers. The Center’s team includes PBA faculty expert in: Students who take part in the Center’s offerings can deepen their learning experience through after-school clubs. The clubs help reinforce STEM concepts the students are learning, and are focused on various themes related to science including forensics, environmental conservation, acoustics and music. Students have gone on field trips to the Lake Worth/Snook Island restoration site, and along with Conniston’s Student Government Body, other clubs have been created including the Physics of Catapults Club and the Civic Engagement and the Advancement of Science Club. The Center provides professional development initiatives for science and math teachers as a way to ensure Conniston students are getting the most relevant and current instruction. The professional development takes part in two- and three-day sessions through the Center’s Professional Development Institute. Through school assemblies and community events, the Center helps to infuse enthusiasm and showcase students’ achievements. Multiple all-school assemblies at Conniston have been held focusing on the Center’s activities. And at the school’s annual FCAT Night, where parents also learned more about the Center’s activities and outcomes. PBA student volunteers serve over 500 meals to Conniston students and their parents. The Center’s programs are expected to reach all 1,100 Conniston Community Middle School students. Faculty will share the Center’s outcomes with Palm Beach County, and present findings in peer-reviewed journals and professional conferences to help create national best practices standards.
Hares and rabbits comprise the family Leporidae. Hares tend to be larger than rabbits, with longer ears and longer hind legs. They can run faster than rabbits. Some hares may be able to reach speeds of 45 miles per hour. While rabbits are social, hares are often solitary animals. Hares live in nests above the ground, while rabbits live in underground burrows. Hares are precocial - newborns are mobile at birth. Rabbits, on the other hand, are altricial. This means that newborns cannot move by themselves. A hare that is less than a year old is known as a leveret. The European Hare, also known as the brown hare, is native to temperate areas in Europe and western Asia. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. It eats grasses and herbs in the summer and buds, bark and twigs in winter. It sometimes damages fruit trees. The European hare spends most of the day in a form, a hollowed out depression in the grass. It comes out to feed at sunset. The European hare is usually solitary but sometimes feeds in groups. During mating season in the spring, European hairs can be seen standing on their hind legs and boxing with one another (the origin of the phrase mad as a March hare). Female hares box male hares, fending off males that are too enthusiastic for their tastes.
Albuterol (Salbutamol Sulfate) What is Albuterol? Albuterol is an inhaled medication that is indicated for: - Treating bronchospasm - Preventing bronchospasm - Preventing exercise-induced bronchospasm - Treating wheezing and chest tightness in those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Albuterol is normally taken as one to two inhalations every four to six hours each day. If a patient is to take two puffs, they should wait one full minute in between puffs. Additionally, if they are using another inhaler, they should wait one minute before using the other inhaler. How does Albuterol Work? Albuterol has an effect on beta2-adrenergic receptors. Albuterol’s effect on these adrenoreceptors contributes to increased cyclic AMP levels, causing the bronchial smooth muscle to relax and the inhibition of mediator release. This relaxes the muscles in the walls of the lung, opening the airways. This mechanism, therefore, alleviates wheezing, cough, and chest tightness allowing the individual to breathe easier. Side effects of Albuterol include: - Nausea and vomiting - Anxiety or irritability - Hyperactivity in children - Irritated or dry throat Warnings & Precautions Albuterol can cause paradoxical bronchospasm like other inhaled medications. This event can be life-threatening. If this occurs, stop Albuterol right away and start a different therapy. Deterioration of Asthma A patient’s asthma may deteriorate for hours or days after administration. If an individual requires more Albuterol doses, this may indicate that their asthma is becoming destabilized. The patient may need to be reevaluated and require a different treatment regimen. Specifically, providers should consider anti-inflammatory treatment with something like corticosteroids. Beta-adrenergic agonist bronchodilators, such as Albuterol, alone may not provide enough asthma relief. If this is the case, providers should consider using adjunct anti-inflammatory agents such as corticosteroids. Beta2-adrenergic agonists can cause certain cardiovascular effects. These effects can include changes to blood pressure or pulse rate. If this happens, providers should stop therapy with Albuterol. Beta-agonists have also demonstrated electrocardiogram (ECG) alterations. Therefore, Albuterol and other sympathomimetic agents should be used with caution in those that have cardiovascular disorders. In particular, those with cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension, and coronary insufficiency should use caution. Beta-agonists, such as Albuterol, can cause hypokalemia. These changes can lead to cardiovascular events. However, decreases in potassium levels are usually transient and do not necessitate supplementation. Albuterol has been shown to cause hypersensitivity events such as rash, angioedema, hypotension, and bronchospasm. Therapy with sympathomimetic amines such as Albuterol should be monitored in those with certain conditions. These conditions include those with diabetes mellitus, convulsive disorders, and hyperthyroidism. Additionally, large doses of albuterol have been shown to exacerbate diabetes mellitus and ketoacidosis. Inhaled sympathomimetic drugs have been shown to cause death when used at doses that exceed what is recommended. The mechanism causing this is unknown. However, cardiac arrest and hypoxia are potential sources. Beta-adrenergic Receptor Blocking Agents Beta-blockers stop beta-agonist effects on the pulmonary system. Additionally, they may cause serious bronchospasm in those with asthma. Any patient with asthma should avoid beta-blockers. If necessary, providers can consider cardio-selective beta-blockers but should still use caution. Beta-agonists, such as salmeterol, can worsen hypokalemia and/or ECG changes caused by non-potassium-sparing diuretics like thiazide or loop diuretics. Providers should use caution when prescribing Albuterol in patients on these types of diuretics. Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCAs) and Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) Providers should use caution when prescribing Albuterol with MAOIs or TCAs. Salbutamol’s effect on the vascular system can be increased by these types of medications. In one study, serum digoxin levels decreased after oral and intravenous administration with salbutamol. Providers, therefore, should carefully monitor serum digoxin levels in those that are taking digoxin concomitantly with albuterol. Frequently Asked Questions
In 1995, World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin said, "the wars of the next century will be fought over water" [source: Village Voice]. The last war fought over water was 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia , but other water conflicts have broken out since [source: Leslie]. The bloody conflict in Darfur, Sudan, that began in 2003 and killed as many as 400,000 Africans, started, in part, over access to a diminishing water supply [source: The Guardian]. The Darfur conflict began locally and grew to encompass a region. In other regions, water may also strain relations between neighboring countries. Water is spread across geographic boundaries, which makes it difficult to determine ownership. Because nations may share a common water supply, animosity can grow over access to it, especially where it is perceived by one group that another is demanding more from the supply. This phenomenon is not limited to regions where many countries are situated near one another, but in regions of the United States as well. In October 2007, a 20-year-old dispute over water rights -- which some call a water war -- between the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia flared up. When the available water that supplies Atlanta's 4.5 million residents, as well as parts of Alabama and Florida, began to diminish due to a severe drought, tensions flared over the rights to the water supply. While the states' National Guards didn't confront each other, the governors engaged in a publicity war, exchanging words instead of bullets. Water is inequitably dispersed on a global level. While developing nations scramble to provide their populations with water, they usually end up paying more for it, since they must take greater measures to get it. Developed countries can afford infrastructure that can deliver water cheaply and effectively to residents. This makes water seem cheaper and less valuable to the people who live there. While it takes about 12 gallons per day to sustain a human (this figure takes into account all uses for water, like drinking, sanitation and food production), the average American uses about 158 gallons [source: U.S. News and World Report]. This illuminates a global divide over water. This divide could also fuel conflict and animosity between the water-haves and the water-have-nots in the future. While access to safe water is being seen increasingly as a human right, water itself is becoming a luxury item. For example, a diet rich in meat is associated with wealth, since meat is more expensive than grain. And while it takes about 1,000 tons of water to grow one ton of grain, it takes 15 times that amount of water to grow one ton of beef [source: Leslie]. As water grows in value, how will developed nations be perceived by those nations with little or no access to water? It's clear that as water becomes increasingly valuable, the risk of future conflicts over water supply increases. But can we overcome our own future? Is it inevitable that plague, famine and war due to a lack of water will define 21st-century history? Read the next page to find out about possible hope for the future.
Bleeding from the nose, referred to as epistaxis by doctors, is a rather common phenomenon. This flows from the fact that the nose has a very good blood supply, but cannot be helped much by the nose's prominent position or the fact that many individuals take it upon themselves to manually excavate it. Most people know where the nose is, but it's the insides that count when talking about nose bleeds. Branches of both the internal and external carotid arteries supply the nose. An important landmark is Little's area, also known as Keisselbach's plexus, where the ends of several of the arteries supplying the nose meet and anastomose1. Little's area is a common site for bleeds, being situated towards the front of each nostril on the nasal septum2. Bleeding from the lateral walls occurs less often but is trickier to control, as are nose bleeds in elderly individuals. While nosebleeds can occur spontaneously, they are often due to damage to the vessels through trauma such as vigorous and frequent removal of dried mucus from inside the nostrils3 or a blow to the face4. High blood pressure, anti-clotting agents and bleeding disorders increase the risk of nasal bleeding, as do nasal allergies such as hay fever. Other factors affecting the likelihood of bleeding include the humidity, as dry air5 tends to cause the nostrils to become inflamed. ... Or, 'It's ruining my shirt! How do I make it stop?!'6 1. Don't panic. 2. Remove patient to an appropriate environment. If your nose starts to bleed, let someone else know about it even if you intend to treat it yourself. The first step is to remove the bleeder to a bathroom or similar place with a good supply of water and paper towels; note though that if the bleed is torrential or persists for more than 15 minutes then medical attention should be sought. Steps should be taken to protect clothing if necessary. 3. Apply pressure over the lower part of the nose for 10 minutes. Apply steady pressure with a finger and thumb across the fleshy part of both nostrils just below the bone for around 10 minutes. Squeezing the nose in this manner will stop most bleeds originating from Little's area. Note that squeezing over the bony upper part of the nose will not stop the bleeding. In the meantime, the bleeder should breathe through their mouth, try not to swallow7, and lean forward to prevent the blood from running back through the nose and into their airway. If necessary, use a tissue or cotton wool ball in the entrance of the nostril, but do not be tempted to place anything any further inside the nostril. An ice pack wrapped in a towel may be temporarily applied to the bridge of the nose but should not replace pinching the nose. 4. If bleeding persists for more than 15 minutes, seek urgent medical attention. If the bleeding stops, the patient should remain still for a short while and avoid any actions that might restart the bleeding. Nose blowing and picking should be avoided for the rest of the day. After a severe nose bleed it is best to avoid nose blowing and picking, smoking, strenuous activities, very hot drinks, trauma to the nose and sneezing through the nose where possible for the next seven days. If the site of bleeding is visible, the bleed may be controlled by cauterising the offending blood vessel with a silver nitrate stick, having first applied a plug of dressing soaked in local anaesthetic8 and a vasoconstrictant9 for a few moments. This can also be done after the bleed has stopped if it is felt that the point may re-bleed. Nasal tampons exist10 for packing the nose should the bleed continue, and are used to effectively apply pressure to the bleeding point. Specially-designed balloons can also be inserted and inflated inside the nose, with different varieties being used depending on whether the site of the bleed is at the front or the back of the nose. Patients with moderate to severe bleeds are admitted to hospital for observation for at least 12 hours, with nasal packs usually staying in for 24-48 hours. Intravenous fluids or blood may be needed depending on the amount of blood lost. If bleeding persists despite medical treatment, surgery may be required to electrically cauterise the source or tie off the artery supplying the bleed. Many other treatments for nosebleeds have been suggested in the past, ranging from placing blotting paper under the tongue or drinking water with pepper in it, to sniffing cobwebs or placing a key down the back of the neck. One old 'cure' actually involves tying a cord around the sufferers neck - presumably this works by stopping the flow of blood to their head, and is thus inadvisable to say the least. Repeated attacks most often occur in children (little bleeders), where the cause may well be excessive nose-picking. The simple approach of stopping the picking may be enough, but in those with spontaneous bleeds a small amount of petroleum jelly can be used to prevent the nose from drying out, becoming inflamed and bleeding. If bleeding still continues to occur, it's a good idea to go and see your doctor.
Throughout the world, humans cultivate cannabis and hemp – and in many cases, they have done so for hundreds or even thousands of years. Humans live in a range of habitats, and as such, we need crops that can grow in a wide variety of different environmental conditions. Cannabis is an incredibly useful crop for humans, and a big part of that usefulness is its ability to adapt to an incredible variety of different environmental conditions, from near-Arctic cold, through the parched deserts, to the sweltering tropics. Over centuries, people working in diverse conditions have selected, cultivated and nurtured cannabis plants that are most fit for the local environment – and during this time, local varieties of cannabis, with particular characteristics, usage and cannabinoid profile, have become established. What Exactly Is A Landrace? Landrace crop varieties are those that have adapted over time to local environmental conditions, in isolation from other populations of the same species, to a point where they have developed a degree of inbreeding – and typically, a range of unique characteristics. This process is generally assisted by some selective breeding and management by humans – but unlike cultivars, landraces are generally more diverse and variable in their expression of traits, and a lot more is left up to natural selection… The post How Landrace Cannabis Varieties are Disappearing from the Planet appeared first on Sensi Seeds Blog.
Lubumbashi International Airport is an airport in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (IATA: FBM, ICAO: FZQA). Lubumbashi International Airport was founded in colonial times as the Elisabethville Airport. It was also known as Luano airport. This airport played a high-profile role during the Katanga war. After it was seized by the United Nations Force in the Congo (ONUC) troops, the airport was used as a base against the secessionist government. Airlines and destinations \|\|This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (October 2014) Accidents and incidents - In December 2001, Air Katanga Douglas C-53-DO ZS-OJD was written off in a landing accident at Lubumbashi International Airport after a delivery flight that originated in South Africa. - September 15, 1996, Air Katanga Douglas DC-4-1009 OO-ADN. <ref name= GAD This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital wants to help women become more aware of their health and give them the tools needed to succeed. Nearly 12,000 women in the United States learn they have cervical cancer each year. But cervical cancer is preventable and you can help protect yourself, or your daughter, from developing this serious form of cancer. The Link Between HPV and Cervical Cancer The cervix is the lower, narrow part of the uterus. Cancer of the cervix occurs when cells begin to grow abnormally, dividing at a faster than normal rate. “Most cases of cervical cancer are found in women younger than age 50, but the disease rarely occurs in those younger than age 20,” says Stephanie Smith-Sham, MD, OB/GYN on the medical staff at Cy-Fair Hospital. The human papillomavirus (HPV) causes most cases of cervical cancer. Both men and women can unknowingly have HPV and pass it to another person. “You can reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer by preventing HPV infection and having routine Pap tests,” suggests Dr. Smith-Sham. “The Pap test or Pap smear checks for changes in the cells of the cervix. Samples of the cells from inside and outside of the cervix are taken during a pelvic exam by your doctor or nurse,” explains Dr. Smith-Sham. “This test should be done regularly as suggested by your doctor to help you and your health care provider stay proactive in addressing any health concerns that may develop, such as cervical cancer.” A vaccine has been developed to prevent spread of the HPV virus, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for females through age 26. The vaccine must be given in three doses over a six-month period. The Importance of Prevention Despite increased screening, the American Cancer Society still estimates over 4,000 women will die from cervical cancer this year. “You can help your daughter take action to prevent cervical cancer through vaccination or to receive treatment if it is detected early through regular screening,” adds Dr. Smith-Sham. “Cervical cancer is a difficult condition to live through, but resources and services are available to help you better understand the risk factors and options for prevention.” Talk to the Doctor about Your Concerns Want to know more about HPV and cervical cancer? Or interested in learning about the importance of regular screening to help foster good health habits in your daughter at an early age? Join Cy-Fair Hospital for a mother and daughter seminar on Saturday, June 26 at 9 a.m. in the Professional Building I Classrooms (11302 Fallbrook Drive). The seminar will include an open discussion designed to help learn what you need to know to protect your daughter from cervical cancer. Call 800-681-2733 to register for this informative seminar. Complimentary breakfast and refreshments will be provided. Space is limited, so call to reserve your spot today.
Syringomyelia is damage to the spinal cord due to the formation of a fluid-filled area within the cord. The fluid buildup seen in syringomyelia may be a result of spinal cord trauma, tumors of the spinal cord, or birth defects (specifically, "chiari malformation," in which part of the brain pushes down onto the spinal cord at the base of the skull). The fluid-filled cavity usually begins in the neck area. It expands slowly, putting pressure on the spinal cord and slowly causing damage. There may be no symptoms, or symptoms may include: Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease: A neurologic examination may show loss of sensation or movement caused by compression of the spinal cord. An MRI of the spine confirms syringomyelia and determines the exact location and extent. Often, an MRI of the head will be done to look for associated conditions including hydrocephalus (water on the brain). Rarely, an spinal CT with myelogram may be done. The goals of treatment are to stop the spinal cord damage from getting worse and to maximize functioning. Surgery to relieve pressure in the spinal cord may be appropriate. Physical therapy may be needed to maximize muscular function. It may be necessary to drain the fluid build up. See: Ventriculoperitoneal shunting Untreated, the disorder gets worse very slowly, but it eventually causes severe disability. Surgical decompression usually stops the progression of the disorder, with about 50% of people showing significant improvement in neurologic function after surgical decompression. Without treatment, the condition will lead to: Possible complications of surgery include: Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of syringomyelia. There is no known prevention, other than avoiding trauma to the spinal cord. Prompt treatment reduces progression of the disorder.
In oral tissues, e-cig users were found to develop some of the same cancer-related molecular changes as cigarette smokers, stated new study. If you think vaping is benign, think again. The research, published this week in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, comes amid a mushrooming e-cig market and mounting public health worries. On a positive note, recent research found vaping is almost twice as effective as other nicotine replacement therapies in helping smokers quit. "The existing data show that e-cig vapor is not merely 'water vapor' as some people believe," said Ahmad Besaratinia, an associate professor at Keck School of Medicine of USC and the study's senior author. "Although the concentrations of most carcinogenic compounds in e-cig products are much lower than those in cigarette smoke, there is no safe level of exposure to carcinogens." Besaratinia emphasized that the molecular changes seen in the study aren't cancer, or even pre-cancer, but rather an early warning of a process that could potentially lead to cancer if unchecked. The researchers looked at gene expression in oral cells collected from 42 e-cig users, 24 cigarette smokers and 27 people who didn't smoke or vape. Gene expression is the process by which instructions in our DNA are converted into a functional product, such as a protein. Certain alterations in gene expression can lead to cancer. They focused on oral epithelial cells, which line the mouth, because over 90 percent of smoking-related cancers originate in epithelial tissue, and oral cancer is associated with tobacco use. Both smokers and vapers showed abnormal expression, or deregulation, in a large number of genes linked to cancer development. Twenty-six percent of the deregulated genes in e-cig users were identical to those found in smokers. Some deregulated genes found in e-cig users, but not in smokers, are nevertheless implicated in lung cancer, esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer and leukemia. Besaratinia and his team plan to replicate his findings in a larger group of subjects and explore the mechanisms that cause gene deregulation. He's also launching another experiment in which smokers switch to e-cigs; he wants to see whether any changes in gene regulation occur after the switch. "For the most part, the participants are as curious as we are to know whether these products are safe," he said.
Climate/Environment, Health and Improved Nutrition Objectives : Recent research indicates that climate-friendly diets are healthier, but much of this evidence is based on aggregate consumption data or on individuals' dietary intake data from just one observation day. Analysis of individuals' self-selected diets is important for applying dietary guidance, but usual intake over time is needed to better assess relationships with human health and environmental outcomes. To address this gap, we developed a method to estimate the association of dietary carbon footprints with nutritional quality for usual intake based on multiple observation days. Methods : Based on an exhaustive review of the sustainability science literature, we developed a database of Food Impacts on the Environment for Linking to Diets (dataFIELD), which has greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) of 332 food commodities. We linked dataFIELD to the dietary recall data for each of two days in the 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and calculated GHGE per day for each individual. Finally, we adapted the multi-variate Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation procedure, originally developed by the National Cancer Institute to estimate the joint usual intake distributions of multiple dietary components. We included GHGE/1000 kcal along with the 12 dietary components in the Healthy Eating Index (e.g. total fruit intake/1000 kcal, sodium/1000 kcal, etc). Our MCMC model accounts for episodic consumption of foods (such as fish) and allows for inclusion of covariates, such as age, sex, or race-ethnicity to improve estimates. We demonstrate the method using two days of dietary intake for all adults with reliable data (n=16,800). Previous results by our team using one-day data indicate a significant (P < 0.05) inverse relationship between Healthy Eating Index scores and GHGE. Analyses with this new method provide similar results. Conclusions : This study demonstrates a method to estimate the relationships between healthfulness and carbon footprints for usual dietary intake. This is important because it allows for examination of diet quality and sustainability indicators of real, self-selected diets over time. These methods can be used to identify healthy, environmentally beneficial dietary changes for promotion in nutrition education. Funding Sources : Wellcome Trust.
Maple Leaf Publishing (Kenny King) has two books that I use a lot in my literate (post-phonics) kids classes: Short Stories 1 and Everyday Verbs. Approximately the first third of each of these books is devoted to present tense forms; the second third uses present progressive; the last third has past tense. Because of this, the two books are well suited to be used in conjunction with each other. (I should note that while the grammar used in the two books aligns well, the verbs covered in the two books do not.) I have developed a twelve-step guide for myself to get optimal benefit from the Short Stories books. For a PDF of the guide, click here: Twelve Steps. Following these twelve steps ensures that the students will develop their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills as well as vocabulary and grammar. (Note: Step 10 refers to cloze exercises. These are fill-in-the-blank exercises I have made for myself. It’s easy to make your own if you want to.) For each class, I print out a copy of a checklist. (Link to checklist PDF: checklist.) This checklist makes it easy for me to keep track of which of the twelve steps I have done with a class for each story. The “Everyday Verbs” book is more explicit instruction and practice in grammar. I usually alternate between this and the “Short Stories 1” book (above). For example, after completing story 1 in the Short Stories book, we do pages 2 and 3 from the Everyday Verbs book. (If that is confusing, just look at the checklist. I think it will make sense then.) So the checklist is a guide to coordinating the use of the two books as well as a way to keep track of which of the twelve steps a class has done in the story books. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about any of this!
Honor founders on Independence Day As we celebrate Independence Day, let us not forget to honor the brave founders who extricated us from the arrogance of English kings and fashioned one united people brought here from multitudes of kindred souls and tongues. They fashioned a nation of governance by the people that fought for ending slavery, rallied for woman's vote, and created a liberty that promises everyone opportunity beyond imagination. Every generation through sweat and blood has forged a brighter future for subsequent generations. Mothers and fathers have struggled to ensure better opportunities for their children—and it worked—but the challenge is ever with us. We still need the God of all religions to help us avoid violence, and discord, and confusion, and pride, and, yes, arrogance—for without His help, the tribulations of history will repeat itself.
Sociodemographic characteristics, travel motivation and satisfaction have long been suggested to be the predictors of travel behavior and intention of tourists. Meanwhile, most studies focus on tourists from Western countries and researches on Chinese tourist is largely inadequate. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in the well-known Nanling National Forest Park and Dinghushan National Nature Reserve in South China to investigate the role of Chinese tourists’ sociodemographic characteristics in their travel motivation and satisfaction. Several important findings have been resulted: 1) Tourists’ satisfaction on the management and the educational value of the forest protected areas in South China was negatively correlated to their level of education; 2) The motivation of relaxation and nature exploration was positively correlated to age; 3) Motivation in terms of social influence was negatively correlated to education level. Various Chinese cultures in relationship with sociodemographic characteristics were suggested to be the main influence that shape the motivation and behavior of tourist. These cultural differences have marked the discrepancy between Chinese and Western tourists, showing that traditional studies conducted in Western society may not have direct implications on Chinese tourists. The findings of our study provide clues for the management of nature-based destinations to accommodate the escalating number of Chinese tourists. Copyright © 2018 The International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Innovation. \|Publication status\|\|Published - May 2018\| CitationMa, A. T. H., & Cheung, L. T. O. (2018, May). The role of sociodemographic characteristics in the travel motivation and satisfaction of tourists in forest protected areas in South China. Paper presented at The 2018 International Conference on Sustainable Tourism: Sustainable Tourism and Innovation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. - Protected area - South China - Travel motivation
In a large school gymnasium in Rochester, NY, a group of adults are giggling and running around, playing a game called ‘Watch Your Back Tag’. It’s a game where everyone’s ‘it’ and you re-join the game when the person who originally tagged you is tagged themselves. These adults are employees of the Rochester City School District. They are engaging in playful, professional development training designed to help schools and recreational organizations create and maintain a great recess and play environment. They are being led by a trainer from Playworks, a national nonprofit, which provides services ranging from on-site coaches to professional training for school staff to teach and model sustainable recess programs. The Greater Rochester Health Foundation (GRHF) and other local organizations have partnered to increase physical activity and improve nutrition in schools, home, and community. The collaboration was born out of a GRHF-funded initiative which included nine Rochester City schools, several before- and after-school programs, local recreational organizations, and summer camps. Professional development trainers are helping administrators promote healthy play, fight childhood obesity and, according to senior program officer of GRHF Heidi Burke, they are seeing tremendous results. “Sixty-five percent of students are now getting moderate to vigorous physical activity during daily recess and I think much of that has to do with the fact that we implemented strategies provided by organizations such as Playworks,” Burke said. “We are working with schools that have not had recess in years, and teachers, as well as those administering recess, are nervous about it and are not sure of their skills.” Roughly one in three of Rochester City schools were previously offering recess; most of them not daily. GRHF worked with Healthi Kids, a community-based grassroots coalition that encourages play every day, to rewrite the district’s wellness policy to ensure that every child receives 20 minutes of recess daily. In a city where the child overweight and obesity rate is 38 percent, principals like Camaron Clyburn of Dr. Walter Cooper Academy School #10 called on Playworks to teach them how to use recess to promote healthy living and bring some fun to the grind of long school days. “One of our main challenges was simply being allowed to have the students be active in the first place,” Clyburn said. “They’re in school for six and a half hours and so, although they have physical education classes twice a week, we found that they still needed some time to get their wiggles out.” Students are not the only ones benefiting from active recesses, according to Clyburn. Teachers and administrators also seem to enjoy the opportunity to get their wiggles out for the day. “What Playworks provided us with was professional development for our staff,” she said. “They give you a lot of games that are really easy and fun for students and adults. Everyone, from students to teachers, needs a brain break, and they have has empowered us to make the most of our recess time.” Other administrators, including Theodora Waters, an assistant principal at John J Audubon school #33, said Playworks helped reduce the crucial transition times between the end of recess and beginning of class time. “Time is of the essence,” Waters said. “Students basically have a set lunch time with recess connected to their lunch time. The coaches go into the cafeteria, line the students up quickly, and bring them out quickly. Now the students know that they have dedicated time to play games, make new friends and practice leadership on the playground before starting their afternoon instruction. That’s a direct result of working with Playworks.” Playworks tailors their workshops, games and playground activities to the communities in which they work. According to Burke, the personal attention that the team gave to Rochester schools and youth organizations is indicative of their work beyond the playground. “The one thing that has impressed me the most with our relationship is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario. We appreciated a partner that would go back to the drawing board and talk to their trainers to pull something together that would work for our community. The ability to customize has assisted us in creating greater impact,” Burke said. While the proof is in the numbers, the real impact Playworks has had on the Rochester community, according to Healthi Kids parent engagement coordinator Erick Stephens, is seen on the smiling faces of the kids during recess. “Playworks is about children being active, parents being active, and schools making choices to promote physical activity,” Stephens said. “I think one of the biggest barriers in implementing recess was that we’ve gone so long without recess. So what they do is train teachers who never knew recess to see the importance of recess. They make the connection between social-emotional learning and conflict resolution skills that are developed through active play.” Rochester administrators also learned that the power of play extends far beyond the jungle gym, according to Stephens. He said that the trainers inspired everyone who participated in their workshops, from teachers to recess supervisors to lunch aides, to all take on an active role as teachers in the lives of children. “I think my favorite story that came out of the workshops was listening to the lunch aides, who are often the lowest paid workers with the least amount of benefits. They learned that they are actually teachers too and that they matter. No one had ever told them that before,” Stephens said. “Playworks empowered them to look at their jobs from a different perspective, and for them to say, ‘Yeah I do matter, I do make a difference in the lives of these children.’” As of 2016, Playworks has trained over 400 adults and 5,000 children in Rochester City, creating and maintaining robust outdoor recess programs. They also aim to expand their partnership with the city, and Rochester City School District has asked Playworks to help them maintain a safe and healthy indoor recess during their cold winters and to expand their training within the classroom setting.
The Scriptures are entirely about “a” people – that there are only two peoples in the world, gentiles and Hebrews. The “Scriptures” is the story about the Hebrew people. YHWH Elohim, the Creator, commanded Abraham to leave his home and go to a place where YHWH would show him. When he arrived YHWH made HIS covenant with him forever. HE gave them a land that HE called the Promised Land. Later Abraham was given a son of “promise.” His name was Isaac. Even later, he had a son named Yaakov (changed to Israel) to which the original covenant was passed to him, forever. Even later when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, a son was born who would lead the people out, and into the Promised Land. When HE led them to Mount Sinai, HE gave them “instructions” to live by which HE called Torah. In fact the word for instruction in Hebrew is Torah.” I might add; more than the Hebrews came out of Egypt, also thousands of gentiles who had obeyed YHWH’s instruction for the Passover. HE gave them the same heritage of those born in the “Land” and HIS same Torah applied to them. HE adopted them into HIS family - the Hebrews! HE also declares that “anyone” who will turn his heart toward Israel will be grafted into HIS family, and they too become as “born in the Land.” This people were destined to be Messiah’s bride for whom HE would return for. This is what we so anxiously await… The following paragraphs describe events in our history. There is one Creator, YHWH, (HIS real name), is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and that without HIM nothing was made. That HE, YHWH is the Torah that lives forever. HIS Son YaShua was with HIM from the beginning and HE and YHWH are One. YaShua would later take on a fleshly form and offer Himself as payment for the sins of the world – the final sacrifice. As for us, the people Israel, we broke HIS covenants but those who repented were forgiven and their relationship restored with YHWH. John wrote that Messiah, (YaShua, yah-shooah, HIS real name), has come as the Living Torah - John 1:1 “in the beginning was the living Torah and the living Torah was with YHWH, and the living Torah was YHWH.” 2 The same was in the beginning with YHWH. That, YaShua came to us and said; Matthew 5:17-19, 17 think not that I am come to weaken, or destroy the Torah, or the prophets: I have not come to weaken, or destroy, but to completely reveal it in its intended fullness. 18 For truly I say to you, until the current heaven and earth pass away, not one yud, or one nekudah shall by any means pass from the Torah, until all be fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore shall break, or weaken one of the least Torah commandments, and shall teach men so, he will be referred to as the least in the Kingdom of Heaven: but whoever shall do and teach the commands, the same will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. HE stripped away and exposed the Pharisees' “adding-to, and taking-away” of the Scriptures which YHWH strictly forbids. By their adding to and taking away, made YHWH’s Commandments of no effect, and this is what they taught in the Temple. So men obeyed "man's laws" instead of Torah. YaShua taught true Torah, not the “leaven” as the Pharisees taught. HE exposed their sins publicly, which infuriated the Pharisees who sought to kill HIM. By getting the Roman officials involved, they held a mock trial for YaShua and succeeded in putting HIM to death. His death fulfilled the prophecy of Torah and the prophets. HE was crucified, died and was buried (literally 3 days and 3 nights), as the sign of Yonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. HE was resurrected on the Sabbath because HE is the Creator of the Sabbath, and has ascended to the Father where HE awaits HIS return. By HIS sacrifice we are forgiven the sin of Adam that we inherited, too we are forgiven for breaking HIS Torah commands, or, the death penalty we were to receive for doing so. That the Scriptures are accurate, inspired, and valid, including ALL the covenants which YHWH our Elohim made with our forefathers, from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Yitzchak, (Isaac) and Yaakov,(Jacob), and these are the forefathers of all believers in Messiah. We are commanded to use the “real” names of the Father and HIS Son, once we learn them, not ever using the counterfeit ones that we inherited. This command applies to the Jews who use the words; Ha Shem, or, (the name). The Roman Emperor Constantine hated the Jews, and was not a believer in Messiah as is taught by some, but was a sun-god worshipper until his death. He replaced the Feasts of YHWH with pagan observances christmas and easter, in which there is nothing holy, but was idol worship directly from Babylon. These were the yearly observances the Romans used to worship their pagan idols. The word "christo" is Greek, a name they called all their deities. The word “christ” is from “christeanus” from Greek idolatry. The Torah breaking Jews compiled a book they called the Talmud, (a book meant to interpret Torah, written by the Pharisees) and taught in Synagogues as Torah. There is no room for it in a believer’s life, only true Torah. YaShua Messiah was born the first day of Sukkoth, the Fall Feast of YHWH - in Beit Lechem ( Bethlehem; House of Bread), not on december 25th. At Passover HE offered Himself as THE Passover Lamb, the Final Sacrifice for our sins. Commandments contained in Torah are still valid today and must be kept as commanded from Creation, throughout our generations; not for Salvation but so that we will know HIM intimately. 1John 2:4: “any man who says he knows YHWH and doesn’t keep HIS commandments is a liar and Torah is not in him.” The commandment of the Seventh Day, or, Sabbath (Shabbat sha-baat means REST), was the only day that YHWH named, the other days are numbered, and the true Sabbath is saturday, after the pagan god saturn. The moon’s phases regulate the beginning of months. The beginnings of years are established by the sighting the first sliver of a new moon, and, the barley crop being mature, if the barley isn’t ripe then the next new moon will determine the year’s beginning. Days begin and end at sun-down, whenever the sun goes down! In 1999 the Hebrew calendar, astronomically and agriculturally correct, was re-established, restoring HIS reckoning of time. We believe that all prophecies will be fulfilled at their appointed times, no sooner, no later, as Scripture states. An event known as the “rapture” will come at HIS appointed time and not in secret. A Scripture reference to the verse; “that no one knows the day or hour” when HE will return”, concerns the times of the new moon, and or the ripening barley – thus, “only MY Father knows hour or day”. Some barley harvests are later, but we still have a new moon, if the barley is not ripened, Scriptures directs us to wait till the next new moon, adding a 13th month. Until both agree the new moon and ripening of the barley, we cannot start a new year, so calendars cannot be made years in advance, we must wait on the moon and the barley! All Holy events are set apart and made Holy by YHWH, not man, and are not “Jewish” things, are YHWH’s things! The Feasts of YHWH, have never been annulled, changed, rescheduled, or altered in any way – and never will, and HE commands us to keep them forever. HE is the same yesterday, today and forever. We are the "last" generation; the fulfilling of the prophecy of Isaiah, "when Israel was restored as a nation", marked the beginning of the last generation and we will not pass away until all things written in the Scriptures will be fulfilled. And the day when we will be “changed” and will have incorruptible bodies to dwell with Messiah forever, will come at its appointed time, not at some random moment or in secret. In: 1Thesalonians 4:17, 2Theselonians 2:2, and 1Corinthians 15:51, that this "rapture" occurs after the "Last Shofar", (the seven shofars, referred to in Revelations). Torah is the “shadow” picture of good things to come, as Paul wrote. The last generation will be tribulated and proven true and then be gathered in an Exodus out of the world. May HE be glorified, honored and praised forever and ever,Amein!
A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America A newly discovered Minoan palace has yielded the oldest well-dated fresco fragment ever found in Crete. Excavating 20 miles south of Heraklion, George Rethemiotakis of the Heraklion Museum found the fragment of a wall painting depicting a rocky landscape and a wood construction, possibly a shrine. It dates to the seventeenth century B.C. The central court of the palace measures 52 by 105 feet, the fourth largest in Crete after those at the famous palaces of Knossos, Mallia, and Phaistos. The 53,000-square-foot palace was built between 1700 and 1650 B.C., destroyed by fire, reconstructed ca. 1600, and destroyed again, perhaps by an earthquake, in 1500. Reports of looting led Rethemiotakis and a salvage team to the site in the winter of 1991-92, when he discovered the central court and "realized it was something big." When he returned to conduct systematic excavations in 1995, he uncovered two halls in the palace's east wing that may have served political or religious functions. The larger of the two halls, measuring 21 by 21 feet, contained a large, square hearth between four pillars, a unique feature in Minoan palaces. Rethemiotakis believes the smaller hall, including a central column surrounded by benches, was used as a dining area. The other half of the east wing included storerooms which, in typical Minoan fashion, housed pithoi (storage jars), and a large kitchen containing abundant kitchen ware. The palace's west wing had been destroyed by plowing, but the discovery of tools and stone implements indicates that it may have been used for craft production. Rethemiotakis has so far only uncovered the walls of the north wing and a residential area with an impressive view of the court's facade. The fresco fragment, which bears an image of a rocky landscape, was found in debris of the palace's first phase, dating to the seventeenth century B.C. Fine ceramics transported from Knossos are evidence of a substantial reoccupation of the western part of the site by elite classes after 1500. The Greek state is expropriating the site from a farmer and it will eventually be developed as an archaeological park; the dig has received financial support from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory. Meanwhile, the Cretan city of Chania, known for its picturesque Venetian fortifications, is also becoming notable for its Minoan ruins. Excavations last spring on Daskaloyanni Street revealed a substantial Minoan settlement dating to the Neopalatial period (1700-1450 B.C.). It was covered with ash from an extensive fire ca. 1450; similar conflagrations are known to have damaged other Minoan settlements throughout Crete at this time. Maria Vlazaki, Chania's director of prehistoric and classical antiquities, says only the Minoan town's western boundary, measuring some 7,000 square feet, has thus far been excavated. Rescue excavations next to Daskaloyanni Street conducted by Vlazaki in 1989 revealed a lustral basin for ritual purification. The settlement will be temporarily covered pending further excavation and the creation of an archaeological park.
The featured article, by legal scholar Gregory J. Roden, discusses the question whether unborn children are “persons” within the language and meaning of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Because there is no constitutionaltext explicitly holding unborn children to be, or not to be,“persons,” his examination is founded on the historical understanding and practice of the law, the structure of the Constitution, and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. In Roe v. Wade, the state of Texas argued that “the fetus is a ‘person’within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.”The Supreme Court responded in its majority opinion that “[i]f this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.” Unfortunately, the majority’s legal analysis arrived at the opposite conclusion, “that the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.” It is the majority’s legal analysis that Mr. Roden examines in fine detail. First, Mr. Roden points out that the Constitution does not confer upon the federal government the power to grant or deny “personhood” under the Fourteenth Amendment. Rather, the power to recognize or deny unborn children as holders of certain statutory and common law rights and duties has historically been exercised by the states. The Roe opinion and other Supreme Court cases implicitly recognize this function of state sovereignty. Second, he demonstrates that, at the time Roe was decided, the states had exercised this power and held unborn children to be persons under their criminal, tort, and property law. Because of the unanimity of the states in holding unborn children to be persons under criminal, tort, and property law, Mr. Roden argues that the text of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment compels federal protection of unborn children as persons. Furthermore, he shows that to the extent the Court examined the substantive law in these disciplines, its legal conclusions were not warranted. Finally, Mr.Roden illustrates the inconsistency of federal statutory law with Roe, in that it also treats unborn children as persons by recognizing their eligibility for federal entitlements. Due to the length of the featured article, no other material is included in this edition. James Bopp, Jr., J.D.
A global citizen science platform to discover, share and identify wildlife Raccoons are familiar animals with masked faces and ringed tails. They have five toes on both the front and hind feet. Their long, dexterous fingers enable them to open latches, untie knots, turn doorknobs, and open jars. Their prints look like tiny human baby handprints and footprints. Edge of Lake Lewisville Spotted on Oct 30, 2012 Submitted on Nov 2, 2012
Mexico has passed rapidly through a “nutrition transition”. The traditional Mexican diet was based on corn and beans, supplemented by fruits and vegetables with relatively little meat and dairy products. Over a 15-year period the average Mexican ate 29% less fruits and vegetables and 6% more carbohydrates while consuming 37% more soft drinks. In fact Mexicans now enjoy the dubious distinction of being the world’s greatest consumers of soft drinks, downing 160 liters a year on average. White bread is replacing tortillas, fast food is replacing home cooking. This nutrition transition, together with a more sedentary lifestyle, fueled a “disease transition”, characterized by a shift from high mortality due to infectious diseases to high mortality from non-communicable chronic diseases. To see how Mexico compares with other countries—USA, Spain, France, Japan, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, China and India— in terms of eating habits, see this recent graphical comparison: New York Times Business section article of April 3, 2010, entitled “Factory Food” Mexico’s per person consumption of vegetables is lower than any other country on the chart except South Africa. Mexico’s consumption of “processed, frozen, dried and chilled food, and read-to-eat meals” is lower than any country except China and India, but Mexicans make up for this with a consumption of “bakery goods” that is more than double that of any other country on the chart. This post includes edited excerpts from chapter 28 of of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Buy your copy today!
According to an article written for Psychology Today titled “ Brain Differences Between Genders,” written by Gregory L. Jantz, Ph.D., the differences between genders extend far beyond physical appearance and general character traits, comprising instead major distinguishers between male and female brains. Many more studies focus on this divide as well. However, according to a study done last year, which was the very first to search for sex differences across the entire human brain, most people actually have a mix of male and female features, suggesting that gender classifications in various situations are essentially meaningless. Meg John Barker, a psychologist at Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, explains that this study “provides biological support for something that we’ve known for some time—that gender isn’t binary.” Researchers examined MRI images of 1,400 different people between the ages of 13 and 85, searching for differences in the size of various brain regions as well as the connections between them. 29 regions in the brain were identified to have some differences, including the hippocampus, but when they looked at each individual brain scan, they found that only a few people — between 0 and 8 percent — had “all male” or “all female” brains. Daphna Joel, a psychologist at Tel-Aviv University involved in the study, asserts that “most people are in the middle.” (source) This study adds nuance to our understanding of gender, offering proof that, while differences in brain structures do exist between genders on average, when we look at individual brains, these differences are less substantial, with most people showing features typical to both male and female brains. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and of the 1,400 brains scanned, up to 53 percent showed a mix of male and female characteristics. As mentioned above, only between 0 and 8 percent were distinctly male or female. It’s a very significant study which negates our traditional views of gender being completely binary, and given the number of studies which argue otherwise, it will no doubt come as a surprise to many researchers. In response to the study, scientist Bruce McEwen at the Rockefeller University in New York remarked to New Scientist that we “are beginning to realise the complexity of what we have traditionally understood to be ‘male’ and ‘female’, and this study is the first step in that direction. I think it will change peoples’ minds.” Gender Myths and Cultural Expectations. “We separate girls and boys, men and women all the time. It’s wrong, not just politically, but scientifically – everyone is different.” – Daphna Joel, a psychologist at Tel-Aviv University “We need to start thinking a lot more carefully about how much weight we give to gender as a defining feature of human beings, and stop asking for it in situations where it simply isn’t relevant.” – Meg John Barker, a psychologist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK While we have come a long way towards establishing gender equality, gender myths still pervade every aspect of society in today’s world. The male obsession with sex is a commonplace in popular culture which not only diminishes the sensitivity and intelligence of men but denies the sexuality of women, who are often portrayed as disliking both sex and masturbation. Stereotypes like women being gossips or men being better at math are other examples, but there are many to choose from. Throw in cultural expectations for how each gender should dress and behave alongside targeted advertising and marketing, and the problem becomes more complicated still. Gender stereotypes continue to persist, and for years scientists have been focusing on our differences (which do exist) rather than our similarities. Why are we so obsessed with our differences, and why do we view these differences as a barrier between us instead of something that can unite us? “If a neuroscientist was given someone’s brain without their body or any additional information, they would still probably be able to guess if it had belonged to a man or a woman. Men’s brains are larger, for example, and are likely to have a larger number of “male” features overall. But the new findings suggest that it is impossible to predict what mix of brain features a person is likely to have based on their sex alone.” – New Scientist writer Jessica Hamzelou, author of “Scans prove there’s no such thing as a ‘male’ or ‘female’ brain” (source) This study also offers further compelling evidence that men and women are more similar than we once thought. The team analyzed multiple datasets which evaluated behaviours that are considered to be highly gender stereotypical, such as scrapbooking, taking a bath, or playing video games, and researchers found that individuals were just as variable for these measures, with only 0.1 percent of the subjects displaying only stereotypically-male or only stereotypically-female behaviours. According to Joel, “there is no sense in talking about male nature and female nature. There is no one person that has all the male characteristics and another person that has all the female characteristics. Or if they exist they are really, really rare to find.” (source) Interesting stuff, isn’t it? Who would have thought that our brains, although they do show some differences depending on your gender, are mostly a mix of both male and female characteristics. “Scans prove there’s no such thing as a ‘male’ or ‘female’ brain.” Written by Jessica Hamzelou in the December 5-11, 2015 edition of New Scientist Magazine. All other sources are embedded throughout the article.
Year 3 – Summer Newsletter 2023 Welcome back, I hope you all had a lovely Easter break! In English we will be covering newspaper reports, instructions & explanations, persuasive letters and finally a book study. The children will be using skills they have learnt so far along with new ones. Children really enjoyed using thesauruses last term to improve their word choices; a skill we will continue to develop. Please try and encourage your child to spend time reading every day, even if they are a confident reader it is vital they are heard reading aloud regularly. To begin the term, we will be focusing on fractions by exploring whole, tenths and equivalents and the children will take part in a daily arithmetic and recap of previous learning. To assist with children’s mathematical development encourage them to handle real money, understand the value of coins & notes, add and subtract money and give change. Practise reading analogue and digital time in a 12hr and 24hr format. Continue to practise the times tables and use Times Table Rock Stars. History and Geography In History, we will begin our Tudor topic. We will use our history knowledge from the year to explore timelines to support chronology and understanding of BC/AD. In Geography our topic will focus on North America. The children will continue to use their map skills, apply their previous learning about mountains and explore physical geography. We will start the term with a topic called Animals including Humans which recaps the children’s learning from year 2 about how animals survive and stay healthy and helps children to learn more about what makes a healthy, balanced diet. They will learn about the nutrients that different foods provide and how these nutrients help our bodies. We will also explore how different animals eat different types of foods and need different proportions of nutrients. We will look at food labels on packaging to gather information about content. We will be continuing with ‘how to stay safe online’ which will an ongoing theme throughout the school year. Children will be using the school laptops and iPads to further develop researching skills and ensuring we use trusted websites. The children will also learn how to use Microsoft PowerPoint to create presentations. Art and Design & Technology In art we will be studying the artist Quentin Blake and exploring self-portraits. The children will be learning to use constructive criticism to further improve their artwork. In Design & Technology we will be looking at designing, making, and evaluating a healthy packed lunch! Children will be surveying other year groups to find out what they have in their packed lunches and consider what makes a healthy packed lunch. Our learning in science will further support this. In RE we be looking at ‘What do Muslims believe about god?’ Our PSHE learning will continue to support children’s mental health. We will also be exploring physical wellbeing, growing & changing, and keeping safe. This will cover positive friendships, what makes a good friend, dental health, healthy sleep, calling for help in an emergency, how to help someone if they have been bitten or stung, water safety around rivers/canals, risks with flooding, and much more. In Music we will be developing the skills of listening and appraising, musical activities and perform and review. The children will learn songs and explore different percussion instruments. We will have PE on a Monday with myself and Mr Snelling on a Thursday afternoon. Please make sure the children come into school in the correct PE kits on both days. Our French topics this term will revisit previous topics and we will then move onto following instructions, name parts of the body, identify colours and say what they are wearing. Children we be able to verbalise, read and write simple words and phrases in French. Learning task- Each week your child will have a learning task. This will either be linked to school English, Maths, Topic or Science. This task should take 20/30 minutes. This is set on a Friday and should be returned the following Thursday (to allow marking time!) Spellings- These are being sent home on a half termly basis. Your child still must learn weekly words for a weekly test. On the word sheet each week is dated based on when the spellings are set, they will be tested the following Friday. Children have been grouped based on a diagnostic test and my assessment from their application in their work. If you feel your child can learn the words with ease, for the test, please test them on their application in a sentence. Tests are on a Friday morning in a spelling book kept at school- the children will be shown their score. Children can practise their spellings using look, write, cover check at the back of their learning log. Times Tables- It is so important all children are practicing their times tables. This should be done a minimum of 3 times a week but ideally daily. They should be valued in the same way as all homework activities. I will be awarding stickers/ certificates for those playing Times Table Rock Stars if you are using an alternative way to learn times tables this is ok. Reading- Reading is still crucial, even once on a free reader! Books and reading journals MUST be in school every day as they use these whenever there is time for quiet reading. If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please email me via the office and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Missionary & Travel Resources The records and publications of missionaries and explorers are important for African history. Individual autobiographes and other published work are generally listed in discoverE under the name of the individual author or organization. Specialized Guides and Reference Books: Christian Missions in Africa, a libguide being developed by the University of Pennsylvania. The Church in Africa 1450-1950 by Adrian Hastings (Theol. BR1360 .H364 1994) is an important work on Christian missionary activity . An electronic version is available to the Emory community. Includes an extensive bibliography and section on maps. Updated by A History of African Christianity, 1950–1975. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979. (BR1360 .H366 also in Theol.) Dictionary of African Christian Biography(Boston University) International Mission Bibliography: 1960-2000 by Norman E. Thomas.(Theol.Ref. Z7817 .I58 2003 ) Lists the most important works in all areas of missionary disciplines. The section on Africa has 1,375 annotated entries covering the history, publications, and archives of various missionary groups. Includes an extensive index of names.This is a key resource for identifying and using missionary primary resources. Missionary and World Christianity Research Guide. (Yale University) Missionary Periodicals Database (Yale University) aims to record all periodicals on foreign missions published in Britain, between the eighteenth century and the 1960s, by missionary societies and commercial publishers, giving full bibliographical details, information on contents and locations. MUNDUS GATEWAY TO MISSIONARY COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM An important database that contains descriptions of more than 400 collections accumulated in Britain by individuals and societies engaged in the overseas missionary movement between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The holdings of over 40 institutions in the United Kingdom are represented. A wide-variety of search tools are included including map searching which allows you to locate mission groups working in various African regions. White Men's God: the Extraordinary Story of Missionaries in Africa. Ballard, Martin. Greenwood. 2008. BV3500 .B24 2008 Theology Sets missionary story in larger political context. WOMEN TRAVELERS, EXPLORERS AND MISSIONARIES TO AFRICA: 1763-2002 lists accounts of travels published in English. This can be used together with the print Semper ex Africa…A Bibliography of Primary Sources for Nineteenth-Century Tropical Africa as Recorded by Explorers, Missionaries, Traders, Travelers, Administrators, Military Men, Adventurers and Others (Z3501 H37) to locate published accounts. World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts edited by Geoffrey Roper. London:Brill, 1991-1994 . (Z6611.I84W96 )See Also Arabic Manuscripts from West Africa Online catalog at Northwestern University. Yale University Divinity School Library is a world-renowned collection documenting world Christianity and the history of the missionary movement. SEE ITS Missionary and World Christianity Research Guide. Oxford Bibliographies:African Studies has several sections of interest: African Christianity; African Traditional Religion which cover scholarship on these topics. Also Important : African Research and Documentation. DT19.8.A35 contains many articles about mississionary archives including "A Guide to Africa ist Research in the Archive of the American Baptist Historical Society," No. 111, 2009, pp 21-29. "Go Ye Into the World: Missionary Archives in the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2005, no. 98, pp. 41-68. "Feature: Christian Missions in South Africa," South African Historical Journal, vol 61, Issue 2, 2009. (DT776 .S585). "Christian Mission Stations 1792-1914," Chapter 53, Historical Atlas of Africa, (Ref. atlas G2446 S1H5 1985) features maps showing the location of mission stations throughout Africa as well as the spread of Islam. - International Mission Photography Archive(University of Southern California) offers historical images from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections in Britain, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United States. The photographs, which range in time from the middle of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, offer a visual record of missionary activities and experiences in Africa, China, Madagascar, India, Papua-New Guinea, and the Caribbean. Henry Martyn Centre for Mission Studies, Westminster College, Cambridge holds some 2,000 photographs dating from the late 19th century chiefly covering Egypt, Sub-Saharan Africa and India. Images cover not only the work of missionaries in fields such as preaching, conversion, education and medicine, but also illustrate the lands and the people of the nations in which they served, providing a valuable research tool for many academic disciplines. Some have been digitised and are available on their archive webpages. Missionary Settlements in South Africa, 1800-1925, South African History Online (SAHO) compiled by Franco Frescura. A study of missionary settlement and the spread of Christianity in southern Africa during the period 1800 - 1925, including a piece on the role of missionaries, a list of mission stations, and case studies of individual mission stations. Selected Collections at Emory: The Woodruff Library has extensive holdings of the records of the Church Missionary Society, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, Regions Beyond Missionary Union, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Sudan United Mission (SUM). Search EUCLID under name of organization or explorer. Many large collections are in microform. Most microfilm holdings are also listed in Emory Microfilm Gateway EMORY MICROFILM GATEWAY includes annotated listings for major microfilm sets in the Woodruff Library only. Look under the categories "Africa," "Religion," and "Slavery. Not complete. Update though using EUCLID. NOTE: A number of the microform collections have been digitized in British Records on the Atlantic World, 1700-1900 , Archives Unbound, and British Online Archives. Currently the only way to reach the Microfilm Gateway is to type direct addresses into your web browser: For overall category list type: http://arachne.library.emory.edu/web/libraries/microforms_gateway.html (Note: This allows you to browse subjects but the links will not work. You must type in the individual URLs below.) Slavery: American: http://arachne.library.emory.edu/web/libraries/microform_slavery_american.html Slavery: British: http://arachne.library.emory.edu/web/libraries/microform_slavery_british.html Woodruff microforms are found on Level 1 which also houses readers and printers. MARBL (Emory's special collections division in Woodruff Library) has a Guide to Methodist History which includes missionary material. Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. (Theology microfilm BV2360 A4)Harvard Guide; Reel List The Pitts Theology Library holds a large collection representing the missionary activity of the Methodist Church in both print and microform. Many holdings can be located by doing a EUCLID search under " Methodist Episcopal Church Missions Africa." Also check the Pitts web page Sub-Saharan African Collections . Abolition & Emancipation (Micfilm 3143) is an on-going microform collection which includes the papers of Thomas Clarkston, William Wilberforce and other individuals or organizations active in the anti-slavery movement. Print and digital guides are available. Africa Through Western Eyes (Micfilm 3948) is an ongoing microfilm collection which contains large numbers of small collections of papers of explorers, traders, tourists, diplomats, soldiers and missionaries from the 19th through the early 20th centuries. Print and Digital Guides available. Archives Unbound contains a variety of topical collections which have been digitized including Archives Unbound, Evangelism in Africa: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1835-1910 Presbyterian mission work in Africa commenced in 1833 and throughout the l9th century expanded to several different areas therein. These included: Liberia, 1833-94; Corsico, 1850-75; Spanish Guinea, 1865-1924, 1932: Gaboon, 1871-92; Ogowe, 1874-92; and the Cameroon, 1889-1972. British Records on the Atlantic World, 1700-1900: Contains Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa , Papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson relating to Sierra Leone, Papers of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, 1694-1709, The papers of William Davenport & Co., 1745-1797 and Records relating to the slave trade at the Liverpool Record Office. Church Missionary Society Archive (CMS) (micfilm 3309; Section IV is Africa but also look in General sections) About 2/3 of the CMS archives has been filmed. More info about CMS Archives. 1896 Map of CMS missions in Africa and explorers. You will find other missionary archives listed at http://arachne.library.emory.edu/web/libraries/microform_religion_missions.html (paste into your browser) Empire Online features a wide variety of material including: exploration journals and logs; letter books and correspondence; periodicals; diaries; official governmentpPapers; missionary papers; travel writing; slave papers; memoirs; folk tales; exhibition catalogues and guides; Maps; Photographs; and Illustrations for the British Empire. Not limited to Africa. Gold Coast records from the archives of the USPG, 1886-1951 (also microfilm 4042 Woodruff Library) Guide Monumenta Missionaria Africana. Africa Ocidental, first and second series by Antonia Brasio (BV 3500 .B67 & BV3500 .B672) is a multivolume set documenting the history of the Catholic Church in Africa. Considered to be a standard source documenting European activities in Africa prior to 1700. Travel Descriptions of South Africa 1711-1938 is an extensive collection of published explorer's accounts in microfiche (Microfiche 1569). Each account is also individually cataloged in EUCLID. Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007 is an important portal for slavery and abolition studies, bringing together original manuscripts and rare printed material from libraries and archives across the Atlantic world for the period 1490-2007. Close attention is being given to the varieties of slavery, the legacy of slavery, the social justice perspective and the continued existence of slavery today. Universities' Mission to Central Africa William Wiberforce: Slavery, Religion and Politics (Micfilm 4003) contains papers from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Wilberforce House, Hull, etc. Print and digital guides available. HINT: There are numerous other anti-slavery collections of interest. Check discoverE for holdings and look for other research guides in African-American Studies. Emory is also a member of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) a consortial lending library of rarer materials. CRL collections include missionary materials in a variety of formats. See Topic guide for Religion/Philosphyand African Studies. All CRL materials can be borrowed by Emory researchers or used online.
A representative of the American clothing industry recently made the following statement: “Workers in Asia often work in sweatshop conditions earning only pennies an hour. American workers are more productive and as a result earn higher wages. In order to preserve the dignity of the American workplace, the government should enact legislation banning imports of low - wage Asian clothing.” In the ancient country of Roma, only two goods, spaghetti and meatballs, are produced. There are two tribes in Roma, the Tivoli and the Frivoli. By themselves, the Tivoli each month can produce either 30 pounds of spaghetti and no meatballs, or 50 pounds of meatballs and no spaghetti, or any combination in between. The Frivoli, by themselves, each month can produce 40 pounds of spaghetti and no meatballs, or 30 pounds of meatballs and no spaghetti, or any combination in between. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in July 2006 the United States exported aircraft worth $1 billion to China and imported aircraft worth only $19,000 from China. During the same month, however, the United States imported $83 million worth of men’s trousers, slacks, and jeans from China but exported only $8,000 worth of trousers, slacks, and jeans to China. Using what you have learned about how trade is determined by comparative advantage, answer the following questions.
Tree Shade Adaptation of Turfgrass Species and Cultivars in France1 - A. Chesnel, - R. Croise and - B. Bourgoin The comparative shade adaptation of the principle cool-season turfgrass species was investigated under a natural tree shade environment in 1974 and 1975. Two trials were conducted. One was established at Ets Vilmorin at Beaufort en Valleé near Angers, France on an acidic sandy soil under the shade of leafy, coniferous trees and the second site was established by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) at Poitiers, France on a clay soil with a very dense tree canopy. Comparative adaptation of the various cool-season turfgrass species varied between the two sites in 1974 and 1975. The bentgrass (Agrostis spp.) species were best at the Beaufort en Valleé site while shade (Festuca heterophylla Lam.) and red (F. rubra L.) fescues and roughstalk bluegrass (Poa trivialis L.) were the most promising at Poitiers. Most of the cool-season species and cultivars evaluated in the test had almost completely disappeared in both shade sites by late 1975. The rate of disappearance was greater at Poitiers which was attributed to the greater shade canopy density and lower cultural intensity.Please view the pdf by using the Full Text (PDF) link under 'View' to the left. Copyright © 1980. . Copyright © 1980 by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and International Turfgrass Society, 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
Ballet is a performance type of dance originating from Italy then developed in France, but was further developed in Russia in the 1920’s. Various techniques are used in Ballet that involve various moves. The main types of dance moves include: Allegro: A dance which involves fast and brisk steps. Glasses need to be secure for this sequence because it’s fast paced. Pirouette turns: Spinning on one leg and leaving the other leg off the ground. Take caution with this move. Coupé-jete’ en tournant: During this move, dancers jump and turn simultaneously either in a circle or in a straight line. Wearing specs will not get in the way. Grand Plies: This move involves bending your knees, and at the same time lowering your head with a full turn circle of the head. Coordinating the movement gracefully could be challenging for dancers. Sauté: This routine is about taking small jumps with a great deal of energy. They are warm up jumps, which could cause specs to fall off unexpectedly. Ballon: This involves a dancer being suspended while making dance moves. Have You Ever Seen a Ballerina Wearing Specs? It is not rare to see a Ballerina wear glasses while performing an Allegro or Ballon, but some might prefer contact lenses. You might want to switch between the two i.e. contacts and glasses, or wear glasses for your day to day activities but switch to contacts just before your exiting performance. It is very important for dancers to see clearly and crucial for catching things. Some Ballerinas even complain about not being able to see the teacher’s facial expression which makes it harder to perform, not knowing if the teacher has made a gesture or eye contact. Some Ballet teachers are sometimes reluctant to allow Ballerinas to wear specs for shows or upcoming performances. But, they are quite happy for them to wear them during rehearsals or training sessions. Switch from contacts to glasses. Don’t give up on wearing specs just because you are a Ballerina. Ensure they are well fastened and not slipping off your face. Avoid fiddling with them because this will cause a distraction. However, glasses are ideal for those who are short sighted as they help to spot those hidden corners, preventing accidents. As glasses could easily fly off their heads during a routine dance. For safety reasons, invest in a pair of lightweight frames similar to these Oakley OX8105 PITCHMAN R goggles below. Also, when doing your turns and sweating simultaneously, glasses can slide off your face, giving you a headache. Alternatively, practice your routines with glasses then swap to contact lenses like these Ciba vision Air Optic Colors below for the performances. Some Ballerinas are severely myopic and cannot dance without glasses. If contacts haven’t worked for you either, then it might be worth buying a special fastener, tape or equipment to keep them glued on temporarily. Get regular checks at the opticians who can adjust them and make sure they are the correct fit and also to ensure the glasses are in good working condition. Invest in a light frame avoiding thicker, heavier glasses that are likely to weigh you down. Wear your specs with pride regardless. It’s all about finding that balance and not taking the slightest notice of the audience. If your prescribed specs make you feel comfortable then it will be beneficial to keep them on them. Learn more about musical star styles Tag #SelectSpecsSelfie for a chance to be featured on our page!
DNA from an ancient baby’s skeleton shows that all Native Americans descend from a single gene pool. And their ancestral roots are in Asia, a new study finds. The bones came from a roughly 12- to 18-month-old boy. He died about 12,600 years ago in what is now Montana. Construction workers uncovered the grave in 1968. It remains the only known burial site of a person from the Clovis culture. Clovis is the name of prehistoric people. They lived in what is now the United States and northern Mexico between about 13,000 and 12,600 years ago. They made a type of stone spear point that differs from stone tools found elsewhere in the world at the time. The young boy had been covered in red ochre. It’s a natural pigment that had often been used in burial rituals at the time. More than 100 tools had been placed atop his body when it was buried. Those tools also had been dipped in red ochre. Some were the stone spear points or tools used to make the spear points.. People had fashioned rods from elk antlers, a rare material in Montana at the time. The bone tools were 13,000 years old — hundreds of years older than the child’s parents. The bone rods had been deliberately broken before being placed with the boy’s body. That suggests these ancient tools could have been family “heirlooms,” the scientists say. All of those details are fairly old. Decades old, at least. What’s new are analyses of the Clovis child’s DNA. Just reported in the Feb. 13 Nature, they indicate that the Clovis people were ancestors of all present-day Native Americans. And like today’s Native Americans, the Clovis baby — known as Anzick-1 — can trace part of his heritage to a child known as the Mal’ta boy. He lived in Siberia 24,000 years ago. That link now suggests that all Native American populations share a common Asian heritage. This is where the Clovis baby’s skeleton was unearthed. The pole (center left) marks the burial site, which look out towards scenic, snow-capped mountains. From Asian — not European — roots “This clearly shows that the homeland of the first Americans was Asia,” says study coauthor Michael Waters. He’s a geologist and archaeologist at Texas A&M University in College Station. The study may put to rest an oft-reported idea that ancient Europeans crossed the Atlantic and established the Clovis culture. That idea has been known as the Solutrean hypothesis. The new analysis is “the last spade full of earth on the grave of the Solutrean hypothesis,” says Jennifer Raff. An anthropological geneticist, she works at the University of Texas at Austin. She had no role in the current analysis. The study also may settle speculation about the Clovis people’s relationship to modern Native Americans. Clovis culture was widespread for 400 years after the last Ice Age. Other styles of tool making eventually replaced the distinctive stone spear points made by Clovis people. That was among clues indicating that other American settlers might have replaced the Clovis people. “Their technology and tools vanished, but now we understand that their genetic legacy lives on,” says Sarah Anzick, a coauthor of the new study. Anzick was 2 years old when the baby’s grave was found on her family’s land. Since then, she and her family have been stewards of the bones, keeping them respectfully preserved and locked away. Respecting the bones In time, Anzick became a molecular biologist, at one point working on the Human Genome Project. (Completed in April 2003, it gave scientists an ability to read a person’s full genetic blueprints.) Based on that experience, Anzick made it a personal goal to decipher the Clovis baby’s DNA. So she traveled with the child’s bones to the lab of Eske Willerslev. He’s an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. There, she helped extract DNA from the skeleton and performed some of the initial tests. Willerslev and his colleagues completed the rest of the toddler’s genetic blueprints. Their examination shows that about one-third of the Clovis baby’s genome traces back to the ancient Siberian people, says Willerslev. The remainder, he says, comes from an ancestral East Asian population. The new data suggest East Asians and Siberians interbred before the Clovis era. Their descendants would have become the founding population for all later Native Americans. About four out of five Native Americans, mainly those in Central and South America, probably descend directly from the Anzick baby’s people, Willerslev says. Other native peoples, such as those in Canada, are closely related to the Clovis child. They, however, come from a different branch of the family. Anzick iand members of several Native American tribes are preparing to rebury the baby’s remains where his parents had left him more than 12 millennia ago. It’s at the base of a sandstone cliff. The site overlooks a creek with views of three mountain ranges. archaeology The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. People who work in this field are known as archaeologists. Clovis people Prehistoric humans who inhabited much of North America between about 13,000 and 12,600 years ago. They are known primarily by the cultural artifacts they left behind, especially a type of stone point used on hunting spears. It’s called the Clovis point. It was named after Clovis, New Mexico, where someone first found this type of stone tool. gene A segment of DNA that codes, or holds instructions, for producing a protein. Offspring inherit genes from their parents. Genes influence how an organism looks and behaves. evolutionary genetics A field of biology that focuses on how genes — and the traits they lead to — change over long periods of time (potentially over millennia or more). People who work in this field are known as evolutionary geneticists genome The complete set of genes or genetic material in a cell or an organism. geology The study of Earth’s physical structure and substance, its history and the processes that act on it. People who work in this field are known as geologists. Ice Age Earth has experienced at least five major Ice Ages, which are prolonged periods of unusually cold weather experienced by much of the planet. During that time, which can last hundreds to thousands of years, glaciers and ice sheets expand in size and depth. The most recent Ice Age peaked 21,500 years ago, but continued until about 13,000 years ago. molecular biology The branch of biology that deals with the structure and function of molecules essential to life. Scientists who work in this field are called molecular biologists. pigment A material, like the natural colorings in paints and dyes, that alter the light reflected off of an object or transmitted through it. The overall color of a pigment typically depends on which wavelengths of visible light it absorbs and which ones it reflects. For example, a red pigment tends to reflect red wavelengths of light very well and typically absorbs other colors. red ochre A natural pigment often been used in ancient burial rituals. Solutrean hypothesis The idea that ancient Europeans crossed the Atlantic and established the Clovis culture. Stone Age A prehistoric period, lasting millions of years and ending tens of thousands of years ago, when weapons and tools were made of stone or of materials such as bone, wood, or horn.
The Suez Canal Bridge, also known as the Shohada 25 January Bridge or the Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, is a road bridge crossing the Suez Canal at El Qantara. The Arabic "al qantara" means "the bridge". The bridge links the continents of Africa and Asia. The bridge was built with assistance from the Japanese government. The contractor was PentaOcean Construction. The Japanese grant, accounting for 60% of the construction cost (or 13.5 billion yen), was agreed to during the visit of then-President Mubarak to Japan in March 1995, as part of a larger project to develop the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt bore the remaining 40% (9 billion yen). The bridge opened in October 2001. The bridge, which has a 70-metre (230 ft) clearance over the canal and is 3.9 kilometres (2.4 mi) long, consists of a 400-metre (1,300 ft) cable-stayed main span and two 1.8-kilometre (1.1 mi) long approach spans.
Math Field Day Events Math Field Day is designed to stimulate interest in mathematics and to recognize mathematical ability and achievement among Michigan high school students. Any secondary school in Michigan is eligible to participate. Each school’s team consists of at most five students. The contestants may be in any grade, except that only freshmen and sophomores are eligible for Mad Hatter B. Each team must be accompanied by a faculty advisor to help proctor events. THE TEAM: The team of five members consists of two students for the Leapfrog, one student for the Chalk Talk, one student for the Mad Hatter A, and one student (who must be a freshman or sophomore) for the Mad Hatter B competition. Teams with less than five members are welcome; they are subject to the same rules and are eligible for all awards. Each student may enter only one individual event. Each school may select its team as it wishes. THE INDIVIDUAL EVENTS: 1. Chalk Talk. This event calls for the preparation and delivery of a clear, sound, and convincing mathematical discussion. Each student will present a five-minute chalkboard talk before a faculty judge. Each speaker will be questioned at the end of the talk. Notes may be used, if necessary, but the fewer notes the better. A memorized talk is neither required nor desired. Visual aids may be used if truly appropriate for a particular topic, but only as a supplement to the chalkboard presentation. Students will be judged on the presentation, mathematical content, chalkboard use, and response to questions. Penalties will be given for exceeding the five-minute time limit. Entrants should prepare a talk on one of two topics to be announced soon. A list of recommended references will be provided. There will be one winner in each of the assigned chalk talk rooms. 2. Leapfrog. This event calls for the ability to work with a partner to solve challenging mathematical problems. Problems will be chosen from all high school subjects in mathematics, and some will require original thinking. The two designated students from each team work together in one 50-minute session. A set of eight questions is provided. The team members decide how to organize their time and effort. They may communicate very quietly and should check each other's work. Problems are graded either right or wrong, with no partial credit given. To encourage proper checking, the score is twice the number of right answers minus the number of wrong answers, with blank answers not counted. 3. Mad Hatter A. This is a rapid computation and reasoning contest in which problems are shown on a screen. The student works the problem and writes the answer on an answer sheet. As soon as enough time has passed for about half the students to work the problem, the next problem is given. There are 40 problems. Mad Hatter B. This competition is similar to the Mad Hatter A but is open only to freshmen and sophomores. THE TEAM EVENTS: 4. Swiss Game. Two teams are interleaved. Team members receive a list of paired values based on a secret rule, with some values missing. Members of the two teams alternate guesses of missing values, and teams receive points for correct guesses. There are four games. 5. Team Essay. The entire team works together to explore a mathematical topic, guided by a series of questions. At the end of forty minutes, the team turns in one answer to each question. Each answer is written in the form of an essay. Answers will be judged on mathematical content, grammar, and the style in which they are written. 6. Relays. Each team member is given a problem requiring for its complete solution the answer to another member’s problem. Answers are passed from one member to the next, with the anchor person handing answers to the team’s proctor. Only the answer handed in is considered, and points are awarded for correct answers based on the elapsed time. There are four relays. 7. Huddle. Each team is assigned a room with a blackboard and given ten minutes to solve four problems. THE AWARDS: Awards are presented at the end of the day. Medals are given for individual events, and plaques are given for the Essay. Five books and a trophy for overall team performance are awarded to a Grand Champion team and nine other teams: first, second, and third place teams in three divisions based on school enrollment and draw. Corrected student papers and an overall scoresheet will be mailed to advisors the week after the competition.
The USDA is helping honeybees with plans to spend $3 million to improve farmlands and pastures in the Midwest and in the process help feed bees that in recent years have seen their numbers continually dwindle due to the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans aimed at helping farmers and ranchers in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas by improving pastures frequented by honeybees. Many beekeepers bring hives to the Upper Midwest in the summer for bees to gather nectar and pollen for food, the Associated Press reported . The honeybees are then trucked to California and other states in the spring where they pollinate everything from almonds to apples to avocadoes. Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll "Honey bee pollination supports an estimated $15 billion worth of agricultural production, including more than 130 fruits and vegetables that are the foundation of a nutritious diet," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a press release "The future security of America’s food supply depends on healthy honey bees," Vilsack added. "Expanded support for research, combined with USDA’s other efforts to improve honey bee health, should help America’s beekeepers combat the current, unprecedented loss of honey bee hives each year." Since the winter of 2006, as much as one-third of the nation's honeybees have disappeared due to colony collapse disorder Though the official cause of the massive honey bee die-off has yet to be determined, scientists and beekeepers alike suspect that pesticides likely play a role. Additionally, the arrival of Varroa mites, which reportedly spread a virus among bees, has increased the honey bee's decline to a greater extent, according to scientists. The USDA hopes to stem those losses by providing more areas for bees to build up food stores and strength for winter. The new program will be "a real shot in the arm" for improving bees' habitat and food supply, said Jason Weller, chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the AP reported. In order to qualify for the USDA money, dairy farmers and ranchers in the above mentioned Midwest states must reseed pastures with alfalfa, clover and other plants appealing to both bees and livestock. The money can also reportedly be used towards the construction of fences to prevent grazing animals from wandering into pastures preferred by the bees and grazing on the vegetation that attracts the valuable, pollinating insects. "It's a win for the livestock guys, and it's a win for the managed honeybee population," Weller added. "And it's a win then for orchardists and other specialty crop producers across the nation because then you're going to have a healthier, more robust bee population that then goes out and helps pollinate important crops." In its press release, the USDA estimates that 65 percent of the nation's estimated 30,000 commercial beekeepers bring their hives to the five states above, which is the reason why they were selected. Editor's Note: ObamaCare Is Here. Are You Prepared? © 2014 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
The ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital is literally a hospital with wings that brings together dedicated eye care professionals and aviators to give the gift of sight to developing countries around the world. ORBIS is a nonprofit, global development organization whose mission is to eliminate avoidable blindness in developing countries. The majority of ORBIS projects concentrate on avoidable blindness among children. Onboard the refurbished DC-10 jet aircraft, local doctors, nurses and technicians work alongside ORBIS’s international medical team to exchange knowledge and improve skills. Since its first flight in 1982, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital has traveled to more than 70 countries and has directly treated more than 9.7 million people for blindness-related diseases and conditions. By training local doctors and eye care workers, who in turn teach their colleagues, ORBIS is strengthening the capabilities of local health care communities in blindness prevention and treatment.
There are many ways to find articles in the ISU Library, all beginning at the e-Library homepage. Here are five different approaches to consider--choose the one that best meets your need! In the Quick Search box on the e-Library homepage, use the first drop-down menu to select "Articles." If you wish, you can use the remaining drop-down menus to provide additional information about your keyword(s). The system will retrieve articles from the Quick Search Articles database, a single collection of over 400 million articles from major journal publishers and open access repositories. Many of the articles you retrieve will be available in full-text. Not all article databases are available via Quick Search. For more database options, or to search a specific article database through its own unique interface, try... Article Indexes & Databases On the Article Indexes and Databases page, you can use the subject/research area and sub-category dropdowns to see a list of subject-related databases, browse alphabetically by database title or use the Title search to locate a specific database. To search the database, click on the database name. To view information about a database, click on the information icon that follows some (but not all) database names. If you're looking for a specific electronic journal, you can use the Journals (A-Z) link on the e-Library homepage. Currently, this tool provides access to e-journals only. Journals that are available only in printed format cannot be accessed in this way. Instead, you must use Quick Search. Specific article by citation If you're looking for a specific known article, you can enter the article title and identifying information for the journal in Citation Linker. Librarians at ISU have prepared numerous guides to support research--both basic and advanced--in a variety of subject areas. Some guides are tailored to specific ISU courses. Often these guides provide helpful information on locating articles in relevant journals, magazines, and newspapers. Need more help? Contact staff at the Help & Information Desk during its open hours, or Ask us!
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V:Early Church Fathers Index Previous Next A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius.: Chapter 3 Chapter 3.—Discussion of Pelagius First Answer. Now to say that “a man is by the knowledge of the law assisted towards not sinning,” is a different assertion from saying that “a man cannot be without sin unless he has acquired a knowledge of the law.” We see, for example, that corn-floors may be threshed without threshing-sledges,—however much these may assist the operation if we have them; and that boys can find their way to school without the pedagogue,—however valuable for this may be the office of pedagogues; and that many persons recover from sickness without physicians,—although the doctors skill is clearly of greatest use; and that men sometimes live on other aliments besides bread,—however valuable the use of bread must needs be allowed to be; and many other illustrations may occur to the thoughtful reader, without our prompting. From which examples we are undoubtedly reminded that there are two sorts of aids. Some are indispensable, and without their help the desired result could not be attained. Without a ship, for instance, no man could take a voyage; no man could speak without a voice; without legs no man could walk; without light nobody could see; and so on in numberless instances. Amongst them this also may be reckoned, that without Gods grace no man can live rightly. But then, again, there are other helps, which render us assistance in such a way that we might in some other way effect the object to which they are ordinarily auxiliary in their absence. Such are those which I have already mentioned,—the threshing-sledges for threshing corn, the pedagogue for conducting the child, medical art applied to the recovery of health, and other like instances. We have therefore to inquire to which of these two classes belongs the knowledge of the law,—in other words, to consider in what way it helps us towards the avoidance of sin. If it be in the sense of indispensable aid without which the end cannot be attained; not only was Pelagius answer before the judges true, but what he wrote in his book was true also. If, however, it be of such a character that it helps indeed if it is present, but even if it be absent, then the result is still possible to be attained by some other means,—his answer to the judges was still true, and not unreasonably did it find favour with the bishops that “man is assisted not to sin by the knowledge of the law;” but what he wrote in his book is not true, that “there is no man without sin except him who has acquired a knowledge of the law,”—a statement which the judges left undiscussed, as they were ignorant of the Latin language, and were content with the confession of the man who was pleading his cause before them, especially as no one was present on the other side who could oblige the interpreter to expose his meaning by an explanation of the words of his book, and to show why it was that the brethren were not groundlessly disturbed. For but very few persons are thoroughly acquainted with the law. The mass of the members of Christ, who are scattered abroad everywhere, being ignorant of the very profound and complicated contents of the law, are commended by the piety of simple faith and unfailing hope in God, and sincere love. Endowed with such gifts, they trust that by the grace of God they may be purged from their sins through our Lord Jesus Christ. Next: Chapter 4 Like & share St-Takla.org © Saint Takla Haymanout Website: Coptic Orthodox Church - Alexandria, Egypt / URL: http://St-Takla.org / Contact us at
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-related collections available through State Library. Contemporary stories and videos about and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (Please note: the stories may contain references to or images of people who are deceased.) The history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in Queensland is diverse, rich and alive. Details and locations of Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKC) throughout Queensland as part of partnerships between Local Governments and State Library. Discover what’s happening behind the scenes and dig deeper into events, exhibitions and activities at kuril dhagun (SLQ’s Indigenous Knowledge Centre), throughout SLQ and in the wider Queensland community kuril dhagun is a space within State Library's South Bank building devoted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Find out about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, language centres and language resources in Queensland. Information about plans, protocols, policies and strategies relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people used by State Library. Indigenous resources available at State Library include books and other material, articles in online databases, images and websites. State Library of Queensland provides special library services for members who have an SLQ membership card (formerly known as an e-services card). Discover an eclectic range of books, gifts, reproduction prints and more at the Library Shop.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommends all individuals take the time to learn more about what is often termed as an “active shooter.” An Active Shooter is an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area; in most cases, active shooters use firearms and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims. Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve quickly. Typically, the immediate deployment of law enforcement is required to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to victims. Because active shooter situations are often over within 10 to 15 minutes, before law enforcement arrives on the scene, individuals must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with an active shooter situation. Good practices for coping with an active shooter situation Be aware of your environment and any possible dangers. Take note of the exits in any facility you visit. If you are in an office, stay there and secure the door. If you are in a hallway, get into a room and secure the door. Call 9-1-1 when it is safe to do so. Since 2002, the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT)™ Program at Texas State University has been used to train law enforcement officers across the nation in how to rapidly respond to dangerous active threat situations. Over the years we’ve seen response times shorten and the capabilities of law enforcement increase. As a result of increased public awareness, many citizens have asked what individuals can do protect themselves and reduce the dangers faced during one of these events. Avoid \| Deny \|Defend™ has been developed as an easy to remember method for individuals to follow. As we’ve seen that hiding and hoping isn’t a very effective strategy.
Ever heard of hydroforming? It’s a manufacturing process used to form sheet metal into shapes using water at extremely high pressures. Not something you can do at home… unless of course you’re [Colin Furze]. Hydroforming works by evenly distributing pressure via water (conveniently, in-compressible) against sheet metal inside of a mold. Many automotive parts are created in this fashion. Typical systems run at around 15,000 PSI. After building a giant pulse jet engine (complete with butt) to fart on France, [Colin] got the idea from a YouTube comment to try to do hydroforming at home — bending the sheet metal for the giant derriere wasn’t that easy. Hydroforming on the other hand is a surprisingly simple process. Weld some sheet metal together, add a pipe fitting to connect your cheap pressure washer and boom — hydoformed metal parts. Whoa — aren’t we missing a step here? Typical hydroforming uses a mold to push the sheet metal against in order to form a shape. [Colin’s] first attempts are mold-less which limits the complexity of parts he’s able to form — although he is able to make a pretty nice conical exhaust for his souped up mobility scooter… In the next video he promises to make something very functional out of the process so we’re excited to see what he comes up with. It might be feasible to make molds using concrete, so that may be a possibility. Don’t forget your safety tie if you’re going to try this!
icefishArticle Free Pass icefish, any of several different fishes, among them certain members of the family Channichthyidae, or Chaenichthyidae (order Perciformes), sometimes called crocodile icefish because of the shape of the snout. They are also called white-blooded fish, because they lack red blood cells and hemoglobin. Their blood carries much less oxygen than that of red-blooded fish, but icefish have larger hearts and gill blood vessels to circulate a greater volume of blood, and this extracts sufficient oxygen from the oxygen-rich waters of the Southern Ocean. Most of the 16 species of crocodile icefishes occur in the Antarctic and feed on crustaceans and small fish. What made you want to look up "icefish"? Please share what surprised you most...
51. The overall description of a database is calledâ€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦ 52. Disadvantages of File systems to store data is: 53. Which is the central component of the DBMS software that can also be termed as the database control system? 54. Data are stored inâ€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦as database: 55. Transaction is an action used to perform some manipulation on data stored in theâ€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦ 56. Which is stored information about description of data in the database: 57. In an Entity-Relationship Diagram Rectangles represents 58. DBA stands for: 59. Which is the person responsible for overall control f the database system: 60. â€¦â€¦â€¦... is a translates into low-level instruction that a query processor understands: MCQ Multiple Choice Questions and Answers on Database Management System - DBMS Database Management System - DBMS Trivia Questions and Answers PDF Database Management System - DBMS Question and Answer USA - United States of America Canada United Kingdom Australia New Zealand South America Brazil Portugal Netherland South Africa Ethiopia Zambia Singapore Malaysia India China UAE - Saudi Arabia Qatar Oman Kuwait Bahrain Dubai Israil England Scotland Norway Ireland Denmark France Spain Poland and many more....
The Treasure Chest is updated several times a year to feature different materials housed in the Special Collection department. Among the things people have done to decorate books over the years, putting clasps on them is one of the more uncommon today, but historically was pretty popular. Clasps made sense in the beginning. Books were made from vellum, a dried animal skin, which reacted poorly to changes in humidity. As it dried out, vellum would warp and wrinkle. Heavy clasps on books helped keep them closed while the vellum pages shifted and protected the books from splaying wide open. Or at least, that's one theory. The truth is, we'll probably never know exactly why people stuck clasps on books in the beginning, but clasps were quite popular. Once paper became the primary material for book pages, replacing vellum, the clasps were used to relieve strain on the binding and helped hold the book closed. In England and France, the clasp was on the cover and the catch on the back, but in the rest of Europe the positions were reversed. Since books were stacked up, rather than placed on shelves at the time, the clasps didn't pose a problem. When people began shelving books side by side, as we do today, the problems with clasps began. Not only did clasps rub and dig into neighboring books, often damaging them, but they couldn't be seen and the pressure from the surrounding books on the shelves was usually enough to keep books closed, rendering clasps obsolete. In the 17th century, clasps were falling out of fashion. By the 18th century, they were practically non-existent, except on very large books. By the days of the Civil War, clasps were entirely decorative, their original purpose long forgotten. Clasps can be seen on religious books, diaries, and sometimes on photo albums today, mostly because they look pretty, but never on a popular novel or text book. Arndt, Johann. Postille: das ist, Geist-reiche Erklarung der Evangelischen Texte durchs gantze Jahr, aufs alle Sonn-hohe und andere fest- und Apostel-Tage, sampt einer durchgehenden Betrachtung über die gantze Passions-Historie. Franckfurt: Verlegt von Joh. David Zunners, sel. Erben und J.A. Jungen, 1713. Carter, John. ABC for Book-Collectors. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970. Curry, JLM. Photograph Album. SC Collection Number: SC 186 Manly, Basil, and B. Manly. The Baptist Psalmody: A Selection of Hymns for the Worship of God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1870.
Army worms are light brown to dark tan, mostly hairless Caterpillars (Moth larva) with yellow or brown stripes that run the length of their 1½ to 2-inch long bodies. Caterpillars are the larvae of moths and butterflies. Caterpillars can be smooth, hairy or spiky. Cutworms are large, up to 2-inch long, hairless caterpillars, the larvae of night-flying moths. Cut worms are a major pest to vegetable gardens, flowers and lawns in the United States. They curl into a "C" shape when disturbed.
, Research Paper The Life and Legend of Howard Hughes Throughout the 20th century, it has been the media’s job to pinpoint what events and people would prove to be an effective story. This was certainly the case for Howard R. Hughes. Son to the wealthy Howard Hughes Sr., Howard became the interest of the American people and newspapers for most of his life. Being deemed one of the most famous men of the mid-20th century was greatly attributed to Hughes’s skills as an industrialist, aviator, and motion-picture producer combined with his enormous wealth, intellect, and achievement. The media thrived on Howard’s unusual and sometimes scandalous life, especially in his later years when newspapers would frequently front large amounts of money to get stories on Hughes. Howard was also associated with what has been called one of the greatest publishing hoaxes in history. Howard Hughes Sr., commonly known as Big Howard, was a graduate of the Harvard School of Law, yet never once appeared before a court of law. Big Howard spent the first 36 years of his life chasing money across the Texas plains, as a wildcatter and a speculator in oil leases, working hard enough and earning just enough to move on to another, hopefully more fortunate gamble. In the year of his marriage, Big Howard sold leases on land that proved to have $50,000 in oil beneath it. He promptly took his new wife to Europe for a honeymoon, and returned exactly $50,000 poorer. In 1908, Big Howard turned his ingenuity and his hobby to tinker into good fortune. Current drilling technology was unable to penetrate the thick rock of southwest Texas and oilmen could only extract the surface layers of oil, unable to tap the vast resources that lay far below. Big Howard came up with the idea for a rolling bit, with 166 cutting edges and invented a method to keep the bit lubricated as it tore away at the rock. Later that year, Big Howard produced a model and went into business with his leasing partner, Walter B. Sharp, forming the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company. Rather than sell the bits to oil drillers, Hughes and Sharp decided to lease the bits out on a job basis, for the tidy sum of $30,000 per well. With no competitor able to duplicate this new technology, Sharp- Hughes Tool possessed a profitable monopoly over oil extraction. So quickly was the invention successful that in late 1908, the partners built a factory on a seventy-acre site east of Houston. On 1915, Sharp passed away and Big Howard purchased his shares in the corporation, thus becoming the sole owner. Cash flowed freely into and back out of Sharp-Hughes Tool. Big Howard became a first class socialite, and began to spend increasing amounts of time and money on parties, automobile racing and travel. One of his amusements was to charter a railroad car, fill it with friends, and conduct a rolling party between Texas and California. In the spring of 1921, Mrs. Hughes past away and Big Howard died as abruptly as his wife, willing his three- fourths of his estate to his only son, Howard Robard Hughes. Big Howard left an estate appraised for tax purposed at $871,518. As a less attractive part of his legacy, he left behind $258,000 in unpaid bills, including $2,758 to Brook Brothers Clothiers, $5,502 to Cartier’s in New York, and $3,500 for a grand piano. Howard Hughes Jr. was born on Christmas Eve, 1906 in Houston, Texas. He was commonly known as Sonny, or Little Howard, despite the fact that he was 6’3” by the age of 16. Hughes was the student of 7 different schools, of which he graduated from none, excelling only in mathematics. As a young man, Hughes had a penchant for all things mechanical and was known to spend hours tinkering on various different devices. Little Howard had only one friend, the son his father’s business partner, Dudley Sharp. At the age of 6, Howard Hughes Sr. presented his son with the gift of a workshop, where his son could always be found playing with various bits of wires and pieces of metal. At the age of 11, Little Howard built his own ham radio, and at the age of 13, when he refused the gift of a motorcycle, Hughes built one for himself, taking parts from his father’s steam car. As a graduate of Harvard, Big Howard sought his son to have the same education, and sent his son to boarding school in Massachusetts in fall of 1919. After one year had passed it became apparent that Sonny was not going to succeed in grooming school. Big Howard traveled across the country to collect his son, and they attended a boat race on the way home. After losing a bet to his son on the outcome of the race, Big Howard was forced to grant him one wish. That summer, Sonny took flying lessons with various crop dusters against the wishes of both of his parents. It was here that Hughes would develop his love of aviation. In 1921, oil drilling and prospecting took off in California, and Hughes Sr. relocated to Hollywood, and took his son with him. After a generous donation to the California Institute of Technology, Sonny was able to attend mathematics and engineering courses. In the fall of 1923, Mrs. Hughes passed away, and a little over a year later in January of 1924, Big Howard passed as well. At the age of 17, it would seem that Hughes was not prepared to enter the world of adulthood, but he would quickly prove otherwise. Sonny was the inheritor of 75% of Hughes Tool, of which he would be granted control at the age of 21. Eager to take responsibility of his own affairs, Hughes appeared before a Texas judge to appeal the legal guidelines set forth in his father’s will. Against the advice of Little Howard’s remaining family, the judge granted Hughes his wish and a great deal of wealth and power was put into a young man’s hands. Howard took the helm of Hughes Tool at the age of eighteen. Fully aware that he was unable of managing a multi-million dollar firm, he set out to find solid management. Hughes found it two months later in Noah Dietrich, an out of work accountant. Before hiring Dietrich, Hughes insisted that they go on a seven-day train ride. Hughes never mentioned one detail about the business over the seven-day period, and announced to Dietrich upon their return that he was hired. Dietrich managed Hughes’ business affairs and Hughes Tool for the next thirty years. In 1925, an old friend of Big Howard approached Hughes Jr. to help him finance a film project that he was working on. Hughes agreed on the condition that he be allowed on the set of the film, and be given access to everyone working on the film, so that he might learn about the process himself. An agreement was made and Howard Hughes moved back to Hollywood. Hughes spent all of his time on the set of Swell Hogan, constantly questioning the cameramen, insisting that he must look through the lens before each shot was taken. Due mostly to his lack of film knowledge, every scene was shot twice, and production costs quickly doubled to $80,000. On one occasion, Hughes was discovered by the night watchman surrounded by neat groups of bits and pieces of a film projector. When asked what he was doing, Hughes replied that if he were going to be in the movie business, he would need to know how everything worked, down to the projectors themselves. By dawn the next day the projector was back in order, and Hughes was back on the set of Swell Hogan. Dollars were not of concern to Hughes as the cash flowed freely out of Hughes Tool. In early 1926, Hughes bought controlling shares in a chain of 125 theaters, and 70 percent interest in Multi-Color, a corporation developing color motion picture film. Swell Hogan was finished by mid-1926, and failed miserably in its first screening. Hughes hired the best producers and editors in Hollywood, but the film could not be salvaged. Hughes placed the film on a shelf and bought his friend a new car. All of Hughes’ ventures were financed by Hughes Tool, of which Hughes’ remaining family was 25% owners. Distraught with his losses on Swell Hogan, Hughes’ family phoned and warned him of the dangers of show business. Enraged at himself and his failures, Hughes bought the remaining shares of Hughes Tool at twice their value and turned to successful director Lewis Milestone to work on future movie projects. Hughes and Milestone churned out three movies in two years, including Everybody’s Acting, The Racket, and Two Arabian Knights, the last of which won an Academy Award for best comedy in 1927. Invigorated with his film success, Hughes set out to make a film on his own based on a subject that was near to his heart: aviation. The script for Hell’s Angels came from collaboration between Hughes and two screenwriters, and was based on two young British pilots competing for the affection of an English society girl. Written, directed and produced by Hughes, Hell’s Angels was to be the greatest motion picture ever made. Hughes set out to do just that, spending $553,000 to buy and re-condition 87 WWI fighters and bombers, and another $400,000 to rent or build airfields in the Los Angeles area. Hughes needed a Zeppelin to burn and bought one. Needing an army to fight a ground battle, he hired 1,700 extras at $200 a week each. His attention to detail was immaculate. If the scene called for a rainy night, Hughes would require the actors to be on call until it rained at night, and force them to stay awake all night in the rain. The director, Hughes, would demand re-take after re-take of scenes, often because of his own flaws. Hughes’ attention to detail on the ground was nothing compared to that of the air. The film called for airplane battles in cloudy skies, and for once, Hughes quickly learned that one can’t buy clouds. He began to rise early, or stay up all night to watch for an opportune dawn. If the sun rose over Southern California, 40 or more airplanes would take off and seek out cloudy skies. When the weather predicted clouds miles away, Hughes, the pilots, and the fleet of planes would travel in hopes of the proper backdrop. Some days, everyone would get paid just to stand around. Many months in production, Hell’s Angels seemed to be drawing to a close, when Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer brought an audible revolution to Hollywood. Sound became the standard by which pictures were judged and Hughes’ film lacked just one thing: sound. The film, at length, edited, cut and fitted with titles, was given an unannounced preview in a small L.A. theater. The response from the audience was clear; the 2 million-dollar silent picture was not good enough. Refusing to quit, Hughes set to work on Hell’s Angels anew. The flight scenes were easy enough to fix, the sound could be dubbed in, but the scenes in which the actors were to speak would have to be shot all over again. The first task was to write a new screenplay. Hughes insisted that in a silent picture actors could get away with mouthing their words, but in a talking picture they would have to make sense. He also demanded that the cast be completely overhauled out of fear that one individual might not sound good reading his lines. Production continued through the great depression, and in May of 1930 the film was completed. Hughes had shot 3,000,000 feet of film, of which only 1% was used in the final production, and spent almost 4 million dollars. The film opened to pandemonium in Los Angeles. Despite terrible reviews, the public went wild for Hell’s Angels. The film set box office records in every theater that it played, and went on to appear on screens for over 20 years throughout the world. In the end, it brought in just over eight million dollars, roughly twice Hughes’s investment. Bored with the movies and having proven himself, it was time for Hughes to move on to something more exciting. In the summer of 1932, Howard Hughes took a job with American Airlines under the name Charles Howard. His salary was $250 a week, an excellent wage during the great depression (unless you’re already a millionaire.) Hughes masqueraded in this position for two months, carrying baggage, talking to passengers and working as a co-pilot for the commercial airline. In the late summer of 1932, Hughes left American Airlines and bought himself a seaplane. He hired Glen Odekirk to customize the plane to Hughes’ acute specifications. One day the two argued for three hours about the proper placement of three screws in a strip of metal. Hughes wanted to fly cross-country in his seaplane, and eventually hired Odekirk as his co-pilot. For the next 18 months the two would fly around the country, stopping at Hughes’ whims and Howard would often disappear unannounced for days, weeks or months, only to return to Odekirk and his seaplane. On one such disappearance, Hughes ventured to Europe, returning with a 320 foot yacht and a Boeing P-12 Army Air Corps pursuit plane. Hughes decided to race his plane in Miami, and set Odekirk to work, tinkering with the plane in a vain attempt to make the plane faster. Hughes was so demanding that he would force Odekirk to make adjustments the mechanic knew would not work. In exasperation, Odekirk suggested that Hughes build his own plane from scratch, and after Hughes won the race, the billionaire spent the next two years building a plane that could win any race. Hughes and Odekirk returned to Los Angeles, where Howard hired Dick Palmer, a young Cal. Tech. Engineer known for his radical ideas. They set up shop just outside L. A. in a secret hangar where the three would work days and nights on end. The project was called H-1 (Hughes-1) and was the most progressive airplane in the world. The plane introduced the retractable landing gear, and pioneered other aeronautic advances such as countersunk screws and flat rivets to reduce wind resistance. The H-1 made its first appearance in September 1935 as Hughes announced that he would break the world record for airspeed in his new plane. Hughes insisted that he be the first to fly the plane, no matter how dangerous, and that the first flight be the one for which the record would be tested, even though no one knew how the plane would perform or if it would fly at all. The record to be broken was 314.32 miles per hour, held by Raymond Delmotte of France. The test called for an average of successive trials, not less than four. After five passes, Hughes averaged a speed of 352.39 mile per hour, easily passing Delmottes’ record. The next morning Howard Hughes moved from the entertainment pages of the nation’s newspapers to the front pages. He had flown faster than any other man, in an airplane of his own design, and won the record for the United States. America did not know what to do with Howard Hughes, the millionaire playboy who was known to aeronautical engineers as colleague, amongst pilots, a gritty legend and to Hollywood, a film genius. In addition to his many achievements, Hughes was known to his friends and his acquaintances as a person of bizarre habits and personal tics. There were numerous causes for Hughes’s increasingly strange behavior. From an early age he was quite deaf and could not hear conversations around him, yet he told few people of his disability. He conducted much of his business on the telephone because he could hear better using it. As a young man, Hughes evidently contracted syphilis, and in his later years he was plagued with neurosyphilis, which is marked by a degeneration of brain cells that can lead to paranoia and other symptoms. He surrounded himself with aides that he trusted, a group of seven Mormons which never left Hughes’ side (Howard believed Mormons were more trustworthy) and insisted that nay item handed to Hughes be covered by a Kleenex. In addition, as a test pilot Hughes was involved in numerous plane crashes that some researchers presume resulted in brain injury. The most serious accident occurred in 1946 when an XF-11 reconnaissance plane he was testing for the Air Force crashed, leaving him with massive injuries that caused him pain for the rest of his life. Hughes, who eschewed alcohol and tobacco, was forced to take medications to alleviate his pain. An addiction to codeine, a prescribed painkiller made from opium, began at this time and continued for the remainder of his life. Finally, but perhaps most important in understanding Hughes’s inability to live a normal life, he became increasingly trapped by what medical professionals today understand was obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many of Hughes’s biographers believe that his mother suffered from the same disease. This mental disorder can cause ritualistic behavior and unusual habits. For example, Hughes became obsessed with germs and cleanliness. In fact, the press reported that Hughes was so fearful of germs that he walked around in Kleenex boxes instead of shoes and insisted that any item be handed to him covered by a Kleenex. The disease went undiagnosed in his lifetime. In the early 1960’s Hughes hired an ex-FBI agent, Robert Maheu, as his right hand man. Hughes knew that Maheu had been involved in many cloak and dagger activities with the FBI and CIA, including an assassination attempt on Cuba’s Fidel Castro. At the time there were several dozen subpoenas for Hughes, including Federal, state and local tax evasion charges. In fact, later Hughes boasted that he never paid a dollar of income tax in his lifetime. Hughes brought Maheu on board to hide him from the public eye and to protect against those who wished to bring Hughes into court. In 1966, Maheu moved Hughes to the Desert Inn, located in Las Vegas, by train in the first hours of the morning. No one was allowed in the hotel lobby upon Hughes’ arrival. He moved into the penthouse on the fifteenth floor. Six months had passed and hotel management wanted Hughes out. He was occupying the floor of the hotel that had the most luxurious suites, and casino profits don’t come form room rent, but from high rollers and high rollers demand the best accommodations. Hughes instructed Maheu to inquire about the price of the hotel, and ownership humorously suggested $14 million, almost twice what the casino was worth. Hughes paid the next day and went into the gambling business. Howard later acquired the Sands, the Frontier, the Castaway, and the tiny Silver Slipper. Hughes told Maheu to buy the silver Slipper because its well-lit rotating marquee was an annoyance to Hughes when it shined through his window. After spending several years in Las Vegas, the pressure form legal actions became too great. Hughes re-located to the Bahamas on Maheu’s suggestion. Eighteen months later, the press reported that Hughes had died on an airplane en-route to Texas from heart failure. Hughes had not been publicly seen or photographed for twenty years.
“Life is in the transitions as much as in the terms connected; often, indeed, it seems to be there more emphatically, as if our spurts and sallies forward were the real firing-line of the battle, were like the thin line of flame advancing across the dry autumnal field which the farmer proceeds to burn.” --William James, “A World of Pure Experience” (1904) One hundred years after William James’s death, the Houghton Library, drawing upon its vast archive of James material, looks back at transitional moments of his life: his vocational dilemmas, spiritual crises, professional paths, and brave philosophical sallies forward. In these transitions, we can see the “plural facts” of James’s experiences, his public and private battles, and elements of what he called the “mosaic philosophy” of radical empiricism, pragmatism, and pluralism. William James was born in New York City in 1842, the first child of Henry and Mary James. He had four siblings: Henry, Jr. (b. 1843), who became an internationally-lauded writer; Garth Wilkinson (b. 1845); Robertson (b. 1846); and Alice (b. 1848), noted as a diarist. The James children had a peripatetic education in America and Europe, depending on their father’s quirky educational views, sometimes attending schools, sometimes tutored at home. The family lived for a time in Newport, Rhode Island and finally settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When William James died in August 1910, he had attained international prominence as the founder of American psychology and as a philosopher. He could look back on a long and successful career as a Harvard professor. He was a husband and father. These roles were not inevitable. He might have been an artist, like his contemporaries John Singer Sargent and William Hunt. He might have practiced medicine; or followed in the footsteps of his teacher Jeffries Wyman and devoted himself to physiology; or joined the ranks of eminent nineteenth-century naturalists, such as Louis Agassiz. When he first took a teaching position at Harvard, he had no intention of making college teaching a career, and even when he started down that path, he might easily have ended up at Johns Hopkins, where he once coveted a position. William James. Notman Studio, photographer. Photograph, undated. *MS Am 2955 (63) Purchase, Amy Lowell Trust. Louis J. Appell Jr. Fund for British Civilization in the Harvard College Library; James Duncan Phillips fund; and the Charles Warren fund. James’s life was punctuated by decisive moments when he might have taken one path or another; when, as he once told Alice Howe Gibbens during their protracted courtship, he had to decide on his vote for the kind of world he wanted to create for himself, and for the kind of man he wanted to be. Sometimes, those moments did feel like a battle – against his father, who opposed his interest in art; against his own self-image as a sickly man; against rationalism, determinism, monism; against elitism and war-mongering. This exhibition reveals some of the intellectual tensions that gave rise to his most famous works: The Varieties of Religious Experience, Pragmatism, and A Pluralistic Universe. In his celebration of novelty, his warm tolerance of all manner of spiritual experience, his championing of multiple perspectives for apprehending reality, James stood apart from many of his contemporaries. He meant his ideas to offer a process of making sense of experience, of justifying decisions that take account of a thinker’s desires and needs, and of accounting for one’s own presence in the world. An individual’s philosophy, James wrote, “is itself an intimate part of the universe, and may be a part momentous enough to give a different turn to what the other parts signify.” Now, in the 21st century, James’s works endure, still vital, sympathetic, brilliant, and passionate. An exhibition such as this requires a number of people to make it happen. Thanks are due first, and foremost, to the James family, whose extraordinary generosity in donating William James’s library and papers to Harvard over the years has made not only this exhibition possible, but also ensured that William James’s legacy will endure. All material exhibited here, unless otherwise noted, is their gift. The William James Lecture Fund on Religious Experience at the Harvard Divinity School funded the research for the exhibition; my particular thanks to David Lamberth. Other Harvard archives lent material to complement the Houghton holdings: thanks to Robin McElheny of the Harvard University Archives; Jack Eckert of the Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, Harvard Medical School; and Connie Rinaldo and Robert Young of the Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology for their assistance. Carie McGinnis, Mary Oey, and Susi Barbarossa of Houghton Library, and their colleagues at the Weissman Preservation Center, prepared and installed the items in the cases. For the web exhibition that expands on the items here in the cases, my thanks to Enrique Diaz, Leslie Morris, Heather Cole, and Taylor Ferracane for their help in bringing this exhibition to those who cannot travel to Cambridge. Dennis Marnon facilitated the publication of the essays about this exhibition published in the Harvard Library Bulletin. Leslie Morris, the curator of the James papers, did much behind-the-scenes work to help everything come together. --Linda Simon, curator; Professor of English, Skidmore College; General Editor of William James Studies; and author of Genuine Reality: A Life of William James (1998). “Life is in the transitions”: William James, 1842-1910, is complemented by “William James in His Times and Ours: Essays on the Occasion of the Centennial Exhibition at Houghton Library” in the Harvard Library Bulletin (Summer 2009). Essays by twelve leading intellectuals and scholars-- Drew Gilpin Faust, Susan Gunter, Edward Hoagland, David Lamberth, Louis Menand, Steven Pinker, David S. Reynolds, Michael James, Jean Strouse, Colm Tóibin, Gore Vidal, and Cornel West—think about key items in the exhibition from their own perspectives. Copies of the Bulletin are available for purchase at $15; orders should be addressed to Monique Duhaime, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138.
We deem it our duty to call attention to the fact that our educational work will lose its moral foundation and the esteem of the natives, if the German government is not in a position to prevent the brutality with which the wives and children of slaughtered Armenians are treated in this place. The convoys which, on the departure of the exiles from their homes in Upper Armenia, consisted of 2,000–3,000 persons—men, women and children—arrive here in the south with a remnant of only two or three hundred survivors. The men are killed on the way, the women and children, excepting those of unattractive appearance and those who are quite old or quite young, are first abused by Turkish soldiers and officers, and then brought into Turkish or Kurd villages, where they have to go over to Islam. As regards the remnant of the caravans, every effort is made to reduce them by hunger and thirst. Even when a river is passed, those who are dying of thirst are not permitted to drink. As their only food a small quantity of flour is strewn on their hands as a daily ration; this they greedily lick off, but its only effect is to delay death from starvation for a little while longer. “Opposite to the German Technical School at Aleppo in which we do our work as teachers, a remnant of some of these convoys is lying in one of the hans; there are about 400 emaciated forms; about 100 boys and girls, from five to seven years old, are among them. Most of them are suffering from typhoid and dysentery. On entering the yard one has the impression of coming into a lunatic asylum. When food is brought to them, one notices that they have lost the habit of eating. The stomach, weakened by months of starvation, has ceased to be able to receive food. Any bread that is given to them is laid aside with an air of indifference. They just lie there quietly, waiting for death. “How can we teachers read German fairy tales with our pupils, or, indeed, the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible? How can we ask them to decline and conjugate indifferent words, while round about in the neighbouring yards the starving brothers and sisters of our Armenian pupils are succumbing to a lingering death? In these circumstances our educational work flies in the face of all true morality and becomes a mockery of human feeling. “And those poor creatures who in their thousands have been driven through the town and the neighbouring districts into the desert; nearly all of them are women and children, and what becomes of them? They are driven on from place to place, until the thousands dwindle into hundreds and until the hundreds dwindle into insignificant remnants. And these remnants are again driven on until the last survivors have ceased to live. Then only the final goal of the migration has been reached. Then the wanderers have arrived at ‘the new homes assigned to the Armenians,’ as the newspapers express it. ‘Ta’alim el aleman’ (‘that is the teaching of the Germans’) says the simple Turk, when asked about the authors of these measures. The educated Muslims are convinced that, though the German people may disapprove of such horrors, the German Government is taking no steps to prevent them, out of consideration for its Turkish allies. Mohammedans of more refined feelings, Turks as well as Arabs, shake their heads disapprovingly; they do not even conceal their tears when, in the passage of a convoy of deported Armenians through the town, they see Turkish soldiers inflicting blows with heavy sticks on women in advanced pregnancy or dying persons who cannot drag themselves any further. They cannot imagine that their government has ordered these cruelties, and ascribe all excesses to the guilt of the Germans, who during the war are held to be the teachers of the Turks in all matters. Even the mullahs declare in the mosques that it was not the Sublime Porte but the German officers who had ordered the ill-treatment and annihilation of the Armenians. The things which in this place have been before everybody’s eyes during many months, must indeed remain a blot on Germany’s shield of honour in the memory of Oriental nations. Many educated persons, who do not wish to be obliged to give up their faith in the character of the Germans whom they have hitherto respected, explain the matter to themselves in the following manner: they say, ‘The German nation probably knows nothing of the horrible massacres which are on foot at the present time against the native Christians all over Turkey. How is it possible otherwise, having regard to the veracity of the German nation, that articles should appear in German papers showing complete ignorance of all these events, and only stating that some individual Armenians were deservedly shot by martial law as spies and traitors?’ Others say: ‘Perhaps the hands of the German government are tied by some convention regulating the limits of its competence, or intervention does not appear opportune at the present moment.’
Anthracnose of Shade Trees Sherman V. Thomson/Extension Plant Pathologist Scott C. Ockey/Plant Disease Diagnostician \|Characteristic tissue chlorosis and brown necrotic lesions along the veins of Sycamore leaves.\| Dark colored fungal reproductive bodies (Pycnidia) forms on woody tissue of trees infected with Anthracnose causing fungi. Pycnidia can often be found on affected twigs and branches. \|Mature sycamore trees with severe anthracnose. Trees may be defoliated by mid to late summer depending on severity of infection.\| Anthracnose of Shade Trees Anthracnose is a fungal disease common throughout Utah on Maple, Sycamore, Oak and Ash. Although in most years it does not cause significant damage, it can be very destructive during years when extended cool wet spring conditions occur. Consecutive years with conditions conducive to disease can seriously weaken trees and may cause death if the conditions persist and control measures are not implemented. The group of fungi that cause anthracnose produce spore bearing structures called acervuli. The acervuli erupt through the plant tissue and are evident as small black dots on twigs. The fungi that cause anthracnose are Kabatiella apocrypta in Maple, Apiognomonia veneta in Sycamore, A. quercina in Oak and A. errabunda in Ash. The first symptoms occur on leaves as small water soaked lesions. They are usually found along main veins of leaves, but can also occur between the veins. The spots enlarge and eventually turn tan, reddish-brown or black, depending on the species and cultivar of tree affected. Acervuli are then produced by the fungus in the necrotic tissue. Sycamore leaves can become infected as they emerge from buds resulting in blighting of the entire leaf cluster. Infections on twigs and branches initially appear as discolored depressed areas in the bark followed by splitting bark. Severe infections may even result in death of small branches. Cankers usually develop raised margins resulting from the healing process in the tree. Sycamore branch infections result in multiple lateral shoots called witches brooms. The fungi overwinter in fallen leaves, petioles, twigs or branches. Under cool moist spring conditions the fungi mature and produce spores that are dispersed by wind and rain. Spores that contact susceptible host tissue infect and grow throughout the adjacent tissue leading to the characteristic leaf spot symptoms. Cultural controls are only marginally effective for anthracnose and are mostly aimed at sanitation by reducing overwintering sites of the fungi. The effectiveness of sanitation is often minimal because there are many external sources of spores that are blown into the area. Cultural controls should be considered if the tree or adjacent trees have a history of anthracnose. Recommended cultural controls include: 1. Rake and destroy fallen leaves. 2. Prune out and destroy infected twigs and branches. 3. Maintain tree vigor with adequate water and fertilization. 4. Plant resistant cultivars. Sycamore cultivars Bloodgood, Columbia and Liberty are reported to be resistant. Check with your local nursery for resistance information regarding other tree species. It is usually not necessary to use chemicals to control anthracnose because the fungus only infects when wet conditions persist. Most trees can withstand occasional infections without any serious damage. However Chemical controls should be implemented in addition to the cultural controls when cool, wet spring weather occurs year after year. Chemical applications should begin at bud swell and continue at labeled rates and intervals during wet weather. Table 1 lists registered chemicals for control of anthracnose on Maple, Sycamore, Oak and Ash. Be sure to check the label for specific information about labeled uses and rates. Table 1 Registered products as of January 2000. \|Banner MAXX\|\|Maple\|\|5 to 8 fl oz/100gal water\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Sycamore\|\|6 to 8 fl oz/100gal water\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Oak\|\|16 oz/100gal water\|\|Test on small portion of tree before complete application. 24 hour re-entry.\| \|Champ Formula 2\|\|Sycamore\|\|1.3 to 2 pints/Acre\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Cleary's 3336 WP\|\|Maple\|\|12 to 16 oz/100 gal water\|\|12 hour re-entry\| \|Sycamore\|\|12 to 16 oz/100 gal water\|\|Apply resistance management strategies. Alternate fungicides. 12 hour re-entry\| \|Oak\|\|12 to 16 oz/100 gal water\|\|12 hour re-entry\| \|Ash\|\|12 to 16 oz/100 gal water\|\|12 hour re-entry\| \|Daconil Weather Stik\|\|Maple\|\|1.4 pints/100 gal water\|\|Daconil 12.5% can be used on Sycamore and Ash in home gardens. 48 hour re-entry.\| \|Fore (80%mancozeb)\|\|Maple\|\|1.5 lb/100 gal water\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Kocide DF\|\|Sycamore\|\|2 to 3 lb/Acre\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Nu-Cop 50DF\|\|Sycamore\|\|2 to 3 lb/100 gal water\|\|24 hour re-entry\| \|Bayleton\|\|Consult current label for this fungicide before use.\| Precautionary Statement: All pesticides have benefits and risks, however following the label will maximize the benefits and reduce risks. Pay attention to the directions for use and follow precautionary statements. Pesticide labels are considered legal documents containing instructions and limitations. Inconsistent use of the product or disregarding the label is a violation of both federal and state laws. The pesticide applicator is legally responsible for proper use. This publication is issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work. Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Vice President for Extension and Agriculture, Utah State University.
2016 Claim: Wait! What?! Study: There is so much global warming that it is slowing the rise of sea levels – ‘Is there anything global warming can’t do? Now it seems that there is so much global warming that it is slowing the rise of sea levels.’ Climate Astrology: ‘Global Warming’ commands sea level rise Increases…& sea level rise slowdown: NASA discovers that ‘global warming’ is slowing and not increasing sea level rise – NASA study claim: ‘Because the Earth has become more parched, partly because humans are pumping out more ground water, the rising oceans are being absorbed by lakes, rivers, and underground acquirers, much like a sponge absorbs water. An extra 3.2 trillion tons of water has thus been soaked up and stored and is not pouring into the streets of coastal cities.’ NASA Study Concludes ‘Global Warming’ Is Actually Slowing Sea Level Rise – A new NASA study concludes global warming increases the amount of water stored underground which, in turn, slows the rate of sea level rise. At a time when scientists are worried about accelerating sea level rise, NASA scientist John Reager and his colleagues found an extra 3,200 gigatons of water was being stored by parched landscapes from 2002 to 2014, slowing sea level rise by 15 percent. Excerpt: Florida State University Geology Professor William Tanner: “Tanner plotted 4000 years of sea-level data on 5,000 years of climatological data published in last year’s Encyclopedia of Climatology and found some interesting correlations. Every time the climate warmed a couple of degrees, the sea level went down. Every time the climate cooled a couple of degrees, the sea level went up. This happened four times, each cycle taking about 100 years, and spaced about 900 years apart.” “He says sea level rise has been about six inches over the past century, and he now expects that to slow down and even reverse itself if humans continue warming the Earth.” “We’ve made the assumption — and it’s logical — that if things get warm, the glaciers get warm, the glaciers are going to melt,” Tanner said. “But that’s not what these two curves show, no matter how logical it may be. Everybody’s been depending on logic without much data.” “Tanner says he believes that when the climate warms just a little, it causes more evaporation from the oceans and they go down. He sees two separate systems at work — a big one in which the climate gets every warm or very cold and the oceans rise or fall dramatically, and a small system in which minor changes in temperature cause the opposite reactions.” “My colleagues here to whom I have presented it in detail think it’s reasonable and probably correct.” More on Geologist Dr. William F. Tanner here. – William F. Tanner (1917-2000) Geologist – Of Tallahassee, Florida died on April 9, 2000. Tanner was an ASA fellow and a member of ASA’s Affil. of Christian Geologists. A prof. of geology at Florida State U. with emphasis on sedimentology, he was born in Milledgeville, Georgia in 1917. He holds a B.A. from Baylor University, an M.A. from Texas Technological College, and a Ph.D. from Oklahoma University, all in Geology. He has served as an Instructor at Oklahoma University, a visiting Professor of Geology at Florida State University, and Associate Professor and Professor of Geology at Florida State University. Since 1974 he has been Regents Professor. He has had geological experience in much of the U.S., mostly in the Southeast, Southwest, and Rocky Mountain areas,- maritime eastern Canada and Canadian Rockies,- Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, various parts of Brazil, and Venezuela. His specialties within geology include sedimentology, sediment transport (including beach and river erosion), paleogeography and paleoclimatology, history of the atmosphere and petroleum geology. Dr. Tanner is Editor of “Coastal Research, ” Science Editor for the New Atlas of Florida, and Editor of six volumes on coastal sedimentology. He is the author of 275 technical papers. This picture of Boca Raton was in that issue of the paper. And this is what that beach looks like today. Nothing has changed. Background on sea level rise: 1977: ROSS ICE SHELF, Antarctica-A huge portion of the Antarctic ice mass appears to be collapsing into the sea, a catastrophe that could raise the levels of the oceans by almost 20 feet. “We’re seeing the West ice sheet on its way out,” said Richard Cameron of the National Science Foundation. “It seems to be doing something completely different than the east ice sheet. It has nothing to do with a warmer climate, just the dynamics of unstable ice.”…”We’re doing about the most we can do right now to study the possible collapse of the west ice sheet,” said Dr. Richard Cameron, NSF program manager for glaciology. “It has become an area of concern because we could be on the brink of a rise in sea levels.” SUCH A RAPID rise is not unprecedented. It may have caused the Great Deluge described in the Old Testament. Analysis of latest sea leel rise claims: Examination of the data from the paper, however, shows the range of proxy sea levels is approximately 10 meters, far too large to discern the tiny ~1.5 mm/yr sea level rise over the past 150 years. The authors instead assume from other published studies of tide gauge measurements that the ~1.5 mm/yr sea level rise over the past 150+ years began at that point in time. Other papers find sea levels rising only 1.1-1.3 mm/yr over the past 203 years, and without acceleration. Regardless, even the IPCC concedes that there was no significant anthropogenic influence on climate prior to 1950, thus man is not be responsible for sea level rise beginning 150-200 years ago, at the end of the Little Ice Age. The sea level rise over the past ~200 years shows no evidence of acceleration, which is necessary to assume a man-made influence. Sea level rise instead decelerated over the 20th century, decelerated 31% since 2002 and decelerated 44% since 2004 to less than 7 inches per century. There is no evidence of an acceleration of sea level rise, and therefore no evidence of any man-made effect on sea levels. Sea level rise is primarily a local phenomenon related to land subsidence, not CO2 levels. Therefore, areas with groundwater depletion and land subsidence have much higher rates of relative sea level rise, but this has absolutely nothing to do with man-made CO2.
How to become a better global citizen We all want to make the world a better place for ourselves and future generations. A happier, healthier and equal world is a good thing for all. Plus, the benefits of doing good things speak for themselves. According to studies, doing good for others can improve life satisfaction, happiness levels and mental and physical health. One study found that adults who volunteered about four hours a week significantly decreased their chances of developing high blood pressure. So, how can we extend this feel good factor on a global scale? How can we become a better global citizen? A global citizen is someone who has an awareness of the world and how human actions can impact on it. They’re curious about the environment, nature, human cultures, geology and economics, and how they all connect with each other. They also have a desire to positively contribute to communities to improve life for others. What is a global citizen? A global citizen is respectful of cultural diversity and human rights. They’re empathetic to causes and suffering around the world and feel responsible for their impact on it and making change. They see themselves as a citizen of the world, rather than a single country. They desire equality for all and consciously make fair choices and decisions. Read on to learn about the steps you can take to become a better global citizen. Make greener choices Recycling, reducing waste, energy saving, and water conservation all lessen the impact on the environment. Save energy by turning off lights, unplugging appliances when not in use and buying appliances and lights with good energy ratings and efficiency. Conserve water by installing a rainwater tank, water efficient shower heads and appliances. Reduce waste by using reusable containers, water and coffee cups. Avoid using plastic bags, straws and disposable items. Upcycle where possible or buy second hand and create a compost heap for scraps. Learn a new language Being able to speak another language is useful and rewarding in so many ways. But, when it comes to becoming a better global citizen, it’s one of the best. Learning a new language means that you gain an appreciation and insight into other cultures that you may previously not have had. You become more aware of culture differences, why they exist and the importance of respecting them. According to researchers, Hanh Thi Nguyen and Guy Kellogg, when students learn another language, they develop new ways of understanding culture and ways of thinking and behaving. Students can critically think about stereotypes of different cultures related to food, appearance and conversation styles. Volunteer to help out a local charity or one that works with overseas organisations. If you’re keen to take it a step further, hop on a plane and spend some time volunteering overseas. Seeing first-hand how your voluntary efforts are making a difference to others is a great feeling, as is connecting with those you’re helping. It’s also a good way of educating yourself on the issues that other countries may be facing. Organisations such as GVI andProjects Abroad organize volunteer projects in countries such as Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and Australasia. Volunteers have the opportunity to help out in conservation, education, and community projects. Travel as much as possible Travelling is one of the best ways to explore the globe, understand and experience different cultures and country challenges first hand, as well as meet new friends. Gaining a global perspective can help us reflect and appreciate what we have, and increased empathy for others is a key characteristic in becoming a better global citizen. Before travelling, think about what you’re really passionate about doing or discovering. Think local cuisine, local temples or going off the beaten track. Research if you can and connect with locals who can help. Sharing a common passion is a good way to see commonalities from a new viewpoint. Education is key Educating yourself about what’s going on in the world is a great way to become a better global citizen. With a multitude of sources available at our fingertips, learning is only ever a click away. Learn about different cultures online. Read blogs and news sites about different country’s politics, current affairs and cultures, and research local cultural community events or celebrations which you can attend. You could also use social media and communication to connect and develop friendships with people all over the world, so why not go ahead and give it a go?
10 REASONS SOME KIDS AREN’T READY FOR KINDERGARTEN - He Has a Late Birthday – Depending on when your child’s birthday is and where it falls in relation to the cut-off date for kindergarten enrollment in your school district, your child could potentially be one of the youngest members of his class and, as such, not quite ready for the rigors of school. Social readiness is also an important factor in determining kindergarten readiness. - She Didn’t Go to Preschool – Kindergarten has changed quite dramatically over the years, and is no longer dedicated to singing songs or taking naps. These days letter and color recognition, basic counting and even early mathematics and pre-reading skills are required to be considered ready for kindergarten. If your child didn’t attend preschool, she may not be quite ready for the demanding atmosphere of kindergarten. - He’s Developmentally Different – Some developmental differences begin to present themselves around the time a child would begin kindergarten, which is one of the reasons why some parents are surprised to find that their little one isn’t quite ready. If you suspect that your child is developmentally different, discussing your concerns with his doctor can help you determine what your next step should be. - She Was Born Prematurely – Premature babies can lag a bit behind their peers developmentally, even as late as kindergarten. According to a study by the University of Nottingham published in the New England Journal of Medicine, up to 52% of prematurely born children experienced developmental delays at age two, with many prematurity-related problems not showing up until the age of five. - He Struggles With Behavioral Problems – Kids who have difficulty controlling their behavior may struggle to adhere to the rules of a kindergarten classroom, especially if he has little experience with a classroom setting. Your child’s behavioral differences can affect his kindergarten readiness and may require a bit of special attention. - She Has a Physical Disability – Public schools are required by Federal law to make allowances for children with special needs, but a physically disabled child may simply not be ready for the relatively demanding schedule of kindergarten when other children her age are starting school. - He Has Speech Problems – One of the areas in which many kindergarten screening tests look for kindergarten readiness is in regards to verbal skills and speech ability. A child who struggles to speak, isn’t verbal at all or has a severe speech impediment may require a bit of extra time before he starts school with his peers. - She Isn’t Fully Potty Trained – Legally, public school districts are not allowed to turn away a student based on their lack of potty training. Still, the humiliation that can accompany regular accidents in front of her classmates may keep your child from thriving. If she’s not potty trained and kindergarten enrollment is approaching, you may need to consult with a pediatrician for advice. - He Can’t Focus On a Given Task – Some kids simply can’t focus on a task they’ve been given. Whether it’s due to attention deficit disorder or developmental differences, a child who isn’t able to focus at all may require special attention in order to thrive in kindergarten. - She Suffers From Severe Separation Anxiety – Most kids who suffer from separation anxiety during the first few days of kindergarten learn to overcome it. An incapability to shake separation anxiety or severe emotional distress can point to more complicated emotional differences, however, which may need to be evaluated by a medical professional before she attends school. It’s important to remember that at such a young age, most children are developing at their own pace and may not reach milestones at the same time as their peers. Delayed kindergarten readiness isn’t always an indicator of developmental differences that will set your child apart throughout his academic career. Remember how important it is to be patient with your child and help him reach developmental milestones at his own pace.
The disease where the blood vessels in the brain swell up is known as aneurysm. This is nothing but swelling up of the wall of the affected blood vessel and is usually caused by a weak spot in the vessel that goes out of shape with the constant pressure exerted by the pumping of blood. Usually an aneurysm develops at a region where the blood vessel tends to branch out into two because this region is particularly vulnerable. Although an aneurysm can develop anywhere in the body, the most common place of development is the blood vessels of the brain or the heart. When the blood vessels in the brain swell up abnormally, it is known as cerebral aneurysm. This disease is quite fatal as death can occur in minutes of affected blood vessel rupturing. Usually when cerebral aneurysm first occurs, it is shaped like a small grape that is attached to the blood vessel by means of a stalk. The small bulge is filled with blood and that is why it is often referred to as berry or saccular aneurysm. Sometimes, the swelling in the blood vessel in the brain can be multiple and they all occur together in a cluster. Some symptoms of brain aneurysm include severe headache that comes on suddenly and fast, pain in the neck accompanied by stiffness, paralysis, seizures, problems with the vision and having difficulty talking. It has been noticed that brain aneurysm is more common in the elderly. Some causes of cerebral aneurysm are as follows: - Weak blood vessel which could be a birth defect - High blood pressure, also known as hypertension that is prevalent for years leading to damage of the blood vessels. - Fatty deposits or plaque formation on the walls of the blood vessel leading them to become weak. This condition is known as arthrosclerosis. - Polycystic kidney disease can lead to brain aneurysm. - Inheriting certain diseases that cause the blood vessels to become weak. Cerebral aneurysm can lead to a lot of complications like bleeding in the brain tissue surrounding the ruptured blood vessel, water in the brain (hydrocephalus), paralysis, stroke, epilepsy and of course, sudden death. Usually when a person is detected with cerebral aneurysm, the doctor will try to surgically repair the damage. In addition, the person will be advised bed rest and put on medication to help pain and the seizures. Unfortunately more than half the people die the first day of the cerebral aneurysm or within the next three months. The other half invariably have to live the rest of their lives with disabilities. More Articles :
A common component of the property buying process in which a potential buyer (for a fee) reserves the right to buy the property for a specific period of time. A reservation is a legal agreement between a buyer and seller that creates a contract to purchase land or property. It is an option that allows the buyer to reserve the right to buy a piece of land or property at an agreed price within an agreed time frame, typically around 28 days. The reservation fee is paid upfront, securing the future purchase at a fixed price. During this period, the buyer can conduct further investigations on the property, arrange financing options, and prepare for completion. If completion does not happen within the given timeframe, the reservation and any deposit paid by the buyer will be forfeited. Once completion has taken place, ownership of the land or property will transfer to the purchaser, and they will become responsible for all associated costs and responsibilities related to owning it. The process for reserving a property for potential buyers involves the following: During the reservation period, the buyer conducts due diligence and obtains financing, and can proceed with the purchase by completing legal and financial requirements. If they do not move, the reservation fee may be forfeited or refunded according to the terms of the reservation agreement. Upon completion of the purchase, the property is transferred to the buyer. Reserving a property during the buying process can serve several purposes. It can secure the right to purchase, provide time for due diligence, ensure property availability, facilitate planning and decision-making, create a sense of commitment between the parties, and lock in price or terms. This can be useful in competitive markets where properties are in high demand and prevent other potential buyers from purchasing the property during the reservation period. The fee associated with reserving a property in the context of real estate is typically referred to as a "reservation fee" or "booking fee." This fee is paid by the potential buyer to the seller or developer as a form of consideration for securing the right to purchase the property during the reservation period. The amount of the reservation fee can vary depending on factors, such as the location, market conditions, and the value of the property. In some cases, the reservation fee may be a fixed amount agreed upon between the parties, while in other cases, it may be a percentage of the property's purchase price. It's essential to note that the reservation fee is typically non-refundable. If the potential buyer decides not to proceed with the purchase within the reservation period, the fee may be forfeited to the seller or developer. Reserving a property in the context of real estate typically involves a potential buyer paying a fee to the seller or developer in exchange for the exclusive right to purchase the property for a specific period. This reservation period is agreed upon in a contract between the parties, which is a legally binding contract. When a potential buyer reserves a property, it typically means that the seller or developer agrees not to sell the property to any other buyer during the reservation period. This gives the potential buyer the right to purchase the property during the reserved period without the risk of losing the property to other buyers. The reservation agreement typically outlines the terms and conditions of the reservation, including the duration of the reservation period, the amount and nature of the reservation fee, and any other terms or requirements the parties have agreed upon. Making a reservation can be smart for buyers interested in purchasing property in a competitive market. It allows them to secure the property they want, negotiate a better price, and reduce their financial risk. However, buyers need to do their due diligence before making a reservation to ensure that they are making an informed decision and that the property meets their needs and expectations.
The PHA emphasises the importance of keeping warm in order to stay healthy. Evidence suggests that long periods of extremely low temperatures can lead to an increased risk of adverse health effects such as increased respiratory disease, heart attacks and stroke. The elderly are particularly vulnerable. Excessive cold can also cause a rise in blood pressure, lowered resistance to infections and worsening of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. So the public are being advised to take some basic steps to look after themselves and their elderly relatives and neighbours over the coming days. This advice is as follows: - Wear several thin layers of clothing as they will keep you warmer than one thick layer. - When inside keeping moving and try not to sit still for more than one hour at a time as activity generates body heat. - Eat well with frequent warm healthy meals and drinks – but avoid alcoholic drink as this can lower body temperature. Heating your home - When heating your home ensure open fires have guards in front of them, air vents are not blocked and additional heating appliances being used have been recently serviced and well maintained in view of the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning (for further advice see HSENI link below). When outside in cold weather - Only go outside into the cold if absolutely necessary and if you have to venture outside wear warm gloves, a hat and footwear with non-slip soles. - Take care on icy footpaths and consider using a walking stick to ensure you keep your balance. Finally the PHA advises that people check on their vulnerable and elderly neighbours who may not be able to get to shops to make sure they have everything they need to keep warm and keep healthy. Indeed, the Board and Agency remain indebted to the considerable and ongoing effort of people across the community who have a voluntary caring responsibility to others such as elderly dependent relatives, friends or neighbours. This effort is being discharged by countless people and is much valued for its ability to assist the wider health and social services at the present time. Useful web links Getting access to GPs and hospitals For anyone who takes ill or needs to see a doctor the position is as follows: GP practices throughout Northern Ireland remain open and continue to provide their normal daytime services. People should contact their practice in the normal manner for medical advice or for obtaining a prescription. However, they should also bear in mind that their GP services are very busy and if they can wait, they should do so. Similarly, the best treatment for colds and the flu is to stay at home, rest, drink plenty of fluids and use over-the-counter remedies to ease symptoms. GP out-of-hours providers are coping well at a time of year when there is seasonally a high demand for services, with an increase in calls from patients. People should nevertheless be patient, and should bear in mind that the GP out-of-hours service is for urgent calls that cannot wait until their own GP practice is next open. It is important that patients always remember to phone their GP out-of-hours service first, before attending, as this can often assist in avoiding an unnecessary journey. The aim is to ensure patients’ concerns are dealt with in the most appropriate way. For members of the public wishing to access GP out-of-hours services, the phone number will be available on the answering machine of their GP practice, in the telephone directory or on the website at www.gpoutofhours.hscni.net Hospital services are continuing to operate largely as normal, and people should continue to attend for appointments unless they have been formally advised by their hospital of a postponement. If anyone is unable to keep an appointment owing to the weather, it will be enormously helpful if they can notify the hospital in advance. More widely, people should remember not to attend a hospital accident and emergency department for a condition that is not urgent, as the prime function of these centres is to cater for people who are seriously ill and require immediate medical assistance. The Board and the Public Health Agency also wish to commend and thank the many health and social care staff who have been able to reach their work despite the adverse weather and who are contributing hugely to maintaining a wide range of services for the community. In particular, they are very grateful to the emergency services for helping a number of care staff to reach patients in snow-affected and isolated areas.
CURATOR’S CHOICE #6: SANDRA TUPPEN FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY Sandra Tuppen, curator of Music Manuscripts at the British Library, explores some highlights from their digitised collection of music manuscripts, including those penned by the hand of Haydn, Handel, Purcell, and a very messy Beethoven. Ever since the earliest methods of notating music were devised, composers and scribes have written out music by hand – on vellum in the medieval period and subsequently on paper. (Only now is this beginning to change, with the advent of computer programs for music notation.) Even after the perfecting of music printing techniques in the 16th century, when music was printed using moveable type and later by engraving, and the burgeoning of a trade in music publishing, much music continued to be written out by hand and circulated in manuscript. Printing music was expensive, time-consuming and complex; copying out music by hand could be done relatively cheaply and quickly, especially when a few copies only of a particular composition were needed. In the 17th and 18th centuries, music was written out in manuscript for several purposes. These included the creation of ‘master copies’ from which further handwritten copies could be made when required, the provision of musicians’ parts for use in performance and the commercial and non-commercial dissemination of musical works. Many publishers of printed music also sold manuscript music. With musical genres for which the market in scores was likely to be small (opera, for example), producing manuscripts in small quantities was more cost-effective than setting up a print run. The British Library holds one of the finest collections of printed and manuscript music in the world. It encompasses music dating from the middle ages to the present and includes a large number of autograph music manuscripts (scores written out by the composers themselves). Among the autographs are scores of the great composers of the 17th to the 19th centuries, from Purcell, Bach and Handel to Beethoven and Schubert, and large collections of scores and other documents of 20th-century British composers, including Elgar, Delius, Britten, Tippett and Maxwell Davies. As is the case with ordinary handwriting, there is much that is distinctive about the way individual composers and scribes write music down, even though they all follow the same basic conventions for notating music. The ‘musical hand’ of an individual composer or scribe is often so distinctive that elements of it can be studied and, once identified as the ‘fingerprint’ of that particular individual, used to help authenticate other manuscript sources that are believed to have originated with the same individual. It can be used to identify anonymous pieces of music and correct earlier misattributions. Manuscript music comes in a variety of formats, depending on its intended use. Autograph music manuscripts can provide a tantalising glimpse of the composer at work and shed light on the creative process. The two examples above – both from 18th-century symphonies – are ‘fair copy’ manuscripts, in other words they are manuscripts written out by the composers themselves, but in a final, ‘tidy’ version suitable for use by the scribe, who would have had to copy out the individual parts needed by each of the players. Haydn probably completed his score shortly before the first performance of the symphony in 1791, in London. He made a mistake when writing the names of the instruments down the side, initially forgetting to include the oboes, but it is otherwise a model of clarity. The symphony of Sir William Herschel – astronomer and composer – is similarly clear, unlike the following example: Here, Beethoven – never a neat writer at the best of times – was sketching out ideas for his string quartet in one of the notebooks he carried around with him. He jotted down his ideas whenever he had an inspiration. Falling somewhere between Beethoven’s rough sketch and Herschel and Haydn’s fair copies in the creative process is the ‘working manuscript’, showing the composer still honing and finalising the work. In the following manuscript of music by Telemann, the composer has scratched out and altered some of the notes as well as removing one bar completely. As well as its great collection of autograph manuscripts, the British Library holds many scribal (i.e. copyists’) scores. Music copyists often worked closely with the composer, who would supervise their work, check it for errors and sometimes make corrections. The music of Handel takes a central place in the British Library’s collections, most notably in the Royal Music Library, the music collection of successive generations of the royal family, which was presented to the nation by Her Majesty the Queen in 1957. The collection includes 97 autograph manuscripts of Handel’s music, together with many of the manuscripts compiled by Handel’s trusted scribes. These scores are mostly ‘file copies’, rather than material that would have been used in performance. Much music, of course, is written out for very practical reasons – for use by professional or amateur musicians. Manuscript sources can not only reveal much about the music, but also provide evidence about the context in which it was heard. This little oblong manuscript is just the kind of book that an amateur musician would have carried around in his pocket and pulled out to play from, perhaps at the request of his friends. In fact it belonged to and was compiled by a 17th-century coal merchant, Thomas Britton, who loved music and set up one of the first series of concerts in England, in a narrow room above his shop in Clerkenwell, lit, according to his neighbour, by a window ‘no bigger than the bung-hole of a cask’. This music is intended for the recorder (known as the flute in the 17th century). As is the case today, much music was intended for use by amateur musicians at home. Compilation albums – both printed and manuscript – containing the most popular pieces of the day were a feature in many middle- and upper-class households. This drinking song for three voices, ‘Fill the bowle with Rosie Wine’, composed and in the hand of the 17th-century musician Henry Bowman, appears in a miscellaneous album of pieces compiled by Bowman, and owned by Katherine Sedley, daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, Baronet. Music was also performed in educational establishments. Edward Lowe, Oxford Professor of Music from the 1660s to early 1680s, organised weekly performances at the Music School and collected and copied much music for use in Oxford, including this song by Henry Lawes, ‘Come from the dungeon to the throne’, sung in the play The Royal Slave by William Cartwright. Cartwright’s play was performed by students of Christ Church, Oxford for Charles I in the 1630s. Much music was written for use in a liturgical setting, and the British Library’s 17th- and 18th-century music collections are rich in scores of anthems, service music and other religious pieces, particular from the English sacred establishments. The following anthem by the all-but-forgotten James Nares sets words from Psalm 125 and comes from a manuscript of anthems composed by Nares for use in the Chapel Royal. He has annotated the score as follows: The Words chose by Dr. Allen, Sub-Dean of his Majesty’s Chapel Royal, desiring they might be set, in the Compass of five Minutes. 1757. Geo: 2d: desiring short Anthems, because he never sat during ye anthem, & began to be fategued with standing long as usual. The other musical genre common in England in the 17th and 18th centuries was the ‘occasional piece’ – a composition written to mark a special occasion, such as a royal visit, birthday or saint’s day. Many of these pieces took the form of an ode. John Eccles wrote such a work, ‘Inspire us, genius of the day’, in 1702-3, seemingly for William III’s birthday. After the death of the King, it was re-purposed for the birthday of Queen Anne. These images are just a small selection of those made for the RISM Music Manuscripts Project (www.rism.org.uk) – which aims to document all music manuscripts from 1600 to 1800 preserved in UK libraries and archives – and which are now made available on Wikimedia Commons. Along with the images are links to descriptions of each manuscript in the British Library catalogue and RISM database. While this gallery provides examples of a wide range of composers’ and scribes’ handwriting, these are single photographs, not complete manuscripts. The Library is now moving on to digitise entire music manuscripts, and you can find most of those that have been completed at www.bl.uk/manuscripts (just search for ‘music’). We have also digitised about 320 of our 16th-century printed music sources, in a partnership with Royal Holloway, University of London, and these can be viewed at www.earlymusiconline.org. In the coming year, we will be working to digitise Handel’s autograph manuscripts – a large undertaking – and will continue to make as much material as possible freely available. I should like to acknowledge the assistance of Andrew Gray in making the ‘Composers and Scribes’ collection available on Wikimedia while he was working as Wikipedian in Residence at the British Library. Dr Sandra Tuppen is Curator of Music Manuscripts at the British Library. Visit the British Library’s collection of digitised music manuscripts on Wikimedia Commons to explore the full set of more than 400 images. This post is part of our Curator’s Choice series, a monthly feature consisting of a guest article from a curator about a work or group of works in one of their “open” digital collections. The series is undertaken in partnership with OpenGLAM and made possible through funding from the European Union’s DM2E project.
Let these pictures guide you through the journey that a single nut takes from the lush landscapes of Northern NSW and South East Queensland to a table near you. Macadamias can be found all over our country, but most production is concentrated in the beautiful, lush regions of South East Queensland and Northern NSW. Did you know that macadamia nuts start out as flowers? The draping strands of flowers on a macadamia tree are called racemes. There are around 100 individual flowers in each raceme, but usually only around five of those will turn into nuts. Macadamia orchards are full of these white or pale pink flowers each year during spring. Growers encourage both native Australian bees and European ones by placing hives around their farms. Some consider the small native bees to be the best pollinators of the delicate flowers. The nuts develop throughout the summer, encased in their hard shell with an outer green husk. Nuts that aren’t yet fully grown are called nutlets. Although the timing for each season can vary depending on the weather conditions, macadamias are usually ready for harvest in March. Fully grown nuts drop to the ground when they are ready for harvest. So growers actually gather them from the ground rather than picking them off the trees. Harvesting used to be done by hand, but these days farmers use tractors and finger wheels to collect the nuts while still in their husks. Nuts are usually removed from their husk on the farm, revealing the hard, brown shell beneath. The dehusked macadamias are delivered to processors in their shells where they are weighed, graded and cracked. The very hard shells are as useful as the nut is delicious. They can be used to make everything from homewares to pool filters and are even used as a renewable energy source. No part of the macadamia is wasted. Most people buy macadamias already cracked and ready to eat. You can purchase macadamias in their shells but, because they are so hard, the nuts usually require a specialist nut cracker to open them. The kernels have a distinctive, buttery crunch that makes a moreish snack and provides rich nutty flavour and unique texture to both savoury and sweet dishes. They can also be transformed into macadamia milk, macadamia butter and a number of other delicious dairy alternatives. Back on the farm, one season flows into the next. After the harvest, growers have time for a quick cuppa, before they prepare the orchard for next year’s crop.
Okra, also known as gumbo, is a vegetable used in various african dishes. The origin of this pod vegetable is unknown, but some researches place the first cultivation of okra in Ethiopia and ancient Egypt. Next to the use of okra as an african food it’s also used in many caribean, south-american and asian dishes. They can be used fried, cooked or even raw in many different dishes and salads. When cooked the seed pods get their famous slimeness or ‘goo’ fiber. This might not look really taste, but the taste of it is really delicious and gives it the real african flavour. the plant of the Okra grows in warm climates and is available fresh there all year round. In northern countries they are mostly available in summer or in the frozen section of your Asian, African or Caribean convenience store all year round. Okra can be found in different sizes and shapes and depending on a certain african dish one prefers a certain size. the vegetable can be used in stews, soups or as a fried or cooked vegetable. since Gumbo is used all over the African continent check out the different dishes and recipes for this delicious african pod vegetable.
Religiously devout atheist, if radioactive dating cold that makes any difference to those around researchers asked participants for their. Radiometric dating definition: nouna method for determining the age of an object based on the concentration of a particular radioactive isotope contained within. Definition of radioactive dating – our online dictionary has radioactive dating information from uxl complete life science resource dictionary encyclopediacom: english, psychology and medical dictionaries. Radioactive dating of the 600-meter-thick halite deposits, and of the sediments above and below them, indicates that the salty strata. • radioactive dating (noun) the noun radioactive dating has 1 sense: 1 measurement of the amount of radioactive material (usually carbon 14) that an object contains can be used to estimate the age of the object familiarity information: radioactive dating used as a noun is very rare. Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon (14 c), a radioactive isotope of carbon. Radioactive dating shows that the mites were entombed roughly between 3,200 and 800 years ago, polyak notes. Radioactive dating was not possible until 1896, when the radioactive properties of uranium (a radioactive metallic element) were discovered by french physicist (a person specializing in the study of energy and matter), antoine henri becquerel (1852–1908. Radioactive dating definition a process for determining the age of an object by measuring the amount of a given radioactive material it contains if one knows how much of this radioactive material was present initially in the object (by determining how much of the material has decayed), and one knows the half-life of the material, one can deduce. Radioactive dating the determination of the age of an artifact, bone, rock, etc based on the known rates of decay of radioactive isotopes of various elements. «radioactive dating» radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a. Radioactive dating definition, meaning, english dictionary, synonym, see also 'radioactive decay',radioactive series',radioactive tracer',radioactive waste', reverso dictionary, english definition, english vocabulary. Radioactive definition is — of, caused by, or exhibiting radioactivity of, caused by, or exhibiting radioactivity how to use radioactive in a sentence. Radioactive dating n measurement of the amount of radioactive material (usually carbon 14) that an object contains can be used to estimate the age of the object. But the radioactive atoms used in dating techniques have been subjected to heat a half-life is more easy to define than some point at which almost all of the. Radiometric dating or radioactive dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively. Definition of radioactive dating in the definitionsnet dictionary meaning of radioactive dating what does radioactive dating mean information and translations of radioactive dating in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on. Radioactive dating has given new time determinations for human ancestors and evolution in the dim anthropological past science past: from the issue of march 9, 1963 scientists used new radioactive dating techniques to determine both the date of the impact and that of dinosaurs' extinction. Radiometric dating 1 any method of determining the age of earth materials or objects of organic origin based on measurement of either short-lived radioactive elements or the amount of a long-lived radioactive element plus its decay product. Radioactive dating of certain isotopes in the rock indicates that it formed beneath the martian crust some 4 searching for life in a martian meteorite the new finding, based on a highly accurate method for the radioactive dating of primitive meteorites, pinpoints one of the earliest and most important events in the solar system-the time at which frozen.
Learn something new every day More Info... by email Deadweight losses have to do with the difference between gains made by one party, in comparison to losses sustained by a second party, when a particular course of action is taken. The concept of a deadweight loss can be applied to business dealings between individuals, the relationship between a producer and consumers who buy the business’s products, or even the relationship between a government and the citizens residing with the government’s jurisdiction. In all its incarnations, the idea of assessing this type of loss is to determine if the gains achieved are worth the degree of loss that is incurred. When it comes to business dealings between individuals, a deadweight loss can be something as simple as a landlord increasing the monthly rent, but not making any changes to the amenities associated with the lease. In this scenario, the landlord receives a benefit, in the form of the additional revenue. The tenant sustains a loss, in that no additional services are extended, and it is necessary to reduce spending in other areas of the household budget in order to honor the increased rent payment. With businesses, the same general approach to a deadweight loss takes place when the company chooses to increase the cost of the items it produces. While the company anticipates increased revenues, consumers are looking at paying more without receiving any additional benefit from the purchases. Assessing deadweight loss in this scenario is very important, since if the increase is enough to alienate a significant number of consumers, revenues will decrease in spite of the price increase per unit sold. Understanding deadweight loss is also important for governments. For example, a government that is considering a change to current trade restrictions will want to consider the outcome of tightening those restrictions. This means determining if the change will help to increase internal productivity within the nation, or will simply cause a decrease in the standard of living for a significant number of citizens. The answer to those questions can help the government determine if the benefits derived from the action will be sufficient to make the losses incurred by private citizens worthwhile, in terms of improving economic conditions for the majority of the populace. At its core, assessing the amount of deadweight loss is about making responsible decisions that produce positive outcomes with a minimum of negative impact. Using this concept can often help individuals, businesses, and even governments avoid taking some sort of action that seems a good idea on the surface, but ultimately creates more problems than it solves. When utilized properly, it is possible to avoid situations of net social loss, excess burden on key sectors of the population, and prevent companies in engaging in allocative inefficiency, due to the irresponsible use of limited resources.
In Tonawanda, New York, the income tax is a tax imposed on money received (income) during a certain set time period. Under federal law, and the laws of most states, income from any source can be taxed. The federal government has the constitutional power to tax income thanks to the 16th Amendment, which was enacted in 1916. Before that time, the U.S. Supreme Court had repeatedly declared the federal income tax unconstitutional, but individual states, including New York were free to impose an income tax if they saw fit. While the federal government levies an income tax against every person and corporation in the U.S., the income taxes imposed by the states vary widely. Some states have relatively high income taxes, and a few have none at all. You should consult with a Tonawanda, New York tax attorney if you don't know what type of tax system your state has. Income Tax Deductions in Tonawanda, New York A tax deduction is a reduction in the portion of a person's income that is taxable, resulting in a lower tax liability. For example, suppose your income tax rate is 10%, and you had ,000 in income last year. If you got a ,000 tax deduction, your taxable income would be ,000, and you would have to pay 10% on that. So, it would reduce your tax liability from to . Don't confuse a tax deduction with a tax credit. A tax credit simply reduces your tax bill by the amount of the credit. A tax credit typically reduces your tax bill more than a deduction of the same amount. Many expenses in Tonawanda are tax-deductible, such as interest paid on mortgages, charitable donations, the price of tax advice, and union dues, among others. How Can A Tonawanda, New York Tax Attorney Help? Income tax laws can get pretty complex. If you are in Tonawanda, New York and have any questions about your taxes, you should consult with an accountant or local tax attorney to avoid tax problems, such as audit or wage garnishment.
by: Sarah Gold Anzlovar, MS, RDN, LDN According to a new report from the American Heart Association, nearly half of Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Whether you’re 25 or 75, making the right lifestyle choices—including eating a healthy diet—can significantly reduce your chance of developing cardiovascular disease. One of the best ways to keep your heart healthy is to eat more plants. When you eat vegan or a diet that prioritizes plants over animal products, you may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering your intake of saturated fat (fat primarily found in animal foods that can contribute to heart disease). A truly heart-healthy diet goes beyond limiting or removing red meat and dairy, however. Eating more plants is just as, if not more, important! Show your heart some love by adding these foods to your plate: Embrace the Power of Produce Fruits and vegetables are filled with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that may reduce blood pressure and inflammation, two risk factors for heart disease. All produce offers health benefits, but a few nutritional powerhouses for heart health include berries, dark leafy greens, and avocados. Get the Whole Grain Whole grains like oats, barley, farro, and wheat berries contain soluble fiber, which helps lower total and LDL cholesterol. High cholesterol is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Aim to make at least half your grains whole. Go Nuts for Nuts (and Seeds) Nuts and seeds contain heart-healthy fats known as monounsaturated fats. Walnuts, along with hemp, chia, and flax seeds also provide plant-based omega-3 fatty acids, which may lower cholesterol and your risk for heart disease. Know the Benefits of Beans Beans and legumes are powerful plant-based proteins filled with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, all of which contribute to a healthy heart. In fact, replacing red meat with beans in your diet may reduce cholesterol and improve other risk factors for heart disease like blood pressure and inflammation. Flavor with Herbs and Spices Skipping (or significantly reducing) salt intake can lower blood pressure in people with hypertension. Less salt doesn’t have to mean bland food, however. Turn to new herbs and spices to elevate flavor in your meals. And for even more heart benefits, cook with garlic, which is full of antioxidants and is shown to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Cook with Plant-Based Oils Replacing butter and other animal fats when cooking is an easy step toward improving your heart health. Plant oils like olive and canola oil contain heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. Olive oil is also known for its antioxidant properties from polyphenols, which may help reduce inflammation. Other heart-healthy oils include avocado, flax, sesame and walnut oil. Ready to add more plants to your plate? Purple Carrot makes it easy to eat plant-based meals by delivering the ingredients and recipes right to your door. Their meals are full of vegetables that promote heart health. Learn more about Purple Carrot meals here. Sarah Gold Anzlovar, MS, RDN, LDN is a Boston-based registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and nutrition communication specialist helping active people fuel their busy lives so they can feel their best. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from The George Washington University and a Master of Science in Nutrition Communication from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She completed her Dietetic Internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard University teaching hospital in Boston, MA. When not in the kitchen, you can find Sarah seeking out the latest restaurant opening, teaching indoor cycling, running, training for triathlons, or hiking or skiing with her husband and golden retriever pup.
- Visual symbol is a graphics or group of elements (e.g. icon, button face, background art) that is used in the design - The designer can create a reusable visual symbol from selected object(s). - New symbol is automatically added to Library as a master - The designer can make new instances of visual symbol in the design - Changes to a symbol appear everywhere it is used in the designs - Create overrides for specific parts of individual Symbols - Speed ups workflow by giving a way to save and reuse common visual elements across the designs - No need to jump between different tools
The play that "changed American theatre forever" started with a few short lines from a long poem. By: Linnea Crowther 5 years ago The play that "changed American theatre forever," according to The New York Times, started with a few short lines from a long poem. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Langston Hughes wrote the poem, and Lorraine Hansberry was inspired – both by the poem and by her own real-life experience – to write A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. Today, on what would have been her 82nd birthday, and we're celebrating Hansberry’s groundbreaking work. One of the central conflicts of A Raisin in the Sun was loosely based on an event from Lorraine Hansberry's own childhood. In 1938, her family bought a house in a white neighborhood, in violation of a restrictive covenant – which was legal at the time – prohibiting a black buyer from purchasing the house. The fight that ensued, against both the legal system and the hostile neighbors, deeply affected young Hansberry. Twenty years later, she channeled her memories of the struggle into one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. A Raisin in the Sun debuted on Broadway in 1959, but not without a struggle. The plays almost all-black cast made it a risky investment in pre-Civil Rights America, and it took more than a year for producers to raise enough money to begin. Even as the curtain rose on opening night, Hansberry was pessimistic, expecting bad reviews. But her powerful writing shone through, and the play was named the best play of the year by the New York Drama Critics' Circle, was nominated for four Tony Awards, and became a classic of American theater. Lorraine Hansberry (front row, 3R), at a party in honor of her Broadway play 'A Raisin in the Sun,' New York, New York, March 1959. (Gordon Parks / Time Life Pictures / Getty Images) Two years later, around the end of the play's hugely successful Broadway run, the original cast starred in a movie version. It too was successful, with Golden Globe nominations for Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil. A Raisin in the Sun has lived on for many years beyond the original Broadway production and movie. In 1973, it was back on Broadway, though in a different format – as a Tony Award-winning musical, named Raisin. In 1989, a movie was produced for television, starring Danny Glover and Esther Rolle. 2004 saw A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway yet again, with Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad in leading roles, and in 2008 the cast reprised their roles in another made-for-TV movie, earning several Emmy nominations. Times have changed greatly since Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun. But her play remains a classic, with its themes of dreams and struggle, family and the home, still resonating today.
It swiftly brings the reader up to speed on techniques and functions commonly used in VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) as well as commands and data types. Extensive simple, complete designs accompany the content for maximum comprehension. The book concludes with a section on design re-use, which is of utmost importance to today's engineer who needs to meet a deadline and lower costs per unit. Gets you up to speed with VHDL fast, reducing time to market and driving down costs Companion website with source code and other documents to assist the student in building the reference design used throughout the book (http://www.elsevierdirect.com/companion.jsp?ISBN=9781856177047) This books helps you with : - Introduction and Background: VHDL - Brief History of VHDL; FPGA Architecture - Overview of the Process of Implementing an FPGA Design: Design Entry; Synthesis; Simulation; Implementation; Bitstream Generation - Loop 1 - Going with the Flow: The Shape of VHDL - Loop 2 - Going Deeper: Introducing Processes, Variables and Sequential Statements: Tool Perspectives - Synthesis Options and Constraints - Loop 3: Introducing Concept of Reuse; Flexibility Using Generics and Constants; Functions and Procedures; Attributes; Packages; Commonly Used Libraries Copyright Disclaimer : This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article Wade County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation’s Apukshunnubbee District, or First District, one of three administrative super-regions. The county was named for Alfred Wade, a prominent Choctaw leader and statesman. Following the American Civil War—in which the Choctaw Nation joined the Confederate States of America—Wade was among the national leaders who traveled to Washington to negotiate with the American government to secure peace, achieved at great cost via the Treaty of 1866. Wade lived six miles east of Talihina. The county seat of Wade County was Lenox, or Tuli Hina in the Choctaw language, five miles east of Whitesboro and 14 miles east of Talihina. Lenox was situated near the Kiamichi River. A United States Post Office operated here from 1896-1913. Lenox served primarily as a court ground, not as a population center. The Choctaw Nation’s capital, Tuskahoma, with its splendid Choctaw Capitol Building, was also located in the county. Wade County’s boundaries were, as were all Choctaw counties, designated according to easily recognizable natural landmarks. As example, the confluence of Jack’s Fork Creek with the Kiamichi River—just outside present-day Clayton, Oklahoma—served as the southwestern corner, with the county’s landmass stretching to the east and north. From this corner point the southern border followed the Kiamichi south for a distance, and then traveled eastward along the tops of the Kiamichi Mountains framing the south side of the river valley, south of Tuskahoma and Albion. Like all Choctaw counties, Wade County served as an election district for members of the National Council, and as a unit of local administration. Constitutional officers, all of whom served for two-year terms and were elected by the voters, included the county judge, sheriff, and a ranger. The judge’s duties included oversight of overall county administration. The sheriff collected taxes, monitored unlawful intrusion by intruders (usually white Americans from the United States), and conducted the census. The county ranger advertised and sold strayed livestock. As Oklahoma’s statehood approached, its leading citizens, who were gathered for the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, realized in laying out the future state’s counties that, while logically designed, the Choctaw Nation’s counties could not exist as economically viable political subdivisions. In most the county seat existed generally for holding county court, and not as a population center. This was true of Lenox, too. While Wade County contained more sizeable towns than most, it would have to be dismantled in order to accommodate changes required by the region as a whole. This conundrum was also recognized by the framers of the proposed State of Sequoyah, who met in 1905 to propose statehood for the Indian Territory. The county structure proposed by the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention also abolished the Choctaw counties. Wade County was divided principally into the proposed Pushmataha and Wade counties. Talihina and Albion would have been Wade County’s chief towns. Much of this proposition was two years later borrowed by Oklahoma’s framers, who largely adopted the proposed boundaries or concepts of these counties for the future Le Flore, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties in Oklahoma. Certain shifts were made involving towns of Albion, which was given to the new Pushmataha County, and Wilburton, which was given to the new Le Flore County instead of Pittsburg County. The Sequoyah framework had called for Wilburton to be placed in the same county as Hartshorne, and Albion to be grouped together with Talihina in a new Wade County. The territory formerly comprising Wade County now falls primarily within Le Flore and Pushmataha counties. Wade County ceased to exist upon Oklahoma’s statehood on November 16, 1907.
Meet Calestous Juma, Africa’s genetically modified crop ‘optimist’ ‘Technological intolerance’ has hampered adoption of GMOs, particularly in Africa, says Harvard professor Calestous Juma. \|Report an Error\| Share via Email View 2 photoszoom “I thought these crops could have the potential to help protect the environment, for example if they reduced the use of chemicals, or if they allowed you to use less land to intensify production.” When Calestous Juma was 9 years old, floods inundated his family’s village. Port Victoria sits on the Kenyan shore of Lake Victoria, just shy of the Ugandan border. As residents began considering how to replant family farms on less land, Calestous’ father, John Juma, travelled to Uganda. He returned with cuttings of the cassava plant, a starchy, carbohydrate-rich tuber. At the time, cassava was unfamiliar in that part of Kenya. The village debated whether to plant the cassava. Some wanted to wait until the water subsided and replant traditional crops. When wild pigs, displaced by the flood, came and ate some seedlings, villagers blamed John Juma’s cassava for attracting them. And “they were worried these plants would breed demons,” says Calestous Juma. The cassava enthusiasts eventually prevailed, however, and Juma says the crop has become a staple in Kenya. Fifty years later, Juma cites those debates as the fuel for his interest in agricultural innovation, the issue that knits together a career that has taken him from Kenya, to the U.K., Canada and the U.S. Juma is a professor of the practice of international development at Harvard, the director of the science, technology and globalization project at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the director of the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But the cassava story also explains the frustration that seeped from a speech he gave in Montreal, when he accepted an honourary degree from McGill University. Juma, who calls himself a genetically modified crop “optimist,” titled the speech “A Plea for Agricultural Innovation” and used the platform to decry the “technological intolerance” that has hampered the adoption of GMOs, particularly in Africa. He says the debates around biotechnology remind him of the cassava arguments in his village in the early 1960s. “Very often, we may overreact about the possible negative impacts of (new technologies), and make decisions that are based on emotion, rather than on evidence.” Critics of biotechnology argue that the hesitation to adopt genetically modified crops is a matter of prudence, not fear: it reflects our limited knowledge of their effectiveness and safety. But Juma says evidence in support of GMOs is growing, and hopes they will soon be as familiar as cassava, particularly in Africa. “Sixty per cent of the world’s arable land available today is in Africa. All efforts to feed the world — not just to feed Africa, but to feed the world — in the next decade or more are going to focus on Africa. Which means Africa has to do it right, and have the scientific basis not to mess it up.” The agricultural challenges of feeding 9 billion people — the world’s projected population by 2050 — “are sufficiently gargantuan that we are going to need every tool in the kit,” says Val Giddings, senior fellow with the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and a friend of Juma’s. “He has quite understandably become less patient.” Source of inspiration If Juma’s early interest in agriculture was fed by his father’s attempts to introduce cassava, his early interest in science and technology came from watching John Juma work as a carpenter. As a child, Calestous became known in the village as someone with a penchant for fixing things. When he was 12, his parents excused him from church on Sundays to develop a small business repairing broken radios and record players. Juma’s mother was another source of inspiration. She gave up farming to become a trader of fish, maize and other foods, learning a new language, Luo, in the process. “Being able to think about new things, doing new things, experimenting, was always a big part of my early childhood,” says Juma. The family didn’t have enough money to send him to university, however. So, at 19, Juma became a science teacher in Mombasa. Classes ended at midday; Juma spent his afternoons at the local library penning letters about various issues to the Daily Nation newspaper. His letters became popular and editors eventually persuaded him to become a science and environment reporter. As far as Juma is aware, he was the only science reporter in sub-Saharan Africa. After a year at the Daily Nation, he was hired by the Canadian head of a Nairobi-based environmental group launching a magazine funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The connections he made led to a scholarship from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) that sent him to the University of Sussex for a masters and PhD in science and technology policy. After Juma returned to Nairobi, he established the Africa Center for Technology Studies, the continent’s first think-tank that applied science and technology to development issues. In 1995, he was hired by the United Nations to become the executive secretary of the convention on biological diversity. When the convention established its permanent home in Montreal, Juma moved to Canada. His Montreal move in 1996 coincided with the first planting of commercial GM crops in the U.S., and the explosion of interest and concern in the technology. At the UN group he now headed, there was massive debate. Many argued GM crops would harm the environment and only benefit rich, large-scale farmers. “I had come from the environmental field, and I thought these crops actually could have the potential to help protect the environment, for example if they reduced the use of chemicals, or if they allowed you to use less land to intensify production.” Juma used his speech in Montreal last week to argue that, 17 years after those first commercial GM crop plantings, research has confirmed his early views. A total of 108.7 million hectares of land were saved between 1996 and 2011 through the efficiency of biotech crops, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a pro-GMO not-for-profit. The ISAAA and other research has calculated that GMOs saved hundreds of millions of kilograms of chemical pesticides since 1996 and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by billions of kilograms. Some dispute those figures — particularly on pesticide reduction, since new research shows more insects are evolving resistance to GM crops. Research on the economic boon to poor farmers is clearer. In a 2003 article in the journal Science that has been cited more than 550 times, a German-U.S. academic team examined farm trials in India of insect-resistant GM cotton. The GM crops saw yield boosts of 80 per cent compared to the conventional variety — a much greater advantage than most U.S. farmers saw when switching to GM, since unlike the poor Indian farmers, the Americans had been using sophisticated chemical insecticides. One of the authors of the Science paper published another study this month in PLOS ONE showing that small-scale Indian farm households growing GM cotton also saw better calorie consumption and dietary quality, as a result of higher incomes. The researchers estimated that the GM technology was responsible for a 15 to 20 per cent drop in food insecurity in those households. In Burkina Faso, a 2010 study showed farmers who used GM cotton increased their yields enough to raise their annual cotton income by 31 per cent — an average income boost of $207 for farmers who earned just $657 from the crop. Yet only four African countries — Burkina Faso, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa — allow commercial GMO crops. In some African countries, GMO field trials aren’t even permitted. In Montreal, Juma pointed to a popular culprit for this reticence: policy-makers in Europe, where deep restrictions on biotechnology have been in place for more than a decade. In a 2010 poll, more than 60 per cent of European respondents said GMOs made them “uneasy.” “The delays (in Africa) can be partly attributed to technological intolerance, much of which has been handed down by European anti-biotechnology activism,” Juma said in Montreal. “There are several different channels of external influence on Africa’s policy area in this regard, and Europeans dominate most of those channels,” says Robert Paarlberg, a professor of political science at Wellesley College, who has known Juma for over a decade. Paarlberg and others say the influence of aid money, post-colonial relationships, institutions like the UN, and activist organizations like Greenpeace have allowed European leaders to pressure and scare African governments into resisting biotechnology. Critics, however, question the time, attention and money being heaped on biotechnology at the expense of other possible solutions to the problem of global food security. “The assumption that’s being made by people like Juma is that we can only get there by using genetic engineering, and of course the implication is that other technologies can’t get us there,” says Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists food and environment program. “We simply don’t know that.” Gurian-Sherman wants to examine solutions like conventional breeding techniques, improved irrigation and decreased food waste. Juma says biotechnology is not a silver bullet — but we cannot afford to ignore its promise. Growing more vocal In 1998, Juma left Montreal for Boston (his wife, Alison, is from Boston, though they met in Ottawa; their son Eric is 15). Juma parlayed a fellowship at Harvard into his current array of titles. He says he left his UN job primarily because he didn’t want to see the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety passed under his watch; it tightly regulates the handling, transport and use of GM organisms, and Juma has called it the product of a “pessimistic world view.” Today, Juma disseminates his own world view through talks, teaching, publications and a 35,000-follower Twitter account. He has also co-chaired high-level panels on biotechnology and innovation for the African Union. Biotechnology is by no means Juma’s only interest. He is concerned with the poor communication between research organizations and teaching universities in Africa, which hampers innovation. And he’s worried about infrastructure: it’s no use using genetic modification to grow more corn per hectare if farmers can’t get the corn to market. But Juma is growing ever more vocal about genetically modified crops as the papers mount and the problems grow. “I follow the evidence,” he says. “It’s not that I’m more of an advocate. It’s that there’s more evidence to share.” Juma’s nearly 70,000 tweets mostly consist of shared stories and articles. But he also has a penchant for tweeting quotations. A few of the most recent: - Canadian wins Nobel Prize for work 'crucial to our view of the universe' - NEW Conservatives promise $1 billion for auto industry - Income gap in Toronto is growing, warns new report - Jays' Donaldson out for redemption, revenge in playoffs - Tories of all persuasions will be happy selling the TPP: Hébert - NEW Montreal to dump 8 billion litres of raw sewage into St. Lawrence - Ottawa loses bid to put niqab ruling on hold - Scotiabank drops out as major Nuit Blanche sponsor
It is clear that real violence against another human violates the first statement. This is definitely backed up by their non violent behaviour. Controlled experiments place little emphasis on this relationship. The list gets longer the more I study! It is within this context that violent video games are blamed by the media, or invoked in discussions about high school massacres McCormickp. The game a child plays can be a good or a bad thing in his life. The news is filled with stories of war, and murder. That kind of violence is unfortunately what entertains millions of Americans. However, it is important to note that when a child plays a violent game he is likely to experience some physiological effects. There are many games on the market and movies that have portrayed snipers shooting people. This observation waters down the chances of violent games leading to violent behaviour in children. Vice City, is there an ethical issue of any kind in this case? Consequently, his performance at school definitely deteriorates. To ban or restrict any type of media based on purely supposed immoral grounds is paternalistic and a form of legal moralism. The game focuses on eliminating the other team;hence teamwork has a major role in succeeding the game. Ultimately, it will be shown that violent video games are immoral, not because of their effects, consequences, or failure of duty, but because of the impact they have on the virtue of the player. This was achieved by looking at the problem through the ethical approaches of consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. It is a game, make believe, not real. So in conclusion, violence in video games is shown to be harmless and in some cases it may even help you. A critique of the morality of violent video games What are the arguments that violent video games are immoral? Several studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between such games and violent behaviour in children. Some media commentators have sought to link video game violence to the horrendous spate of school shootings which have become a sad reality in the USA and Europe. In general video games is an astonishing tool to keep children entertained during leisure time. The act of playing computer games has many consequences, however, the moral implications of playing violent games is hard to determine Reynoldsp. He also has a responsibility to release the game to the 4 million consumers who have already pre-ordered the game. Where the deontologist does have an argument, is that there is clear justification for regulation based on the duty of governments to protect its citizens from harm. To support this argument, empirical research which supposedly links violent video games and real world aggressive behaviour is raised in support of this position Schulzkep. One effect that is common with all of them is their addiction. Some people believe that the connection between violent games, and real violence is also fairly intuitive. These options will ignite the sense of logical thinking, and strategy formations in which formal education does not offer. Yes, because the game is already classified the game from 17 years up and is legal, so the choice of buying the game depends on the children who want it and of the parents who buy it to their kids. Mill, JSOn liberty, representative government, the subjection of women: An Anthology 2nd editionBlackwell Publishing, Cambridge, pp. In playing the games kids are likely to become desensitized to gory images;which could make them less disturbing, and perhaps easier to deal with in real life. In other words, the virtue of the player is eroded, and they are distanced from the chance to achieve eudaimonia — a deep and fulfilled happiness through the capacity to reason; that is, to be human McCormickp. Friendships can sometimes be developed through playing video games,and ultimately keeping them away from drug usage, and violent activities. From this perspective, the immorality of a violent video game should focus on how players act, with the morality of the act being determined by how others are treated within the game world Schulzkep.Essay: A critique of the morality of violent video games What are the arguments that violent video games are immoral? Which arguments. GET EVEN A BETTER ESSAY WE WILL WRITE A CUSTOM ESSAY SAMPLE ON Ethics: Selling Violent Video Games TOPICS SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. Order now. Violent Video Games and Ethics Essay by gm, University, Bachelor's, March download word file, 3 pages download word file, 3 pages 8 votes 1 reviews/5(1). The first and most important reason why violent video games have negative impact on child is it’s negative physical consequences. Violent Video Games Children And Young People Essay. Print Reference this If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have the essay published on the UK Essays website then. The video games phenomenon is somewhat new in this modern society. Although they often to be entertaining, the contents have become more violent and disturbing as computing technology has become much more advanced. These days, the popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Parents and experts feel that some games. Ethical Issues Of Video Games And Violence Philosophy Essay If anyone wants to buy and play violent video games, she/he should buy and play them. Further, if all people would play violent video games then level of violence, aggression, and anti-social behaviour would increase dramatically and finally I would be involved in the created.Download
A Day to Mark Fallen Species Eighty years ago, the world’s last Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, died in Hobart Zoo in Australia. This year, animal lovers and conservationists around the world will mark the extinction of the thylacine and other vanished creatures on the sixth annual Remembrance Day for Lost Species. The gloomy holiday will be “celebrated” with art installations, public talks, memorials, and other events in more than a dozen countries on Nov. 30. Founder Persephone Pearl, an artist and the codirector of the ONCA art gallery in Bristol, England, said the event aims to show that “learning to grieve is part of the process of healing our broken culture.” Pearl came up with the idea for Lost Species Day in 2010 after creating a mock extinction funeral as “part of an all-night climate vigil” meant to hold the incoming U.K. government to the commitments it made earlier that year at an international climate conference. Other people got involved, and a full-scale theater piece called Funeral for Lost Species was held in spring 2011. The first official Remembrance Day for Lost Species was held later that year, and things have snowballed since then. This year there are so many events that “I can’t keep track of them anymore,” Pearl said. Although most of the events are scheduled for Nov. 30, a few have taken place, including one at a park in South London, this past weekend. Organizers handed out leaflets that looked like “lost pet” signs but were about recently extinct species. “Then we read out a list of 125 extinct species and the years in which they were declared extinct,” said organizer Daniela Othieno, who has created Lost Species Day art projects for the past three years. “For me, getting involved in Lost Species Day is as much about raising awareness as about processing my own thoughts and feelings about what is happening and giving others an opportunity and space to do the same.” Othieno said that event produced a lot of emotion and some confusion among the people in the park. “Many people told us that they were glad we were doing it, but quite a few expressed total surprise at the rate of extinction,” she said. “Some confessed they had never really thought about it.” In the United States, tattoo artist J. Trip, cofounder of an endangered species awareness effort called the Holocene Project, will be creating extinction-themed hourglass tattoos in Englewood, Colorado. “You can put one anywhere on your body you want and start spreading knowledge as soon as someone asks you about it,” he said. Other scheduled events include an expedition in New Orleans in memory of the ivory-billed woodpecker; an extinction vigil in Washington, D.C.; a musical procession for lost species in New York City; and a ceremony for the thylacine in Brisbane, Australia. Pearl said she hopes to continue Lost Species Day for many years to come and praised what other artists have brought to the message. “I love the interdisciplinary action of artists, biologists, and conservationists working together,” she said. “This is a time of grief,” she said. It’s also one of remembrance.
In an effort to assess the effects of surface water withdrawl, FWRI's Fisheries-Independent Monitoring Program, Southwest Florida Water Management District, and Tampa Bay Water are working together to monitor several rivers along the west coast. As Florida's population increases, demands for surface water withdrawals to meet potable water demands also increase. Freshwater must often be extracted from various water bodies in the state to meet this demand, and tidal rivers are often selected as suitable locations. However, the same freshwater that is being harvested is a key ingredient for the state's estuaries. Each day, millions of gallons of freshwater enter into Florida's bays and estuaries. This water quickly mixes with the saltwater, creating within the estuary a salinity gradient that ranges from freshwater to full-strength saltwater. This range between freshwater and saltwater is necessary for the estuary's inhabitants to flourish. In fact, the majority of marine fish caught by recreational anglers (i.e. red drum) depend upon this influx of freshwater for at least the early stage in their lives. Several rivers flowing into Florida's estuaries have become sites for freshwater withdraw to satisfy the demands of Florida's growing population. Scientists have worked for years to define the point at which withdraws begin to disrupt the ecosystem. Water resource managers call this limit the Minimum Flows and Levels (MFL) for the water body. Florida statutes (Section 373.042) require that water management districts across the state establish MFL for all water bodies. Several of the water management districts have funded short-term monitoring programs to develop baseline data that can be used to establish more meaningful MFL. In addition to Minimum Flows and Levels, the water management districts oversee water resource permitting. In the late 1990s, Tampa Bay Water, a government agency that provides wholesale water to Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties, was granted a permit by the Southwest Florida Water Management District to withdraw additional surface waters from the Hillsborough, Alafia, and Palm rivers during periods of high water flow. In granting this permit, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) required that Tampa Bay Water initiate the comprehensive Hydro-Biological Monitoring Program (HBMP). The HBMP is designed to ensure that water flows do not deviate from the normal rate to the extent that water quality, vegetation, and animal populations are adversely affected, that salinity distributions in tidal streams and estuaries are not significantly altered, and that recreational use and aesthetic qualities of the resource are not adversely The multi-disciplined HBMP established by Tampa Bay Water surveys hydrology, water quality, benthic fauna, zooplankton and ichthyoplankton, fish and macro-invertebrates, emergent and shoreline vegetation, and birds. Most of the surveys employ a stratified-random sampling design, so the data collected can be used to describe the entire study site. The Fisheries-Independent Monitoring Program at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has been contracted to conduct the fish and macro-invertebrate survey portion of the study. During each of these studies, the Fisheries-Independent Monitoring (FIM) program collects fish and macro-invertebrate samples at randomly selected sites within each river. In each study area, shallow water samples (<1.8 m) are collected with 21.3 m seines, and deeper water samples (>1.8 m) are collected with 6.1 m otter trawls. All fish and select macro-invertebrates (blue crabs, stone crabs, pink shrimp, and grass shrimp) are identified to species and counted. Fish lengths are also recorded prior to releasing the animals. Specimens are visually inspected for external abnormalities, such as parasites, ulcers, and tumors. Animals determined to have abnormalities are returned to the lab for further analysis. Additional data recorded at each sample site include the - Habitat-bottom vegetation, bottom type, and shore type - Site-latitude, longitude, and depth - Weather-wind, cloud cover - Water-salinity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, clarity, Also, monitoring is taking place on the Myakka river and Venice inlet for 18 months to support establishing MFL. A similar twelve-month study is taking place on the Weeki Wachee river.
How to Paint a Venice Canal in Watercolour We are so used to normal roads that are constructed on terra firma that we tend to forget there also waterways in certain areas which are the only means of transport. There are water roads (canals) in various countries such as England , Holland, and in Venice, etc. In this class you will paint one of Venice’s canals in watercolour. In this lesson you will learn: 1. How to paint a different colour sky 2. How to paint a sunlit wall 3. How to simplify the windows and wall details 4. How to paint the water reflections 5. and much more No Reviews Yet With a soft pencil such as a 3B, rub graphite on the back of the template and then trace it over onto the watercolour paper. With the top well taped down, check every so often to see if the lines have been transferred properly. The lines must not be too light. Plan the whites Carefully look at your reference photograph to locate all the areas that need to be kept white. Carefully cover them with masking fluid. Use a smallish round brush, remembering to clean the brush every so often – more often than not. Paint the sky Wash in the blue of the sky and lighten it as it nears the horizon. Add more water to the mix to do this or you can simply lighten it up with a thirsty brush. While still damp, drop in a very light touch of red to the lower part to add some glow into the sky. If it is too red then lift some of the colour out until you have the correct hue. Block in the walls of the building Start with the furthest buildings that are in the sun. The add a medium brown wash for the wall on the right, which is in the shade. These first washes are to establish the colour and tonal ranges -sunshine and shadows. Block in the darks Painting in of the darks first helps to give a sense of perspective and proportion to the scene. Don't go too dark at this stage. Plot in the foliage and shadows of the window boxes. Add them in a very impressionistic manner. Notice that the colours and the tonal ranges of the window baskets lighten and get duller as they recede into the distance. This gives the impression of depth to the painting. Adding the shadows The shadows on the wall are glazed over with a warm purple glow. This glaze has been added over the light brown wall as well. When glazing, make sure that the painting is completely dry, and then apply with a very light pressure so as not to disturb the detail underneath. Walls in deep shade Because the sun is on the right side, this wall is in deep shade. Begin to add in the windows with a darker mix of the shade colour. The main building With the darker colour carefully negative paint out the shapes of the pillars. Darker shadows have also been added to the flower boxes. Add touches of red to the window boxes to brighten up the scene. Paint the canal water Establish the shadow along the building edge. The lighter colour is the pavement and the darker colour is the vertical wall of the embankment. Block in the basic colour of the boats. Paint in the reflection of the sky with bright blue. Main water reflections When blocking the main reflection, remember to keep the edges jagged to emulate the ripples in the water. Keep all lines in the vertical and NOT crosswise at all. While the paint is still damp (not wet) drop in the dark reflections so that the edges soften out slightly. Add the poling sticks Paint the two poling sticks that have been parked for future use. The light strip is the pavement and the darker strip is the reflection of the pavement wall. Add the jagged reflections of the downpipe and the poles Add the fence in the distance. The main ripples in the water With a flat, hard brush that has been dampened, carefully lift out some ripples, being careful to keep them perfectly horizontal to the bottom edge of your painting. You can also carefully scratch out the reflections with a craft knife. You May Also Like
Choose one of the following Rocks for more details: Var. chiastolite. Andalusite is stable at low pressures and temperatures. Slate shingles cover the Museum's central dome and roof. Slate makes good shingles because it splits easily into thin, durable sheets of solid rock. Why? It contains platelike mica minerals arranged in narrowly spaced layers. Slate with deformed trilobite fossil Deformation related to faulting flattened the black fractured rock and its fossil at an angle to the original layers. You can see the result: a long, asymmetric trilobite. Slate with Chevron folds Deformed while cooler and less ductile, this slate buckled into more angular folds. Slate with undeformed trilobite fossil Flowing rocks can be stretched into elongated forms. Compare this specimen and the other piece with the same number. Once, both of these trilobite fossils looked alike.
June 1, 2018 - Results from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), now include estimates of energy consumption for an expanded list of energy end uses. For electricity, the number of end uses estimated has expanded from 4 to 26 by adding estimates for equipment such as dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, televisions, and lighting. The expanded end-use categories that consume electricity vary widely in how much energy they consume and how commonly they are found in the 118 million U.S. homes that are occupied as a primary residence. Lighting is used in all homes and consumes a substantial portion of electricity— 10% of the total electricity used in homes. Nearly every home had a television in 2015; only about 3% of homes had no television. Televisions and their associated peripheral devices such as set top boxes and internet streaming devices use 7% of the electricity used in homes each year. Other equipment is relatively less common but can account for a larger share of electricity consumption in the homes that have them. For instance, only 7.9 million homes, or about 7% of the national total, reported using a pool pump. Nationwide, pool pumps consume 1% of the electricity used in homes, but among homes that have pool pumps, the equipment consumes 8% of total electricity consumed each year. Refrigerator energy consumption and expenditures have been reported since the 1990 RECS. The 2015 estimates provide additional detail to this category, with separate estimates for the most-used and, in the homes that have them, the second-most-used refrigerator in a home. As a group, refrigerators use 7% of the electricity used. Most energy consumed for refrigeration is consumed by the most-used refrigerator in a home (77%), with second refrigerators consuming 18% of total refrigeration consumption nationwide. New estimates are also available for other common electric appliances, including clothes dryers (5% of total electricity consumption), microwaves (1%), dishwashers (1%), and cooking (1%), which collectively covers stoves, ovens, and cooktops. For dishwashers and clothes washers, the estimates cover only the electricity used to operate the equipment and not the energy used to heat the water drawn by these appliances; that energy would be accounted for in the estimate for water heating. These end uses and the other previously itemized estimates collectively cover 87% of residential electricity use. The remaining category “not elsewhere classified,” now comprises only 13%, and combines a number of end uses that were not publishable individually, such as computers, smartphones, and small kitchen appliances, as well as consumption from end uses not captured on the RECS Household Survey. From 1990 through 2009, RECS estimated consumption and expenditures for four end-use categories: space heating, air conditioning, water heating, and refrigerators; the remainder was aggregated as other. In 2015, nearly half of residential electricity consumption fell into this other category. As certain appliances and equipment have become more prevalent in homes, this remainder category became a larger share of residential energy consumption, especially for electricity. More detail is also available for natural gas and propane end uses. For natural gas, the 2015 RECS provides expanded estimates for natural gas cooking, clothes dryers, pool heaters, and hot tub heaters. For propane, the new end uses detailed are clothes dryers and cooking. These data are available in tables as well as a microdata file. Before 2015, previous RECS surveys used statistical regression models to disaggregate a home’s energy consumption across published end uses. With the 2015 study, EIA transitioned to using engineering models which incorporate more information and usage behavior from the RECS Household Survey, from equipment specifications, and from research, to produce improved estimates of energy consumption of devices in homes. This improvement in methods for energy allocation affects comparisons with prior RECS. In order to assist data users interested in analyzing the time series of end-use consumption, EIA has published a brief report describing how this change in methodology has affected end-use estimates. EIA has also updated the methodology report for this survey to provide more information on the consumption data collection and end-use estimation approach. CoalZoom.com - Your Foremost Source for Coal News
Children drink water and then suffer from diarrhea.Nowshera, where AAR has been carrying out its activities, has no sewerage system and only 20% of this region has access to water supply. People mostly satisfy their need for water using wells, but the locations of some wells cause problems such as the infiltration of colon bacillus into the water through the surrounding drainage. As such, most of their water is not appropriate for drinking. However, there is no alternative water resource here. Our prior inquiry indicates that as many as 48% of the pupils of Pakistani public elementary schools and 69% of the pupils of Afghan refugees’ primary schools developed diarrhea within the past one month. \|AAR’s support has enabled pupils to drink clean water. \| At Mera Akora Khattak Pakistani Government Primary School for Boys. (December 18th, 2013.)
by William Dollarhide If you are a genealogist, you are an avid user of the federal censuses, 1790 to 1930. But even experienced census users may not know about some of the obscure aspects of the censuses. Here's one of them. It's called the "census day." Beginning with the 1790 federal census--and continuing with every census thereafter--each enabling law authorized by Congress specified a "census day" for gathering the census information from every household in America. From 1790 to 1820 the census day was the first Monday in August. The census day was NOT the day the enumerator arrived at a household; it was the day for which all the statistics of the census were collected. The instructions given to all the U.S. Marshals just prior to the 1820 census "All the questions refer to the day when the enumeration is to commence, the first Monday in August next. Your assistants will thereby understand that they are to insert in their returns all the persons belonging to the family on the first Monday in August, even those who may be deceased at the time when they take the account; and, on the other hand, that they will not include in it infants born after that day." Similar instructions have been given for every census since 1790, but with different census days. The table below shows the census day for each census, 1790 to 1930, and the time allowed to take the census: Census Year / Census Day / Time Allowed 1790 / 2 August / 9 months 1800 / 4 August / 9 months 1810 / 6 August / 10 months 1820 / 7 August / 13 months 1830 / 1 June / 12 months 1840 / 1 June / 18 months 1850 / 1 June / 5 months 1860 / 1 June / 5 months 1870/ 1 June / 5 months 1880 / 1 June/ 1 month 1890 / 1 June / 1 month 1900 / 1 June / 1 month 1910 / 15 April / 1 month 1920 / 1 January / 1 month 1930 / 1 April / 1 month 1820 & 1830 Census Day Differences: On the above table, note that the census day changed in 1830 from the first Monday in August to the first day of June. If one is researching families appearing in the 1820 and 1830 censuses, looking at these families again may be important. Since the census days for 1820 and 1830 are not exactly 10 years apart, the two-month difference may reveal some surprising results. For example, if a person were born between 1 June 1820 and 7 August 1820, that child would appear in the 1820 census in the "under 10" age category. But in 1830, that same person would appear in the "of 5 and under 10" rather than the "of 10 and under 15" age category, since the person had not yet The age category for anyone born between 1 June and 7 August in any year would be affected by this reporting change between 1820 and 1830. Comparing the 1820 age categories for a person appearing 10 years later and not in the "correct" age category may actually give a clue to a person's date of birth within a two-month period. Time Allowed to Take a Census: On the table above, note the time allowed to take each census. All of the states complied with this provision, except South Carolina in 1790. South Carolina could not complete its 1790 enumeration in nine months. The U.S. Marshal complained that he was having great difficulty finding people to take the job because of resistance to the census being taken. A Charleston jury met to decide the fate of six persons who had "refused to render an account of persons in their households as required by the census act." A South Carolina census taker was brought on trial for neglect of duty because he did not complete the census in his district. These and other problems led to South Carolina being granted an extension, and the census returns were dated 5 February 1792, a full 18 months after the census day. Differing Census Days: In a couple of cases, there have been census days assigned to certain states that were different from the rest of the U.S. for that year. When Vermont entered the Union as the 14th state in 1791, the 1790 census was already underway. Vermont's 1790 census was taken with a census day of the first Monday in April 1791, with five months allowed to take the census there. Utah, which became a territory in September 1851, had its 1850 census taken with a census day of 1 April 1851. But the dates on the Utah census pages are mostly in October 1851. Thus, the 1851 census enumerators probably asked Utahans questions like, "Six months ago, back on April 1st, who was the head of this household?" Census Day Versus Enumeration Date: Genealogists should record two dates when copying information from the censuses: the census day and the enumeration date. No matter how many months it took for an enumerator to reach a house, he was supposed to gather the information as if time had stopped on the census day. Every person whose regular abode was in a particular household on the census day was to be enumerated, even if a person was away at the time of the enumeration. Understanding the impact of the census day versus the enumeration date may explain why certain people appear in a census listing, even though you have other evidence to show the person died before the household was enumerated. If a person was alive on the census day, that person was to be included--even if it took some time for the enumerator to get around to that house to take the census. The person could have been dead for several Or, you may wonder why that youngest child in a family was not listed in a census. If a child were born after the census day, that child was not to be included--even if the census taker had visited the house and was aware of a playful little toddler crawling around in front of him. Now, some of you will want to go back to all of those census lists you have copied down and confirm the date of enumeration AND the census day. Any missing people? Any extra people? Good census hunting!
\|\|A Wikibookian believes this page should be split into smaller pages with a narrower subtopic. You can help by splitting this big page into smaller ones. Please make sure to follow the naming policy. Dividing books into smaller sections can provide more focus and allow each one to do one thing well, which benefits everyone. Overlaps the other book: Introduction to Software Engineering The idea of this book is to couple together the different projects on the different subjects of software engineering. Currently the only book linked is Computer Programming. Other subjects should be added over time. As written in the Computer Programming book, coding is only a small part of software engineering. This book is intended as an introduction to the realm of software engineering. What is software engineering?Edit A systematic approach to the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of software. Software engineering is the engineering discipline through which software is developed. Commonly the process involves finding out what the client wants, composing this in a list of requirements, designing an architecture capable of supporting all of the requirements, designing, coding, testing and integrating the separate parts, testing the whole, deploying and maintaining the software. Programming is only a small part of software engineering. The discipline is still in its infancy (early stage of growth/development) as an engineering discipline. We haven't had enough experience, nor gathered enough empirical data to systematically understand and predict the life-cycle of a software project. The Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) divides software engineering into 10 knowledge areas: - Software requirements - Software design - Software construction - Software testing - Software maintenance - Software configuration management - Software engineering management - Software engineering process - Software engineering tools and methods - Software quality The content of the fieldEdit Note: the following summaries are originally from Wikipedia. These are here only temporarily. The titles aren't final, nothing on this page is final yet (or even near final). Vision and ScopeEdit The practice of software engineering in the corporate or industrial sector, starts with the business and ends with the business. Although computers, programming languages, and creative problem solving are what fill the engineer with interest in the field, without servicing and enabling the user, the exercise would be pointless. Thus the first stage in any software engineering process, is the Vision and Scope document, or some equivalent meeting. A vision of the system to be built is described by the user or Product Champion. The business context that it will service is described. The key stakeholders are enumerated including their interests, risks, etc. The success conditions are listed, so that it is understood what will be completed and how to measure success. Business opportunities are discussed, to justify why the project should be invested with the blood, sweat, and tears of programmers, testers, project managers, and program managers. The Scope of the project is made clear and if it is to be in phases, the scope of each phase at a high level is laid out. The priorities of the project are recorded. With an understanding of the business' vision, the engineers begin to ask questions. Extracting requirements of a desired software product is the first task in creating it. This process is called requirements elicitation. While customers probably believe they know what the software should do, it may require skill and experience in software engineering to recognize incomplete, ambiguous or contradictory requirements. Compounding this problem is the absence of formal abstractions. A civil, mechanical engineer has a plan, elevation, sections to refer to and these make good sense to both the author and reader of these abstractions. However, while (E-R) or object diagrams, process flow diagrams, data flow diagrams are abstractions that have been used and built on, many of these are not universally used or practiced. Besides, considerable effort goes into repairing and enhancing existing systems. Engineering required here is a mix of reverse and forward engineering in the sense that requirements definitions refer to a set of circumstances that already exist and these circumstances have to be stated in unambiguous terms as well. Perhaps, lack of universally accepted abstractions make life difficult for software engineers and some people have even argued that software production process is closer to art rather than engineering! Of late, people have started using prototypes in various degrees of working. Screen shots and report layouts are non working prototypes and form the basic level of prototyping and increasing sophistication is built in wherever possible. Making prototypes is always more time consuming than not making one. Thus, this practice is not always utilised. The role of analyst can be fulfilled typically by three types of people. A technical project manager, a software engineer, or a dedicated analyst. In some organizations it is unthinkable to engineers that they would serve the analyst role, as they are "technical" and would consider dealing directly with the customer unthinkable. This is purely a cultural stance that varies between companies and organizations. It is also quite common for software engineers to work closely with the business people and customers associated with a project, and this programmer/analyst role can be quite beneficial to the projects success rate. As you are gathering requirements, you can subject them to analysis. Does the requirement in question conflict with others? What is its priority? Where did it come from? Does it need further clarification? Analysis is ability to draw inferences from requirements and represent them in a structured way. Structures themselves may vary based on what is being analysed. It is very tough to draw boundaries between analysis and requirements gathering as they both use the same abstractions many a time. One could argue that analysis yields data storage structures and workflow structures etc. However, one would think that these are not the only outputs from analysis. The common technique that means the software requirement analysis begins with communication between two or more parties. Review of a software requirement specification is conducted by both software developer and customer. Because the specification forms the foundation for design and subsequent software engineering activities, extreme care should be taken in conducting the review. The review is first conducted at a macroscopic level. At this level, the reviewers attempt to ensure that the specification is complete, consistent and accurate. Once the review is complete a software requirement specification is signed off, “by both customers and developer”. While requirement analysis phase some problems are come. The problems are identified and defined and listed here. • The problem occurs that did exist in smaller systems, which leads to a redefining of priority of the activities that go into developing software. • In the beginning of the requirements phase, the needs of clients are in the minds of various people in the client organization. • The major role of the problem statement is that the customer has a problem that may be responsible to a computer-based solution. A developer responds to the customer’s request for help. Here the one more problem is the path from communication to understanding is often full of difficulties. The above case study/problem determined while requirement analyzing phase in "system engineering". This page can be improved soon. --Ananthakumar Selvaraj (discuss • contribs) 13:02, 18 March 2013 (UTC) Once the vision and scope of a engineering project has been established the requirements gather process begins. One tool for communicating between the customer, analyst, developers, and testers is a set of Use Cases. A Use Case typically has a name, a short description, and then a number set of steps which a user would go through to accomplish a task. Use cases are sometimes grouped together in a UML or other format of diagram depicting users, the system, external entity and specific use cases. Use Cases are typically coarse-grained and don't dive into every detail and functional requirement of the system. A business person or software engineer should be able to read through all of the use cases and get an idea of the entire scope of what the project will deliver. Formality of Use CasesEdit Agile driven projects may skip these cases, or at least only record the attributes discussed above. Plan driven methodologies may give additional attributes to Use Cases such as alternative paths after covering the main steps, trace requirements covered by the use case back to their source, and have an error handling section for each use case. THE STAGES OF ANALYSIS Analysis is typically accomplished in two stages. The first stage, Business Analysis includes an in-depth examination of the customer's present set of business or manufacturing processes and procedures with an eye toward how they might be improved by automation. The second stage, Systems Analysis consists of an examination of the proposed improvements and a recommendation on what computer environment and software technology is best suited to accomplish those improvements. BUSINESS ANALYSIS STAGE From the Business Analyst's in-depth understanding of the customer's present environment, he or she creates a set of "business use-cases", which are short descriptions of the role that each of the business's "actors" perform within each process or procedure. For instance, the waiter in a restaurant might have a use case as follows: " A. Actor approaches customer table, introduces self and recites a description of the day's specials. B. Actor presents a beverage menu and inquires if customer would like to order a beverage. C. If yes, actor writes each customer's order on a drink tag and proceeds to bar area. D. Actor presents the tag to bar-keep and makes a mental note to check back within a customary time to see if the drink order is complete. E. If no, Actor presents a dinner menu and helps customers to make selections. As each new party of customers is seated, actor repeats procedure, beginning from step A." With a set of raw use-cases like the proceeding, the business analyst can, with the customer's collaboration, examine how each use-case might be automated and can thereby define an official system requirement which becomes one of maybe hundreds of requirements that define the future software application. As might be surmised, the effective Business Analyst must not only have extensive experience with and knowledge of the business world, but must also have expertise in the potentialities offered by modern software systems and how those systems map to the reality of the business world. SYSTEMS ANALYSIS STAGE The second stage of the analysis process, Systems Analysis begins from the foundation laid by the business analyst. From the set of business use cases and their resultant software requirements, the Systems Analyst makes recommendations as to the most suitable software technology to accomplish those requirements. In some cases, the hardware environment limits choices of software technologies. For instance, in the restaurant scenario, above. The customer might be adamant about providing the waiter with a handheld device to replace the drink tag and to make the trip to the bar unnecessary before the drink order is ready to serve. In such a case, the systems analyst might be constrained to using only those operating systems and APIs that are supported on the preferred handheld device. Once the programming and run-time environment is decided, then the systems analyst can begin turning the business use-cases and requirements into a set of "system use-cases," which are descriptions of how the actors will interact with the proposed system. Those system use-cases, taken together now comprise the actual blueprint that will be used by software architects to begin laying out the classes or other software modules that will define a road map for the software coding and development process which follows. Specification is the task of precisely describing the software to be written, in a mathematically rigorous way. In reality, most successful specifications are written to understand and fine-tune applications that were already well-developed. Specifications are the most important for external interfaces that must remain stable. Once you have gathered requirements, captured them into a specification, and the customer agrees with it, it is possible to take a snapshot or baseline of the project requirements. This allows one to manage existing requirements and process new incoming ones. The specification is placed under configuration management, such as a tool like CVS so that the requirements can be versioned and tracked. It is important to reject requirements that - Don't fit within the project scope - Cannot show a positive return on investment - Won't make the system competitive - Aren't technically feasible A requirement rejected doesn't have to be further analyzed, implemented, documented, or tested. Every requirement costs the company and must be thought through. Regardless of whether your methodology is agile or plan driven, you should create some form of change control to process new requirements. Failure to do so may lead to project failure due to scope creep, project overruns, poor quality, or high costs. Change control can be as simple as a development manager reviewing specification, to an elaborate tool supported process with forms and a board of people with change control authority. Lack of communication about changes to a specification can lead to costly wasted work by developers, testers, or analysts. The time it takes to change one requirement in a specification, may cost 100 times the person hours to realize the decision. Design and ArchitectureEdit Design and architecture are the activities involved in specifying how the software will actually work. This phase frequently described as being divided into two main phases, which might be described as "business design" and "technical design". Business design generally specifies the "why" of the system, indicating how data will be used and how it will flow. Technical design generally specifies the "how" of the system, or how its components will be arranged, what their features will be, and what kind of hardware the system will require. These two phases can often be conducted roughly simultaneously, with business design usually starting first and technical design ending last. Of all of the phases, the design phase can often consume the most time, and many engineers consider it the most important. A poor design can cause the failure of a project, even after considerable resources are spent during the construction phase of the project building it. It is important for the design and architecture of the system to be complete enough that it can be validated and then used to develop the system. Reducing a design to code may be the most obvious part of the software engineering process, but it is not necessarily the largest portion. In fact, many software engineers only work on the analysis and design process, then the coding work is handed off to computer programmers to implement. This trend is increasing in many companies, where software engineers are hired domestically and the implementation is out-sourced to a country where programming labor is less expensive. In spite of this trend, many software engineers still go through the entire process and do coding as well as design. The purpose of testing is not only to prove that the code performs in accordance with the design specifications, but to prove that it does not fail when subjected to undefined inputs. There are several types of testing. Unit testing tests one module of code for correct inputs, outputs, and functionality. System testing tests all the modules of a software system together. User acceptance testing is a form of systems testing to see if not only the system works, but it meets the requirements of the business user. Regression testing is testing performed after a system change to make sure that all system features are still present after the change. To perform systems and verifications testing, Use cases are developed. These cases describe a user action or a specific feature of the system. These cases are very useful during the construction phase of the system, and are usually specified as a deliverable of the design phase. The use cases are generally gathered into test scripts which describe testing activities in a reproducible way. These scripts may be executed manually by testers, or they may be executed by automated testing software. Generally speaking, it is an accepted industry practice for system testing and validation to be performed by a separate person, team, or department, or in some cases, by an outside entity. Testing is considered a specialized skill, with a skill set that is very different from system development. It also is generally considered a bad practice for software developers to test their own systems, since they can form habits that do not exercise the system thoroughly, and because they can frequently test around system failures. There are different kinds of testing such as white box testing or black box testing. An important (and often overlooked) task is documenting the internal design and external functionality of software for the purpose of future maintenance and enhancement. Software documentation is important. Without documentation, software can be unusable, because the end user does not know how to operate a program. Without documentation, an application can be incorrectly installed on a server, causing components to fail. Documentation is most important for external interfaces. There are several means by which software can be documented, including flowcharts, deployment guides, user's manuals, and maintenance manuals. Development team members may write their own documentation, or a professional technical writer may write or edit the documents for readability and style. It's important to note that testing is or should be done during or at the end of every stage. If this is not done, inputs into the next stage can not be very complete. Documentation may also be sketchy or none existent. Maintaining and enhancing software to cope with newly discovered problems or new requirements can take far more time than the initial development of the software. Not only may it be necessary to add code that does not fit the original design but just determining how software works at some point after it is completed may require significant effort by a software engineer. About 2/3 of all software engineering work is maintenance, but this statistic can be misleading. A small part of that is fixing bugs. Most maintenance is extending systems to do new things, which in many ways can be considered new work. Similarly, about 2/3 of all civil engineering, architecture, and construction work is maintenance in a similar way. Applied Software EngineeringEdit The process of software engineering differs between different software types. Building a word processor has different requirements and design methods than building a 3D first person shooter. These sections cover the differences and unique properties of the different software types. SE on Application softwareEdit SE on Server SoftwareEdit Software engineering for server software is more complex then development for the desktop computers. A server is more complex, has more requirements and features than an ordinary, consumer system. Server software can have client-server as well as central architecture. Development and testing of server software is also different from the development and testing of the desktop software. Not every programming language is suitable for implementation of server software. In conclusion, SE on server software requires special methods and processes to successfully complete. The main reason server software is more complex is that communication between 2 computers -- the server and the client -- is inherently more complex and prone to failure than communication between parts of a program running on a single computer. SE on SimulationsEdit Scientific and engineering simulationsEdit Designing software for gaming simulations can be quite challenging, since it requires a diverse background in software. For example, a game designer might have to write software that simulates physics as well as software that renders 3-dimensional images. However, many software engineers in the gaming industry are able to use 3rd party engines that make their job much easier. Nonetheless, they must follow the software engineering process closely, since small issues in the software can make the product fail in the consumer market. Writing software for games is a high-risk industry and only a small percentage of games are financially successful. SE on Embedded softwareEdit Software engineers that work with embedded computer systems need more knowledge of hardware than most software engineers, since embedded systems typically introduce more constraints on memory availability and processing power than, say, gaming PCs. Designing software for embedded systems can indeed be challenging, since most embedded processors cannot handle the overhead produced by compiling high-level languages. This often forces software engineers to implement embedded software, at least partially, in assembly.
Impressionism in Canada with Inés Bonacossa Sunday, January 27 @ 1:30 $15 Admission \| $12 Members The term “Impressionism” was coined in 1874 when critic Louis Leroy accused Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise of being simply a sketch (or “impression”, as its title suggests) rather than a finished work. In “The Exhibition of the Impressionists”, a particularly biting review of Monet’s painting, Leroy wrote that “wallpaper in its embryonic state is more labored than this seascape”. Impression, Sunrise was part of a Parisian exhibition that displayed the works of independent French artists, including Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Despite Leroy’s criticism, “Impressionism” became a favourable term to recognize not only this particular group of artists, but also an artistic style characterized by depictions of contemporary life, rapid brushstrokes, bright colours, and an emphasis on capturing light. As an artistic movement, Impressionism was not restricted to France alone. In fact, it influenced many painters working within Canada’s art scene and generated a distinctly Canadian form of Impressionism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So how did Impressionism take hold in Canada? How was it received here? And how did Canadian Impressionism distinguish itself from its French counterpart? Find out the answers and join in on the discussion this Sunday at “Impressionism in Canada”, Dalnavert’s lastest lecture with Inés Bonacossa. Join Inés on a journey from the origins of Impressionism in France to its development here in Canada and take in plenty of beautiful paintings along the way. For full details on the lecture, visit the event page here. While our lecture doesn’t take place until Sunday, you can get a head start and acquaint yourself with the Impressionists right now! Below are a few examples of both French and Canadian Impressionist paintings. Do you notice any similarities or differences in style between the two groups (ie. lighting, brushstrokes, colour)? Is the subject matter the same? What makes the Canadian landscape so distinct?
The Validation Rule operator evaluates input data against a rule. That is, a logical expression checking for particular values, null, not null, and so on. The user may define one or more rules and give each rule a meaningful name. Input data that evaluates to true are sent to the 'pass' port, and failing records are similarly sent to the 'fail' port. There is a 'failInformation' port that shows the rules that failed and a unique ID for those records. The 'outError' port receives messages to help diagnose problems, such as corrupt input stream characters. Configure and Run the Graph - Click the Validation Rule Demo icon to load the sample graph. Notice the Validation Rule operator has four output ports (described above) attached to four Terminal operators. - In the toolbar, select Run (play button). The Status panel indicates whether the graph is running. - To view the passing records, click the Pass Output terminal, and then select Open UI. - To view the failing records, click the Fail Output terminal, and then select Open UI. - To view the failure information, click the Fail Info Output terminal, and then select Open UI. - To view any error messages, click the Error Output terminal, and then select Open UI. For this example graph, there will be no errors. Rules and Substitution Values Explained - The input data generated by the Data Generator has four columns: ID, Name, Title, and Salary. The Name, Title, and Salary values are randomly selected, and the Title field has the possibility of having a null value. - Click the Validation Rule operator and select Open Configuration. The configuration values are shown in the right pane. - Click on the Rules * option. The rule "Title is NOT NULL" is By default, this means that records with the Title value of NOT NULL are sent to the 'pass' port, and records with a Title value of null, are sent to the 'fail' port. This behavior is controlled by the 'Fail Action' setting, which has a FAIL default value. - But for this example, notice that 'Fail Action' is set to BOTH. This instructs the Validation Rule operator to send records that fail the rule to both the 'pass' port and ALSO the 'fail' port. Why would you do this? - You can provide a substitution value to update or correct the failed records. - The substitution value "fixes" the aspects of a record that failed the rule and all the records are sent to one port. The records are output in the same order from the input source, even for the records that have the substitution value included. - Click the Substitutions option. The substitution "Title - 'Intern'" - Because the substitution is defined as 'Intern', any records that fail AND are sent to the 'pass' port have the Title column updated with the value of 'Intern'. Those records that go the 'fail' port do not have the Title column updated, and remain null. Input data (ID, Name, Title, Salary), 3 records - Notice that record 2 has a null Title 1,Ben,Software Engineer,60543.45 2,Drew,,0.0 3,Glenn,CEO,123054.34 Receives all input records (passing and failing records). Notice the failed record (#2) received the substitution value of 'Intern' for the Title column. Substitution action only occurs to records that fail a rule AND are sent to the 'pass' port. 1,Ben,Software Engineer,60543.45 2,Drew,Intern,0.0 3,Glenn,CEO,123054.34 Receives the one record that failed the rule. Notice the 'B' indicating record was sent to BOTH the 'pass' and 'fail' ports. Failed rules are shown with a unique identifier. 2,Drew,,0.0,B,Failed rules(s): Title,1.0 - Receives information on failed records: unique ID, rule name, and column
By Samuel Rajzman Samuel Rajzman is one of the very few survivors of the Treblinka death camp - he was lucky enough to escape. The testimony he gave, more than 60 years ago, is still important to understand the enormity of the crimes committed in that death camp and in the Final Solution. Before the war he was employed in the Miedzyrzecki Overseas Import & Export Company in Warsaw. His account, given before the American House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1945, follows. In June 1942 placards bearing the following notice were posted on the walls of Warsaw: "Persons not employed in a German firm or the Jewish Community Administration are subject to immediate deportation from the ghetto; the able-bodied will be given employment." About the place of deportation, nothing was known except that it was in the east. Next to the new posters there immediately appeared "Help wanted" advertisements of German firms. The factories, stores, and workshops owned by the Jews had been turned over to German administrators; thus a great number of new German firms had been created. People paid fantastic sums (from five to twenty thousand zlotys, $1,000 to $4,000 per person) to find employment in a German firm and thus escape deportation. Those who still had anything to sell converted it into cash. But those who had no funds were doomed. The day after this announcement it became known that Engineer Czerniacow, president of the Jewish Community, had committed suicide. This reports spread panic among the inhabitants of the ghetto. They knew that the German order concerning deportation had caused his suicide, but it was not clear why; all kinds of conjectures were advanced in explanation, but although the event boded no good, not even the worst pessimists had any idea what was really in store for the Polish Jews. Next day the ghetto was surrounded by patrols posted at short intervals; these prevented anyone from leaving or entering the ghetto, even Gentiles who possessed special passes entitling them to circulate freely in the Jewish quarter. The ghetto now became a real inferno. Processions of carts loaded with little children from orphanages and charity homes passed along the streets. These frightening and trembling mites were being deported; they did not know that never again would they see the city where they had been born and brought up. Behind the children's carts walked inmates from old peoples' homes, aged men and women tottering on their feet, who were forbidden to end their lives in their own city. The Elite Guards escorted the processions. Then the Germans began to check the documents of the remaining inhabitants. Soldiers swarmed everywhere in the streets and houses, they searched cellars and attics, and asked everyone to show his identification papers. Those who could not prove that they were employed in a German firm were taken to the square where the deportees were rounded up. These manhunts results in many victims. The slightest gestures of disobedience, the slightest hesitation before showing one's papers, a smile that the Germans did not find sufficiently pleasant, meant death on the spot. People were killed in their homes, in their court yards, in the streets. In the end many preferred being deported to having their papers checked. The deportees were crowded into trains, at first at the rate of six to eight thousand a day: subsequently the average daily contingent was 20,000. Several weeks later it became known that the Germans had murdered all the old people and children, and that the able-bodied had allegedly been taken deep into Russia. The news of the murder of the old folks and children aroused those who remained to desperate thoughts about countermeasures. When the Germans realized this, they forced the deportees to send letters to their families informing them that they were alive and that all was well with them. The purpose of these letters, which the Nazis frightened the deportees into writing before killing them, was to prevent further rumors. Under the threat of death people wrote to relatives whom they were never to see again. This even took place on the square where the victims were gathered. In the terrible ordeal of the ghetto, children were taken from their mothers, people were beaten and murdered for no reason at all, those who ventured into the streets did not return. By September, only 150,000 Jews of the original 600,000 remained in the Jewish community. However, it was impossible to obtain exact information on their condition because the ghetto was deserted; the employees of the German firms were now its only inhabitants. After a short respite, on September 7, 1942, if I remember correctly, new placards announced that all the remaining inhabitants of the ghetto must report to the assembly place of Mila, Nizka, and Dzika Streets at 8 a.m. to have their identification papers checked. The horrible scene presented by this migration of 150,000 people with bundles on their backs can be imagined. Crowds of Jews filled the narrow streets within a few hours. At exactly 8 a.m. cordons of troops barred all the exits to the above-named streets, those who were found in the ghetto beyond these streets were shot on the spot. Several hours later a group of Elite Guards at one of the designated corners began to inspect the people. The Jews filed by these thugs in groups of four. The latter did not check any papers at all, but directed their victims as they pleased: To the right, which meant back to town, or to the left, which meant to the station for deportation. During this review anyone who failed to realize fast enough in what direction he was supposed to move was killed. The fate of those who held or led children had been determined in advance, they had to go to the left. The writer of this account walked with his wife and two cousins, and, without a word of farewell, was forced to turn to the right, while his wife and cousins were sent to the left. After this selection, from fifty to sixty thousand Jews remained in the ghetto locked up in workshops. A small number of mothers succeeded in smuggling their children past the guards, some women had the idea of chloroforming their babies and putting them in their bundles, thus they passed the inspection. The writer witnessed the following scene: One mother had chloroformed her 11-month-old baby but, just as she was being directed to the right side, the baby awoke and suddenly began to wail in its sack. One Elite Guard pierced the baby with his bayonet through the sack. Then he returned the sack to the mother and ordered her to go leftward. A few moments later a shot resounded and the mother with her sack collapsed on the pavement. During deportation we tried in vain to find out where and for what purpose all these people were being sent away, but the German machine worked flawlessly: no one learned what happened to the victims. On September 17 the owner of the factory in which I worked, W.C. Tobbens, announced that all the workers were to gather in the yard to have their papers checked. He gave us his word of honor that after this inspection we would be sent back to our machines. In the yard five troopers were waiting for us; they took us to the train. From 80 to 90 people were crowded into 1 cattle car. After 12 hours of maneuvering on the tracks, the train left in the direction of Treblinka. The passengers fainted from thirst, hunger, and lack of air. Fifteen hours later the train stopped at Tluszoz, and 5 hours after that at Treblinka. In our car, 5 women and 2 men had suffocated. The train went up on a sidetrack. The train was surrounded by barbed wire entanglements on all sides. We were led out of the train to a nearby square enclosed by a high fence made of pine and fir branches. The passengers who arrived on the train could not see what went on behind the fence. On the square the whole transport was divided; the women were directed to the barracks on the left, the men to the one on the right. Everyone was ordered to undress completely and to deposit all valuables and money in a special place; these were to be retuned after the bath. While undressing I saw Engineer Galewski, of Warsaw, a friend of mine, among the workers. Galewski asked one of the Elite Guards to assign me to the worker's brigade. I was told to dress and was placed in a group employed in carrying bundles of clothing from this square to the storehouses. I never saw my traveling companions again. After a few minutes I understood everything. I felt resentment against Galewski, due to whose intervention I was still alive. Carrying extremely heavy bundles, we had to run the gantlet [sic] between lined-up overseers who beat anyone they could lay their hands on with heavy sticks. All those who carried bundles had swollen faces. By noon no one who knew me would have recognized me, for my face had become a bluish mass, my eyes were bloodshot. During the pause for lunch I complained to my friend and reproached him for having saved me. His answer was unexpected: "I did not save you to keep you alive," he whispered, "but to sell your life at a higher price. You are now a member of a secret organization that is planning an uprising, and you must live." The camp of Treblinka occupied a clearing 1 mile square, surrounded by woods and situation about a mile and a half from the railway station of Treblinka, on the line Malkinia-Siedlece. Beginning in May 1942 every day, with only brief interruptions, trains bringing Jews to Treblinka arrived from all over Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Bulgaria, and Greece. On the average, 3 to 4 trains of 60 cars arrived every day; each car containing 80 to 150 people. The trains traveled along a siding to the entrance gate, where the train escort got off and a camp escort received the deportees. Soldiers from outside were forbidden to cross the camp grounds. Precautions to insure secrecy went so far that an electric siren was placed on the main observation tower, to signal any German plane that approached to change its course. No plane ever flew over the camp. The whole station was camouflaged in the must cunning fashion. Thus, the large barracks adjoining the platform, which served as the main storehouse for the stolen clothes, was covered with timetables of trains that allegedly came to Treblinka Station (some months later, when Treblinka had become famous, the name of the station was changed to Ober-Majdan). Then one saw a huge signpost bear the inscription: "To Bialystock and Baranowicze", such signs as "Tickets" and "Stationmaster," and finally an enormous painted arrow with the words: "Change for east-bound trains." There was also a large station clock. Inside these barracks there was nothing but clothes, shoes, and rags, but incoming people had the impression that they were really at a junction, where they would change to another train going still further east. Near the platform there was a stout fence about 9 feet high with a gate through which the newly arrived were drive in to a huge square. Their disappointment and surprise were overwhelming: instead of a junction, they were in a huge concentration camp. On both sides of the square there were barracks and enormous piles, sometimes 9 feet high, of clothing and shoes. One could hear the rattle of excavators, and the air was permeated with the odor of corpses. On the square men were at once separated from women and told to undress and deposit their papers and valuables. The most heart-rending scenes took place in the winter when women were compelled to strip their children at temperatures of 20-30º below zero in the yard or in open barracks, whose walls were of thin plywood. The unfortunate creatures had nervous shocks, cried and laughed alternately, then wept desperately while standing on line in the cold, their babies pressed close to their breasts. The hangman lashed their naked bodies to force them into silence. The naked women were then taken care of by barbers. Every woman was shaved to the skin with a clipper, then sent to the bath establishment, which consisted of 10 cabins with room for 700 to 800 persons each. In these cabins there were even towels and rules posted. Once the people were inside, the cabins were hermetically sealed, and the air pumped out with machine (poison gas was used later). Thus the victims were suffocated to death. They remained in the cabins for 10 to 20 minutes; the large number of others waiting in line for the "bath" made it impossible for the Germans to leave them there any longer. Later the bodies of the suffocated were thrown on an open oven to be burned; frequently the victims gave signs of life after being thrown into the flames, but to this the German guard did not react at all. Before the corpses were burned, a group of dentists verified whether they had any gold teeth, for these were torn out of the bodies. The oven consisted of an enormous ditch with a concrete foundation and a grate made of rails. Under the grate a strong fire blazed continually, fed by some special fuel. The workers from the transports arrived daily. As a reward for working 1 day, they were not sent to the cabins, but were killed by a bullet in the back of the head. Death by shooting was really a great privilege. Because little children at their mothers' breasts were a great nuisance during the shaving procedure, later the system was modified and babies were taken from their mothers as soon as they got off the train. The children were taken to an enormous ditch; when a large number of them were gathered together they were killed by firearms and thrown into the fire. When mothers succeeded in keeping their babies with them and this fact interfered with the shaving, a German guard took the baby by its legs and smashed it against the wall of the barracks until only a bloody mass remained in his hands. The unfortunate mother had to take this mass with her to the "bath." Only those who saw these things with their own eyes will believe with what delight the Germans performed these operations; how glad they were when they succeeded in killing a child with only three or four blows; with what satisfaction they pushed the baby's corpse into the mother's arms. The invalids, crippled, and aged who could not move fast were put to death in the same way as the children. The ditch into which the children and infirm were slaughtered and burned was called in German the "Lazarett" "infirmary," and the workers employed in it wore armbands with the Red Cross sign. The Germans boasted that the "infirmary radically cured all diseases". Our guards were especially pleased when they succeeded in deceiving and making mockery of the deportees from abroad, especially those who were prominent in any way. For instance, one day a transport of deportees came from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. None of the new arrivals had any idea of what was in store for him, all were convinced that they were to be settled here to work. An old man, a prominent surgeon from Vienna, came out and explained to the Hauptsturmfurer [sic] that he had brought with him a whole carload of special apparatus and surgical instruments. He asked that the workers kindly be instructed to take care when unloading these tools because now, during the war, it was impossible to have them repaired should they be damaged. The Hauptsturmfurer [sic] assured him very seriously that the instruments would not be unloaded until the professor returned from his bath and that he himself could supervise their transportation to the professor's apartment. It goes without saying that the surgeon never returned from the "bath." On another occasion an old lady of aristocratic appearance approached Untersturmfürer Franz, the worst hangman, and showed him her papers which indicated that she was a relative of the famous Siegmund [sic] Freud, of Vienna. She asked him to assign her to clerical work, since her age did not permit her to do any heavy work. Franz carefully verified her papers and told her to reports to the main office of the camp immediately after her bath, where he would have a pass prepared for her to return to Vienna the same day. The lady thanked him graciously, undressed, and happily went off to the bath cabin. Still another example of brutality: An elderly deportee from Warsaw recognized in the Hauptsturmführer a friend of his whom he had often met at international conferences abroad. The German official took him to the office (the only case when a Jew entered there), and an hour later one could see him walking toward the courtyard accompanied by the Hauptsturmführer's friend. ----- was in the oven. The workers in the camp were divided as follows: Group I: Classifying the new articles, carrying clothes and baggage to storerooms. Group II: Sorting stolen clothes and loading them on cars going to Germany. Group III: Sorting, packing, and counting money, foreign exchange, gold, and valuables. Group IV: Crafts, such as shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, masons, locksmiths, etc., who worked in shops. Group V: Barbers. Group VI: Dentists. Group VII: Porters to carry corpses to the oven. Groups I to V were strictly separated from groups VI and VII; even the slightest communication with them was made very difficult in order to prevent the crews that did not work directly in the cabins from leaning how the mass murder was being carried out. The workers of group VII were changed every few days. The other groups were in principle steady, but actually the life of every "steady" worker depended upon the moods of the guards, and these wanted only blood. There were thousands of pretexts for killing. If a piece of bread coming from an outside bakery was discovered on a worker the penalty was death. Death was meted out for not carefully removing the Jewish insignia from clothes of the murdered. Death for having kept a coin or a wedding ring, the last relic of the worker's murdered wife. The methods of execution were the following: (1) lashing to death while cold water was constantly poured on the victim; (2) hanging on gallows by the feet; (3) tearing to pieces by dogs (Franz's favorite amusement); (4) the mildest form of death, yearned for by everyone -- shooting. For drinking water during work, smoking a cigarette, improper saluting, and similar offenses, the penalties were from fifty to one hundred lashes on the bare body, but usually the worker was finished after fifty lashes, and if several pails of water did not bring him to, he was thrown on the fire. As a result of starvation and living in cold barracks during the winter of 1942-43, an epidemic of typhus broke out. A special office was set up, called the Krankenstube (sickroom). But when a worker with a temperature of 102 reported to the physician and the physician recommended that he be put to bed in the Krankenstube, there appeared Unterscharfurer [sic] Mieta [sic], whose specialty and favorite pastime was the "selection" of workers. Five minutes later the patient was taken to the "infirmary" where he was cured by a bullet. In the last weeks of my stay in the camp, the Jewish physician succeeded in obtaining soporifics which were injected into each patient before he was executed; he was taken to the "infirmary" only after he had fallen asleep. Dramatic scenes took place during the giving of injections, for sometimes other injections were given, to strengthen the heart, for instance. Before taking an injection the worker always said farewell to his comrades because he suspected that the injection would put him to sleep, after which he would be sent to the "infirmary." It also happened that a typhus patient was sometimes given an injection by order of Miete. Miete would ask the doctor when the patient would be asleep. The physician would answer, "In 20 minutes." Twenty minutes later stretcher bearers led by Miete would appear, to find the patient eating his ration of black bread with a healthy appetite. Consternation all around, but his excellency, Elite Guard Miete must not fatigue himself for nothing; he would order the patient to be put on the stretcher and taken to the infirmary in spite of his obvious recover. In vain would the patient weep and protest that he was now completely well. Five minutes later one would hear a shot. If so, the worker was fortunate: For having disappointed Miete he might have been hung by his feet, but all he had got was a bullet. How "steady" these workers' crews were is best illustrated by the fact that 80,000 workers passed through the camp, while a maximum of 700 were employed at one time. These are the names of some of the hangmen in the camp: The deputy commandant, Kurt Franz; chief of the guards, Obersharfurer [sic] Kittner; chief of the cemetery, Unterscharführer Floss; deputy chief of the guards, Unterscharführer Emil Miete. There were also 36 other Unterscharführers. Among the first six groups there was a conspiratorial committee who task was to avenge at least to some extent the millions of innocent people executed. They dreamed of setting fire to the whole camp and exterminating at least the cruelest engines at the price of their own lives. The work of organization was difficult, because the Germans had several stool pigeons among the workers, and all our moves had to be most carefully guarded. Finally it was decided that the only practical plan was to get ammunition and arms from the camp's arsenal. Luck favored us, for a few days after this resolution was taken, one of the Jewish locksmiths was sent to repair the lock of the armored door of the arsenal, which was out of order. The locksmith took an imprint of the key, and after 4 months' work another key was ready. Three combat units were then organized, and our leader, Dr. Julian Chorazyski, a former captain in the Polish Army, worked out a detailed plan of action. The coup was to take place on April 21, 1943. Unfortunately, on April 19, Dr. Chorazyski failed to give a proper salute to Untersturmführer Franz, who struck him in the face with his riding crop. In his excitement Dr. Chorazycki [sic] reached for his knife and was about to strike. Franz jumped out of the window shouting that Chorazycki must be taken alive. He was foiled in this design: the doctor had time to take poison. After Chorazycki's death our plan had to be postponed for several months because we had no qualified leader, and none of us wanted to take moral responsibility for an unsuccessful coup. On May 1, 1943, Dr. Lecher, a physician from Wegrow, came to our camp. He was also a former Polish officer, and after a few days in camp he agreed to take the leadership of our group. We waited for an opportune moment to get into the arsenal. On August 2, 1943, while a large group of masons were working nearby, we finally managed to open it. Thus we were able to get one of our comrades into the building and lock him up there. One of the Unterscharführers lived in a room adjoining the arsenal, and at that moment he happened to be in his quarters. The slightest rustle in the stacks of weapons could have betrayed us. For that reason we delegated Engineer Sudowicz of Czestochowa to go to this unterscharfurer, with whom he had good relations, and under some pretext lure him out of his room. At the same time, we cut a pane out of a window opposite the door at a spot that was unguarded. Outside the arsenal there was a pile of debris and bricks. A cart driven by a member of our group drove up to the building ostensibly to remove the debris. Under it 20 hand grenades, 20 rifles, and several revolvers with cartridges were loaded. All this was taken to the ditch where lime and gravel were kept for construction work, and divided among the combat units. The disinfector of the camp belonged to one of these units. His work in the camp consisted in walking around with a sprinkler full of disinfectant. We had got some gasoline from trucks and tanks in the garage through one of our comrades, a mechanic from Czestochova [sic]. On the day of the coup this gasoline was poured into his apparatus instead of disinfectant, and he sprinkled it liberally according to our leader's instructions. Curiously enough, the "disinfection" of one of our objectives took place in the presence of one of the unterscharfurers, who did not notice anything. At 3:45 p.m. we heard the signal -- a rifleshot near the gates of the Jewish barracks. This shot was followed by the detonations of hand grenades hurled at previously "disinfected" objects. An enormous fire broke out in the whole camp. The arsenal exploded and everything was burned, except the "bath" cabins, because it proved absolutely impossible to get near them. The victim of the first shot was Obersharführer Kittner, the chief of the guards and the leading camp spy. The flames devoured all the storerooms for clothes and shoes. Of the 700 workers on the camp grounds, only 150 to 200 succeeded in escaping; the others perished in the camp as well as over 20 Germans. Of the 150 to 200 who managed to escape, only 12 are still alive; the others were later murdered by the German hangmen. During the last 11 months of its existence the Treblinka camp administration recorded the exact number of deportees brought in and the exact amount of goods sent out. The number of Jews were: From Germany, about 120,000; from Austria, 40,000; from Poland, 1,500,000; from Czechoslovakia, 100,000; from Bulgaria, 14,000; from Russia, 1,000,000; total, 2,774,000. In the course of the same 11 months several hundred million dollars worth of foreign exchange, gold, and valuables were sent from Treblinka to Germany through official channels, as well as trunks full of goods which the German guards stole and exported for themselves. Uprising in Treblinka in U.S. Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Punishment of war criminals, 120-125. 79th Cong., 1st sess. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1945.
A yellowish/orange pigment associated with fall leaf colors. Carotenes are present in lesser amounts than the other yellow pigment - xanthophyll. Like xanthophyll, carotenes are present throughout the growing season, but masked by the chlorophyll (green) pigment. See: Anthocyanin; Xanthophyll; Tannin; Chlorophyll Articles in this collection were copyrighted 1995 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. For full copyright information about the articles in this encyclopedia, click here.
Where the Spirit is in the Water! UNLIKE THE RIVER I AM THE SEA IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU WILL ALWAYS SEE ME! Join the warm and friendly people of the Sea Islands Black Heritage Festival (many people, many islands)! Hold the hands of love around the globe! The wisdom, beauty, fortitude of our ancestors, a proud and brilliant people, left an indelible heritage in the universe from Africa to the Caribbean, Mexico to Central America, the coast of North America to the lands of South America, and throughout the world. The African struggle for self-determination over the centuries uniquely developed communities of cultures that helped in every aspect to define the world. We celebrate and honor our ancestors, our ESTEEMED KIN! Howard Dodson reminds us that it was the peopling of the Americas with Africans, who formed much of the human foundation on which the Americas were built, and whose presence and activities were of key importance during the formative period of the new nations. In the necessary process of re-creating themselves in their new milieu, these Diasporan Africans invented and participated in the inventing of new cultural forms such as languages, religions, foods, aesthetic expressions, and political and social organizations. Economic historian Joseph Inikori in agreement with Dodson and using quantitative data to support his contentions, states that for the three and a half centuries between 1500 and 1850, it was the labor of African peoples enslaved in the Americas that was at the center of the economic development of the Atlantic world. During this period, large-scale commodity production in the Americas transformed the Atlantic Ocean into the busiest trading mart in the world, with trade among European countries depending heavily on American products. It was the forced migration of Africans to the Americas through the slave trade and the forced labor of their descendants in the Americas through the plantation system that made this large-scale production possible and profitable. Inikori states that, "According to recent estimates, 75 percent of the American products traded during the period were produced by Africans and their descendants in the Americas." Howard Dodson, Former Chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library Joseph E. Inikori, Ph.D., Professor, History Department, University of Rochester CEDRICK FRASIER, ANGELA LINDSAY GUEST PERFORMERS: (In Alphabetical Order) EUGENE ARMSTRONG Drumming for Universal Love TRAVIS BROWN Remembers John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon ROSLYN BURROUGH Remembers Sarah Vaughan CHOSEN VESSEL Spirit Dance COASTAL YOUTH THEATRE OF VOICES Remembers The Underground Railroad KAREN DANIELS Jazz Flutist GA GEECHEE GULLAH RING SHOUTERS , Storytellers Telling Lives of the Ancient TRAE HICKS & FAMILY The Steel Guitar Remembers Michael Jackson and Frankie Lymon JAMIAH HUDSON Sings Etta James, Billie Holiday NATALIE MOORE Sings Marian Anderson SHERYL RENEE Sings Musical Legends SMOOTH JOURNEY BAND Forever Jazz GARY SWINDELL Sings and Plays the Blues VICTORIA WARD Love is Whitney Houston
- Open Access Molecular detection of Rickettsia species in ticks collected from the southwestern provinces of the Republic of Korea Parasites & Vectors volume 10, Article number: 20 (2017) Rickettsiae constitute a group of arthropod-borne, Gram-negative, obligate intracellular bacteria that are the causative agents of diseases ranging from mild to life threatening that impact on medical and veterinary health worldwide. A total of 6,484 ticks were collected by tick drag from June-October 2013 in the southwestern provinces of the Republic of Korea (ROK) (Jeollanam, n = 3,995; Jeollabuk, n = 680; Chungcheongnam, n = 1,478; and Chungcheongbuk, n = 331). Ticks were sorted into 311 pools according to species, collection site, and stage of development. DNA preparations of tick pools were assayed for rickettsiae by 17 kDa antigen gene and ompA nested PCR (nPCR) assays and the resulting amplicons sequenced to determine the identity and prevalence of spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR). Haemaphysalis longicornis (4,471; 52 adults, 123 nymphs and 4,296 larvae) were the most commonly collected ticks, followed by Haemaphysalis flava (1,582; 28 adults, 263 nymphs and 1,291 larvae), and Ixodes nipponensis (431; 25 adults, 5 nymphs and 401 larvae). The minimum field infection rate/100 ticks (assuming 1 positive tick/pool) was 0.93% for the 17 kDa antigen gene and 0.82% for the ompA nPCR assays. The partial 17 kDa antigen and ompA gene sequences from positive pools of H. longicornis were similar to: Rickettsia sp. HI550 (99.4–100%), Rickettsia sp. FUJ98 (99.3–100%), Rickettsia sp. HIR/D91 (99.3–100%), and R. japonica (99.7%). One sequence of the partial 17 kDa antigen gene for H. flava was similar to Rickettsia sp. 17kd-005 (99.7%), while seven sequences of the 17 kDa antigen gene obtained from I. nipponensis ticks were similar to R. monacensis IrR/Munich (98.7–100%) and Rickettsia sp. IRS3 (98.9%). SFG rickettsiae were detected in three species of ixodid ticks collected in the southwestern provinces of the ROK during 2013. A number of rickettsiae have been recently reported from ticks in Korea, some of which were identified as medically important. Results from this study and previous reports demonstrate the need to conduct longitudinal investigations to identify tick-borne rickettsiae and better understand their geographical distributions and potential impact on medical and veterinary health, in addition to risk communication and development of rickettsial disease prevention strategies. Rickettsia species are obligate intracellular bacteria in the order Rickettsiales that infect a variety of vertebrate hosts, including humans via arthropod vectors . The genus Rickettsia has been classified according to morphological, antigenic, and metabolic characteristics, but now with the availability of genetic information, new approaches to phylogenetic inferences have provided new perspectives on rickettsial classification and evolution. Members of the genus Rickettsia are divided into many different phylogenetic groups and this progression will continue with additional phylogeny data. Currently there exists: (i) the spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) (e.g. Rickettsia conorii, R. rickettsii and R. japonica, the causative agents of Mediterranean, Rocky Mountain, and Japanese spotted fever, respectively, that are transmitted by ixodid ticks); (ii) the typhus group (TGR) (e.g. R. typhi, the causative agent of murine typhus transmitted by fleas, and R. prowazekii, the causative agent of epidemic typhus transmitted by the body louse); (iii) the transitional group (TRGR) transmitted by fleas, mites and ticks; (iv) the R. bellii group (ticks); (v) the R. canadensis group; (vi) the Helvetica group; (vii) the Scapularis group; (viii) the Adalia group; and (ix) the Hydra group [1–4]. Ticks, obligate parasites of vertebrates and found in various natural environments throughout the world, are divided into three families: Ixodidae (hard ticks), Argasidae (soft ticks), and Nuttalliellidae (one species in South Africa). Worldwide, ixodid ticks (e.g. Haemaphysalis flava, H. longicornis, Ixodes persulcatus and I. nipponensis in Asia; I. ricinus in Europe; Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Dermacentor andersoni, D. variabilis, Amblyomma americanum and Am. maculatum in America) are the primary vectors/reservoirs of a wide range of rickettsiae of medical and veterinary importance (e.g. R. japonica, R. rickettsii, R. conorii, R. honei, R. sibirica, R. slovaca and R. monacensis) that affect birds, wild and domestic animals, and humans in Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Russia and China [5–11]. SFGR were first reported in Korea based on serological analysis of acute febrile patients [12, 13]. The first case of Japanese spotted fever and isolation of SFGR from a patient in Korea was reported in 2005 . These serological positive sera were assessed by molecular methods based on sequences of the ompB gene by nested PCR (nPCR) demonstrated similarities to R. conorii, R. akari, R. japonica and R. sibirica. Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks from Chungju Province were positive for R. japonica using PCR analysis and sequencing of the groEL gene . Moreover, R. japonica and R. monacensis were detected in H. longicornis by nPCR and sequence analysis of the gltA, ompB, and 17 kDa antigen genes [16, 17]. More recently, Rickettsia species have been detected in various arthropods and tick species in Korea that were collected from small mammals, reptiles, and the environment (by tick drag) [10, 18–20]. The purpose of this study was to identify the presence and prevalence of Rickettsia species in ticks collected from the southwestern provinces (Jeollanam, Jeollabuk, Chungcheongbuk and Chungcheongnam) of Korea during 2013 to identify and genetically characterize the rickettsiae based on sequence analysis of the partial 17 kDa antigen and ompA genes. A total of 6,484 unengorged ticks (adults, nymphs and larvae) were collected by tick drags when ticks were active during June-October from the southwestern provinces (Jeollanam, Jeollabuk, Chungcheongnam and Chungcheongbuk) of Korea in 2013 as described by Chong et al. [21, 22]. Ticks were identified to species level using morphological keys [23, 24] and placed in 2 ml cryovials according to collection date, species and stage of development (n = 6,484; 311 pools of 1–5 adults, 1–25 nymphs, and 1–69 larvae) (Table 1) . Ticks were washed in 70% ethanol, rinsed twice with sterile PBS, and then homogenized in 600 μl of PBS and stored at -70 °C until used for DNA extraction. DNA was extracted from 200 μl of tick suspension using the G-spin total DNA extraction kit (iNtRON, Gyeonggi, Korea) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. DNA was eluted into 50 μl TE buffer and stored at -20 °C until PCR amplification. Nested PCR (nPCR) amplification Direct amplification by nPCR was performed to identify target genes using the partial 17 kDa and ompA genes for Rickettsia species belonging to the family Rickettsiaceae. The ompA gene encoded for the SFGR-specific 190 kDa outer membrane protein and the partial 17 kDa antigen gene encoded for the Rickettsia genus-specific 17 kDa outer membrane protein. Rickettsia spp. DNA presence was screened using the 17 kDa antigen gene by nPCR as described previously . Briefly, the PCR was performed in a final reaction volume of 20 μl containing 3 μl DNA, 10 pmol of each primer, and the premix reagent (Maxime PCR PreMix kit/i-starTaqTM GH, iNtRON, Gyeonggi, Korea). nPCR was performed in a final reaction volume of 20 μl containing 3 μl of the initial PCR product, 10 pmol of each primer and the premix reagent. Samples positive for the 17 kDa gene target nPCR (appropriate size band identified following agarose gel electrophoresis) were subsequently assessed for the presence of a fragment of ompA. The premix reagent, reaction volumes, DNA templates and the amount of primers were the same as those used in the 17 kDa reactions (Table 2). Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis Sequencing of Rickettsia-positive nPCR amplicons was conducted by Macrogen Inc. (Daejeon, Korea). The obtained sequences were compared for similarity to sequences deposited in GenBank using BLAST. Gene sequences, excluding the primer regions, were aligned using the multisequence alignment program in Lasergene version 8 (DNASTAR, USA), and phylogenetic analysis performed using MEGA 6 software. Phylogenetic trees were constructed in CLUSTAL W of the MegAlign Program (DNASTAR, USA) based on the alignment of rickettsial gene sequences obtained following nPCR using the neighbor-joining method and bootstrap analysis (1,000 reiterations) carried out according to the Kimura 2-parameter method. Pairwise alignments were performed with an open-gap penalty of 10 and a gap extension penalty of 0.5. All positions containing alignment gaps and missing data were eliminated during the pairwise sequence comparison (pairwise deletion). Collection of ticks A total of 6,484 ticks belonging to two genera and three species were collected at four southwestern provinces by tick drag (Fig. 1). Haemaphysalis longicornis (4,471; 52 adults, 123 nymphs and 4,296 larvae), was the most commonly collected tick, followed by H. flava (1,582; 28 adults, 263 nymphs and 1,291 larvae), and I. nipponensis (431; 25 adults, 5 nymphs and 401 larvae). Detection and prevalence of rickettsial agents A total of 60/311 (19.30%) pools from Chungcheongnam (3/1,478; 0.20%), Chungcheongbuk (0/331; 0%), Jeollanam (53/3,995; 1.33%) and Jeollabuk (4/680; 0.59%) provinces, respectively, were positive for Rickettsia spp. using the 17 kDa antigen gene nPCR assay (Table 3). A total of 51/168 (30.36%) and 46/168 (27.38%) of H. longicornis pools were positive for Rickettsia using the 17 kDa antigen and ompA genes, respectively. Only 1/108 (0.93%) and 0/108 (0%) of H. flava were positive for Rickettsia spp. using the partial 17 kDa and ompA genes, respectively, while 7/35 (20.00%) pools of I. nipponensis were positive for R. monacensis. The overall minimum field infection rates (MFIR) of Rickettsia-positive pools (assuming 1 positive tick/pool) were 0.93% (60/6,484) for the 17 kDa antigen gene and 0.82% (53/6,484) for the ompA gene targets (Table 4) . The overall MFIR for all three species ranged from 0–0.88% for larvae, 0–6.50% for nymphs, and 0–57.1% for adults (Table 4). There were no significant differences (Chi-square test, P = 0.98) observed between the positive rates of the partial 17 kDa and ompA genes. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis The partial 17 kDa antigen gene and ompA nPCR amplicons were sequenced and aligned with other rickettsial genes deposited in the GenBank database to identify known sequences with a high degree of similarity using ClustalW . The sequencing electropherograms of all positive pools were confirmed as single peaks, indicating each pool represented a single Rickettsia species. The amplicon sequences of the partial 17 kDa gene obtained from H. longicornis demonstrated 99.4–100% similarity to previously reported molecular sequences from H. longicornis that phylogenetically clustered with Rickettsia sp. HIR/D91, Rickettsia sp. 71-8, Rickettsia sp. HI550 and Rickettsia sp. LON-2, LON-13. Similarly, ompA sequences of positive pools of H. longicornis demonstrated 99.3–100% similarity to sequences of rickettsiae from H. longicornis previously reported as Rickettsia sp. HIR/D91, Rickettsia sp. LON-2, LON-13, Rickettsia sp. HI550 and Rickettsia sp. FUJ98, that are similar, but distinct from R. japonica. Phylogenetic analysis showed a close relationship between rickettsial isolates from H. longicornis from the southwestern provinces of Korea and rickettsial isolates from H. longicornis from other Asian countries (Figs. 2 and 3). The amplicon sequence of the partial 17 kDa gene for one positive pool of H. flava demonstrated 99.7% similarity to previously reported Rickettsia sp. 17-kDa-005 that clustered with R. montanensis and R. raoultii (Fig. 2). The amplicon sequences of the partial 17 kDa gene and ompA genes from seven pools of I. nipponensis demonstrated 100% and 98.7–98.9% similarity, respectively, to previously reported R. monacensis IrR/Munich (Figs. 2 and 3). Tick-borne rickettsiae are obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the genus Rickettsia, many of which are of medical importance [27–29]. Clinically, tick-borne rickettsioses present with mild to life threatening signs and symptoms that include: an eschar (not always indicated) that is present 1–2 days prior to the onset of headache and fever (39.5–40.0 °C), and a characteristic rash 1–2 days after the onset of fever that can last for 2–3 weeks. Tick-borne infections are often reported as non-specific febrile diseases due to the lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms and diagnostic assays effective early in the process of disease [27–29]. In the USA, there were a total of 3,649 cases of rickettsioses reported between 1997–2002 and more than 1,500 cases reported annually since 2005 (www.cdc.gov/rmsf/stats/index.html). This increase in reporting may be due to the fact that rickettsioses are becoming more widely recognized [1, 29]. In addition to disease producing tick-borne rickettsiae, many rickettsiae (e.g. R. bellii, R. canadensis, R. asiatica, R. hoogstraalii, R. montanensis, R. rhipicephali and R. tamurae) have not been identified as pathogens and therefore are often referred to as non-pathogenic or of unknown pathogenicity. To further complicate matters, with the discovery of numerous new Rickettsia spp. in ticks using molecular tools, their role as causative agents of diseases of medical and veterinary importance has not been established, in part owing to lack of diagnostic tools for pathogen detection, rather than for antibodies . With increased interest in tick-borne diseases, surveillance of ticks from reptiles, mammals, birds, and vegetation has led to the identification of known and yet to be described pathogens belonging to genera of Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Bartonella, Borrelia, Babesia and Rickettsia, in addition to viruses [10, 18–20, 30–36]. Rickettsia akari, a mite-borne pathogen isolated from a rodent, was first reported in Korea in 1957 [37, 38]. Later, acute febrile patients tested positive by serological tests for R. japonica in 2004, 2005 and 2006 [9, 12, 13]. Recently, various gene targets from rickettsial pathogens were identified in various ixodid tick species, including H. longicornis, H. flava, I. nipponensis and I. persulcatus [15–17]. Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava and I. nipponensis are commonly collected throughout Korea, while H. phasiana, A. testudinarium, I. pomerantzevi, I. persulcatus and I. ovatus have a limited geographical/habitat distribution and are collected much less frequently [22, 38, 39]. Tick-borne disease surveillance usually includes the detection of pools of ticks, as it is costly and untimely to assay for multiple agents within individual ticks . However, it is important to assay ticks from specific habitats (e.g. forests and grasses/herbaceous vegetation) and hosts over their geographical range to determine the potential association with man and domestic animals, as well as the distribution of associated pathogens [8, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 31, 39]. The conserved 17 kDa antigen gene was used in this study to screen for the presence of rickettsiae in tick pools. Subsequently, the 17 kDa Rickettsia-positive pools (n = 60) were assessed for the presence of ompA (also by nPCR). All but seven of the 60 Rickettsia-positive pools were positive for the more variable ompA gene. A previous report also showed that ompA genes were not detected in several different rickettsial genotypes . Results of the partial 17 kDa antigen and ompA gene sequences obtained from H. longicornis pools showed that the rickettsial agents detected were closely related to Rickettsia sp. HIR/D91, 71-8 identified in Korea, Rickettsia sp. HI550 and LON-2, LON-13 identified in Japan, and Rickettsia sp. FuJ98 identified in China. Only one Rickettsia-positive H. flava pool sequenced demonstrated a high similarity to Rickettsia sp. 17-kDa-005 identified in China, while all seven Rickettsia-positive pools of I. nipponensis were similar to R. monacensis and Rickettsia sp. IrR/Munich identified in Europe. Rickettsia monacensis, a known human pathogen, was first isolated from I. ricinus collected from an English garden in Germany in 1998 . While R. monacensis was generally observed only in I. ricinus mainly from southern and eastern Europe , it has been detected in I. nipponensis collected from rodents captured in Korea (Jeollanam Province in 2006 and Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces in 2008) [10, 17]. Haemaphysalis longicornis is commonly collected from grasses and herbaceous vegetation, while H. flava is more commonly associated with forest habitats and I. nipponensis is collected similarly from both habitats throughout the ROK . Haemaphysalis longicornis is commonly found in grassy areas that expose civilians and military populations to tick bites and associated pathogens, which not only include Rickettsia spp., but other bacteria and viruses of medical and veterinary importance [32–35, 41]. Rickettsia monacensis has been detected in I. nipponensis, which are more frequently reported in tick bites [42–45]. While H. longicornis, the primary vector of the severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus, has not been frequently reported to bite humans, with 36, 51, and 78 cases of SFTS infections among civilians in the ROK reported from 2013–2015, respectively, indicates that most bites go unreported with the potential for the transmission of rickettsiae to both civilian and military populations. Additional analysis of gene sequences of Rickettsia spp. will allow for their specific identification and the development of species-specific PCR assays and determination of their medical and veterinary importance. SFGR infections are not reportable events in the ROK and some cases are likely included as scrub typhus since the symptoms, including fever, eschar and rash, are similar. Analysis of eschar tissue by PCR would allow for the detection and identification of Rickettsia spp. and scrub typhus strains among patients with similar disease presentation . The identification of the SFGR diseases and scrub typhus is essential to determine tick- and mite-borne disease risks and develop appropriate disease prevention strategies. Additional investigations to determine the identification of rickettsiae associated with each of the tick species using single tick analysis and the geographical/habitat distribution of each of the tick species and associated pathogens are needed to identify disease risks to both civilian and military populations in the ROK. Rickettsial pathogens pose a potential health threat to military and civilian communities in the ROK. Ixodes nipponensis has been shown to be infected with R. monacensis, a human pathogen, and H. longicornis and H. flava have been shown to be infected with SFGR of unknown pathogenicity. More intense and longitudinal surveillance of ticks and their hosts in the ROK is needed to determine their geographical and habitat distributions, and the geographical distribution and prevalence of their associated pathogens. The characterization of SFGR is essential to identify agents of tick-borne human diseases and their relative pathogenicity. Lastly, the detection and identification data of the rickettsiae reported herein will provide for the development of species-specific diagnostic assays that are essential for rapid detection of SFGR in the vectors, vertebrate hosts and patients. - 17 kDa: Rickettsia-specific outer membrane antigen gene minimum field infection rate per 100 ticks - ompA : spotted fever group-specific 190 kDa outer membrane protein A gene Republic of Korea Parola P, Paddock CD, Raoult D. Tick-borne rickettsioses around the world: emerging diseases challenging old concepts. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2005;18:719–56. 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This research was supported by the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, the Ministry of Health & Welfare (grant no. 4800-4838-303), the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response Systems (AFHSB-GEIS) work unit A1402 (ALR), and the Medical Department Activity-Korea, 65th Medical Brigade. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the U.S. Departments of the Army, Navy or Defense. Availability of data and materials The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included with NCBI accession numbers: Chungcheong 927 (KX418671, KX418672), Jeolla 958 (KX418673), Jeolla 959 (KX418675, KX418676), Jeolla 960 (KX418677), Jeolla 961 (KX418678), Jeolla 962 (KX418740), Jeolla 964 (KX418765, KX418766), Jeolla 967 (KX418741, KX418742), Jeolla 968 (KX418767, KX418768), Jeolla 969 (KX418743, KX418744), Jeolla 972 (KX418754, KX418755), Jeolla 973 (KX418745, KX418746), Jeolla 979 (KX418756, KX418757), Jeolla 985 (KX418758, KX418759), Jeolla 990 (KX418760, KX418761), Jeolla 1004 (KX418663, KX418664), Jeolla 1046 (KX418747, KX418748), Jeolla 1048 (KX418679, KX418680), Jeolla 1049 (KX418681, KX418682), Jeolla 1050 (KX418683, KX418684), Jeolla 1052 (KX418685, KX418686), Jeolla 1053 (KX418687, KX418688), Jeolla 1055 (KX418689, KX418690), Jeolla 1056 (KX418691, KX418692), Jeolla 1058 (KX418749), Jeolla 1059 (KX418750, KX418751), Jeolla 1060 (KX418693, KX418694), Jeolla 1061 (KX418695, KX418696), Jeolla 1063 (KX418697, KX418698), Jeolla 1064 (KX418699, KX418700), Jeolla 1065 (KX418762, KX418763), Jeolla 1066 (KX418701, KX418702), Jeolla 1067 (KX418703, KX418704), Jeolla 1068 (KX418705, KX418706), Jeolla 1069 (KX418707, KX418708), Jeolla 1070 (KX418709, KX418710), Jeolla 1072 (KX423490), Jeolla 1073 (KX418711, KX418712), Jeolla 1074 (KX418713, KX418714), Jeolla 1075 (KX418715, KX418716), Jeolla 1076 (KX418717, KX418718), Jeolla 1077 (KX418719, KX418720), Jeolla 1078 (KX418721, KX418722), Jeolla 1081 (KX418723, KX418724), Jeolla 1083 (KX418725, KX418726), Jeolla 1092 (KX418727, KX418728), Jeolla 1094 (KX418729, KX418730), Jeolla 1101 (KX418764), Jeolla 1133 (KX418731, KX418732), Chungcheong 1147 (KX418657, KX418658), Chungcheong 1155 (KX418665, KX418666), Jeolla 1167 (KX418752, KX418753), Jeolla 1168 (KX418733, KX418734), Jeolla 1175 (KX418659, KX418660), Jeolla 1176 (KX418735, KX418736), Jeolla 1178 (KX418737, KX418738), Jeolla 1196 (KX418667, KX418668), Jeolla 1199 (KX418661, KX418662), Jeolla 1200 (KX418669, KX418670), Jeolla 1208 (KX418739). Conceived the study, drafted the manuscript, and performed the experiments: YTN, YSL, HKL and SYK. Collected and identified ticks: TAK, HCK, and STC. Reviewed the manuscript: TN, HCK, TAK, ALR, JJ and HKL. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Consent for publication Ethics approval and consent to participate Rights and permissions Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. About this article Cite this article Noh, Y., Lee, Y.S., Kim, HC. et al. Molecular detection of Rickettsia species in ticks collected from the southwestern provinces of the Republic of Korea. Parasites Vectors 10, 20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-016-1955-x - Spotted fever group rickettsiae - Ixodid ticks - 17 kDa antigen gene
by Dr. Ron Moseley The following article is provided by Ebed Publishing. *Note: Endnotes appear at the end of the article. Example: (1). Dr. Ron Moseley Contrary to what some believe, the first fifteen bishops of the original Church at Jerusalem were Jewish. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius tells us that "the church at Jerusalem, at first formed of the circumcision, came later to be formed of Gentile Christians, and the whole church under them, consisted of faithful Hebrews who continued from the time of the apostles, until the siege of Jerusalem."(1) In his second-century historical work, Hegesippus describes the rivalry between a man named Thebouthis and others, seeking the position of bishop after the death of James, who was said to be the first pastor at Jerusalem.(2) According to Hegesippus, the Hebrew Christians finally chose Simeon, who was a cousin of the Lord, to succeed James. Epiphanius lists the remaining thirteen Jewish pastors of the Jerusalem Church as Justus, Zaccheus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Mathias, Philip, Seneca, Justus, Levi, Ephrem, Joseph, and Jude, completing the historical record all the way up to the Bar Kochba Revolt (A.D. 132-135).(3) These Jewish relatives of Jesus who led the early Church were called Desposynoi, meaning "heirs," and were often persecuted because of their Davidic lineage and their relationship to the Messiah. During the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), the Jewish nation was crushed in what came to be called the Second Jewish War. Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina by the Romans, and Jews were forbidden to enter the city for one hundred years. As these dramatic events were unfolding, many of the Hebrew Christians fled to the mountains of Pella, located in present-day Jordan, in obedience to Christ's instruction found in Matthew 24:16. This left only Gentile believers in control of the Church for the first time, and they quickly appointed a man named Mark as Jerusalem's first non-Jewish pastor.(4) (5) According to Baring Gould's history, the community of believers in exile, led by James and Simeon, was still clinging tightly to the old traditions while crouched at Pella.(6) Since the Hebrew Christians were not completely removed from Jerusalem until well into the second century, for its first one hundred years, the Church remained very much a part of first-century Judaism, and its leaders stayed involved in many Jewish affairs. There was no immediate split from the synagogue, as evidenced by Jesus' warning that some synagogues would punish His followers for preaching a different brand of Judaism ( Matthew 10:17). We know that this scourging by synagogue leaders was not an abnormal part of normative Judaism since it is mentioned a number of times in early rabbinical literature.(7) The structure of the local synagogues was carried over directly into the structure of the early Church. A president, deacons, a precentor (song leader), and teachers can all be found in both the synagogue and the early Church. We know from early sources that there were between 394 and 480 synagogues in Jerusalem during the first century, one being located within the precincts of the Temple itself.(8) This is undoubtedly why the early pattern of the Church had its origins in the Jewish synagogue. Note the following similarities between the ancient synagogue and the early Church. The principle leader of a synagogue was the nasi or president. In the Christian congregation, the leaders were still called president rather than pastor, as late as A.D. 150, by such non-Jewish writers as Justin Martyr.(9) In the synagogue structure, three of these leaders would join together to form a tribunal for judging cases concerning money, theft, immorality, admission of proselytes, laying on of hands, and a host of other things mentioned in the Sanhedrin section of the Mishnah. These men were known as the "rulers of the synagogue" because they took on the chief care of things, a title mentioned several times in the teachings of Jesus (Mark 5:3 and Luke 8:41). This practice was still in use among the Gentile congregations at Corinth under the apostleship of Paul, where he spoke of the court within the congregation (1 Corinthians 6:1-2). The nasi was the administrator of the synagogue, and we know that James, the half-brother of Jesus, was the nasi of the early Church at Jerusalem. Early documents such as the Didache suggest that the churches in Asia Minor and Greece treated the Church at Jerusalem with much the same authority as the synagogues did the Sanhedrin.(10) (11) There also was a public minister of the synagogue called a chazen who prayed, preached behind a wooden pulpit, and took care of the general oversight of the reading of the Law and other congregational duties. He did not read the Law, but stood by the one who did, to correct and oversee, ensuring that it was done properly. He selected seven readers each week who were well-educated in the Hebrew Scriptures. The group consisted of one priest, one Levite, and five regular Israelites (Luke 4:16). The terms overseer of the congregation, angel of the church, and minister of the synagogue all referred to this position.(12) There were also three men known as almoners or parnasin who cared for the poor and distributed alms and were expected to be scholars of the Scriptures. Since they were also known as gabbay tzedikah, it may be from this function that we get the modern term deacon. Some scholars hold that it was from these seven, the president, the ruler, the overseer, the chazen, and the three parnas, that the idea of selecting "seven good men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" came about (Acts 6:3). These men were appointed over the business affairs of the Church so the apostles would not have to be distracted from their study of the Scriptures and prayer. In Jewish literature the question is asked, "Who is a scholar worthy of being appointed Parnas?" The answer is "He who is asked about a law from any source, and is able to give an answer."(13) In modern times the Jews use this term to refer to a lay person, who is also called an elder. Another function in the ancient synagogue was the shaliach, or announcer. From this position we get the term apostle, meaning one who is sent forth to announce the gospel, a role equivalent to that of our modern missionaries. There was also the maggid, a migratory evangelist of the first century who spoke to various congregations, and the batlanim, a scholarly teacher who was either independently wealthy or on some type of support so he would be available to provide the congregation with accurate academics and answers. There had to be at least ten batlanim in every congregation of one hundred and twenty members. There was even a tradition that a synagogue service could not commence without ten men present.(14) Jesus may have been referring to this tradition when He said, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). Next, there was the zakin, a word meaning "old," more in the since of maturity than age. This person provided counsel to the people and was similar to a modern-day pastor or elder. In Judaism, those who had reached the age of forty were considered to have attained understanding, and those who were over fifty were considered worthy to counsel the younger people.(15) The rabbi was a prophet after the manner of the post-exilic prophets of Judaism. He carried the responsibility of reading and preaching the Word and exhorting and edifying the people (1 Corinthians 14:3). There was also the interpreter, known as the meturganim. This was a person skilled in languages who stood by the one reading the Law or teaching in a Bet Midrash (a house of study) to interpret into the lingua franca of that day the Hebrew that was being spoken. The use of an interpreter goes back to the time of Ezra, when the interpreter was said to have added the meaning. The Talmud gives many details of the interpreter's duties in the synagogue.(16) It is from this concept that we understand Jesus' words, "What you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops" (Matthew 10:27). This phrase was easily understood by those who were familiar with the system of study in the Bet Midrash, where the teacher would literally speak the message in the interpreter's ear, who would then shout it out to others, both inside the classroom and out. Besides the organizational structure of the early Church having its roots in the synagogue, many of its customs were also Jewish. All of the initial Christians were either Jews by birth or by conversion, and apparently there were no Gentile members for at least the first ten years. This conclusion is implied by several texts, including Acts 10, where, approximately ten years after His ascension, the Lord had to instruct Peter three times to go into the house of a Gentile. This strongly suggests that the Jewish Church had been meeting house to house and breaking bread only in Jewish homes up to the time (Acts 2:42-26). Furthermore, when Peter entered the house of Cornelius, he explained to his household that he still understood it to be unlawful for a Jew to enter the house of a non-Jew (Acts 10:28). Further evidence of the Jewishness of the early believers can be found in an incident recorded in Acts 21:20, an incident which occurred some twenty-five years after the Lord's ascension. When Paul returned to Jerusalem with some charitable contributions for the believers, he was told that during his absence many thousands of Jews had become believers, yet they continued to be staunch upholders of the Law. Not only were the first fifteen elders of the Jerusalem Church Jewish, but so were the initial names applied to the early congregations. The term Minim, meaning "heretics" in Hebrew, was used by some in the Jewish community to describe the new believers. The Way, used in Acts 21:14 and 22, was a Messianic term taken from texts such as Isaiah 40:2, which refers to preparing "the way of the Lord." The Nazoraioi is Greek for Nazarenes (Acts 24:5) and is obviously derived from Jesus' Jewish hometown. The term Messianists is derived directly from the Hebrew word Messiah. Epiphanius' history says that before the believers were called Christians, they were for a short time known by the title Iessaioi, probably derived from the name Jesus, (17) a name saturated with the idea of salvation. Each of these names has a Hebraic background and is closely related to an Old Testament text. The word Christian does not come from the Hebrew word for Anointed One but from a Greek word, and was not used by the Jerusalem Church at all. Christian was first used as a Gentile title for the believers at Antioch some forty to forty- five years into the first century (Acts 11:26). The term "were called" suggests that the name was coined by those outside the Church, perhaps to distinguish the disciples of Christ from unconverted Gentiles, as well as from other branches of Judaism. There is no evidence that the term was used extensively as a self-designation by the early Church, since it is only used three times in the New Testament and only once by a believer (Acts 11:26, 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16). The word Christian does a not appear consistently as a self-designation until the Didache,(18) and was used later by Ignatius during the late first or early second century.(19) The reason this term was not used earlier may be explained by a letter from the Roman Governor Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan around the year A.D. 112. The letter indicates that those identifying with this name were killed.(20) In examining the Jewish roots of the Church, it is important to differentiate between the Hebrew Christians, such as the Nazarenes and Messianists at the beginning, and the various groups of Ebionites with Judaizing traits, which were active around the turn of the first century. The early Hebrew Church was composed of those who believed in justification by faith as well as those who stressed traditions that involved legalism. Although most Jewish believers continued to keep the Sabbath and the various laws that differentiated them from non-Jews, strictly as an identification code, they did not require it for their non-Jewish converts. This identification as a Jew had nothing to do with salvation, but was kept by Jews as a reminder of the special eternal Covenant that God had made with them as a chosen people. The Covenant reminded God's people that they were the guardians of the Holy Land and were obliged to maintain and preserve the Law (Genesis 15:18, 17:7-10, Deuteronomy 7:6, Psalms 105:45, Ezekiel 16:6, Isaiah 44:1 and Romans 3:1-2). After an investigation of all Scripture relating to Israel, it appears that the chosen people status was not awarded as a special privilege, but because the people of Israel could be trusted to preserve the Law of God (Psalms 105:45). Although some 170 of the 613 Laws of the Torah apply to moral and ethical matters, few Christians recognize them as apart of modern theology and it has fallen to the Jewish people to preserve this aspect of God's Law until the present. Chapter One 25 Teaching Questions Follow in the Text. In order to make this book a viable part of your studies, Ron included questions that may be used in discussion within a group, or for your own enrichment and review. 20 Endnotes for Chapter One: (1) Isaac Boyle, trans., Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, H.E. 5 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, l974), pp. 4-6. (2) Ibid., H. E.: 3, 32,6. (3) Us, H.E.IV.5. (4) Eus, H.E.III 5,3; Epiph.paw.29:7,7;30:2,7. (5) Ibid., H.E. 4,6. (6) Baring, Gould, "Schonfield's History," Lost and Hostile History, (London: Duckworth Publications, 1936), p. 35. (7) Rabbi Isidore Epstein, ed., Soncino Talmud, Sanh. 9:6; Yev. 90 (London: Soncino Press, 1948). (8) Jerusalem Talmud, Meg. 3:1; Ket. 105a; Sot. 7:7,8; Yoma 7:1 (London: Soncino Press, 1948). (9) Alexander Roberts, ed., Anti-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company), p.186. (10) Roswell Hitchcock, ed., Didache 8, (Willits, CA: Eastern Orthodox Publishers, 1989), chapters 11-15. (11) Issac Boyle, trans., Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History 3.25.4 (Grand Rapids; Baker Book House, 1974). (12) John Lightfoot, "Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica," Hebraica, Vol. II., Rev. 3:1,7,14 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publications, 1979), pp. 89-99. (13) Rabbi Isidore Epstein, ed., Soncino Talmud, Shab. 114a (London: Soncino Press, 1948). (14) Lightfoot, op.cit., p.89. (15) Philip Blackman, ed., Mishnah, I Pet. 5:5; I Tim. 5:1; Avot 5:21 (New York: Judaica Press, 1983). (16) Rabbi Isidore Epstein, ed., Soncino Talmud, Meg. 4; Maimon.Tephillah, 12; Massecheth Soph. 10 (London: Soncino Press, 1948). (17) Ray Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity (Jerusalem: magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1992), p. 13. (18) Roswell Hitchcock, ed., Didache, 12:4 (Willits, CA: Eastern Orthodox Publishers, 1989). (19) David Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. I, (New York: Doubleday, 1992), pp. 925-26. (20) David Freedman, ed., "Pliny Letters 10:96," Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. I (New York: Doubleday), p. 926. Back to the Magazine Index
Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788 – Richard Broome Long before European settlement, Australia was home to the Aboriginal people who lived happily. However, it was the black-white encounters from 1788 that the Aboriginal people realised the changes in their country with the creation of a new society, a society where there are winners as well as losers. From the perspective of an original Australian, Richard Broome explores the survival of the Aboriginal culture and the resistance and struggle that met the people. Since the first edition in 1982, there have been three following editions covering more stories from the ‘Intervention’ to the landmark apology by the Federal Parliament to the ‘Stolen Generation’. Fight for Liberty and Freedom – John Maynard In 1924, the first ‘politically organised and united all-Aboriginal activist group was the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA)’, led by Frederick Maynard. This was the first time in colonised history that Aboriginal people made their voices heard to the public, from street rallies to newspaper coverage and letters and petitions to the government. Since then, the AAPA has continued to support their original rights from the Aboriginal right to land and the acquisition of citizenship rights to their cultural identity. John Maynard’s Fight for Liberty and Freedom makes a huge contribution to understanding the country’s social and political history from an Aboriginal perspective. Blue Mountains Dreaming: The Aboriginal Heritage – Eugene Stockton Within 30 years, the way of life and the country they loved changed all so drastically. Prior to 1788, the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had never come into contact with Europeans, but as they began to explore, cultural sites and arrangements were taken over. The traditional lifestyle the Gundungurra and Darug people of the Blue Mountains was changed, forcing them to adapt to the new ‘white culture’. Eugene Stockton builds on previous research in this second edition, with further references to Aboriginal presence in the region dating back to prehistoric times. Forgotten War – Henry Reynolds ‘Aborigines who fought for the white man are remembered with reverence. The many more who fought against him are forgotten.’ But why is this the case? Henry Reynolds researches the wars and battles fought between the Aboriginal people and the European settlers over Australia. It is believed that these wars were over great conflicts that caused a high level of violence on both sides; however, this is the part of history that is never spoken. In reading Forgotten War, you will begin to question why Australians can commemorate those who fought in both World Wars and other conflicts but cannot acknowledge what occurred on their own land. Survival in our Own Land – Christobel Mattingley Ever wondered how the Europeans (Goonyas) were viewed by Aboriginal people? Christobel Mattingley writes Survival in our Own Land from the perspective of the Nungas, the Aboriginal people from South Australia, exploring the invaders’ placement of laws and policies, and the effect this had on their people. This book features stories upon stories, alongside prose and poetry, from around 150 Nungas, telling their very real stories, many of which have never been published. From the imposition of clothes, employment and education to land rights and gender discrimination, each story illustrates the destruction of their culture. Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence – Doris Pilkington (Nugi Garimara) The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1897 allowed authorities from the European colonies to remove every Aboriginal within any district and keep them within ‘reserves’. This led to many Aboriginal and half-caste children to be taken away from their families – known today as the Stolen Generation. Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence tells the story of three half-caste girls who were forcibly removed, joining many children who would never see their families again. The genuine authenticity of the book draws readers in, allowing them to follow the girls as they escape and follow the rabbit-proof fence back to their family. This iconic story (and film) will change your understanding and perspective of Australia’s history.
There are two silent killer diseases that lie within the body- high blood pressure and diabetes. Hypoglycaemia is another word for diabetes and this metabolic disorder is a result of improper glucose metabolism in the body. Hunger is satiated with food and whatever we eat is converted to calories and sugar in the body. This glucose is carried via the blood stream to different organs and acts as an energy booster for them, prompting them to perform their functions but what happens if the sugar lies in the blood in excess? The body cells absorb glucose and use it for production of energy. This glucose in the blood can be used only if there is insulin hormone in the body. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and if it is not produced or is available in improper quantities, then the unused sugar in blood starts to increase and damage the organs. Heart and kidney are especially vulnerable to glucose and can work properly only if the insulin is processed properly by organs of body. Don’t let the glucose levels rise in the body; get a timely diagnosis so that you can start taking conventional or diabetes ayurvedic cure by Patanjali on time. Your body is precious and can get destroyed by high glucose levels, protect it now! Sometimes the insulin cannot be processed properly by the body. This also causes the sugar levels to rise. Daily routine and lifestyle changes are compulsory for the diabetics to be able to process insulin properly. The immune system may get compromised and other illnesses may take over if the glucose levels of the body keep rising. Proper exercise and shedding of calories become a must for proper organ functioning of a diabetic. The calorie count has to be kept under control at all times. A proper exercise regime helps in adequate absorption of medicines and appropriate functioning of organs. Many people end up eating too much and too heavy if they are stressed out. This causes an upheaval in the sugar levels of the body. Encourage the person with increased glucose levels to eat more green leafy vegetables and reduce the intake of carbohydrates and fats. Guava, jamun, papaya, musk melon, citric fruits and apple are better than the rest of the fruits because they contain less of sugar. Bitter gourd, gourd, fenugreek are very good for diabetic people. A diabetic needs to be very careful about the diet and must always carry a sugar sweet in the pocket to eat whenever the sugar falls low. Regular sleep is imperative to keep the body functioning properly. Get your sugar tests done if you are urinating frequently. Getting very thirsty and feeling excessive fatigue needs to be checked at the earliest. Diabetes also leads to skin itching and unhealed wounds. Ayurvedic treatments like diabetes ayurvedic cure by Patanjali offer Divya Madhunashini vati and Divya Shilajeet Sat that is helpful in controlling Diabetes by taking care of the blood sugar levels.
The English Foxhound is considered to be the classic British pack hound, which was used in the 6th century to hunt a red fox, usually in large packs. Even today, this is one of the favorite pastimes of the English nobility. This breed was never designed to be a family companion. On the contrary, this is a working dog, always willing to perform any given task. In 1909, the English Foxhound was officially recognized by the American Kennel Club. Height: 23-25 inches Weight: 60-75 pounds Lifespan: 10-13 years The English Foxhound dog is medium in size and quite muscular. Its head is bony, with a broad skull. The nose is well developed. The English Foxhound has large eyes and pendulous ears that are positioned close to his cheeks. The neck should be long and muscular. English Foxhounds have powerful jaws with a precisely overlapping scissor bite. Their shoulders are strong and well-muscled, but not too massive. Comparable Breed The Beagle and American Foxhound. The English Foxhound has a typical hound personality. He is independently-minded and sometimes prone to excessive stubbornness. Dogs of this breed are friendly and very lively. They show great tolerance in dealing with other dogs, which is the essential characteristic of a typical pack dog. Due to his great passion for the hunt, this the English Foxhound is not very popular as a family pet. This sturdy dog is usually kept for red fox hunting, but it also makes a good watchdog. English Foxhounds do well with children but are not recommended for families with very small children. Moreover, they are perfect for families who already have other dog breeds. The English Foxhounds are generally very healthy. However, these dogs can suffer from canine hip dysplasia, renal disease (kidney disease) and epilepsy. Generally, representatives of this breed are not prone to genetic diseases. The English Foxhound has a life expectancy of 10 to 13 years. Weight / Height The male English Foxhound dog breed’s height is around 23 – 25 inches and weighs around 60 and 75 pounds. Female English Foxhound dogs can reach a size from 23 – 24 inches and weighs between 60 and 75 pounds. Coat / Care: The English Foxhound is covered with a short coat, which is dense and shiny. This breed comes in a variety of colors, including different combinations of white, black and brown. No markings are allowed. The short coat is not too demanding since English Foxhounds are low shedders. Hence, regular brushing is enough. This will reduce the hair loss and keep your dog clean. The English Foxhound is very friendly and affectionate. He should undergo early socialization and education, which requires patience and consistency. This breed of dog is very agile, courageous and passionate in hunting, which requires a strong, dominant coach. English Foxhounds are very social, but since these dogs have a great passion for hunting and prefer to live with other dogs in the pack, they are not suitable for living indoors. In general, the English Foxhound should live together with other dogs in the kennel. This breed could live in the house under special conditions. Hence, a lot of movement and mental work are a must for the English Foxhound, at least 30 to 60 minutes every day. \|Origin:\|\|United Kingdom, Canada\| \|Average size:\|\|Large Dog Breed\| \|Color:\|\|Combinations of Black, White, Tan\| \|Energy Level:\|\|Very active working dog\| \|Trainability:\|\|This dog is easy to train\| \|Barking Level:\|\|Low – When Necessary\| \|Personality:\|\|Sociable, Affectionate and Gentle\| \|AKC Dog Ranking:\|\|187th Most popular dog breed\| \|Good family dog:\|\|Yes, good with socialization\| \|Good with other dogs:\|\|Yes, good with socialization\| \|Good with children:\|\|Yes – but socialization is essential\| \|Good with strangers:\|\|Yes – Friendly with strangers\| \|Good apartment dog:\|\|Low – this is not an apartment dog\| Photo Credit: ccho/Flickr
\|In this week you will: - start setting up your personal learning environment by getting a twitter account, and - learn about the formulation of the United Nations, its role, structure and mandate. In preparation for your first tutorials next week, you must: - Watch the 2 part lecture on the History of International Cooperation - Do Activity 1 and then watch the video on the Structure of the United Nations - Watch the final lecture on the Creation of the United Nations If you have time, take a look at the extension exercises. Make sure that you write notes as you go and note down any questions that you have to raise in tutorials and/or by tweeting out to the group. Lectures and Viewings Lecture - History of International Cooperation (Part 1) Lecture - History of International Cooperation (Part 2) \|What do you think the UN does? - Grab a pen and paper and jot down a list of things you think the UN does, based on your general knowledge. - Next watch the video presentations below, and jot down anything new that you hear - How close was your original list? What other activities or information did you note down as new? - Pick one or two of your observations and tweet out to the group making sure to add #UOWMUN Structure of the United Nations video Lecture - The Creation of the United Nations
Revisiting Bloom’s Taxonomy In the 1950’s Benjamin Bloom and other researchers collaborated to create what is known as Bloom’s Taxonomy of cognitive processes. This has been revised over the years and includes today six cognitive dimensions: - Remember: recall facts and basic concepts (e.g., define, list, state) - Understand: explain ideas or concepts (e.g., describe, explain, summarize) - Apply: use information in new situations (e.g., solve, complete, change) - Analyze: draw connections among ideas (e.g., contrast, categorize, connect) - Evaluate: justify a stand or decision (e.g., criticize, defend, prioritize) - Create: produce new or original work (e.g., design, modify, write) The accompanying verbs can be used to develop and organize learning goals and objectives for our curricula, courses, and daily lesson plans. Many UP faculty already use Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guide for planning, but we can enhance the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy by considering our objectives through the lens of knowledge dimensions that Anderson and Krathwohl added to the taxonomy in 2001. The four dimensions are: - Factual knowledge (basic elements to learn in the discipline) - Conceptual knowledge (interrelationships between basic elements within a larger context) - Procedural knowledge (methods in the discipline) - Metacognitive knowledge (awareness of how learning work in relation to one’s self) Anderson and Krathwohl developed a matrix for combining cognitive processes and knowledge dimensions that can be adapted when planning courses and lessons. As faculty, we can adapt this matrix in our own lesson planning. Here’s an example from a 300-level applied linguistics course that I teach in the Department of International Languages and Cultures. Basic concept: Individual differences in language learning Knowledge Dimension: Factual knowledge Bloom’s Taxonomy Cognitive Process: Remember (Related actions verbs: define, list, state, recall, identify) Learning Goal: Students can accurately define individual differences and list examples. Assessment: Students take a low-stakes quiz in which they define individual differences and provide examples they recall from the reading and group work activity. - Students read section on individual differences in How Languages are Learned respond to reading prompts before class. - In class, students work in groups to identify individual differences in written profiles of learners and present their findings. Intersecting with multiple knowledge dimensions As faculty, we can also run concepts and theories we teach through both multiple knowledge and cognitive process dimensions as we plan instruction. Let’s take, for example, the social cultural theoretical perspective of second language acquisition from the same applied linguistics course Factual dimension / Remember Instructor provides learning experiences so that students practice recalling definitions of terms and characteristics and elements of the theory. Conceptual dimension / Understand Students participate in learning experiences that guide them to start explaining principles and models of the social cultural perspective. It’s important to note that at this level, the students are not just restating an author’s or instructor’s explanation; that would be remembering. Rather, they are using concepts, terms, and paraphrasing to explain the concept or theory. Procedural dimension / Analyze Eventually, students point out passages in a research text that indicate the linguistics researcher is writing from the social cultural perspective of second language learning. They are using their knowledge of the theory as an analytical tool. Metacognitive dimension / Apply Finally, the instructor can work with students to develop and apply motivational and language learning strategies that are based on a social cultural perspective of second language learning. The above processes can also be reorganized into a class lesson planning tool. Application in your teaching The combination of Bloom’s Taxonomy and knowledge dimensions create a powerful approach for your faculty toolbox in support of our efforts to provide the excellent undergraduate education opportunities to our students. For more about deploying Bloom’s Taxonomy and the four dimensions of knowledge, check out Laurie Richlin’s Blueprint for Learning: Construction College Courses to Facilitate, Assess, and Document Learning (2006), one of the sources of today’s TLC blog entry. If you would like to explore in more detail using dimensions and Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs in a lesson planning form, download this MS Word version. Jeffrey White directs the Learning Commons in the Shepard Academic Resource Center in Buckley Center 163, where he trains tutors to reach Level 1 of the International Tutor Training Program Certification. He also teaches German, an applied linguistics course, and a preparation course for study abroad in the Department of International Languages and Cultures. Jeffrey is currently the president-elect of the Northwest College Reading and Learning Association. He is happy to meet over coffee or lunch to discuss course and lesson design, training, and teaching in higher education and can be reached at email@example.com.
Harvard University PRC collaborates with the YMCA to increase children’s physical activity and provide healthier food options in afterschool programs. An encyclopedia excerpt describes the history, partnerships, and contributions of the PRC Program. Tulane University PRC recognized for coalition that conducts activities to improve the conditions for pedestrians in New Orleans, Louisiana. University of Minnesota researcher featured in scientific journal for contributions to adolescent health research. Changes in YMCA Afterschool Programs Increase Children's Physical Activity and Healthy Food OptionsHarvard University: Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity Addresses CDC Winnable Battle: Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity YMCA-Harvard Afterschool Food and Fitness Project - YMCA learning collaboratives, an approach to bringing about organizational change, were found to be promising for translating obesity prevention science into practices for use in YMCA afterschool programs - Learning collaboratives helped staff develop the skills needed to work toward creating a healthy afterschool environment by achieving simple health-related program standards - Before and after studies of selected afterschool programs showed significant improvements in the healthfulness of snacks served and the physical activity levels of children in these programs www.foodandfun.org, includes tip sheets, assessment guides, recipe packets, and snack planning tools to help staff make inexpensive, effective program changes. The program was part of a large-scale initiative to improve border health. The Initiative included components targeting clinicians, schools, persons with diabetes and their families, and the community; Pasos Adelante was the community component. The program was developed in partnership with the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Arizona, the Regional Center for Border Health, Inc., the Western Arizona Area Health Education Center, and faculty and staff at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. - Menus of snacks and beverages served at 7 YMCA afterschool programs located in 5 states were collected over a 14-month period.6 The quality of snacks and beverages were analyzed at baseline (fall 2005), midway (spring 2006), and post-intervention (fall 2006). Compared to baseline values, at post- intervention, weekly servings of fruits and vegetables significantly increased (1.3 to 3.9, p=0.02), while significant decreases were seen in weekly servings of desserts (1.3 to 0.5, p=0.05), foods with added sugars (3.9 to 2.4, p=0.03), and foods with trans fats (2.6 to 0.7, p=0.01). Pre-intervention, one site served sugar-sweetened beverages; post- intervention, no sites did—instead, all sites served water. At baseline, each site had achieved at least 1 of the 5 healthy eating standards; post-intervention all sites had achieved at least 2 of the standards. Although not statistically significant, average calories in snacks and beverages offered decreased from 300.3 kcal before the intervention to 266.9 kcal after. - An analysis of the price and healthfulness of snacks served in a sample of 32 YMCA afterschool programs in 4 U.S. metropolitan areas found that healthful snacks achieving the 5 healthy eating standards were 50% more expensive than less-healthful snacks.7 Fruits and canned or frozen vegetables contributed to significantly higher snack price. Analyses showed that replacing these items with low-priced fresh vegetables and replacing refined grains with whole grains would increase the healthfulness of snacks without causing increases in price. Analyses also identified a range of repeatedly served, inexpensive, healthful snacks that were served as part of regular, ongoing afterschool programs. Thus, healthful foods and snack combinations could be served at or below the price of less-healthful snacks. In particular, substituting tap water for 100% juice produced savings that could be used toward the purchase of healthful foods, such as apples. - The physical activity intervention consisted of using the learning collaborative process and the Food & Fun After School curriculum.8 The intervention was implemented in 16 afterschool programs in four U.S. metropolitan areas. Sixteen matched control afterschool programs were selected from the same metropolitan areas for comparison. The control programs were those in place at the time the control was selected; the amount and level of physical activity of children in these programs varied. Children's physical activity was measured by accelerometers worn at baseline (fall 2006) and follow up (spring 2007). Children at intervention sites showed greater increases in minutes of combined moderate and vigorous physical activity (10.5 minutes more per day, p=0.017) than children in control sites. These differences translated into an average additional energy expenditure of 25 kcal a day for a child in an intervention setting. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data and Statistics: Obesity Rates Among All Children in the United States. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/data.html. Accessed June 22, 2012 . - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight and Obesity: Basics About Childhood Obesity. http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/basics.html. Accessed January 29, 2012. - Wang YC, Gortmaker SL, Sobol AM, Kuntz KM. Estimating the energy gap among US children: a counterfactual approach. Pediatrics. 2006;118(6):e1721-33. - Institute for Healthcare Improvement.The Breakthrough Series: IHI's Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement. http://www.ihi.org/knowledge/Pages/IHIWhitePapers/ - Wiecha JL, Nelson TF, Roth BA, Glashagel J, Vaughan L. Disseminating health promotion practices in afterschool programs through YMCA learning collaboratives. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2010;24(3):190-8. - Mozaffarian RS, Wiecha JL, Roth BA, Nelson TF, Lee RM, Gortmaker SL. Impact of an organizational intervention designed to improve snack and beverage quality in YMCA after-school programs. American Journal of Public Health. 2010;100(5):925-32. - Mozaffarian RS, Andry A, Lee RM, Wiecha JL, Gortmaker SL. Price and healthfulness of snacks in 32YMCA after-school programs in 4 US metropolitan areas 2006–2008. Preventing Chronic Disease. 2012;9:110097. - Gortmaker SL, Lee RM, Mozaffarian RS, Sobol A, Nelson TF, Roth BA, Wiecha JL. Effect of an after-school intervention on increases in children's physical activity. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2012;44(3):450-7.
A new study by the United Nations health agency and its partners has found that fewer newborns are dying worldwide but progress is too slow and Africa in particular is being left further behind. “The first week of life is the riskiest week for newborns, and yet many countries are only just beginning post-natal care programmes to reach mothers and babies at this critical time,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release. Newborn deaths decreased from 4.6 million in 1990 to 3.3 million in 2009, and fell slightly faster in the years since 2000, according to the study, led by researchers from WHO, Save the Children and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published today in the medical journal PLoS Medicine. The study, which covers 20 years and all 193 WHO member States, found that newborn deaths – deaths in the first four weeks of life (neonatal period) – today account for 41 per cent of all child deaths before the age of five. Almost 99 per of newborn deaths occur in the developing world, with more than half taking place in just five large countries – India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). India alone has more than 900,000 newborn deaths per year, nearly 28 per cent of the global total, WHO noted. Nigeria, the world’s seventh most populous country, now ranks second in newborn deaths – up from fifth in 1990. Africa has seen the slowest progress of any region in the world, with a reduction of just 1 per cent per year, the agency said. Among the 15 countries with more than 39 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, 12 were from the WHO African Region – Angola, Burundi, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone – plus Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. At the current rate of progress it would take the African continent more than 150 years to reach United States or United Kingdom newborn survival levels, according to WHO. The agency noted that an increase in investment in health care for women and children in the last decade – when the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set – contributed to more rapid progress for the survival of mothers and children under the age of five than for newborns. Three quarters of neonatal deaths around the world are caused by pre-term delivery, asphyxia and severe infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia. WHO pointed out that two thirds or more of these deaths can be prevented with existing interventions. “Newborn survival is being left behind despite well-documented, cost-effective solutions to prevent these deaths,” says Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health. “With four years to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, more attention and action for newborns is critical,” she said, referring to the 2015 target date for achieving the MDGs.
Meaning of 復意味 restore, return to, revert Learn Japanese kanji: 復【フク / また】. Meaning: restore, return to, revert. 438 of 2,500 most used kanji in newspapers. How to write 復 - stroke order: Stroke Count: 12 Access ALL extra downloads, ebooks, and study guides by supporting JLPT Sensei on Patreon. JLPT N2 Study Guide JLPT N2 Grammar Master [e-book] Complete Study Guide This e-book includes every grammar point you need to know in order to pass the JLPT N2, with detailed usage notes and numerous example sentences. Pages: 417, lessons: 195
THE SUPERNATURAL POWER OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AND OTHER ANCIENT ASTRONAUT MYSTERIES Recent programs on the History Channel and elsewhere on cable television have helped popularize the concept that extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth since time immemorial and have been responsible for many of the advancements of human civilization. Once the mainstay of writers such as Erich von Daniken, Brinsley Le Poer Trench and W.R. Drake, the concept has since inspired big budget movie epics and television shows like “Ancient Aliens” and, more recently, “In Search Of Aliens,” hosted by the "wild-haired" Giorgios Tsoukalos. Steven Spielberg first burned images of the Ark of the Covenant into our collective imagination when his 1981 mega-hit “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was unleashed upon the public. The movie popularized the mysterious Ark for a more secular audience as Harrison Ford found himself in conflict with Nazi archaeologists who sought to conquer the world by using the supernatural powers of the Ark as a terrorist weapon. Recently, journalist Timothy Beckley and his always prolific publishing house Inner Light - Global Communications set out to explore the mysteries of the Ark and other super-weapons of antiquity to determine if the “sky gods” were behind the development of these highly advanced implements of destruction – or if humankind had somehow been able to conjure them up on their own. Many questions arose, which Beckley and crew attempted to sort out during the course of their dissertation, such as: When God instructed Moses and the Israelites to construct the Ark of the Covenant, could they have understood the awesome, death-dealing technology it contained? Did ancient India, like the Old Testament Jews, possess weapons of mass destruction? The new book contends that nuclear weapons or a method of kinetic bombardment were a standard component of the arsenal of people living many thousands of years ago. Read about weapons that appear on the surface to be rather commonplace, such as a simple sword or bow and arrow, but which are in fact supernaturally transformed by the gods into miraculous instruments of combat. Does archeological evidence exist today that proves nuclear war took place in ancient times, negating our belief that atomic weapons did not exist until the 20th century? Was space travel another forgotten achievement of a people long ago consumed by the passing millennia? Did they leave spaceports behind as a sign of the technological prowess that helped them reach the stars? In his introduction to the newly released book from Global Communications, “The Ark of the Covenant and Other Secret Weapons of the Ancients,” editor and author Timothy Green Beckley writes: “The Ark of the Covenant has always been an object of great wonderment. Biblical scholars have debated its uses for years, while the public fantasizes about its powers. Moviemakers have attempted to tell the story of this gleaming gold artifact in epic fictionalized form. Made to be a receptacle in which the Ten Commandments given Moses could be safeguarded, the Ark also had the power to destroy the enemies of the Israelites.” Beckley goes on to explain that he met researcher and writer David Medina in the 1970s when Beckley was visiting the UK to speak before the House of Lords UFO group. Medina presented Beckley with his privately printed manuscript on the Ark and asked Beckley’s help in giving it wider distribution. Beckley subsequently published Medina’s book and was pleased with the limited but positive reception it received. Recently, Beckley decided to publish a new edition, this time with additional chapters written by Beckley’s usual robust stable of writers. The new book focuses not just on the Ark of the Covenant but also examines other high-tech weapons created by what we have been taught are vastly more primitive societies. Thus the “Other Secret Weapons of the Ancients” part of the new book’s title. THE ARK AND ITS ENIGMATIC CAPABILITIES The book opens with the reprint of David Medina’s original text. Medina gives an account of the building of the Ark of the Covenant, based on verses from the 25th chapter of the Book of Exodus, as well as describing other elements that went along with it, such as the tent specifically constructed to house the Ark. It fell to Moses’ brother Aaron, in his role as high priest, to tend to various ceremonies and rituals related to the Ark. Aaron and his sons, who often assisted their father with his priestly duties, were required to wear special clothing while in the Ark’s presence. It has long been speculated, by Medina and numerous other writers before and since, that the special clothing was not a simple matter of priestly ceremonial garb but was instead specifically intended to protect Aaron and his sons from high levels of radiation. Because of that danger, no one else was permitted near the Ark. There are incidents recorded in the Bible in which disobedient Israelites ventured close to the Ark anyway and were subsequently struck dead by the device or died lingering deaths from radiation sickness. It is also theorized that the Ark could generate high voltage electricity and serve as a two-way radio to the heavens. How did some pieces of acacia wood, some gold overlay and a few other components readily available to the Israelites, who were essentially wandering nomads in the desert, accomplish this technological wonder? That is part of the fascination of Medina’s analysis of the Ark of the Covenant and the details are better left for those reading the Global Communications book to discover for themselves. THE UFOS OF INDIA AND THEIR DEADLY PAYLOAD But the formidable Ark was not the only high-tech weapon of the ancient world. As part of Beckley’s aforementioned stable of writers, I contributed a chapter to the new book on the weapons of ancient India. A great deal of the mythology of ancient India is taken up with a form of flying craft called a “vimana,” whose origin is unclear. Some Sanskrit writings say the vimanas were manmade but available to only a rich and elite part of the population. Other writings say the vimanas belonged to the gods and served to house ascended holy ones in luxury dwellings in the sky. But whatever that mystery may involve, the relevance to the new book lies in the fact that the vimanas were used to deliver and deploy super-weapons similar to our nuclear missiles. In the midst of a conflict between two ancient royal families, called the Kuruhshetra War, a projectile called a “Brahmastra” was launched from a vimana flying overhead. According to the scripture called the “Mahabharata,” the missile, also called the “Iron Thunderbolt,” produced “an incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as a thousand suns,” and reduced the enemy combatants to ashes. “The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without cause; and the birds turned white. After a few hours, all foodstuffs were infected.” All of which is familiar to modern readers as the consequences of the radiation-saturated aftermath of a nuclear blast. As an eerie addendum, 20th century archeologists uncovered evidence that certain cities in the Indus Valley region had been completely destroyed, with people lying dead in the streets. Some kind of “sudden doom” had decimated these cities, killing the entire population and leaving no survivors to bury the dead. LETHAL FORCE WITHOUT THE MESSY CONSEQUENCES There is little disagreement among scholars of the subject that some kind of death-dealing technology was available to the ancients that is easily comparable to nuclear weaponry. But author Olav Phillips begs to differ about all that. While he refers to the same passages of the Mahabharata as most scholars do, Phillips argues that the weapons in question may not have been nuclear. The “Iron Thunderbolt” of the Kuruhshetra War may instead have been an example of “kinetic bombardment,” Phillips contends, or the use of super-dense chunks of material dropped at terminal velocity from orbit or high altitude. Kinetic bombardment would produce the same effects as a small-scale nuclear device minus the radiation. Those effects would include an enormous fireball and a tremendous shockwave that would radiate outwards from the impact site. Phillips believes this explains the decimated cities discovered by archeologists in the Indus Valley. “The superheated shockwave and concussive force wall,” Phillips writes, “would explain the collapse of structures and the scorching.” Phillips goes on to say that kinetic weapons are easy to target since their firing angle can be computed from orbit. He says modern weapons developers are working on something called “Project Thor” or the “Rods From God,” a system which hurls telephone pole-sized tungsten rods from orbit for the purpose of targeted, non-nuclear strikes. Military planners have been working on the idea since the 1950s, and there exists a 2003 US Air Force report suggesting that a tungsten cylinder six meters long impacting at Mach 10 has the equivalent kinetic energy of 11.5 tons of TNT. The idea is to deploy a lethal weapon with mass destructive force that does not have a long lasting global environmental impact. Phillips believes the combatants in the Mahabharata must have reached a similar conclusion, that a large-scale nuclear exchange would permanently destroy the very land they seek to possess, so they too opted for a devastating weapon that would not cause long-term ecological damage. SWORDS WITH A MAGICAL EDGE Publisher Timothy Green Beckley takes up the subject of magical swords, swords that were not mere steel attached to a hilt but were instead handed down by the gods to aid mortals in combat. One finds this idea in numerous Greek myths, such as when Perseus was given a sword by the gods to slay the monster Medusa, she who had hair made of snakes and scales invincible to human-made weapons. Also included is a brief retelling of the legend of King Arthur’s sword “Excalibur” and how it blinded his opponents with its brightness. Meanwhile, the scabbard that stored Excalibur had healing powers and would prevent its bearer from bleeding to death. Excalibur can only be brandished for good purposes or it is useless. It prevents those who wield it from lying and inspires courage in all who follow in its path. Well-known writers Brad Steiger and Tim R. Swartz provide chapters for “The Ark of the Covenant and Other Secret Weapons of the Ancients” as well. Steiger talks about the archeological evidence found throughout the world for prehistoric nuclear war while Swartz declares that the ancients may have achieved space travel and bolsters that contention with still more archeological evidence. “The Ark of the Covenant and Other Secret Weapons of the Ancients” is profusely illustrated, thanks mainly to the efforts of writer and graphic designer William Kern, who packs the pages with Biblical art relevant to the story of the Ark as well as paintings depicting the flying craft and weaponry of Indian mythology. The book is an excellent and original approach to the subject of Ancient Astronauts and their technological revelations to early mankind that will have you shaking your head in wonderment even as you shudder at the destructive force we are capable of with a little help from above. The Ark of the Covenant and Other Secret Weapons of the Ancients By David Medina, Timothy Green Beckley, Sean Casteel, Olav Phillips, Brad Steiger and Tim R. Swartz Signs and Symbols of the Second Coming, Expanded and Revised Edition By Sean Casteel Alien Space Gods of Ancient Greece and Rome – Revelations of the Oracle of Delphi By W. Raymond Drake, Timothy Green Beckley and Sean Casteel Legacy of the Sky People: The Extraterrestrial Origin of Adam and Eve; The Garden of Eden; Noah’s Ark and the Serpent Race By the 8th Earl of Clancarty, with Nick Redfern, Tim Swartz, Sean Casteel, William Kern and Timothy Green Beckley
Today camping is primarily a recreational activity and is an activity in which people live temporarily in the outdoors. Camping provides an opportunity to experience nature firsthand. Campers participate in fishing, hunting, swimming, plant study, bird and wildlife watching, and nature photography. Just as importantly, camping helps people escape the stress of city life. It provides physical benefits when it involves hiking to, from, and around a campsite, and many outdoor enthusiasts believe that camping instils confidence in youngsters and offers older campers opportunities to challenge themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. Just as there are several types of camping, there are also various types of campsites where campers can make their temporary home. Campsites are found in forests and deserts, on high plains and mountains, and along lakesides and ocean beaches. For more information check a local camping guide. Tents are portable shelters made of lightweight fabrics. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most popular shape is the dome, or freestanding model. This model is easy to set up and does not require support from tree limbs or other objects. Many tents are designated two-person, three-person, and so on, according to how many adults can comfortably sleep inside them. Tents range from small models that sleep just one camper to larger models that can accommodate groups of 12. Before purchasing a tent, campers should decide when and where they would use it. Summer-only camping does not require a tent built to withstand intense mountain winds. Camping in areas where it often rains calls for a tent with a watertight exterior, or rain fly, that keeps those inside it dry. A tent for warm weather camping should have plenty of vents for air circulation. A cover of netting over those vents prevents insects from entering. A ground cloth—a piece of waterproof material placed between the tent floor and the ground—helps protect the tent from damage and keep moisture out. After buying a tent, practice setting it up. Practicing at home makes pitching the tent in windy or rainy conditions much easier.
In this Section 4113.0 Infectious Diseases (non-HIV) Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 10:30 AM In Bolivia it was discovered that Sodium Estibogluconate, even in programs with supervised treatment, has a high incidence of recurrences in children less than five years of age. As a result, use of Sodium Estibogluconate in this age group should be reviewed and effectiveness of other medicines should be compared. In India it was discovered that DF prevention efforts emphasizing the eradication of larval Aedes aegypti, patient education, and adherence to a standardized serological reporting system should revolve around the monsoon and post-monsoon periods. In China, a policy implication was discovered: While acute care for ailments such as cold/influenza does not show a substantial impact on family burden, more attention should be drawn to the chronic illness. For the Gambia case, it was found that distance traveled to water source, time spent collecting water per trip, the frequency of water collection within the day, availability of water for face washing, and daily frequency of face washing may all impact household Finally in the Dominican Republic, Immediate medical attention is required for suspected Dengue symptomology to avoid progression of thrombocytopenia or dehydration to shock. trachoma. Session Objectives: In Bolivia a program describes that utilization of Sodium Estibogluconate for Leishmaniasis treatment in children less than five years of age bears with it a relatively high percentage of recurrences. In India, investigators explain the need for patient education and preventive measures that are heedful of dengue fever seasonal predilection. A historical study in China identifies trends of direct economic burden of cold/influenza on individuals going to different facilities for treatment during 1989-2006.In Gambia, a demonstration of potential relationship between water supply and trachoma continues. Finally, the perception of risk and respective behavior changes toward mosquito protection utilized by citizens in the Dominican Republic was described. Elvira Beracochea, MD, MPH See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information. Organized by: International Health CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) See more of: International Health
NEXT UP ON this. The following is an excerpt from an article written by Dr Paul Harrison from Deakin University’s Centre for Employee and Consumer Wellbeing. News that consumers in Adelaide are willing to pay $400 for a taste of Wagyu steak sounds ridiculous but, in reality, wanting something that others in your particular group can’t have is part of being human. Have you ever bought an expensive perfume, or some exclusive jewellery, a pair of designer shoes or an Elk bag? Many of these items may not be considered by you to be luxury products, but they are certainly products of desire. In reality, nobody needs a $700 pair of shoes or a retro $2000 fridge (although we all need a $6000 toaster), but these products transcend their rational utility. They have meaning beyond their function. They are objects of desire that help us to communicate to ourselves and others who we are. Desire, status and luxury are concepts that have been explored for hundreds of years. In 1899, sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen suggested that the act of buying expensive things was a means for people to communicate their social status to others. He suggested that the purchase of luxury goods, expensive houses or attending exclusive soirees was a form of ‘wealth signalling’, or what others have called ‘peacocking’. French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu took this interpretation a step further in 1979, by suggesting that the objects and things we consume are a means of communicating to others a symbolic hierarchy to enforce our distance or distinction from other classes of society. Consumer preferences are rarely the outcome of some innate, individualistic choices of the human intellect, but a more complex, somewhat unclear desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Consumption does not occur in a vacuum. The items we buy, the things we do, the people we associate with and the places we visit all possess meaning for us as human beings. Even our homes are replete with meaning; many of the things that we own provide meaning for both our self-identity and our social identity. Many goods play multiple roles, functionally and psychologically. A car has both symbolic status and practical usefulness – it can demonstrate to others who we are, but it also gets us to work. Goods can lead to experiential and social outcomes, such as the ongoing joy obtained from the purchase of an espresso machine, and learning how to make the perfect coffee. 'The items we buy, the things we do, the people we associate with and the places we visit all possess meaning for us as human beings.' Dr Paul Harrison, For most of us the desire to distinguish ourselves as individuals amongst our peers is built into our DNA. And what we consume helps to make clear that distinction. The fact that we are exposed to, and seek out stories about, success and wealth, has been shown to actually influence how badly we want luxury items. A study from Arizona University published in 2016 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that simply reading a success story increased a desire for luxury brands amongst participants. An interesting element of many of these studies is that media portrayals of wealth on TV, on the news and even in social media have been shown to define consumers’ worlds by creating an image in their minds that biases their views of reality. In one study, the researchers found that people who watched more television assumed higher estimates of the average level of wealth and affluence in the US, and led them to believe that they were missing out on the tennis courts, private planes and swimming pools that they saw represented in the media. But even for those on low incomes, products are more significant than their simple utilitarian capacity. We buy goods to enhance our lives. We consume to make ourselves feel better. We give the brands we buy meaning by incorporating them into our day-to-day existence. But we do it predominantly to fit in with our group, whether it’s a $2000 pair of shoes or a spoiler for our hotted up car. We use our products to fit in, but also to remind ourselves that we are just a little bit better than most of our group. Viewed through a rational lens, it is pretty tricky to explain why someone would pay $3000 to watch an opera that finishes where it began (Wagner’s Ring Cycle), or $400 for a steak full of intramuscular fat (Wagyu) or $1.4 million for a red car that allegedly goes very fast (Ferrari LaFerrari). But being human is about more than being rational. Find out more about the research being conducted in Deakin University’s Centre for Employee and Consumer Wellbeing. This piece first appeared on Dr Harrison’s website Tribal Insight, where you can find essays, discussions and the latest research and theory in the world of social psychology, consumerism and marketing. Subscribe for a regular dose of technology, innovation, culture and personal development.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011: 8:30 AM 205 C (Minneapolis Convention Center) Membranes have played increasingly important roles in fuel cells. For fuel cells, membranes are involved in fuel processing and as proton-exchange and hydroxyl ion-exchange materials in membrane electrode assemblies. In fuel processing, CO2- and H2-selective membranes can be used both in membrane reactor configuration to enhance water gas shift reaction and in the membrane permeation to purify H2, as well as O2-selective membranes can be employed for O2-enriched air production to increase (1) the H2 concentration in the reformed gas from the autothermal reforming or partial oxidation/gasification of liquid fuel (e.g., gasoline, diesel and/or jet fuel), natural gas, biomass or coal and (2) the performance of fuel cell on the cathode side. Proton-exchange and hydroxyl ion-exchange membranes and membrane electrode assemblies, including cost-effective Nafion replacements particularly for 120 – 180oC and new membranes for alkaline fuel cells, are critical to the widespread use of fuel cells. Original and review papers on membranes for fuel cell applications are sought, including (1) fuel processing, (2) proton-exchange membranes, (3) hydroxyl ion-exchange membranes, and (4) membrane electrode assemblies. We will include papers on fundamental understanding through theory, modeling, and controlled experiments as well as engineering, applications and scale-up studies. Electrochemical Fundamentals (01E) See more of this Group/Topical: Separations Division
About the Book When Americans remember him at all, they no doubt think of Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) as the author of Hunger or as the Norwegian who, along with Vidkun Quisling, betrayed his country by supporting the Nazis during World War II. Yet Hamsun, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1920 for his novel The Growth of the Soil , was and remains one of the most important and influential novelists of his time. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is a collection of thirteen essays and stories based largely on Hamsun’s experiences during the four years he spent in the United States when he was a young man. Most of these pieces have never been published before in an English translation, and none are readily available. Hamsun’s feelings about America and American ways were complex. For the most part, they were more negative than positive, and they found expression in many of his writings—directly in his reminiscences and indirectly in his fiction. In On the Cultural Life of Modern America , his first major book, he portrayed the United States as a land of gross and greedy materialism, populated by illiterates who were utterly lacking in artistic originality or refinement. Although the pieces in this collection are not all anti-American, most of them emphasize the strangeness and unpleasantness, as the author saw it, of life in what he called Yankeeland. Arranged chronologically, the pieces fall into three categories: Critical Reporting, Memory and Fantasy, and Mellow Reminiscence. The Critical Reporting section includes articles that appeared in Norwegian or Danish newspapers soon after each of Hamsun’s two visits to America and that give his views on a variety of American subjects, and includes an essay devoted to Mark Twain. Memory and Fantasy comprises narratives of life in America, most of which are presented as personal experiences but which actually are blends of fact and fiction. Mellow Reminiscence includes later and fonder recollections and impressions of the United States. The pieces in this collection provide variations on a theme that runs through much of American history—European criticism of American ways. They give vivid, at times distorted, pictures of life as it was in the United States. They tell us something about the development of the worldview of a man who became a great writer, only to jeopardize his reputation by defending the Nazi oppressors of his own people. Knut Hamsun Remembers America will appeal to anyone interested in the history of American civilization or, more specifically, in the history of anti-Americanism. Richard Nelson Current is the author or editor of many books, including Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy and Those Terrible Carpetbaggers. Currently a resident of Natick, Massachusetts, he is University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In the UK, SSADM is a most commonly used computer application for development purpose. Moreover, this application is mostly utilized for the government computing projects in UK. In Europe, it is widely being adopted by most public sectors than government organizations. The SSADM is in the public sector and is previously specified in British Standards as BS7738. The name “Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method” is a system advance to the analysis and design of both management and information systems. SSADM was created for the CCTA a UK government of %uFB01ce considered the use of the growing technology in government from 1980 onwards. These key words are at the moment Registered Trade Marks of the Of%uFB01ce of Government Commerce (OGC), which is in the United Kingdom Treasury. SSADM is defined as a waterfall technique that an Information System design can be derived. Again, SSADM can be perceived to symbolize a pinnacle of the precise document-led approach to system design. It is differentiated with contemporary Rapid Application Development methods. The SSADM is chasing the waterfall life cycle model that is staring in order to study physical design stage during development. One of the core features of the SSADM is that it includes intense involvement in the requirements analysis stage. The clients are made to sign off from every stage that is completed ensuring the requirements are fulfilled. Moreover, the users are offered clear and easy to understand data that include a number of diagrammatic representations regarding the system. The SSADM will divide the development projects into several stages, modules, steps and tasks. Furthermore, the initial and primary model that is developed and formulated in SSADM is the data model. This method is considered as a part of requirement gathering and consists of well-designed stages, steps and products. SSADM Benefits and Drawbacks The benefit of SSADM is that it utilizes three techniques in order to determine the information system viability. One of the major benefits of SSADM is the incorporation of three techniques that will determine the viability of information systems. Likewise, the entity identification and their relationship in the system are verified by logical data modeling. Furthermore, data flow modeling technique demonstrates data modification from one state to another form, occupying space for data and entities that transmit it in the systems along with the routes that are responsible for data flows. In addition, event-modeling credentials demonstrate the impact of these entities within the business and their information systems. Therefore, these three procedures and perspectives are offered the more complete and precise model. The probability of minimizing information readiness at the initial stages of the project is enhanced by examining and analyzing a thorough review of the system. Likewise, the occurrence in the system occurs due to poor design. Moreover, SSADM is regularly used in the United Kingdom; team members associated with the project are familiar with the processes and procedures. SSADM methodology is a structured approach that develops and deploys controls on all procedures pertaining to data creation. Likewise, this is the core objective of SSADM as it gives slight room for mistakes and it is also the main reason of its adoption and popularity within the UK. However, the error free structure is linked to some constraints. One can predict that the necessities of the system may change at each stage during the software development process. As SSADM is constructed on the basis of data analysis if any changes are identified after the analysis stage, system suggested by the data can be defective. Moreover, for supporting business, SSADM is closely aligned with critical business functions of an organization. Some of the attributes for SSADM supporting business functions includes enhanced quality by reviewing every stage of the software development process and meeting the customer requirements precisely by reviewing requirement analysis stage. The time and volume must be adequate at the disposal for the completion of every stage of the development process. Moreover, the radically changing situation in business happens because SSADM do not the changes available in the specification after the completion of the review stage. For considering long term benefits of SSADM, overall quality of information services within the organization is enhanced. Likewise, SSADM use is also adopted by government organizations and initially it was developed to focus on three kinds of organizations and government projects as these projects have adequate time and resources to align with the nature of SSADM methodology. The greatest drawback related to the SSADM system is that it use more time than other system. It is difficult for a business organization to generate the information system by a due date because SSADM takes too much time to analyze the projects. There is a monumental suspension among the initiation of the project and the deployment of the system. If the staff members of any organization are not fully qualified in the SSADM techniques, the business will need to spend more period and currency on training their employees. A framework is provided in order to describe projects that suited for managing the projects related to SSADM. In fact, SSADM divides an application development projects into modules, stages, steps and tasks. SSADM’s objectives are listed below: Enhances project management and control. Makes good and effective use of experienced and inexperienced development employees. Ensures better quality systems. Projects are flexible related to the loss of employees. Projects that are supported by computer-based tools for instance computer-aided software engineering systems are enabled. For better communications among participants of the project, a framework is created that covers all elements of the life cycle of a system. Furthermore, it starts from the feasibility study stage up to the production of a physical design. A number of techniques, procedures, and conventions are set out by SSADM for each and every stage in order to record and communicate the information pertaining to in textual and diagrammatic forms. In addition, SSADM is considered the most comprehensive model and its characteristics regarding the projects are such that it only utilizes those elements of SSADM appropriate to the project. A number of CASE tool providers maintain SSADM. SSADM is a waterfall method whereby Information System design can be derived. SSADM can be perceived symbolize a pinnacle of the precise document-led approach to system design. This method is distinguished with contemporary Rapid Application Development methods such as DSDM. SSADM incorporates five phases as they can also be precisely broken down further into sub-phases. They include the following: Feasibility: To decide whether it is cost effective to go further on with the system and whether it is actually promising. These are some of the sub-phases under the feasibility study: Prepare for the feasibility study Define the problem Create feasibility report Identifying of the requirements and needs related to the system and modeling these requests in terms of the procedures carried out. The sub-phases under the requirement analysis: Investigation of Current Environment Establish analysis framework Investigate and define requirements Investigate current processing Investigate current data Derive logical view of current services Assemble investigates results Business system ways Define and identify business system options Choose business system ways or options Identify Requirement Specification The functional and non-functional necessities are determined in detail. The sub-phases under the requirement specification: Definition of Requirements Define required system processing Develop required data model Derive system functions Enhance required data model Develop specification prototypes Develop processing specification Confirm system objectives Assemble requirements specification Logical System Design Specification Technical systems options are produced and the logical design of the system is created. This consist the design of update and enquiry processing. The sub-phases under logical system design are: Technical system options Define technical system options Select technical system options Define physical design module Define user dialogues Define update processes Define enquiry process Assemble logical design The logical system measurement and technical system specification is utilized to design a physical database and set of program specifications. The sub-phases under physical design are: Prepare for physical design Create physical data design Optimize physical data design Complete function specification Consolidate process data interface Create function component implementation map SSADM provides numerous benefits as well as drawbacks in terms of delivering projects on time. In order to develop a system for a medium-sized business organization, a comparatively small information system must be created. There are better solutions for the development of information system. On the contrary, there are limited resources available in a medium-sized business organization therefore, it should be considered utilizing an off-the-shelf product that is low cost and time consuming. Moreover, stages, objectives, steps, techniques, benefits and drawbacks are also discussed in detail. Essay Writing Service Features Our ExperienceNo matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. 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1A kind of gelatin obtained from fish, especially sturgeon, and used in making jellies, glue, etc. and for fining real ale. More example sentences - The animal kingdom was represented by gelatin in the form of meat stock; isinglass; and hartshorn. - Antonin poured the thickening isinglass alternately into the fruit juice and the almond milk. - Sometimes the wood surface was prepared with a coating of gesso or isinglass diluted in water with a little white pigment added. mid 16th century: alteration (by association with glass) of obsolete Dutch huysenblas 'sturgeon's bladder', from huysen 'sturgeon' + blas 'bladder'. Definition of isinglass in: - The US English dictionary
Description: By far, the most simplistic way to print in the Linux operating system is to send the file to be printed directly to the printing device. One way to do this is to use the cat command. As the root user, one could do something like # cat thesis.txt > /dev/lp In this case, /dev/lp is a symbolic link to the actual printing device---be it a dot-matrix, laser printer, typesetter, or plotter. (See ln(1) for more information on symbolic links.) For the purpose of security, only the root user and users in the same group as the print daemon are able to write directly to the printer. This is why commands such as lpr, lprm, and lpq have to be used to access the printer. Because of this, users have to use lpr to print a file. The lpr command takes care of all the initial work needed to print the file, and then it hands control over to another program, lpd, the line printing daemon. The line printing daemon then tells the printer how to print the file. When lpr is executed, it first copies the specified file to a certain directory (the spool directory) where the file remains until lpd prints it. Once lpd is told that there is a file to print, it will spawn a copy of itself (what we programmers call forking). This copy will print our file while the original copy waits for more requests. This allows for multiple jobs to be queued at once. The syntax of lpr(1) is a very familiar one, $ lpr [ options ] [ filename ... ] If filename is not specified, lpr expects input to come from standard input (usually the keyboard, or another program's output). This enables the user to redirect a command's output to the print spooler. As such, $ cat thesis.txt \| lpr $ pr -l60 thesis.txt \| lpr The lpr command accepts several command-line arguments that allow a user to control how it works. Some of the most widely used arguments are: -Pprinter specifies the printer to use, -h suppresses printing of the burst page, -s creates a symbolic link instead of copying the file to the spool directory (useful for large files), and -#num specifies the number of copies to print. An example interaction with lpr might be something like $ lpr -#2 -sP dj thesis.txt This command will create a symbolic link to the file thesis.txt in the spool directory for the printer named dj, where it would be processed by lpd. It would then print a second copy of thesis.txt. For a listing of all the options that lpr will recognize, see lpr(1). Related: banner, cancel, lpc, lprint, lpd(8), lprintq/lpq(1), lprm, pr(1), printcap(5), symlink
As more and more research comes out on blended learning, clearly student interaction is a topic that cannot be ignored. Without sufficient quality and quantity of student interaction, any form of online learning, especially blended learning models, have little chance of success. Dziuban, Hartman, and Mehaffy (2014) observe that: Blended learning, in all its various representations, has as its fundamental premise a simple idea: link the best technological solutions for teaching and learning with the best human resources….encourag[ing] the development of highly interactive and collaborative activities that can be accomplished only by a faculty member in a mediated setting. (p.322) In creating a blended course model, here are recommendations I have to maximize student interaction. In the online component of the course, have these activities planned: a. Syllabus review with a discussion board activity where students weigh in on the syllabus and their own b. Student profile creation which facilitates student-to-student interaction c. Video viewings d. Quiz or application of learning (This could be the evaluation of a learning object needed to complete the final project of the course) e. Reflection writing These activities in the online component of a course demonstrate the following: “In the best of circumstances technology allows professors to offload responsibilities that can be taken up by technology.” Dzuiban, Hartman, and Mehaffy( 2014). In the face-to-face component of the class: a. Have a synchronous weekly chat that centers around the main topic of the week and allows time for questions b. Have a final face-to-face meeting where students (or groups) deliver their final presentations for the course with an opportunity for peer review The face-to-face components of a blended course tap into interaction as a human need which is closely tied to intrinsic motivation. Synchronous activities and meetings can provide a sense of community and the necessary connections that hold an online (or blended course together). In this community setting, it is important to consider who the students will be expressing themselves to in their presentations. Students should be prepared to make their case, express their opinions and answer questions from peers and instructors. Not only are these skills valuable in an academic setting where students are working toward a degree, but they can also be considered part of what it means to be career-ready. Whether activities are online or face-to-face, it is very important to provide clear instructions, expectations and exemplars of good work. Creating rubrics for each different kind of activity gives students a roadmap toward defining their learning and achievement goals. Dzuiban, C.D., Harman, J.L., and Mehaffy, G.L. (2014). Blending it all together, In A. Picciano, C. Dzuiban, and C. Graham (Eds.), Blended learning: Research Perspectives volume 2. NY: Routledge. In taking ELI’s BlendKit15 course on blended learning, I am exposed many new readings and ideas about what blended learning is and what it is not. As online learning research accumulates, clearly blended learning models are coming out ahead as the most effective form of online learning with exceptional learning results for students. As cited in the U.S. Department of Education’s (2010) “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practice in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies”, “Students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruciton (p.xiv) and noteably, “Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction that did purely onlien instruction.” (p.xv). Why is this? There are several reasons to consider. By combining online components that the student can engage with and explore on their own terms with a face-to-face component that allows for building knowledge through connection, collaboration and discourse, you have a well rounded experience that benefits the learner and provides a refreshing role for the instructor as a guide or facilitator. This model is also highly beneficial to several learning styles and allows both the introverted and extroverted student areanas in which they can shine. I am a huge fan of George Siemans and his learning theory of connectivism. Blended learning moves us …”towards a networked model requires that we place less emphasis on our tasks of presenting information, and more emphasis on building the learner’s ability to navigate the information.” It is in this navigation, that the student sharpens critical thinking skills and develops into an independent life-long learner. I especially like the way that George Siemans describes the links and connections formed by the learners themselves as, “…the creation of the knowledge ecology.” In order to achieve the best balance of both worlds and create an enriched learning experience for the student, these 5 ideas are useful to remember: - Context is always at the core of the planning and design process. Who are the learners? What do they need to learn? What kinds of learning experiences will optimize that effort? - Keep learning and not technology at the center of the design process. Use technology to leverage learning. - Be aware that creating an online or blended learning class will take more time and thought to prepare it properly. - Be prepared to adapt any learning model you use as you get into the design process - “Creating a blended learning strategy is an evolutionary process.” (Singh and Reed, 2001). I’m looking forward to exploring this topic and online course design style more in depth. What appeals to me is the interplay between online and f2f components and how to optimize that volly to find just the right mix to create a vibrant learning community that ignites with the love of self-directed learning. Siemens, G. (2002, September 30, 2012). Instructional Design in Elearning. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Article/InstructionalDesign.htm Singh, H. & reed, C. (2001). A white paper: achieving success with blended learning. Centra Software. U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf If you’ve been following the stream of articles on digital education, no doubt you’ve run into the frenzy around MOOCs. MOOCS represent a new form of online education deliverable to students worldwide for a low- to no-cost and can provide, in some cases, college credit. Students can access educational content delivered by some of the most prestigious universities in the world on their time and from multiple devices. So far, MOOCs have already opened accessibility to higher education for millions of students; according to Coursera over half of these students are over age 26. As with other disruptions, controversy swells after initial launches, and MOOCs are certainly no exception. Recently, a group of philosophy professors at San Jose State Universitywrote an open letter to Michael Sandel, a government professor at Harvard University, for his offering of a MOOC through the provider edX that had its beginnings at Harvard. The issue? Concerns the collaboration between schools via MOOCs could represent the beginning of a trend to “replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities.” In early May, several dozen professors in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences signed a letter to their dean asking for formal oversight of the MOOC offerings through edX, a MOOC provider co-founded by the University. The Harvard professors alluded to “many critical questions,” as yet unanswered, about “the impact online courses will have on the higher-education system as a whole.” Some outsiders comment that Harvard (and other large tier-one universities) may become the Wal-Mart of education, impacting branding, and moving to a corporate model, which could exclude the original values and mission statement of university education. Critics argue that professors who object to the emergence of MOOCs may be more concerned their scholarly works may come under much more scrutiny when their classes open to the world. Financially and politically, the MOOC movement recasts itself almost daily as the big players jostle for position to become a top-tier provider of online courses that can be offered either as the main course or more of an appetizer in a flipped classroom setting. Some higher education forecasters believe this is the future of public education. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is supporting the Massachusetts Bay Community College experiment where MOOC delivery is happening in addition to face-to-face classroom instruction, has devoted millions to seeing if MOOCs produced by elite universities could help boost student success at financially-strapped state colleges. The MOOC style of delivery is no doubt highly popular among students and lifelong learners. More than 900,000 people are now registered users of edX, and President Anant Agarwal said it plans to generate revenue — through selling validated certificates to those who complete courses and charging licensing fees to colleges that teach courses based on its videos — are on track. Coursera, another highly popular MOOC provider, adapted its original vision to a new platform, offering credit-bearing courses for students enrolled in multiple campuses within a public university system beginning in May 2013. The company’s partners in this are the State University of New York System, the Tennessee Board of Regents and the University of Tennessee System, the University of Colorado System, the University of Houston System, the University of Kentucky, the University of Nebraska System, the University of New Mexico System, the University System of Georgia and West Virginia University. Critics claim the real impact of MOOCs may not be in educational pedagogy, but in the altering of the financial and political systems tied to higher education. Faculty are concerned about job security, academic freedom and the general dismantling of a very entrenched traditional version of higher education. Other newly-arising and hotly contested issues include: whether a professor who creates content delivered on a MOOC platform is responsible for the full impact of disruption created at another university or community college; whether students are actually learning anything; and how credit administered for these courses would compare with credit delivered for face-to-face classroom instruction. Chandrakant Panse of Massachusetts Bay Community College said, “The MIT certificate has a lot more value in the marketplace than three course credits at MassBay — absolutely.” In the context of a student’s job search, says the professor, an edX certificate “is going to matter tremendously more than saying. ‘I have three credits at MassBay for doing a programming course.’” Because of the paucity of secure and psychometrically valid learning outcome assessments, it is difficult to determine the value of MOOCs. Some see it as a new form of entertainment, with some students around the world competing to obtain the highest numbers of letters of completion. These so-called hardcore students have, in some cases, taken more than 30 courses and describe themselves as “Coursera addicts.” They argue this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from some of the most prestigious universities in the world … for free. And they worry this free admission to high-quality education may not last for long. New research published by the Journal of Research and Practice in Assessment is among the first peer-reviewed studies based on MOOC data. The study discovered online learners performed better when they worked with the course material offline, either with a peer or with someone trained in the area of study. The course reviewed was “Circuits and Electronics” from MIT. In this article, we must also visit the issue of cheating online, as it is easy to do so in a MOOC. “Understanding Cheating in Online Courses,” an eight-week course, explores the vocabulary, psychology and mechanics of what Bernard Bull, assistant vice-president of academics at Concordia University Wisconsin, calls “successful cheating” in online learning. Not all academics are critical of MOOCs. In fact, some of them welcome the movement as a way to augment their already-established courses. Khosrow Ghadiri, a lecturer at San Jose State University, said the edX course works perfectly as an additional classroom resource. “It’s a talking textbook that you can pick up any chapter of it, augment it the way you want it, add lecture to it, and use it to teach your students effectively,” he told The Chronicle of Higher Education. Last fall, Ghadiri began using recorded lectures by edX’s Agarwal in his introductory course in electrical engineering. Students passed at a much higher rate than usual — 91 percent compared with 59 percent and 55 percent in two other, more traditional sections of the same course. “We need a talented faculty to engage with the students,” said Ghadiri. “The only thing that I see in this pilot experiment is that the faculty get more time to spend with the students one-on-one.” Clearly, the emergence of a trend such as the MOOC is indicative of unmet educational needs worldwide. Societal changes are forcing time-tested traditions to yield to the demand for more relevant models. The disruption presently created by the MOOC movement can be a time for fresh debate and an emergence of completely new models that serve both instructor and student more effectively in the 21st century. As with many things in our societies, embracing change promotes growth, both personally and professionally. – – – – Article originally posted on The EvoLLLution at http://www.evolllution.com/community_programs/audio-serving-local-community-critical-small-institution-success/ Allison Morris, “The Minds Behind The MOOCs,” Online Courses, June 4, 2013. Accessed at http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/minds-behind-moocs “San Jose State Department of Philosophy – Open Letter to Professor Michael Sandel From the Philosophy Departemnt at San Jose State U,” RapGenius, April 29, 2013. Accessed at http://news.rapgenius.com/San-jose-state-department-of-philosophy-open-letter-to-professor-michael-sandel-from-the-philosophy-department-at-san-jose-state-u-lyrics#note-1833866 “Letter from 58 Professors to Smith Addressing edX,” The Harvard Crimson, May 23, 2013. Accessed at http://www.thecrimson.com/flash-graphic/2013/5/23/edx-faculty-letter-smith/ Steve Kolowich, “Outsourced Lectures Raise Concerns About Academic Freedom,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 28, 2013. Accessed athttp://chronicle.com/article/Outsourced-Lectures-Raise/139471/ At the Center for Applied Second Language Studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon a grand experiment is taking place. Due to the impact of recent budget cuts in education both at the K-12 level and in higher education, foreign language courses are being dropped and students are scrambling to find new and different ways to access these necessary courses. The courses are not only necessary for college admission, but to adequately function in the globalized job market of the future. Some high school students in our state are going to community colleges for classes, while others are taking online courses developed by educational corporations. We have assembled a team of Chinese specialists in curriculum and pedagogical design and along with myself working in instructional design and technology, we are preparing online modules in Mandarin for both high school students and the national Flagship program which supplies classes that deliver both content and high level Chinese language instruction to college students. Our goal is to create a completely new format that offers the best of language instruction and enriched technological media for high student engagement. Being in a pioneering field is both exciting and daunting at times. One of the greatest challenges we have faced is exactly how to blend the philosophy of sound evidence based language instruction with best practices in Instructional Design. There is an art and science to both good language instruction and engaging instructional design and finding the exact points where these two disciplines intersect has been fascinating. Communication is key. One would think that it would be easy to communicate the needs for an online module to a content development team. But without having taken an online course, the members of the content development team rely heavily on my expertise and understanding of how the course will unfold in an asynchronous online setting. By contrast, not speaking a word of Mandarin, I rely heavily on the team’s expertise in developing both content and curriculum that will meet national and international standards of language instruction. Working with native speakers from China and Taiwan, I have discovered their learning styles and their great attention to detail. While it has been mentioned in the literature that Asian cultures by nature may not necessarily be innovative, I would disagree. What I have noticed is that their ability to revise, refine and innovate is keen on models that are already created. The areas where I see our team being stretched is in using new models of teaching, such as project based learning and folding in Web 2.0 tools, the quantity of which grows by the day. It is immensely rewarding to work side by side with colleagues from China and Taiwan as we move forward with our online initiatives. The various perspectives, skill sets, talents and viewpoints help to create an enriched learning experience that we are eager to sample with student groups soon. Image courtesy of: Extracted: 3/30/12 at 11:34 AM (PST). Assessing a Collaboration Project For this discussion post, you are in the role of an online instructor who has assigned a website to be built by groups comprised of four students each in your course in Multimedia Web Design. This is a capstone project for the course and you have had the opportunity to observe each student’s level of cognitive attitude, technical ability and participation in the course through other collaborative projects, like the Discussion Board. You are entering the last two weeks of the course, and by now, peer to peer relationships have been established and your role now is to function as a learning guide. Reflect on your role as a learning guide and how best to approach your students, now that they have become more independent. In your previous online courses, reflect upon an instructor who has handled this transitional role well and draw from it as you develop this week’s post. Reflect on your role as a student and how it has been for you working in groups for academic projects in the past. What have you learned that you can take forward with this assignment? For this week’s post: Please describe how you would: - Form the groups for the Captstone Project - Communicate Best Practices for helping the group to manage the project - Establish roles for the project - Assess both individual and group performance - Design rubrics for this assessment Here is the rubric that your post will be evaluated by the following rubric. Click on this link, scroll to the very bottom of the page and locate the rubric for Discussion Posts. Post by Wednesday: Please post your response to the class Discussion Board by Wednesday of this week. Friday: Review the Discussion Board posts and enter in to any discussion to add and expand the discussion. Sunday: Again, review all the responses to your initial post and follow up with any conversations that you have been participating in to date. (Cartoon thought bubble reads: ” http://www.canyoudomyhomeworkforme.com”;) With the explosion of online learning in both K-12 and higher education, there too, has been an explosion in plagiarism and cheating. While the motivation for cheating has not changed over the years, the realization that one has cheated, especially in the digital world, has, as it is much more visible in a cyber based classroom. Most students do not realize that by cutting and pasting text from a website into their research paper without citation represents plagiarism and cheating. In an interesting survey of approximately 50,000 students from more than 60 universities students believe: ‘cut & paste’ plagiarism – using a sentence or two (or more) from different sources on the Internet and weaving this information together into a paper without appropriate citation – is not a serious issue. While 10 percent of students admitted to engaging in such behavior in 1999, almost 40 percent admit to doing so in the Assessment Project surveys [2002-5]. A majority of students (77%) believe such cheating is not a very serious issue (CAI research, 2005) as cited in Jocoy & DiBiase (2006). Why has cheating become ‘not a very serious issue’? It appears both the expectations and enforcements of facilitators/educators has fallen off. According to Jocoy & DiBiase (2006), it is much harder to detect manually as well. With budget cuts, shorter teacher days, higher enrollments, it seems plausible that a lot of cheating is going unnoticed. Thankfully, plagiarism software is now available to online instructors that can check for plagiarism. Turnitin is a good case in point. Other methods include Google which allows instructors to track down copied phrases and online services such as EVE actually compares student papers to Web documents and/or to essay databases to find and report instances of matching text. In their study, Jocoy & DiBiase(2006) did notice a difference in detecting instances of cheating by using digital resources. Our authors, Palloff & Pratt (2011), discuss the importance of creating an assessment that is highly individualized. For instance, rather than creating a multiple choice test, design the assessment so that the student has to write a personal reflection paper that demonstrates how they would apply the knowledge gained in the course to their everyday lives. There is an argument for preparing students for the work world in such a way that collaborative research, and fact finding becomes a norm. Right now in my son’s 7th grade class, the math teams occasionally take a group exam and each member of the team can contribute their knowledge to the exam. As an instructor, there are several remedies than can be implemented to cut down on both plagiarism and cheating. First of all, the instructor holds the expectation that students will not cheat and that there will be enforcements and consequences if students are caught. The announcement of assignments being processed by Turnitin should be enough of disincentive for a student to go down that road. More use of librarians can also be helpful, as many current students do not really understand the nature of plagiarism. As an online instructor, examinations can be made of documents side-by-side, discussion posts can be compared to one another, unusual wording or lengthy wording that differs from the student’s ‘signature style’, and even a mix of fonts and type style in one paper are all ways that an instructor can possibly suspect cheating. If it is suspected, it is best that the instructor addresses the issue with the student offline and explains the situation and asks for an explanation. The online instructor has the responsibility to set the tone of this issue early on in Week Zero in the course policies of what the expectations and consequences are for cheating. The student who cheats only cheats him or herself on really knowing the material that will benefit their life somehow in the future. That is a real loss for that individual and needs to be prevented. As I look to the future of online learning, I really like the idea of designing assessments that are as individualized as a student’s fingerprint. Design the assessment so that the student is forced to engage higher level thinking skills and demonstrate metacognition. Reflecting on one’s experiences in life or applying the content information to one’s life are excellent ways to measure learning and guarantee that the student has delivered original thinking and truly contributed something unique to the learning community of the course. Cartoon courtesy of www. CartoonStock.com. Extracted from: Google Images. 04/07/11 Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15. Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2011) Plagiarism and Cheating. Laureate Education Inc., Video Production.
In the struggle for energy conservation, one region outpaces the others by a long shot: the Pacific Northwest and the state of California. Since the 1970s, said David Goldstein, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, with offices in California, Washington, D.C., and New York, West Coast energy-conservation groups have initiated a variety of low-cost community programs designed to lower energy consumption in the fight to avoid an increase in the number of power plants. So far, coalitions have eliminated the need for 16 power plants in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming and Idaho, said Michael Totten, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Energy Conservation Coalition. That region has saved more than $100 million a year with energy efficient programs. Energy experts say that these programs cost one-tenth the cost of building a power plant. Many are incentive programs. The state of Oregon, for example, pays a certain amount for the weatherization of homes, and Pacific Power & Light Co. boasts the highest payback rate for such programs in the country--$1.15 per kilowatt hour, as opposed to an average of 7 cents. Another successful incentive program in Oregon called for newly constructed buildings to ``beat`` existing building codes by being more energy-efficient than the codes required. California leads the way in appliance efficiency, Goldstein said. The state has toughened its standards and is in its ``second generation`` of plans to improve efficiency by granting rebates to customers who purchase energy-efficient appliances. The state of California has a tiered-rate utility payment structure, which sells initial units of electricity at bargain prices, then increases the rate with additional consumption. This legislative measure helps low-income families, who use less electricity out of necessity, Goldstein said. Northwest states have set up programs to retrofit insulation into homes, a move subsidized by utilities for low-income households. A trial conservation program in the last few years studied how quickly the Northwest region could reduce energy consumption. In two years, 90 percent of the households had insulation and other weatherization methods installed. This made for 50 percent or more energy savings, Goldstein said. ``Reagan and the utilities say we need to build several hundred power plants in the next 20 years,`` Goldstein said. ``That would cost several trillion dollars.`` The alternative, he said, is to implement a multitude of low-cost community energy-conservation programs at a much lower price. Though these individual programs seem to save a few cents here, a few cents there, in the long run they add up, he said.
No one enjoys paying taxes. Remember receiving your first paycheck and discovering how much of your hard-earned money you would be sharing with the government? Most of us recognize that some taxes are necessary. We are happy to have roads, schools, courts, and a military, but don’t feel great about having to pay the taxes that fund them. Although economics recognizes the need for taxes to fund the government, it is pretty clear-eyed about the downside of taxes: - Corporate taxes are problematic because they involve taxing the same earnings twice. Once a corporation has paid taxes on its income, it distributes some of that income to shareholders as dividends–which are then taxed a second time. It would make more economic sense to forget about corporations and just tax shareholders. - Income taxes, particularly in the United States, have so many loopholes that they distort economic incentives. For example, people who would be better off renting a house may decide to buy because buying is cheaper once they factor in that they can deduct mortgage interest payments from their income tax. Nonetheless, taxes are sometimes good for us, despite the economic drawbacks. One example is the tax on cigarettes. Smoking is costly for society. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, smoking-related illness costs the United States more than $300 billion per year, approximately the same amount as Americans spend on all prescription drugs combined. The health costs and lost productivity due to cigarettes are estimated to be $19.16 per pack. If a higher tax on cigarettes reduces smoking, this would be a good outcome. Historically, states were willing to impose “sin taxes,” that is, taxes on items considered to be socially undesirable or harmful like alcohol and tobacco, because demand for these products was generally robust—hence the taxes provided a dependable revenue stream. More recently, and particularly in the case of cigarettes, a different motivation has come to the fore. If the tax is high enough, it may discourage consumption, which would be a good thing. So, the question is: do higher taxes on cigarettes reduce sales? Figure 1 plots the adult smoking rate on the horizontal axis and the level of state cigarette taxes on the vertical axis. The tax data in figure 1 do not include a federal tax of $1.01 per pack of cigarettes, or taxes by cities and counties, such as Chicago ($1.18), Cook County ($3.00), New York City ($1.50), Philadelphia ($2.00), and Juneau, AK ($3.00). Note the high tax rate in the northeast and far west, and the relatively low tax rate in the major tobacco-producing states (NC, KY, VA, SC, TN, and GA, highlighted in red). The trend line in Figure 1, which illustrates the relationship between cigarette taxes and smoking, suggests that higher taxes are, in fact, associated with less smoking. However, the data also suggest that high taxes have their limits. New York, for example, has the highest state tax on cigarettes ($4.35 per pack), but its adult smoking rate is still higher than the slightly lower-tax states such of Massachusetts ($3.51), Connecticut ($3.90), New Jersey ($2.70), and California ($2.87). The data also clearly indicates that the state tax rate is not the sole determinant of smoking. For example, Utah which has a relatively low tax rate also has a lower smoking rate, presumably due in part to Mormonism’s prohibition on smoking. The adult smoking rate may not be the best indicator of the success of cigarette tax policy. Adult smokers are usually long-term smokers who are both more likely to be addicted and have more money, and so may be less discouraged by high cigarette taxes. Young smokers, however, are less likely to be addicted and have the financial means to support a smoking habit, so we would expect their demand for cigarettes to be more sensitive to taxes. Figure 2 plots the youth smoking rate on the horizontal axis and the level of cigarette state taxes on the vertical axis. Figure 2 bears out this assertion. The flatter trend line illustrates that higher state taxes lead to a greater decline in smoking among youth than among adults, and suggests that a number of states could lower their youth smoking rate even further by raising the excise tax. Of course, state policy on cigarette taxes can be subverted by smuggling if the divergence between state taxes are substantial. Buying just one package of cigarettes in Virginia, where the tax is $0.30 per pack, and selling it in New York City, where the city and state tax combined are $6.01, would lead to a profit of $5.71. Since a pack of cigarettes is quite small and weighs only a few ounces, large scale smuggling presents a significant profit opportunity. One way of increasing cigarette taxes without encouraging additional smuggling would be to increase the $1.01 per pack federal tax on cigarettes. Cigarette tax policy is far more complicated than the simple analysis presented here. There are many additional factors that may affect youth and adult smoking patterns, including race, gender, ethnicity, advertising, and legal age of smoking. And, since smoking is more common among the less affluent, cigarette taxes are likely to be regressive. Despite these caveats, the evidence is clear that taxing cigarettes can save lives. Featured image credit: cigarette smoking smoke ash by markusspiske. Public domain via Pixabay.
The Launch of the World Alliance for Patient Safety "Please do me no harm" The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners announced a series of key actions to cut the number of illnesses, injuries and deaths suffered by patients during health care, with the launch of the World Alliance for Patient Safety. Ministers of health and senior officials, academics, patients' groups and WHO representatives came together from all corners of the globe to advance the patient safety goal of "First do no harm" and reduce the adverse health and social consequences of unsafe health care. The launch meeting, which took place at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington , DC, was organized around a series of keynote speeches. The meeting, encouraged participants to strengthen common action for integration of patient safety issues in national health policy and practice that would lead to much greater long-term safety in health care. Progress made at regional levels was described by WHO Regional Directors. The meeting heard that the World Alliance for Patient Safety aims to deliver six major action areas during 2005-2006: - Global Patient Safety Challenge focusing on health care associated infection; - Patients for Patient Safety involving patient oranizations and individuals in Alliance work; - International Classification for Patient Safety ensuring consistency in the concepts, principles, norms and terminology used in Patient Safety work; - Research for Patient Safety developing a rapid assessment tool for use in developing countries and undertaking prevalence studies of adverse effects; - Solutions for Patient Safety promoting existing interventions in patient safety and coordinating international efforts to develop solutions. - Reporting and learning generating best practice guidelines. Forward programme 2005 World Alliance for Patient Safety
Water Quality Studies in Malacca River Basin Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lion Bayuhan, Marryanna Lion (2003) Water Quality Studies in Malacca River Basin Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Malacca Straits is recognized worldwide due to its importance as the busiest waterway in the world. The environmental profile of the Malacca Straits points to certain stresses in the ecosystem due to pollution load. Pollutants from land-based sources are probably the most pressing environmental problem. Wastes from agricultural, industrial, and domestic source discharge directly into the Straits or indirectly via rivers, which flow into the Straits. As far as land based pollution is concerned, study on river basin is important. The Malacca River basin is of the rivers flowing into the Straits of Malacca. Geographic information System (GIS) was used to map the water pollution scenario due to its ability to analyze spatial and temporal data. Beside that, correlation coefficient method was used to determine the relationship and variation between rainfall and water quality parameters. Six parameters selected for this study. namely. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Ammoniacal Nitrogen. pH, Suspended Solid (SS), and Dissolved Oxygen (DO). The output of this study consists of water quality database. maps, and graphs on the water quality variations. The important of this study is the application of GIS technology in monitoring water quality. Technology plays an important role for effective environmental management. Repository Staff Only: Edit item detail