Split (1)

train · 97.2M rows

text string
Students will become actively involved in a Balanced Literacy Approach Program in which the following areas are addressed: Read Aloud: A book is read to the students and a written response may be given by the students. Shared Reading: An overhead text is provided for the students to participate in active thinking about the reading. Guided Reading: Small group instruction to teach a given skill. Literature Circles: Small discussion groups that provide students with the time to develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of literacy. Independent Reading: Teacher helps students choose books at their independent reading levels through book talks and mini-lessons. Students also engage in a conversation with the teacher about the book they are reading through weekly letters. Writing Workshop Components Word Journeys is an approach to assessming children's spelling and word knowledge abilities and offers effeective and appropriate instrution. Lessons include individualized spelling word lists based on the child's level of word study knowledge, and small group instruction, which teaches spelling techniques. WritMonthly Spelling Contract - students will complete 4 spelling contract activities of choice to practice their weekly features.
With so many negative things going on in the world broadcast in real-time on traditional and social media, how do you talk to your kids about them? That’s where Dr. Dawn Brown comes in. She’s the double-board certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist. Brown is the CEO and sole practitioner at ADHD wellness center and has two private practice locations in texas. She is also the psychiatrist for 3 clinics in Texas and Illinois. Brown is a proud graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine. HOW DO YOU START TALKING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT TRAGEDY? First, I recommend processing your own feelings and emotional response about the incident. Next, decide on what you want your child to understand about the incident and determine the take away message(s). Then, use open-ended questions to obtain information about what your child has seen/heard; this should be done before you can answer their questions. Try to keep complex stories simple and make sure your story is in line with your beliefs (teaching them morals and values of humanity, morally right vs. wrong behaviors, etc.) For all age groups, focus on the positives (positive imagery, heroes of the story, etc.) and with teens, limit the focus on the traumatic news; redirect the focus on them and how they are feeling about the news. WHAT CAN YOU SAY WITHOUT GIVING THEM NIGHTMARES OR MAKING THEM EVEN MORE AFRAID? Ask them directly what they are afraid of and use concrete (simple) language to address their feelings to understand their perspective. Some impressionable minds can misinterpret what they see or hear, so address these perceptions quickly and with direct communication. Example: “I understand you are afraid, so let’s talk about what you saw or how you feel.” Reassure their safety by directly stating it. “You are safe with me and where we live. I am down the hall if you need me.” “You are safe with discussing your feelings with me. If I understand how you feel, I will be able to help you with managing your feelings.” AT WHAT AGE SHOULD YOU START TALKING TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT DISTURBING TOPICS? There are different theories of thought behind this question. Some organizations of authority (American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics) recommend not discussing these topics with children until age 8, however it really depends on the child. - For example, if it does not directly affect your child, parents may choose not to discuss it. - Others may choose to discuss it once the child asks questions or the child is exposed to the information. - If you decide to talk to your children, regardless of their age, it is important to make sure your child feels safe. Be prepared for their possible “different” views, emotional responses and decision-making, especially considering the powerful influences of their friends, social media and TV exposure. HOW DO YOU HELP YOUR CHILD TO OPEN UP ABOUT A TRAGEDY? - Start simple-use concrete words. - Begin with open-ended questions - Offer frequent encouragement and positive feedback in response to their perspective. - Be patient and listen. - Be understanding of their volatile emotions and mood reactions to what they see/hear from their friends, media, etc. - Use less-intimidating resources by having conversations while performing a task/hobby they enjoy i.e. have the conversation while you both work on completing a puzzle together. HOW DO YOU REASSURE THEM EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY? - By assuring them that they are safe and providing them with examples of those safety measures. - Establishing who they should trust and who you trust will help them if they are ever in danger. - Teaching them the “majority rule”- it is natural for the majority of our society to be of “good nature.” Therefore, make sure you draw distinction by using words like “majority, most, few, etc.” and simplify the conversation by giving examples of when/where it is the exception. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DO’S AND DON’T WHEN DISCUSSING THEIR CONCERNS? - Make sure that whenever your child has a question, you have an immediate discussion. You should NOT avoid or allow complex questions to “linger.” - There are several biases that can affect your and your child’s perceptions. Don’t allow for their impressionable minds to begin to misinterpret what they see or hear. Distinguish good behavior from bad behaviors and explain to them that under no circumstance is a violence response OK. - Discussing tragedies should be communicated differently, as they are understood differently considering your child’s age, experience/history with trauma and emotions/temperament. - Help ease the tendencies for children under 8 by stressing what they learn/understand about these events rather than how the final reaction looks. - Take advantage of their eagerness to learn/understand the significance of what is occurring by asking open-ended and thought-provoking questions (for teenagers). Provide opportunities for independent decision-making and give feedback. Dr. Brown answers your ‘Text Tom’ questions on the next page:
You must establish a cost baseline before developing a project budget. This cost baseline assists the project manager in comparing expected and actual expenditures and creating the budget. A cost baseline is also known as a cost-performance baseline in some cases. This article will go over the cost baseline in-depth. What is a Cost Baseline in Project Management? One of the three project performance baselines, the cost baseline, is concerned with the project’s cost performance. The schedule baseline and scope baseline are the other two project baselines. The cost baseline cannot be changed by project managers. They need to process a change request. Upon approval of a change request, they can change the cost baseline. A project cost baseline forecasts a project’s overall cost over a given time period. It’s a budget that’s phased in accordance with the project’s progress. On a graph, the cost baseline forms an S-Curve. This shape tells us: - Cost expense in the planning phase is low. - Cost expense is the maximum in the execution phase. - Costs expense again low at the end. A cost baseline is a comprehensive estimate of the project’s costs. It takes into account the total cost of all project operations as well as the contingency reserve. The project budget includes the cost baseline as well as the management reserve. To handle known and unknown risks, contingency reserves and management reserves are used. Project work is divided into a work breakdown structure where the work package is the lowest level. The cost of each work package is estimated by project managers, and the sum of these expenses is known as the project cost estimates. It becomes the cost baseline if they add the contingency reserve. A cost baseline is utilized to compare actual costs to predicted costs to demonstrate variation. A cost baseline is an approved project cost and includes the cost of wages, materials, equipment, and other direct and indirect costs. It’s a complete cost estimate for all jobs on a project’s timetable. The project budget is created by adding the management reserve to the cost baseline. Creating a cost baseline is the first step in analyzing project spending. A cost baseline compares actual spending to budgeted spending. Component of a Project Cost Baseline A project cost baseline includes the following: To establish a project baseline, you must first identify and approve the project scope. The scope statement, a list of project objectives, and deliverables are used to create the project scope. Break the project work down into work breakdown structure and work packages. The next step is creating a project timeline with dates, milestones, and a final deadline. A Gantt chart is a good tool to employ here because it can be easily changed and adjusted to meet changing deadlines. Estimate how long each task will take and allocate resources. Manpower and supplies are needed for project activities. Employees, contractors, subcontractors, equipment, and other assets needed to satisfy requirements are examples of resources. Importance of Cost Baseline When it comes to project management, sticking to a project budget is crucial. Overspending indicates that the project is off track, and you will have disgruntled stakeholders. The cost baseline is used to compare the actual effort to the cost variance, cost performance index, and expected effort. Estimate at completion, estimate to complete and to complete performance index are all useful for predicting. If a project manager doesn’t have a baseline, they won’t be able to evaluate their costs. The cost baseline provides valuable information for project managers and other stakeholders, which includes: Deciding If the Project is Worth Proceeding A thorough evaluation of the initial baseline allows stakeholders to judge whether the project is worthy of being carried out. Keeping a Project on Budget The cost baseline helps analyze overall cost performance by comparing actual spending to expected expenses. This helps project managers know whether they are under or over budget. Calculating Earned Value Earned value analysis benefits from a cost baseline. You can figure out how much you’ve earned (EV). After that, you may compare actual performance to the stated goals, but it’s more than just a tool for evaluating performance. It allows you to examine project trends and predict whether or not a project will have challenges in the future. You can predict possible overruns by observing performance trends. You can examine the performance of anticipated and actual expenses at the activity level. However, such estimates should not be relied upon, particularly in the early phases of a project’s life cycle. The forecast is initially inaccurate due to the limited number of performed activities, but as the project progresses, the forecast prediction accuracy improves. It is, however, still relying on the team’s progress assessments, which can be biased. If you know the baseline cost, you can compare this with the actual expanse and see whether you are on track. Project management software may have a “traffic light” or similar system to indicate this. This provides a project manager with variance information, which can be helpful for future estimating. When project managers create their cost baseline, they estimate how long each task will take and the effort required to complete it. They determine the likely costs and, if they are charging for work done, what the revenue will be. How is the Cost Baseline Calculated? The baseline cost is determined by adding the resource’s planned expenses, which include daily work, expected overtime, and per-use charges for every assigned task to the resource. Baseline Cost = (Work x Standard Rate) + (Overtime Work x Overtime Rate) + Per Use Cost. The cost baseline is the total cost of all project activities/resources plus the cost of managing known risks. Cost Estimate = Sum of Costs for Work Packages Cost Baseline = Project Cost Estimates + Contingency Reserves Project Budget = Cost Baseline + Management Reserve How to Create a Cost Baseline Before you can construct a cost baseline, you must first develop a project strategy. Using project management software, you can construct activities, apply resources, link dependencies, define milestones, and track your progress. Keep the following considerations in mind when setting cost baselines. The cost of the project is determined by the resources available. Every team member has distinct abilities and specialties suited for different tasks. The cost of human resources is included in the cost baseline. The cost depends on the time taken by activity, and the project cost baseline is a time-phased budget. Time estimates help in cost estimation. Equipment, software, and materials are all included in these expenditures. Material costs can be estimated using prior project files that have been documented in the project accounting system by project managers. They can also put out requests for information and have the vendors respond. Risks occur in most projects, and the cost estimate must account for them. You should consider contingencies for any identified risks and add the contingency reserve to manage identified risks. Project Cost Baseline Vs Project Budget The cost baseline and the project budget are linked. A subset of the project budget is the cost baseline. The budget is measured by a cost baseline, which is part of the project planning process. Cost baselines are a cost management technique that can be used to track progress throughout the execution process. The cost baseline is the project’s allowed budgeted expense. It is fixed in stone and acts as a project guideline. A project manager can use the cost baseline to evaluate cost performance. The budget shows them how much money they have left over to spend. The cost baseline is also a criterion for evaluating cost performance. The budget is an estimate of the project cost to the company. Because it’s a yardstick project manager used to assess cost performance, you might call the cost baseline the budget baseline. Examples of Cost Baseline Let’s consider the PMP® Exam preparation as an example to illustrate the concept of the Cost Baseline. Tom, a practicing project manager, has determined to get certified through self-study. He has chosen the cheapest online training courses to get the 35 contact hours certificate to qualify for the exam. The budget for getting PMP® Certification is as follows: PMI Membership Fee: 139 USD Project Management Training through self-study: 199 USD PMP® Exam Fee (for PMI Member): 405 USD set aside a budget for miscellaneous items (e.g., transportation, exam prep book, PMBOK® Guide, mock exams, etc.). : 300 USD PMP® Certification Cost: 1,043 USD, which is the cost estimate for the PMP® Project Tom has set aside a budget for any identified risks (e.g., being unable to finish preparation on time, extra learning aids, re-exam after a failure, etc.). His contingency reserve is 500 USD. Tom is also advised to set aside money for unknown risks, which is set around 10% of the cost estimate (according to his own decision), i.e., 100 USD (Management Reserve). Therefore, for the PMP® Certification Project, Total Cost Baseline = Cost Estimate + Contingency Reserve = 1,043 + 500 = 1,543 USD Take this social media marketing campaign as an example. A project manager asks a team member to create a social media campaign to coincide with the launch of a new product. They are allotted a project budget, and their goal is to build brand awareness and encourage early sales of the product. Therefore, their project baseline could look something like this: Scope/Deliverables: 500 direct sales Schedule: One month Cost: 1,000 USD In this project baseline example, you must first outline all the tasks needed to improve the company’s conversion rate and achieve the end goal of 500 sales. This would include plans for social media posts for various platforms with exact copy and design briefs. They can then map their schedule in a content calendar, including optimized dates and times for each post. Finally, create a detailed budget to divide costs across various sectors, e.g., PPC fees for Facebook ads. One of the three project performance baselines is the cost baseline, against which the project’s cost performance is measured. Without the approval of a change request, a project manager has no ability to make changes to it. As a project manager, you should keep an eye on the cost baseline performance because if the expense exceeds it, your project will go over budget, and you may need to propose a change.
You are not currently logged in. Access JSTOR through your library or other institution: If You Use a Screen ReaderThis content is available through Read Online (Free) program, which relies on page scans. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader. Leptospirosis among Schoolchildren of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India: Low Levels of Morbidity and Mortality among Pre-Exposed Children during an Epidemic P. Vijayachari, A. P. Sugunan, M. V. Murhekar, S. Sharma and S. C. Sehgal Epidemiology and Infection Vol. 132, No. 6 (Dec., 2004), pp. 1115-1120 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3865360 Page Count: 6 You can always find the topics here!Topics: Infections, Leptospirosis, Children, Seroepidemiologic studies, Antibodies, Disease outbreaks, Diseases, Students, Predisposing factors, Female animals Were these topics helpful?See somethings inaccurate? Let us know! Select the topics that are inaccurate. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader. Preview not available Leptospirosis is an important public health problem in the Andaman Islands. The disease is being increasingly reported among children and adolescents in recent times. An attempt was made to find out the level of exposure to leptospires, to estimate the incidence of infection and to identity the risk factors for acquiring infection among children. A sample of 1544 schoolchildren was selected. Presence of anti-leptospiral antibodies was tested using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Students were interviewed for behavioural factors. In total, 341 (221 seronegative and 120 seropositive) students were followed up clinically and serologically during a subsequent outbreak. An overall seropositivity rate of 23·6% (95% CI 21·54-25·81) was observed. Infection rate was 33·5% among seronegatives whereas re-infection rate was 16·7% among seropositives during the outbreak that occurred 1 month after the first sample collection. Morbidity and mortality were found to be higher among seronegative individuals than serpositives, More than 90% of leptospiral infections were found to be subclinical or unnoticed. The high level of exposure among the children results in high infection rates and because they have less previous exposure than adults, they do not have sufficient protection to resist clinical illness during outbreaks. Epidemiology and Infection © 2004 Cambridge University Press
Dr. Steve Atwater, Superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, said cell phones have become almost unavoidable in local classrooms. Instead of fighting against the inevitable, he said the district is looking at ways to harness digital technology. Dr. Atwater: “What’s hard is that the students are then distracted to do social texting, which is not what we want. But we’re trying to figure out how best we can do that. There’s also a teacher can communicate with students by text, and that’s going on right now, too, in terms of teachers sending out information about an assignment comes out as a text, cause that’s how kids get their information. They don’t do email very much at all any more. It’s all through text, so we need to adjust that way.” While there are benefits to digital communication, Dr. Atwater said they’re also keenly aware of inappropriate behaviors, like viewing and sending explicit images. Dr. Atwater: “Yeah, we have a program for our students that’s called isafe, and that’s a program that’s designed to help students make wise choices when they’re online, as well as with digital communication and it’s just helping the students recognize that certain websites may lead you to other websites that are really poor, and also help them not give away information that could disclose personal information.”
Washington, February 3 (ANI): Astronomers, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, have observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before. Asteroid collisions are energetic, with an average impact speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, or five times faster than a rifle bullet. The comet-like object imaged by Hubble, called P/2010 A2, was first discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research, or LINEAR, program sky survey on January 6. New Hubble images taken on Jan. 25 and 29 show a complex X-pattern of filamentary structures near the nucleus. "This is quite different from the smooth dust envelopes of normal comets," said principal investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles. "The filaments are made of dust and gravel, presumably recently thrown out of the nucleus. Some are swept back by radiation pressure from sunlight to create straight dust streaks. Embedded in the filaments are co-moving blobs of dust that likely originated from tiny unseen parent bodies," he added. Hubble shows the main nucleus of P/2010 A2 lies outside its own halo of dust, which has never been seen before in a comet-like object. The nucleus is estimated to be 460 feet in diameter. Normal comets fall into the inner regions of the solar system from icy reservoirs in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. As comets near the sun and warm up, ice near the surface vaporizes and ejects material from the solid comet nucleus via jets. But P/2010 A2 may have a different origin. It orbits in the warm, inner regions of the asteroid belt where its nearest neighbors are dry rocky bodies lacking volatile materials. This leaves open the possibility that the complex debris tail is the result of an impact between two bodies, rather than ice simply melting from a parent body. "If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight," Jewitt said. The main nucleus of P/2010 A2 would be the surviving remnant of this so-called hypervelocity collision. (ANI)
New Zealand's great outdoors is populated by plants which can cause harm if eaten, leading to a stinging mouth, sore stomachs, vomiting, itchy and painful skin or more serious poisoning. The National Poisons Centre has analysed more than 11,000 inquiries it received after people came into contact with or ate poisonous plants and fungi. Many of the most commonly inquired-about plants - such as kowhai and arum lily - cause only mild symptoms such as an upset stomach or burning mouth. But a handful, including foxglove and oleander, require immediate medical treatment if eaten. Dr Leo Schep, a toxicologist at the poisons centre, said calls were mostly made after young children ate plants. Parents should learn the plants in their garden or neighbourhood, he said, and avoid or get rid of potentially poisonous ones. The bright yellow of daffodils - which contain toxic alkaloids - were too appealing for 56 children and 28 adults, the centre's records for 2003-2010 show. The flower itself would cause only vomiting, but eating the bulb would require a hospital visit, Dr Schep said. "Also, surprisingly, people drink the water that the plants have been in. Kids will do anything." Black nightshade was the most common poisonous plant inquiry, with 834 calls - 90 per cent of which related to children. The green, unripe berries of the common weed contain toxic alkaloids and can be mistaken for peas. Dr Schep said the plant was not to be mistaken for similarly named deadly nightshade, which is extremely rare in New Zealand. Because the green berries were low in toxicity, a 12kg 2-year-old would need to eat about 36 before there was any need for concern, he said. Arum lily caused a stinging of the mouth if eaten, but not serious poisoning. Kowhai was not a concern because the toxic seeds were encased in a hard shell: "You swallow it and it just goes straight through your system." The fourth most-common plant inquiry was about euphorbia or "spurge" - herbs or shrubs which have a highly irritating white, latex-like sap. More than 100 calls to the centre were about eye exposure to the sap, which if left untreated can result in blindness. Ongaonga, or New Zealand tree nettle, which can grow to 2m high, causes intense pain with itching after contact with skin. Dogs have died after exposure. Dr Schep flagged karaka, foxglove, hemlock and oleander as the most dangerous plants, particularly for toddlers. Foxglove and oleander contain a toxin which can bring on serious cardiac issues, and can be treated with charcoal. "If you've got kids and you've got an oleander tree in your property, it may be worth getting it bowled. And foxglove - get rid of it," Dr Schep advised. The native karaka evergreen tree contains a toxin karakin which is most concentrated in its kernels. Dr Schep said small amounts of human ingestion were unlikely to cause serious poisoning, but dogs had died after eating the kernels. For poisons advice phone 0800 POISON (0800 764 766)
Does this image show actual EDM cratering or spark erosion cratering happening on comet 67P? Or are the jets that you can see in the brighter right side image just an electrochemical event that does not help to create this and the craters (chain) beside it? An active pit spotted by Rosetta on comet 67P. Enhancing the contrast (right panel) shows fine structures in the shadow of the pit, interpreted as fine jets of gas. "The images of the goosebump terrain in the pits are suggesting that the nucleus is indeed a rubble pile but all the 'rubble' is about the same size," he said. "This is consistent with current ideas about how accretion of comets worked in the early solar system." Goosebumps, cliffs, basins, pits: What Rosetta has seen so far The rubble or boulders in the bottom of the pits/craters due to where the rocky surface material of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been eroded away and the bits fall down to the bottom? Perhaps showing how and why you do get boulders or rocks in holes or craters? Or the birth of rock? Comet 67P - active EDM cratering/pits? Would geology describe these pits as doline, sinkhole, collapse caves if they were not on a comet? How were they formed? How are they also found in cliffs? In the Seth region, extending around the neck from one end of Hapi, we observe a closely packed system of well-defined pits and depressions with remarkably flat floors. The walls of these features show linear structures that are parallel to their floors and extend laterally hundreds of meters, indicating a consolidated structure, but they also exhibit vertical striations. Some of these quasi-circular pits are minor sources of activity. They are similarly seen in cliffs and are possibly erosion features related to activity. They range from 50 to 300 m in diameter and 10 to 200 m in depth. We find other pits everywhere on the nucleus. Such pits have been observed on comets 81P/Wild 2 and 9P/Tempel 1, and those were interpreted as activity-related features rather than impact craters because of their flat size distribution. The pits on the nucleus of 67P share a similar morphology, although the active ones tend to have a depth/diameter ratio close to 1, whereas the inactive pits are much shallower, seemingly filled with fine dust and multiple boulders. It is not clear whether these pits are inactive or whether they will “wake up” when they start receiving more illumination. On the nucleus structure and activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - Nuclear properties and geomorphology The active pits/craters on comet 67P strangely have ratio? Not lots that are deep compared to their diameter? Is this due to electric discharging at the higher points of the surface?
Assure good marks in CBSE with NCERT solutions - Easy availability online as well as in bookstores. - Lucid explanation of concepts - NCERT solutions for Class 6 Civics - Various kinds of solutions are offered - Examples used to explain concepts are everyday examples to which a student can relate easily - Easily affordable - Explains not only an in-depth understanding of concepts but also how to put them on paper in innovative ways NCERT solutions for Class 8 Science help students to apply theoretical knowledge to practical examples in the form of questions. Not only do they offer many alternative solutions to a single problem but also offer very different kinds of approaches to a question. NCERT solutions are available for various classes like NCERT solutions for Class 6th, NCERT solutions for Class 7, NCERT solutions for Class 8th, NCERT solutions for Class 8, NCERT solutions for Class 10, NCERT solutions for Class 9 Chemistry and NCERT solutions for Class 12. These solution sets prepare a child for deriving different ways of writing an answer so that they might invent new ways of writing an answer from the given set of solutions. There are always new possibilities and different methods for answering questions from practical subjects like Mathematics and Science. Further, languages and social sciences can be approached in many new ways and every answer in such subjects can be different. NCERT solutions help a child in discovering new ways of putting on paper a subjective answer too. They can prove to be a key to being different so that the child stands out amongst the lot. We encourage students to use NCERT solutions because we know the importance of quality education and want every child to be different in a positive manner. Given below are the reasons why a child should trust NCERT solutions for class 10 Mathematics as the Holy Grail for clearing CBSE exams with good marks: - Different solutions are offered, all of which are challenging - Explained in a language which makes every challenging solution seem easy and understandable - Follows set pattern and offers answers to mock tests - Is revised every year to incorporate changes in CBSE format and previous year question papers - If followed properly and regularly, these solutions can prove to be guides for students who want to appear for competitive exams too - Doesn’t have editing mistakes due to frequent revisions and re-revisions. - Study any time any where - Learn online tuition with video or live, online tutor - Search college and schools on your are and locations
Clarity and Brevity in Web Writing\| Remember: clarity is what our readers think is clear. Never assume that what's clear to you is clear to your readers. Test everything. If you can't test content on the target audience (and why not?) at least test it on somebody outside the area of expertise for which you're writing. Don't test writing through friends or colleagues. Have clear-cut objectives. Write those objectives down before starting to write, and then stick to them. Cut out anything that doesn't apply. Extraneous text doesn't add meaning - it's just waffle. Web readers have a short attention span and no interest in the extent of our vocabularies. Make content clear, and make it brief. - Get to the point. Then stop. - Use plain English. - Express one thought at a time. - Let the facts speak for themselves. - Use short words and phrases. - Never use a long word when a short one will do. - If it's possible to cut out a word, cut it out. Use a Consistent Voice for Web Writing Dates and Time Frames in Web Writing
The History of Ancient Sumeria (Sumer) including its cities, kings, religions culture and contributions or civilization The Art of Sumeria by: Liliana Osses Adams Other Mesopotamian Peoples Please Help Keep Us On the Web. We are a Non-Profit Organization and the cost of continuing is becoming more than we can handle. Therefore, we are asking you to please donate anything you can to help keep us on the web Care to express an opinion on a current or past historical event? Need to ask a question from our many visitors? Just visit our Message Board and leave your message. Sumerian Gods and Goddesses TheSumerians thought that a great domed roof contained the sky, the stars, the moon, and the sun which lighted the cities beneath it; they also believed that below the earth swirled the dim netherworld, a fearsome abode of demons and the kingdom of the dead. Enlil and Enki are credited with creating the cattle, sheep, plants, the yoke and the plow to provide sustenance for themselves and less important deities, but these minor gods lacked the resolution to make use of this bounty so man was fashioned from clay and given breath so he might tend the sheep and cultivate the fields for the gods. The gods of Sumer, much like mortal men, suffered the vicissitudes of fate and many legends tell of their often ineffective exploits. Nammu, Goddess of the Primeval Sea, "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth." An, God of the Heavens, leading Sumerian deity from Fourth Millennium B.C. until the city of Erech began to lose its power (c. 2500 B.C.). Ki, Goddess of the Earth Enlil, God of Air and Storms, son of An and Ki: Enlil is credited with separating the heavens from earth and, therefore, described as the "father of the gods," "king of the universe," "king of all lands." For about a thousand years after 2500 B.C., Enlil is supreme ruler of Sumerian pantheon of gods and guardian of the city of Nippur; he is credited with raising up the "seed of the land" and with bringing "whatever is needful" into existence. Enlil is said to have been responsible for the me, a set of universal laws governing all existence. Utu, sun god who lights the world with rays issuing from his shoulders: Utu was also the god of justice and carved out justice with the many-toothed saw he carried with him. Ninhursag, Mother Earth, the source of all life: from Ninhursag came the birth of the planets; she is usually seen wearing a leafy crown and holding a branch to indicate fertility. Enki, Lord of Water and Wisdom: Enki emits streams from his shoulders; he is the god who gave rulers their intelligence and who provided craftsmen with their skills. Inanna, Goddess of Love and War: Inanna stands beside her insignia, gateposts hung with streamers, and is present whenever life is conceived through love or ended in battle. Ereshkigal, Goddess of Darkness, Gloom, and Death, sister of Inanna
African music has long influenced genres worldwide, starting with the blues in the 19th century which has its roots in the music carried to America’s Mississippi Delta by African people forced into the slave trade. It has also helped shape merengue, jazz, and, of course, rock, but on the western cusp of the African continent artists have adopted their own take on a popularized American sound. Hip-hop first made its mark on Ghanaian music in the 1970s when Gyedu Blay Ambolley—an artist who took an innovative approach to highlife, a densely rhythmic, guitar-based style—released one of the country’s first semi-rap songs, titled “Simigwado.” On the record, Ambolley spoke in both English and Fante, one of the traditional languages of the local Akan people. Over the following two decades, highlife artists continued to experiment with incorporating other styles into their recordings—from reggae to gospel music—but it wasn’t until the 1990s when a new sound called “hiplife” emerged. A unique hybrid of highlife and hip-hop, hiplife served as an expressive platform for younger artists. During its early days, Ghanaian rapper Reggie Rockstone's tireless grind earned him the title "the godfather of hiplife," while Ghana’s first rap group Chief G and The Tribe and other artists including Native Funk Lords and Talking Drums also served as key contributors. As time progressed, hiplife continued to evolve with a plethora of eager new artists and unique production elements. To unify all the different dynamics and give name to the innovative sounds that were now branching off from hiplife, in 2011 UK DJ Abrantee called the popular music “Afrobeats.” The term is not to be confused with Afrobeat, without the “s," the largely instrumental style of music popularized in the 1970s by Fela Kuti. Although it is influenced by the older genre, Afrobeats is now the umbrella term for the multitude of styles that hiplife gave birth to; some still use the names Afrobeats and hiplife interchangeably. Drawing on a variety of languages and a global dance music palette, Afrobeats has carved out a new lane in music. While its long transcended it's Ghanaian roots, the local lineage of contributors to the culture is extensive. Here are 10 Afrobeats artists from Ghana, new and old, that you should know. The reigning tastemaker of the new school of Afrobeats in Ghana, Sarkodie not only has killer talent, but he’s been in the game since 2009 and rapped his way to the top. He spits quick, switching back and forth between English and his native language, with the same fire and wit that first caught him attention in rap battles at the beginning of his career. In 2012, Sarkodie won a BET Award for Best International Act Africa, followed by the Best Hip Hop award at 2014's MTV Africa Awards. He's also a hit at home, with his 2011 song “U Go Kill Me” an anthem for the Azonto dance and music movement. This Ghanaian duo that has dominated the hiplife/hip-hop fusion for a few years now. With consistency, R2Bees' Paedae da Pralem holds down the rap verses while bandmate Mugeez gives songs the magic touch with his rich vocals. Their name comes from their motto “refuse to be broke," and from the looks of it their pockets should be pretty full. In addition to having their own recording company R2Bees Entertainment, the two have collaborated on tracks with Ghana and Nigeria’s biggest artists such as Sarkodie, WizKid and Stay Jay, and they were also featured performers at this year’s first Sounds of Africa showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas. 3. Joey B Ghanaian rapper Joey B has an ear for melody and a knack for a smooth verse, but his laid-back approach should not to be mistaken for any lack of lyrical talent: he has a mindful flow. His biggest hit is his single “Tonga,” a chill party song titled after a Twi word—a dialect of the Akan language—that means “an irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads men into difficult situations.” Truly an artist for his people, Guru entered the music world avidly representing his roots. The Ghanaian MC raps in his indigenous language and gives much credit to the small towns and villages around his own, the northern town of Nkoranza. Despite his humility, he's still recognized as a leader in the field of hiplife and recently received a nomination for Artist of the Year at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. An all-round artist, E.L uses his production, engineering and vocal skills in addition to his rap abilities to carve out his place in Ghana's thriving music scene. He’s earned production credits for major hiplife artists such as Sarkodie, Reggie Rockstone, and D-Black, but on his collab with rapper M.anifest he sings his own background vocals to further prove his versatility. Before his disappearance in 2014, singer Castro was the must-have vocalist that just about every major Afrobeats artist had worked with. With his undeniable voice and charm, Castro was an enthusiastic crooner and would always be the one doing the most popular Ghana Azonto dance choreo at a performance or in a music video. Although Castro is no longer with us, in an introduction to some of Ghana’s best Afrobeats artists, his legacy cannot go unmentioned. At the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, Stonebwoy broke through as an emerging artist, racked up the awards, and left the building crowned as Artist of the Year. He differs from some of the other Ghanaian artists on this list as he’s not categorized as hiplife but instead his Afro-pop songs are doused with heavy reggae and dancehall influences, creating the perfect dance tracks for all of Ghana’s moves. Not only do his instrumentals stray from the norm but he also raps in Jamaican patois which adds another dimension to his music and audience. In 2009, D-Black was appointed as Ghana’s United Nation’s Celebrity Ambassador, a title that speaks for his global influence. His music still has Afrobeats vibes with hiplife instrumentals, but his delivery is undoubtedly more mainstream. D-Black raps in English, allowing him to reach a global audience. Fun fact: At the age of 19, D-Black managed Reggie Rockstone, Ghana’s "godfather of hiplife," and then went on to be the first Ghanaian rapper to be nominated for a BET Award. There’s nothing timid about MzVee’s artistry as she makes clear in song, “My Time”: In this war I’m a general and my voice is my loaded gun. Ghana definitely shows love to female artists, but MzVee is representing hard right now. She belts through dancehall tracks with her powerhouse voice and makes it clear that she’s here both to make you move and to leave her mark. One thing Edem doesn’t do is back down from the track. Just check “Heyba" for proof: he punches out line after line with little space for air. He's well-respected among go-hard Ghana MCs as he’s been in the game since 2006. Edem took a liking to Sarkodie in his early days and featured him on his debut album Volta Regime—an appearance that catapulted Sarkodie’s career.
Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is now a toxic desert littered with rusting ships and plagued with lung-choking dust storms. The problems began in the 1940s, when the Soviet government built a series of irrigation projects along the Aral's tributaries to support its newly established cotton farms. By the 1960s, so much water was being diverted from the lake that it began to shrink. As cotton production ramped up, more and more water bypassed the Aral Sea, causing its levels to fall dramatically and increasing its salinity. By 2007, the Aral was a tenth of its original size. The area's once thriving fishing industry has been decimated, and the exposed lake beds contain a high concentration of crop-killing salt, as well as pesticides, industrial chemicals, and fertilizer run-off. These irritants swirl in the air during dust storms, causing tuberculosis, cancer, and lung disease among the tens of thousands of people living nearby. To make what was already a horrific situation worse, the draining of the Aral Sea exposed Vozrozhdeniya, an island where the Soviets conducted secret open-air bio-warfare experiments during the 1950s. Vozrozhdeniya, once a storage house for anthrax spores, bubonic plague bacteria, and weaponized smallpox, became part of the surrounding landscape. Given anthrax's long and stubborn lifespan — and 90 per cent mortality rate — this was cause for concern. In 2002, in the wake of post-9/11 anthrax scares in the U.S., a joint American-Uzbek team decontaminated 10 anthrax burial sites on the former island. More seas to see: View Aral Sea in a larger map
\|Sumár projektu:\|\|Culture can be defined as the characteristics, the habits, traditions, and the beliefs of a country, religion, cuisine, music and arts of society, or a particular group of people. Cities have many different qualities in terms of culture, living styles, economic and social structures, history, beauties, and places to visit, food, environment and so forth. Human beings are an indispensable part of the place they live in and they cannot be considered separately. Nowadays, the children take pleasure in using computers, especially playing computer games and surfing the internet as the technology develops in a dazzling rate. They are not open enough to outside world to interact with the society. Thus, they are not aware of the city and of what they can do in the city. In this way, although people are social beings, they lose their social identity. According to the European priorities, our project focuses on the intercultural dialogues in order to promote international understanding and world peace. The educative community will discover value and respect; understand the local and national cultures, each country and region. Teachers and students will share and exchange experiences to reinforce cooperation in order to achieve great convergence and improvement. The students will develop social skills by sharing ideas, knowledge, tasks, materials and etc. They will learn a foreign language in a true situation of communication and will develop literacy skills as well. The purpose of the partnership is to learn about other cultures and compare with our own culture, to improve ICT competences and foreign languages. We will use the tools such as videos, internet, e-Twinning, the social media-Twitter, YouTube and Facebook-bulletin boards, posters, logos, pictures and books to share and compare different life styles. We will have knowledge and skills in many areas such as culture, history, languages, geography, art and etc. We will also explain the symbols of our own city, what is the most famous or important in your own city, by exploring culture, customs, lifestyles, historical places and natural beauties, crafts, food, dances, music and etc. We will create an awareness of the outside world and other cultures. We will make it the guide of our cultural development. We will also create our own products of activities such as a film, a logo and slogan, a pocket calendar, a digital mini dictionary, slide shows about our culture top creators and religious traditions, educational materials related to our cities, old toys, traditional dresses and games, an e-book with all the recipes of the partnership and the results of the questionnaires. The partner schools have students of the same ages and similar needs. The schools have a variety of cultural diversity with students from different social and economical backgrounds. We want to do this project mainly in terms of developing language and ICT skills and sharing cultures. We are altogether in this project aiming to achieve common goals. We will run the project according to the planned activities, budget and time schedule. The responsibilities of the coordinator and of the partners are determined. We will work cooperatively. In a multi-social and multi-cultural environment the students learn to take responsibility for each other, for the ones who are different in skin colour, religion or just from a different cultural background. Based on cooperative work between the schools, we would like to familiarize pupils with different cultures and enhance their understanding and create an interesting learning environment. Due to that, they will be aware of their city, Europe and their condition as European citizens.\|
A plan to tag endangered killer whales that ply both sides of the international border between British Columbia and the United States is being met with growing opposition in Canada. Despite efforts between the two countries to develop a recovery strategy for the endangered species, a unilateral decision was made by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to attach killer whales with satellite tags. The Raincoast Conservation Foundation contends that the nominal amount of information generated from these tags, attached to the fins of killer whales, does not justify the risk they might incur. This is a small, exceptionally vulnerable population of whales; any individual loss as a consequence of infection from these tags, would have much broader consequences. Simply put, this type of invasive research isn't worth the risk. While researchers on both sides of the border would like to know more about the habits of killer whales, especially during the winter, these tags are unlikely to answer their questions. These tags would provide location data only, and only for the animal that's been tagged; not necessarily for the pod of whales at large. Furthermore, this information will only be relevant for as so long as the tag remains pinned to the whale's fin. These animals can live up to 90 years, and having a mere snapshot of their position in these waters will not paint the picture of their ecology and biology that researchers are in search of. Note, the tag is designed to come off the whale on the basis of rejection by the animal's immune system. This can happen in as little as three weeks. These tags won't provide information on the depths the whales were feeding at, what they were feeding on, and what their distribution was being driven by. These tags will be unable to offer any of the biological or ecological context that would be necessary to make proper management decision based on food supply or critical habitat. Such information would have to be gathered separately. The above photo, taken in the Strait of Georgia in Canadian waters, shows the dorsal fin of a transient killer whale after satellite tagging. A pair of serious wounds can be seen at the site where the barbs had been sheared off the animal after the whale rejected the tag. Southern resident killer whales are endangered for several reasons: chemical pollution, noise and disturbance levels, as well as a decline in the supply in salmon. With a weakened immune system from exposure to pollution, the wounds that would be incurred from tagging will be more readily infected; this can lead to serious illness, or even death for the whale. Furthermore, the close following and harassment that goes hand-in-hand with attaching these tags will do nothing but increase stress level amongst the species. The Raincoast Conservation Foundation has been a long standing advocate, and practitioner of non-invasive research methods. For example, our decade-long study of wolves along the coast was done without any collaring or capturing of any wolves. Instead, we utilized the "facts from faeces" approach: gathering a myriad of information, such as dietary and distributional data, from minute quantities of DNA gathered from over a thousand wolf scats collected over several years of intensive field work. In their paper, "Faecel-centric Approaches to Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; Methods, Data and Ethics," published in the scientific journal Wildlife Biology in Practice, Raincoast carnivore scientists Chris Darimont, Heather Bryan, and Paul Paquet, along with the University of Victoria's Tom Reimchen, weighed the comparative value, and ethical considerations of invasive and non-invasive research methods. In this case, the carnivore research subjects were coastal wolves, and what these scientists discovered was easily transferable to the "wolves of the sea." In short, their contention was that when the two methods are equally effective in answered the required questions, the non-invasive method becomes the only ethical option, a perspective, they point out, that is increasingly codified as policy governing research activities. There is plenty that scientists have learned, and will continue to learn by using non-invasive research methods. If we get the same amount of information, if not more by such methods that do not endanger the health or lives of these killer whales, then it is our ethical obligation to abandon "tagging" and embrace alternative research strategies. This article was co-authored with Raincoast Conservation Foundation biologist Misty MacDuffee.
Collage has been a part of the art world since it came into focus in the 20th century. It is essentially the art of combining images and materials to form one cohesive picture that draws the eye. Artists have used several collage techniques since the style's introduction. Video of the Day While many collages are two-dimensional, some famous artists have incorporated a three-dimensional element to their collages. Pablo Picasso created a three-dimensional collage using a cardboard surface in his famous collage "Guitar" later in his career. The added dimension to the picture provides depth and texture to the collage. The picture pile collage is perhaps the easiest and most common of all of the collage varieties. This type of collage is composed of a variety of photographs or other images scattered randomly on a canvas. Adjust the pictures in their order in the pile to better highlight their image in the compilation. A grid collage is a variety of pictures that are arranged into a grid pattern. The images are displayed in neat rows and columns. This allows the viewer to separate the images in their mind while still recognizing the similarities and the cohesive elements. This style is perhaps the least artistic of the collage types. A mosaic collage is perhaps one of the most challenging forms of collage, as the images form a single cohesive image. The pictures may not be aligned into neat rows and columns like the grid variety. A decoupage collage combines several layers of paper to produce a single three-dimensional image. Some artists use glass to achieve this image. The decoupage images are then combined with flat images and other decoupages to form the whole of the collage. Paper collages are formed from various colors, textures, weight and types of paper. Some artists incorporate newspaper into their collages alongside other papers. Cardstock, construction paper or scrapbook paper all come in various colors with their own special textures. The difference in color, texture, and weight in the collage draws the eye and adds intrigue to the art.
Stanza 3 Summary Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line. Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence? - Oh no! She killed it! Murderer! Suicide! Blaspheme! - Wait, the sky didn't fall, after all. She killed the bug, but all that happened is that she stained her fingernail with the "purple" blood. - Nonetheless, the speaker is crestfallen. He calls her action "cruel" and hasty. - She has taken the blood of an innocent, which also has vaguely religious overtones, alluding perhaps to the death of Jesus Christ. - Still, though he sounds shocked, we know that nothing too terrible has really happened. Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee? - He expands on his notion of the flea's innocence. It must be because he's so sympathetic to insects...right. - He asks how the flea could have been guilty of anything except taking one small, teensy drop of her blood. - We can imagine her response: "Yeah, well, I'm going to be scratching that bite for days!" We don't blame you, lady. Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now. - The woman has "triumphed" over the flea, and she believes she has also triumphed over the speaker's argument. - Let's recap that argument, shall we? The speaker had said that because the flea contained both his and her blood, killing it would be like killing both of them. - But now that she has actually gone through with the violent deed, she finds that she hasn't lost any of her strength. She feels exactly the same. No calamity has befallen them. - Doesn't this prove that his argument was just a load of hogwash? 'Tis true; then learn how false fears be; Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee. - Ah, but never underestimate the tenaciousness of the speaker in a Donne poem. He's always two steps ahead of you. - In this case, he readily admits that his earlier argument has fallen apart. He brushes aside her objection by simply conceding, "'Tis true." - Then he brings out his ace card. The whole argument has been a way to prove that having sex with him wouldn't be such a disastrous, sinful, shameful thing. He will now prove that her earlier "fears" have been unfounded. - When she "yields" to his seduction, she'll discover that the amount of honor she loses will be equal to the amount of life she lost when she killed the flea. - Which is to say: Nada. Zippo. Zilch. None. - Just as she felt no less powerful after killing the flea, she will be no less of a maiden after she has slept with the speaker. - And, not surprisingly, the poem ends before she can even respond.
Darwin suggested that humans' innate fear of darkness is an adaptation for avoiding predation by nocturnal predators. And, at least in the case of lions, it seems he was on to something. Studies of African lions have found that the darker the evening, the more hunting success lions had and the more food they consumed. But, contrary to what might be expected, that doesn't mean that dark, new-moon nights are when you should avoid going on safari. Humans are actually most likely to be attacked during the first week after full moon, when it's still more than half-full. That's probably because the first hours of the night are darkest during the week following full moon—the moon rises at least an hour after sunset. That happens to correlate with the part of the evening that humans are usually outdoors and vulnerable. And the lions are hungriest at that time because of their low predation success during full moon nights. As that study dramatically concludes, then, "The full moon is not dangerous in itself but is instead a portent of the darkness to come."
Fishery experts have known for years that shrimp trawling operations in the Gulf of Mexico are contributing to sharp declines in the ranks of Red Snapper, one of the most delicious and popular marine fish on the seafood menu. While it's clear that thousands of young snapper are killed and wasted after being inadvertently "by-caught" in shrimp nets, new research from Texas Christian and Louisiana State universities finds shrimp trawling also may be raising the level of toxic mercury in juvenile snapper. "Our study demonstrates that mercury concentrations are elevated in juvenile red snapper in coastal areas where commercial shrimp trawling occurs," says Matthew Chumchal, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Titled the "Effect of Trawling and Habitat on Mercury Concentration in Juvenile Red Snapper from the Northern Gulf of Mexico," the paper is in the November 2008 issue of the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, vol. 137, number six. Co-authors include R. J. David Wells and James H. Cowan Jr., both of the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge. Chumchal, an aquatic ecologist who specializes in mercury contamination of fish and other aquatic organisms, notes that Red Snapper typically have lower mercury levels than many other marine fish on the menu, such as larger tuna and swordfish. He also emphasizes that nothing in his study suggests that trawling in itself raises mercury to levels that pose a public health concern. The key point, he suggests, is that this study establishes a clear relationship between mercury levels in fish and the disturbances caused by dragging a huge net through delicate coastal marine environments, a process that stirs up sedimentary deposits of mercury and may alter the composition of the predatory food chain. "We're not seeing a dramati \|Contact: Matthew Chumchal\| Dick Jones Communications
While exercise can be an important tool for weight loss, it is still possible to lose weight without exercise. Here are a few ways to support weight loss without exercise: - Healthy Eating: A healthy diet is a key component of weight loss, and it is possible to lose weight without exercise by making healthy food choices. Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, while limiting processed and high-calorie foods. - Portion Control: It’s also important to pay attention to portion sizes, as consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain. Use portion control techniques such as measuring food portions, using smaller plates, and being mindful of hunger and fullness signals. - Hydration: Staying properly hydrated can also support weight loss, as dehydration can slow down the metabolism and lead to decreased energy levels. Aim to drink plenty of water throughout the day, and consider incorporating hydrating foods such as fruits and vegetables into your diet. - Sleep: Getting enough sleep is also important for weight loss, as lack of sleep can lead to increased appetite and decreased metabolism. Aim for at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night to support weight loss efforts. - Stress Reduction: Stress can also have an impact on weight loss, as it can lead to overeating and unhealthy food choices. Incorporate stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, or yoga into your daily routine to support weight loss. By making healthy food choices, practicing portion control, staying properly hydrated, getting enough sleep, and reducing stress, it is possible to support weight loss efforts without exercise. It’s important to remember that weight loss is a journey and may take time, and it’s important to create sustainable habits that can support long-term health and well-being.
Killer ants do exist in several parts of the world. Luckily for us living in Canada, the only remotely dangerous ants that are frequently found in Canada are fire ants. Keep reading to find out which ants are killer ants and where to find them. NOTE: The videos below are not for the faint of heart and show killer ants attacking and destroying other insects/humans. One of the most dangerous ants is the bulldog ant. Bulldog ants can be found in Australia, including Tasmania, and New Zealand. These ants deliver extremely painful bites and stings to their prey, often simultaneously. The bulldog ant has powerful mandibles, and an even more powerful sting, causing humans a great deal of pain when attacked. When attacking, bulldog ants bite their prey to grasp on and then curve their abdomens so they are able to sting. Bulldog ant venom is one of the most toxic insect venom in the world. However, humans are usually only harmed by them if they are allergic to the venom and can sometimes have an anaphylactic allergic reaction to bulldog ant bites. To watch bulldog ants in action, check out this video. Red Bull Ants Red bull ants are a species of bulldog ant. They are found in Australia, but mainly in the east. Adult red bull ants are vegetarians, but red bull ant larvae are carnivorous and feed on other insects, including other species of ants. This species of ant can lift 50 times their weight, and can be up to an inch long. See how painful red bull ant bites and red bull ant stings can be at Harvester ants refer to any species of ants that collect seeds. Although harvester ants are harmless to humans for the most part, there is one type of harvester ant that is venomous. Maricopa harvester ants, which can be found in the Southwest United States, mainly Arizona, is believed to have the most toxic insect venom in the world. Maricopa harvester ants have extremely painful stings and can cause an allergic reaction to humans if bitten. Watch how a harvester ant works in this video. Army ants refer to ant species that form “raids,” which are aggressive foraging groups. Army ants can be found in the Southern United States, Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Army ants destroy any prey in their way. They use their mandibles to cut their prey into small pieces and their acid breaks down prey into liquid so they can eat it and continue traveling. Army ants have poor vision, so they tend to overpass prey that is still. You may want to keep that in mind if you ever cross paths with army ants, however, your best bet is to run away! Watch a clip of army ants devouring other insects here. Fire ants can be found in most places of the world, especially in North America, Asia, and Australia. Although fire ants have painful bites, they cause more problems for humans due to their attraction to magnetic waves and electricity. They tend to cause damage to electronics due to short-circuiting and other electronic related problems that can be dangerous to humans. Check out this video to see how fire ants cause problems for humans. Bullet ants can be found in South America. They look like wingless wasps, and if you’ve ever been stung by a wasp, you can imagine how painful bullet ant stings might be. On the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which rates the pain causes by insects including wasps and ants, bullet ant stings rate more painful than the stings of paper wasps and harvester ants. The pain of bullet ant stings has even been compared to pain of being shot! Bullet ant stings are venomous, but unless you’re allergic to their venom, they won’t kill you (although it may feel like they are). Check out a bullet ant up close in this video: Although you don’t have to worry about most of these dangerous ants in your yard or home, the ants found in Ontario can still be quite troublesome. If you have ants invading your home, Magical Pest can help. Fill out our contact form or call us directly at (905) 738-6676 today.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are using Twitter to track what has been a particularly severe flu season across the U.S. As people take to Twitter to complain about being sick with the flu and its dreaded symptoms, researchers are using those tweets to gather data about how the influenza epidemic is increasing or ebbing state to state. Since sick people tend to stay home in bed nursing their ailments, Twitter offers a new way to get real-time influenza data. Chart of the flu pattern across the U.S.Click to view larger image "This new work demonstrates that Twitter posts can be used to guide public health officials in their response to outbreaks of infectious diseases," Mark Dredze, an assistant research professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins, said in a statement. "Our hope is that the new technology can be used to track other diseases as well." This has been a particularly bad flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since mid-December, hospitalizations and deaths caused by the flu have "risen steeply," according to the CDC. While the flu has declined in a few parts of the country, it's still high nationally. Between Oct. 1, 2012 and Jan.19, 2013, 6,191 people have been hospitalized because of the flu, the CDC said. Nationwide, 37 children have died from the flu, the agency said. To get a handle on how the flu is progressing or declining across the country, researchers turned to social networks. One major problem is that researchers cannot simply count the number of tweets that mention the words "flu" or "influenza" since some people may be asking questions or commenting but may not be sick. "When you look at Twitter posts, you can see people talking about being afraid of catching the flu or asking friends if they should get a flu shot or mentioning a public figure who seems to be ill," said Dredze, who has been using tweets to monitor public health trends. "But posts like this don't measure how many people have actually contracted the flu. We wanted to separate hype about the flu from messages from people who truly become ill." To address this problem, Johns Hopkins computer scientists and researchers in the School of Medicine worked together to build a filter with statistical methods based on human language that culls tweets specifically about having the flu. While the university reported that its flu statistics correlate with the CDC's own findings, researchers noted that they got their results faster. The university, however, did not elaborate. Social networks in general and Twitter specifically used to be considered online tools that encouraged people to post comments about their favorite sandwiches or how cute their children are. That has changed in the last few years, though. The microblogging site has become something of a bellwether in politics and pop culture, and a tool for communicating during emergencies and natural disasters and was at the center of political upheaval during the "Arab Spring" uprising in Egypt in 2011. Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, on Google+ or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed. Her email address is email@example.com. Read more about social media in Computerworld's Social Media Topic Center.
Millions of women suffer from depression. When a woman is depressed during pregnancy, the risk for birth difficulties and other complications increases. However, the use of standard antidepressant medications also poses risks for pregnant and lactating women. A research article published in Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine explores the use of nutrients to alleviate perinatal depression. The abstract and full article link are provided below. Abstract: “Depression is the leading cause of mental disability worldwide. Women who are depressed during pregnancy are at a higher risk for preterm delivery, preeclampsia, birth difficulties, and postpartum depression. The treatment of depression in conventional medicine has focused on physiological factors that lead to impaired neurotransmitter function and treatments to improve neurotransmitter function. Pharmaceutical substances pose risks for pregnant and lactating women, and lower risk options are preferred. Micronutrients, including certain B vitamins, folate, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), play a role in the synthesis and absorption of neurotransmitters. Experimental studies suggest that supplementation with specific micronutrients may alleviate depressive symptoms and improve birth outcomes in patients with perinatal depression. Alternative treatments for depression, including nutritional supplements, are an important treatment option for depressive symptoms while limiting potential side effects and treatment costs.” This article explores the biological basis of perinatal depression and reviews the potential benefits of non-pharmacological interventions.
Today, we're debating the merits of a common intensifier: Very. According to most usage guides, the word very is perfectly acceptable in writing of virtually every kind. That said, the word does have its detractors. In his book Writing to Inform and Engage: The Essential Guide to Beginning News and Magazine Writing, author Conrad C. Fink refers to very as a "weasel word" and writes: surfaces repeatedly in flabby writing. In almost every context in which it appears, its omission would result in at most a negligible loss. And in many contexts the idea would be more powerfully expressed without it." Therein lies the question: is very a "weasel word?" Should writer avoid it? In order to answer these questions, we'll begin with where the word comes from and what it means. Fowler's Modern English Usage has this to say on the word's most common usages: "Let me begin by setting down some of the standard, unopposable uses of very. It is most often used with adverbs and with adjectives And according to the Encarta World English Dictionary, very came to the English language from Old French in the 13th century. The Old French word verrai means "true" or "real." It's not a stretch, then, that the word has become an intensifier that when paired with adjectives or adverbs means "in a high degree" or "extremely" as in these examples: He was driving the car very carefully. She wore a very revealing red dress. With those two examples in mind, we'll look at them without the intensifier to see if Fink's assertion holds up: He was driving the car carefully. She wore a revealing red dress. In these common examples, the use of the word very seems to add suitable emphasis to the sentence. And while Conrad Fink's advice is well-intentioned, it may not be appropriate in most cases. Which is not to say that the word should be used recklessly. More than one very before an adjective or adverb gives a sentence a hyperbolic feeling: The movie we saw last night was very very very bad. The rule of thumbas is so often the case with useful bits of languageis to use it sparingly. Sources: Writing to Inform and Engage: The Essential Guide to Beginning News and Magazine Writing by Conrad C. Fink, Fowler's Modern English Usage by R.W. Burchfield and the Encarta World English Dictionary. Music from this episode: "At the Bottom of Everything" by Bright Eyes, "Let's Get it On" by Marvin Gaye, and "Very Yes" by Bootsy Collins.
Deep in the cells of nearly all living things are sequences of DNA known as genes. When genes are activated, they instruct specific proteins to perform specific biological tasks that drive the development or functioning of an organism. In the simplest terms possible, this is the process of gene expression. It’s no surprise that scientists exploring the frontiers of tissue engineering (the act of growing tissue to study diseases, test drugs, or even transplant organs) are keenly interested in ways to control gene expression. Gene expression is typically triggered by a cell’s response to its environment, which is always changing and spatially complex. Where things are in relation to one another has a lot to say about what happens next in the chain of events. That’s why the ability to regulate gene expression is imperative for the field of tissue engineering. Researchers hoping to create disease models or regenerate organs need systems that precisely mimic the degree of complexity found in the natural world. For years, tissue engineers have used light to cue genes in man-made environments. However, this approach has limitations. Light does not penetrate thick tissue very well. Just try shining a flashlight through your hand. In other cases, drugs have been used to activate genes. But drugs are difficult to aim at a particular gene or cell. Hence the quest for a tool that was both penetrant and precise. Now, in a breakthrough for tissue engineering, a research team from the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) has shown that another energy source – heat – can be used to turn on selected genes in three-dimensional tissue models. The findings are detailed in a paper published in Science Advances. Daniel Corbett, a PhD student in the Stevens Lab, is the lead author of the study, which was led by ISCRM faculty member Kelly Stevens, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. In their investigation, Corbett and Stevens developed a cutting-edge system designed to recreate gene expression patterns found in the body’s great multitasker – the liver. “The liver performs a mind boggling number of functions,” says Stevens. “It makes proteins. It metabolizes drugs. It filters blood. And there’s really only one kind of cell doing all these jobs – but what job those cells do depends a great deal on where they are located.” The compartmentalization of the liver makes it the perfect proving ground to test a tool built to reconstruct the spatial patterns of gene expression. First, the researchers used sophisticated 3D printing equipment, developed with Jordan Miller at Rice University, to print channels similar to the vessels in the liver that carry blood through a series of gradients – a capability shown in a May 2019 paper published in the journal Science. Next, they injected hot water into the channels and engineered liver cells to express a protein that makes fireflies light up – creating a beacon that helped them track how the cells responded. Stevens and Corbett saw that the application of heat through water induced the cells to activate pathways that are vital for liver functions. The genes they triggered are part of pathways present not just in livers or even in humans, but in living tissue across various stages of development throughout the full spectrum of the animal kingdom. “The implications are much broader than the liver,” says Stevens. “Ultimately the goal is to improve other disease modeling technologies that are critical for drug testing and to bring us closer to artificial tissues for therapy. Here we demonstrated the viability of a tool that uses genetic engineering, 3D printing, and biomaterials all working together in a system. Corbett emphasizes the potential of a tool that other researchers can use to explore questions about the downstream effects of gene expression in cells and tissues. “I’m most excited about seeing where this goes and what the reaction of the scientific community will be. It’s one of those “out there” projects that hasn’t really been done before. Hopefully it will create another burst of novel, creative ideas that puts the tool to good use. Just knowing this is feasible opens all kinds of other possibilities about what else we can do.” This research was funded by NIH NHLBI grant DP2HL137188 (K.R.S.), the NIH NIBIB Cardiovascular Training Grant (D.C.C., T32EB001650), the NIH Environmental Pathology and Toxicology Training (W.B.F., T32ES007032), the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (B.G., 1450681), the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (C.E.O.), the Washington Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship (M.C.R.), the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation (J.S.M.), and the Gree Foundation (I.B., K.R.S., and C.A.D.).
(Phys.org) —It happens to all kinds of flat, disk galaxies – whether they're big, little, isolated or crowded in a cluster. They all grow out of their irregular, clumped appearance and their older stars take on the same smooth look, predictably fading from a bright center to a dim edge. Or, as Curtis Struck, an Iowa State University astronomer, wrote in a research summary: "In galaxy disks, the scars of a rough childhood, and adolescent blemishes, all smooth away with time." But how does that happen? Struck, a professor of physics and astronomy who studies galaxy evolution and wrote the 2011 book "Galaxy Collisions," said a few explanations have been proposed, but most of those only covered certain types of galaxies. There hasn't been an explanation for the nearly universal and exponential fade in the brightness of the lookalike disk galaxies. To try to find an explanation, Struck and Bruce Elmegreen, a research scientist at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., built computer models simulating galaxy evolution. And they think they've found a fundamental answer in the gravitational pull of the irregular, clumped structure of younger galaxies. They report their findings in a paper, "Exponential Galaxy Disks from Stellar Scattering," just published online by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Struck and Elmegreen based their paper on the simplest possible galaxy model that still includes all the essential ingredients: a razor-thin disk and orbiting stars subject to the gravity of the massive clumps. "We focused on the clumps," Struck said. "We thought the clumpy structure of young galaxy disks may be responsible for both its own erasure and the smooth universal brightness profile." Struck said the models showed that's the case. The gravity of those clumps of interstellar gases and new stars alter the orbits of nearby stars. In some cases, the changes are significant, scattering stars well away from their original and nearly circular orbits. Over time, that scattering from circular to slightly elliptical orbits produces the smooth fade in brightness from the center of a galaxy to its edge. We're talking a lot of time: "This process takes a few hundred million years to a few billion years," Struck said. Do those findings match the data coming from the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes, tools that allow astronomers to see distant galaxies in their young and clumpy structure? "Yes, they do fit the observed data coming back," Struck said. Struck also said there's more work to be done to explain the mystery of the smooth, steady fade of older disk galaxies. Struck and Elmegreen will gradually add more physical processes to their models to see how additional complexities affect what they've discovered about the fundamental process of star scattering. Even so, Struck said the current models have provided a good explanation for the universal appearance of older disk galaxies. "If there is some disturbance, some clumpiness in the galaxy," he said, "you eventually get this smooth profile." Explore further: Hubble eyes a mysterious old spiral More information: Paper: iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/775/2/L35
(b. 1504, Bologna, d. 1570, Paris) Exterior viewc. 1543 Grotte des Pins, Château, Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne) Primaticcio became active in the field of architecture at last part of his career. He seems to have approached architecture through decorative sculpture, and the first works which can be plausibly be attributed to him are on the borderline between the two arts. One of these is the grotto of the Jardin des Pins at Fontainebleau. It shows him influenced by the rusticated work of Giulio Romano. The conception of the grotto , with its giants emerging from a rocky background suggests that Primaticcio knew sketches for Giulio's frescoes of the Fall of the Giants in the Palazzo del Tè in Mantua, although the actual frescoes were executed just after he left Mantua.
As cold and flu season approaches, so does the season of illness prevention. From getting flu shots to adding a little extra Vitamin C to our diets, prevention often becomes a focus for those concerned with getting sick, missing work and/or school, and optimizing the joy of their upcoming Holiday Seasons. It’s based on this mindset that medical professionals such as physical therapists are most likely to get some version of the question: Can exercise boost my immune system? The answer, however, is broader than the question itself. Boosting the Immune System On a more general level, healthy living is the true key to building and maintaining a strong immune system. Habits like eating right, staying hydrated, getting plenty of sleep, and reducing stress account for some long-lasting, immune-boosting benefits. But, regular exercise definitely plays an important role, as well. Some studies have shown, for instance, that exercise on its own can play a role in reducing the length and intensity of colds and flu. Such research often points to many of the benefits inherent in regular fitness routines as factors that also help ward off illness: - Weight management - Lower blood pressure - Reduction in stress - Improved circulation Other studies have concluded that regular, mild-intensity exercise can help reduce illness while prolonged, high-intensity exercise can have the opposite effect by making one more susceptible to catching a bug. Based on this, if you feel you may be catching something – a cold, a flu or whatever may be going around – the best initial advice is to pull back on the length and intensity of activity just to be on the safe side. Keep getting your exercise, but also take greater care to make sure you’re staying hydrated, eating well and giving your body time to recover. If you do get sick? According to advice from the Mayo Clinic, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t continue to exercise. They offer the following two rules of thumb: The Neck Rule If you catch a cold and find that all the symptoms are concentrated above the neck (i.e., nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing and/or a minor sore throat), it’s typically OK to exercise. Simply reduce your intensity. Instead of going for a jog, for instance, opt to go for a walk. In contrast, if you find that you’re experiencing symptoms below the neck – things like a congested chest, a hacking cough or an upset stomach – it’s best to not exercise at all. The Fever Rule Also, if you have a fever or are experience muscle aches and fatigue throughout your body, take a break from exercising. Instead, get some rest, stay hydrated and, if things don’t improve over a couple of days, visit your doctor. The bottom line: it’s always your best bet to listen to your body, and don’t overdo it. Pushing your body too hard when it’s fighting an illness could potentially do you more harm than good.
Facing Reality: Firefighters on the Climate Frontlines Growing up, a lot of kids want to become firefighters. Days spent dressing up in plastic red helmets and yellow jackets and putting out imaginary blazes with the garden hose. Why wouldn’t we? Unlike Superman or Wonder Woman, firefighters are real, in-the-flesh heroes. At our Climate Reality Leadership Corps training in Los Angeles, we were honored to be joined by some of these real-life heroes for a panel, including: - Ken Pimlott, Director of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Martha Karstens, Chief of Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade - Ken Thompson, Former Deputy Fire Chief of New South Wales During the panel, these first responders spoke with former Vice President Al Gore about their experiences on the frontlines – and the connection between climate change and the global rise in deadly, destructive wildfires from California to Australia. Facing Reality: Firefighters on the Climate Frontlines Climate change is already increasing the risk of wildfires and creating conditions in many parts of the world that make fires more likely and more severe. This live presentation of first responders will explore the connection between climate change and the global rise in deadly, destructive wildfires from California to Australia.Posted by Climate Reality on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 The panelists covered a lot of ground during their time on stage. Here are three takeaways about climate change straight from firefighters themselves: 1. Climate Change Is Real “You can’t help but look at the fires now that are burning and see [climate change] is why.” – Chief Karstens Every first responder on stage could agree: over the course of their long careers, they’ve seen the nature of fires change in both California and Australia. Above all, firefighters are experiencing the same things scientists are observing: first, that fires are bigger than they used to be and second, that fire seasons are longer than ever. Climate change literally adds fuel to the fire. Simply, warm weather is coming sooner and lasting longer. Precipitation patterns are changing and drought is coming more often. Together, these factors mean conditions are consistently dry – creating what Chief Pimlott calls a tinderbox. As he said, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. The vegetation in this state, in the western United States, is changing. It is so receptive. We call it 100 percent probability of ignition. Which means on any afternoon around the West, any spark that lands has a 100 percent chance of starting a fire. And you put a little bit of wind on that and the fire quickly races away from firefighters.” And for Chief Karstens, this fact hits especially close to home. After being paged to a fire down the ridge from where she lived, she discovered her own home was surrounded by fire: “When I walked out my front door, it was there… It was devastating to watch your own home burn down.” And worst of all? This wasn’t happening in the peak of fire season – it was 10 days before Christmas. As she said, “This should not be happening in December… It’s a year-long fire season now in California.” Chief Ken Pimlott underscored it well: “If you don’t think the climate is changing, you haven’t been on the frontlines.” 2. It’s Bad “We are facing greater risk… [wildfires] are placing firefighters in jeopardy more and more every day.” – Chief Pimlott When we fail to act on climate change, we’re putting firefighters at risk. In Australia, Chief Thompson reports that fire season now runs for nine months out of the year. “The climate is changing and we’re seeing the effects of that on the frontline by more and more fires, more frequently, and more severe,” he said. The bigger a fire is, the greater the risk it poses to the people who fight it. And according to Chief Pimlott, “Fires are spreading at rates unlike they’ve ever spread… It would usually be the exception to the rule to have a fire that was more than a hundred thousand acres now that's common. We've had several already this year.” In California, six firefighters have already died in 2018. While firefighters understand the risk they take when they take the position, the risks are high enough without climate change making them worse. 3. And We Can Solve It “I know that one person can have an impact.” – Chief Thompson During the panel, Former Vice President Gore asked the panelists, “What can we do to help you?” The answers touched on both practical and policy matters. First, there were the simple steps that every homeowner can take to, as Chief Pimlott said, “give firefighters a fighting chance.” These include: - Removing vegetation and creating a defensible space around your home; - Not mowing your lawn or weeds at the hottest point in the day; and - Knowing how to use anything with a heat source properly while outdoors. But we can all do our part to protect firefighters by taking climate action and demanding our leaders do the same. As Chief Thompson said, “The thing I’d encourage people to do, most or first and foremost, is to talk to their politicians and get them to realize that climate change is a real issue and that policies and resources need to be allocated.” In addition to being a former deputy fire chief, Chief Thompson is a trained Climate Reality Leader. He’s been giving presentations on the reality of the climate crisis for over 10 years and has seen minds and hearts transformed by the time his talks end. “I get so many people that come up to me after those presentations and say to me, ‘Now I get it, now I understand. It didn’t make sense before.’… The vast majority of people, once it’s been explained to them… they act on the message.” When Firefighters Speak Out on Climate Change, It’s Our Responsibility to Speak Up If you’re feeling inspired after hearing Chiefs Karstens, Pimlott, and Thompson speak, there are plenty ways you can turn that inspiration into action. Here are three ways you can help solve climate change: - Download our guide on the basics of climate change and help spread the facts. - Join a local Climate Reality chapter. Our chapters are doing incredible work across the United States – from working with local representatives to put solar panels on schools to coordinating a statewide climate conference to collaborating with cities to go 100 percent renewable. - Become a Climate Reality Leader. Every year, Climate Reality hosts trainings around the globe to empower people just like you to lead the global fight for climate solutions. You can join us and gain the skills, knowledge, and network to shape public opinion, influence policy, and inspire your community to act at this critical time. Sign up for updates about future trainings now.
Learn about this topic in these articles: contribution to 19th-century sculpture ...centuries. In England, Alfred Stevens, inspired by the versatility of the Italian Renaissance, was happy to devote himself to the design of cutlery and fire grates, and, at the end of the century, Alfred Gilbert, creator of the most remarkable metropolitan fountain since the Renaissance (the Eros in Piccadilly Circus), also became the first sculptor of the foremost rank since Cellini to devote... design of English metalwork ...Morris and the Art Nouveau style (see below Modern), which led to the production of original pieces, some of highly mannered design. In England the most interesting work was done by the sculptor Sir Alfred Gilbert, who, following the lead of William Burges, the architect and designer, combined silver with ivory and semiprecious stones in romantic confections.
- the action of a person or thing that whips; esp., a flogging or beating, as in punishment - cord, twine, etc. used to whip, or bind - The act of one that whips. - A thrashing administered especially as punishment. - Material, such as cord or thread, used to lash or bind parts. (countable and uncountable, plural whippings) - Present participle of whip.
Please visit our new VAM Shop: a platform where you can access latest food security data, publications and analytical tools. WFP's unique network of food security analysts works closely with national governments, UN partners and NGOs. Their work informs the policies and programmes that WFP and its partners adopt in order to fight hunger in different circumstances. To collect, manage and analyse data, they use advanced technologies such as satellite imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mobile data collection platforms such as smart phones, tablets and Personal Digital Assistants. Food security analysts do a wide range of assessments in order to identify hungry and food insecure populations and to establish the underlying causes. Examples include 'baseline' assessments (also known as Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analyses - CFSVAs), emergency assessments (EFSAs) and market analyses. For continuous monitoring of food security conditions and market prices, WFP is increasingly working with partners to establish Food Security Monitoring Systems (FSMS). Bulletins, reports, and analyses generated from all of these activities are public and can be downloaded from the Food Security Analysis Assessment Bank. VAM's guidelines and references, provide the humanitarian community with up-to-date guidance, tools and tips to assess needs in different contexts. You can learn more about WFP's food security analysis work by downloading the Food Security Analysis Factsheet. It also contains information about related partnerships such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), and the FAO-WFP joint strategy on information systems (ISFNS).
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The chestnut tree that gave Anne Frank a link to the outside world while she hid from the Nazis won a reprieve Tuesday when a judge ordered the city to reconsider whether the diseased tree can be saved. Judge Jurjen Bade adjourned a hearing and took witnesses and court officials with him to inspect the tree, watching as experts tapped its trunk to point out the rotten wood afflicted by fungus. He listened to experts from both sides, and looked to see what might be crushed if the tree fell, including the nearby Anne Frank House museum, which includes the apartment where the Jewish teenager and her family hid from the Nazis for 25 months during World War II. Anne Frank referred to the tree several times in her diary. She could see the tree through the attic skylight, the only window that wasn't blacked out. The city ruled last year that the tree, estimated to be 150 to 170 years old, was in danger of toppling and causing serious injury or damage. Conservationists argued that it was strong enough to withstand a storm and could be saved. Last week, the city issued the order to fell the tree. Reconvening in his courtroom after the inspection, Bade ruled that the city had given insufficient consideration to alternative plans, such as anchoring the tree with cables. He said the city had failed to prove the tree was an imminent threat. Felling the chestnut would be "a last resort," he said, and told the city to meet with conservationists to find a solution. In testimony Tuesday, the Netherlands' Trees Institute argued to save the tree. "This is a monumental tree of unusual cultural and historical value," institute spokesman Edwin Koot testified. "It's a symbol of freedom all over the world and it summons forth a lot of emotion, as you can see." The Anne Frank House, which had remained neutral until Tuesday, told the judge it favored cutting the tree, out of concern for the safety of the building and the hundreds of thousands of people who visit it each year. Museum director Hans Westra said if the tree remains standing he would take legal action to ensure that Henric Pommes, who owns the property where the tree stands, is held liable in case of injury or damage. The museum has taken grafts of the tree to try to replace it with a sapling from the original. "We would rather have a young living tree that will be about 30 feet tall in 10 years," Westra said. The Frank family was arrested in August 1944. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp eight months later at age 15, but her diary was rescued and has been read by millions.
Land use diversity shortens the distance between destinations and encourages various modes such as walking, biking or public transit. Land use diversity measures the mixing of land uses to identify those characterized by homogeneous land uses, such as rural or suburban areas, or those characterized by mixed land uses, such as dense activity/urban centers. Land Use Diversity Note: Plan Houston's performance indicators are intended to inform the public and policy makers on the community's success at achieving Plan Houston's community goals. Identifying current performance is a first step; future steps could include tracking progress over time and establishing preferences on outcomes.
Markings of Meaning Human writings have existed for over 5,000 years. Many civilizations have risen and fallen during that time span. A large part of what we still have today of these ghostly ancestors is their writings and perhaps their very flesh, often surrounded by their own words. Today, language is still evolving but in a more controlled and ordered way than in the past. Universities, schools of thoughts, and even governmental organizations control what can and cannot be a word. However, popular opinion still continues sway meanings, usages, and knowledge of words. Four artists, Maren Henson, Gregory Hein, Sanzi Kermes, and Sarah Clough take a look at the histories, meanings, beauty and quirkiness of language. During a time of new beginnings and new ideas, we invite you to contemplate how we communicate with each other and what we are saying with our words.
National Mental Health Awareness Week starts on 14th May 2018 and is hosted by the charity Mental Health Foundation (MHF). MHF has been hosting Mental Health Awareness Week since 2001 to promote awareness and campaign for good mental health for all. Surveys have shown that two thirds of the UK population experience a mental health problem at some point in their lifetime, which includes one in four adults and one in ten children. This suggests that mental illness is likely to affect everyone in some way, either directly or through a loved one. Despite its prevalence, there is still a social stigma attached to mental illness, as people with mental health problems can experience judgement and discrimination. This can lead to a negative sense of wellbeing and can cause people to delay seeking the right support and treatment. A positive attitude and awareness towards mental health can make a big difference, by recognising that mental health can be just as important as physical health. The Mental Health Foundation mentions that poor physical health can increase the risk of developing mental health problems and, similarly, poor mental health can negatively impact on physical health. Keeping active, eating well and drinking sensibly are just a few of the MHF 10 top tips to looking after your mental health and wellbeing. View MHF publication on How to look after your mental health This year, the MHF Mental Health Awareness Week is focusing on stress, which although is not a mental health illness in itself, can lead to a range of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and in some instances self-harm and suicide. By tackling stress, there is an opportunity to tackle mental health problems. View MHF publication on How to manage and reduce stress To coincide with the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, the charity Mind is focussing on stress in the workplace, and are working to help employees and employers create a mentally healthy environment where everyone feels valued and supported. Support from pharmacies Community pharmacists are able to make a positive impact on their local area, as they are in regular contact with patients in their community. They can provide confidential consultations, conduct medicine reviews and also identify patients who could be at risk of mental health illnesses. Pharmacists work in collaboration with patients and other healthcare professionals to ensure full support is available. All pharmacy teams, in particular those who work in a Healthy Living Pharmacy, are encouraged to make every contact count by having a patient-centred approach, which involves having conversations with people about their health and wellbeing. For Pharmacy Teams: visit www.healthylivingpharmacies.org to view opportunities on how your healthy living pharmacy can play a role in mental health, as well as take part in national awareness campaigns, to emphasise that everyone can benefit from taking care of their mental health. Signposting and other support There are many resources available to help raise awareness amongst your pharmacy team, and even to launch a campaign within the pharmacy. Time to Change: www.time-to-change.org.uk Rethink Mental Illness: www.rethink.org Royal Society for Public Health: https://www.rsph.org.uk/ NHS Choices and Live Well - Mental Health: www.nhs.uk Five Ways to Wellbeing: www.gov.uk/government/publications/five-ways-to-mental-wellbeing If you are concerned that you are developing a mental health problem, you should seek the advice and support of your GP as a matter of priority. If you are in distress and need immediate help and are unable to see a GP, you should visit your local A&E. - Talk to the Samaritans - Talk to charities such as Rethink Mental Illness and Mind - Tell someone you trust - Talk to your GP - Access specialist mental health services. References: MHF: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ NHS England - Mental health: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/
Creating a secure system can be a difficult and elusive objective. The moment you think you’re finished, you’ve opened yourself up to an attack. People who are aware that they can never be completely secure are more likely to be vigilant, thus increasing their awareness and attention to security issues. For instance, a flight crew who believes the airport security checks guarantee everyone on the plane can be trusted will have a false sense of security. Someone could pose as a food service employee and board the plane, entirely bypassing the security system. Even if an organization were to spend all of its resources on security, there would still be a potential for failure and since no one can afford to do that, failure is inevitable. The question to ask is how, not if, your security will fail. Being aware of the limitations and introducing graceful ways of failing can significantly reduce the impact of attacks. Failing gracefully means having multiple backup plans or ways to mitigate the damage that can be caused by an intruder. A system that has been designed to fail gracefully will at least be able to contain the attack, and might even be able to prevent it entirely.
- Year Published: 1906 - Language: English - Country of Origin: England - Source: Burnett F. H. (1906). The Little Princess.London, England: Warne. - Flesch–Kincaid Level: 6.3 - Word Count: 2,627 Burnett, F. (1906). Chapter 3: Ermengarde. A Little Princess (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved January 27, 2015, from Burnett, Frances Hodgson. "Chapter 3: Ermengarde." A Little Princess. Lit2Go Edition. 1906. Web. <>. January 27, 2015. Frances Hodgson Burnett, "Chapter 3: Ermengarde," A Little Princess, Lit2Go Edition, (1906), accessed January 27, 2015,. On that first morning, when Sara sat at Miss Minchin’s side, aware that the whole schoolroom was devoting itself to observing her, she had noticed very soon one little girl, about her own age, who looked at her very hard with a pair of light, rather dull, blue eyes. She was a fat child who did not look as if she were in the least clever, but she had a good-naturedly pouting mouth. Her flaxen hair was braided in a tight pigtail, tied with a ribbon, and she had pulled this pigtail around her neck, and was biting the end of the ribbon, resting her elbows on the desk, as she stared wonderingly at the new pupil. When Monsieur Dufarge began to speak to Sara, she looked a little frightened; and when Sara stepped forward and, looking at him with the innocent, appealing eyes, answered him, without any warning, in French, the fat little girl gave a startled jump, and grew quite red in her awed amazement. Having wept hopeless tears for weeks in her efforts to remember that “la mere” meant “the mother,” and “le pere,” “the father,”— when one spoke sensible English—it was almost too much for her suddenly to find herself listening to a child her own age who seemed not only quite familiar with these words, but apparently knew any number of others, and could mix them up with verbs as if they were mere trifles. She stared so hard and bit the ribbon on her pigtail so fast that she attracted the attention of Miss Minchin, who, feeling extremely cross at the moment, immediately pounced upon her. “Miss St. John!” she exclaimed severely. “What do you mean by such conduct? Remove your elbows! Take your ribbon out of your mouth! Sit up at once!” Upon which Miss St. John gave another jump, and when Lavinia and Jessie tittered she became redder than ever—so red, indeed, that she almost looked as if tears were coming into her poor, dull, childish eyes; and Sara saw her and was so sorry for her that she began rather to like her and want to be her friend. It was a way of hers always to want to spring into any fray in which someone was made uncomfortable or unhappy. “If Sara had been a boy and lived a few centuries ago,” her father used to say, “she would have gone about the country with her sword drawn, rescuing and defending everyone in distress. She always wants to fight when she sees people in trouble.” So she took rather a fancy to fat, slow, little Miss St. John, and kept glancing toward her through the morning. She saw that lessons were no easy matter to her, and that there was no danger of her ever being spoiled by being treated as a show pupil. Her French lesson was a pathetic thing. Her pronunciation made even Monsieur Dufarge smile in spite of himself, and Lavinia and Jessie and the more fortunate girls either giggled or looked at her in wondering disdain. But Sara did not laugh. She tried to look as if she did not hear when Miss St. John called “le bon pain,” “lee bong pang.” She had a fine, hot little temper of her own, and it made her feel rather savage when she heard the titters and saw the poor, stupid, distressed child’s face. “It isn’t funny, really,” she said between her teeth, as she bent over her book. “They ought not to laugh.” When lessons were over and the pupils gathered together in groups to talk, Sara looked for Miss St. John, and finding her bundled rather disconsolately in a window-seat, she walked over to her and spoke. She only said the kind of thing little girls always say to each other by way of beginning an acquaintance, but there was something friendly about Sara, and people always felt it. “What is your name?” she said. To explain Miss St. John’s amazement one must recall that a new pupil is, for a short time, a somewhat uncertain thing; and of this new pupil the entire school had talked the night before until it fell asleep quite exhausted by excitement and contradictory stories. A new pupil with a carriage and a pony and a maid, and a voyage from India to discuss, was not an ordinary acquaintance. “My name’s Ermengarde St. John,” she answered. “Mine is Sara Crewe,” said Sara. “Yours is very pretty. It sounds like a story book.” “Do you like it?” fluttered Ermengarde. “I—I like yours.” Miss St. John’s chief trouble in life was that she had a clever father. Sometimes this seemed to her a dreadful calamity. If you have a father who knows everything, who speaks seven or eight languages, and has thousands of volumes which he has apparently learned by heart, he frequently expects you to be familiar with the contents of your lesson books at least; and it is not improbable that he will feel you ought to be able to remember a few incidents of history and to write a French exercise. Ermengarde was a severe trial to Mr. St. John. He could not understand how a child of his could be a notably and unmistakably dull creature who never shone in anything. “Good heavens!” he had said more than once, as he stared at her, “there are times when I think she is as stupid as her Aunt Eliza!” If her Aunt Eliza had been slow to learn and quick to forget a thing entirely when she had learned it, Ermengarde was strikingly like her. She was the monumental dunce of the school, and it could not be denied. “She must be made to learn,” her father said to Miss Minchin. Consequently Ermengarde spent the greater part of her life in disgrace or in tears. She learned things and forgot them; or, if she remembered them, she did not understand them. So it was natural that, having made Sara’s acquaintance, she should sit and stare at her with profound admiration. “You can speak French, can’t you?” she said respectfully. Sara got on to the window-seat, which was a big, deep one, and, tucking up her feet, sat with her hands clasped round her knees. “I can speak it because I have heard it all my life,” she answered. “You could speak it if you had always heard it.” “Oh, no, I couldn’t,” said Ermengarde. “I never could speak it!” “Why?” inquired Sara, curiously. Ermengarde shook her head so that the pigtail wobbled. “You heard me just now,” she said. “I’m always like that. I can’t say the words. They’re so queer.” She paused a moment, and then added with a touch of awe in her voice, “You are clever, aren’t you?” Sara looked out of the window into the dingy square, where the sparrows were hopping and twittering on the wet, iron railings and the sooty branches of the trees. She reflected a few moments. She had heard it said very often that she was “clever,” and she wondered if she was—and if she was, how it had happened. “I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t tell.” Then, seeing a mournful look on the round, chubby face, she gave a little laugh and changed the subject. “Would you like to see Emily?” she inquired. “Who is Emily?” Ermengarde asked, just as Miss Minchin had done. “Come up to my room and see,” said Sara, holding out her hand. They jumped down from the window-seat together, and went upstairs. “Is it true,” Ermengarde whispered, as they went through the hall- -“is it true that you have a playroom all to yourself?” “Yes,” Sara answered. “Papa asked Miss Minchin to let me have one, because—well, it was because when I play I make up stories and tell them to myself, and I don’t like people to hear me. It spoils it if I think people listen.” They had reached the passage leading to Sara’s room by this time, and Ermengarde stopped short, staring, and quite losing her breath. “You make up stories!” she gasped. “Can you do that—as well as speak French? Can you?” Sara looked at her in simple surprise. “Why, anyone can make up things,” she said. “Have you never tried?” She put her hand warningly on Ermengarde’s. “Let us go very quietly to the door,” she whispered, “and then I will open it quite suddenly; perhaps we may catch her.” She was half laughing, but there was a touch of mysterious hope in her eyes which fascinated Ermengarde, though she had not the remotest idea what it meant, or whom it was she wanted to “catch,” or why she wanted to catch her. Whatsoever she meant, Ermengarde was sure it was something delightfully exciting. So, quite thrilled with expectation, she followed her on tiptoe along the passage. They made not the least noise until they reached the door. Then Sara suddenly turned the handle, and threw it wide open. Its opening revealed the room quite neat and quiet, a fire gently burning in the grate, and a wonderful doll sitting in a chair by it, apparently reading a book. “Oh, she got back to her seat before we could see her!” Sara explained. “Of course they always do. They are as quick as lightning.” Ermengarde looked from her to the doll and back again. “Can she—walk?” she asked breathlessly. “Yes,” answered Sara. “At least I believe she can. At least I pretend I believe she can. And that makes it seem as if it were true. Have you never pretended things?” “No,” said Ermengarde. “Never. I—tell me about it.” She was so bewitched by this odd, new companion that she actually stared at Sara instead of at Emily—notwithstanding that Emily was the most attractive doll person she had ever seen. “Let us sit down,” said Sara, “and I will tell you. It’s so easy that when you begin you can’t stop. You just go on and on doing it always. And it’s beautiful. Emily, you must listen. This is Ermengarde St. John, Emily. Ermengarde, this is Emily. Would you like to hold her?” “Oh, may I?” said Ermengarde. “May I, really? She is beautiful!” And Emily was put into her arms. Never in her dull, short life had Miss St. John dreamed of such an hour as the one she spent with the queer new pupil before they heard the lunch-bell ring and were obliged to go downstairs. Sara sat upon the hearth-rug and told her strange things. She sat rather huddled up, and her green eyes shone and her cheeks flushed. She told stories of the voyage, and stories of India; but what fascinated Ermengarde the most was her fancy about the dolls who walked and talked, and who could do anything they chose when the human beings were out of the room, but who must keep their powers a secret and so flew back to their places “like lightning” when people returned to the room. “We couldn’t do it,” said Sara, seriously. “You see, it’s a kind of magic.” Once, when she was relating the story of the search for Emily, Ermengarde saw her face suddenly change. A cloud seemed to pass over it and put out the light in her shining eyes. She drew her breath in so sharply that it made a funny, sad little sound, and then she shut her lips and held them tightly closed, as if she was determined either to do or not to do something. Ermengarde had an idea that if she had been like any other little girl, she might have suddenly burst out sobbing and crying. But she did not. “Have you a—a pain?” Ermengarde ventured. “Yes,” Sara answered, after a moment’s silence. “But it is not in my body.” Then she added something in a low voice which she tried to keep quite steady, and it was this: “Do you love your father more than anything else in all the whole world?” Ermengarde’s mouth fell open a little. She knew that it would be far from behaving like a respectable child at a select seminary to say that it had never occurred to you that you could love your father, that you would do anything desperate to avoid being left alone in his society for ten minutes. She was, indeed, greatly embarrassed. “I—I scarcely ever see him,” she stammered. “He is always in the library—reading things.” “I love mine more than all the world ten times over,” Sara said. “That is what my pain is. He has gone away.” She put her head quietly down on her little, huddled-up knees, and sat very still for a few minutes. “She’s going to cry out loud,” thought Ermengarde, fearfully. But she did not. Her short, black locks tumbled about her ears, and she sat still. Then she spoke without lifting her head. “I promised him I would bear it,” she said. “And I will. You have to bear things. Think what soldiers bear! Papa is a soldier. If there was a war he would have to bear marching and thirstiness and, perhaps, deep wounds. And he would never say a word—not one word.” Ermengarde could only gaze at her, but she felt that she was beginning to adore her. She was so wonderful and different from anyone else. Presently, she lifted her face and shook back her black locks, with a queer little smile. “If I go on talking and talking,” she said, “and telling you things about pretending, I shall bear it better. You don’t forget, but you bear it better.” Ermengarde did not know why a lump came into her throat and her eyes felt as if tears were in them. “Lavinia and Jessie are `best friends,’” she said rather huskily. “I wish we could be `best friends.’ Would you have me for yours? You’re clever, and I’m the stupidest child in the school, but I— oh, I do so like you!” “I’m glad of that,” said Sara. “It makes you thankful when you are liked. Yes. We will be friends. And I’ll tell you what”— a sudden gleam lighting her face—”I can help you with your French lessons.”
What is Advanced Excel & it's features Advance Excel is a form of basic excel only; the difference between the two is efficiency to function. With the help of advanced excel, you can create advanced formulas to use. Advanced excel formulas that are used to develop such formulas are LEFT, MID, CELL, RIGHT. Excel enables you to design and use spreadsheets, graphing, creating tables, performing calculations, and automating big data to business tasks. Advanced Excel functions are different in every organization; the process of excel varies from organization to organization. The uses of excel to change depending upon any organization’s needs. Features of Advanced Excel: It will be surprising for you to know that every excel user uses its tricks while using excel. Even if you wish to get tips on advanced excel, every individual will tell you a different story. So now get into the features of excel. 1) Formatting conditionally It is the most important feature of advanced excel. It is as essential as conditional formatting can bring out the patterns of the universe, as you capture in your spreadsheet. For a better understanding of this feature, let’s take an example of a spreadsheet with data of numerous employees, now if you want to know the names and number of the top-performing hires of your organization. What will you do? Will you manually check everything? The answer is a big no. you can use this feature of excel to highlight such information in your excel sheet. This is the reason why experts consider this as the most important feature of advanced excels. 2) Pivot tables Pivot tables make it convenient for you to manage your data as with the help of pivot tables you can sort, count your data, and even you can take the average of your data. This is the coolest feature and is loved by everyone. The only disclaimer that you should keep in mind while using pivot tables is that your data should be clean. 3) Adding multiple rows This s the most commonly practised feature of spreadsheets. If you wish to select more columns than one, then first choose as many columns you require and then you can add them by doing right-click. Copying data from one cell and then pasting it on the other is also a very random thing that we practice while using excels. 5) Absolute references Here it is considered that the dollar in front of the letter will fix the column. 6) Print optimization People face issues while printing from excel. There is a specific misconception that you always tend to print that you never intended to. But this is not at all correct it is possible to print the thing that you intend to. Few components to this are fit to one page, print preview, margin adjustments, print selection, printing headers, spreadsheet design etc. you should be skilled in doing this as required again and again in your work life. 7) Extend formula down The scalability of excel is effortless. This makes the most useful one as you need to get the right formula once else excel figures out everything. It can make out the correct calculations numerous times. 8) Flash fill Excel has a mind of its own. Excel developed its mind back in 2013. This feature helps a lot of people, and it is easy to perform too. 9) Index match It is considered to be the most powerful one among excel functions. For example, if you have a spreadsheet with data of almost 1000 people but you want to highlight or check the data of only ten people, this feature helps you. It helps in the exploration of the data in a given table quickly. Advanced Excel Charts An advanced Excel chart is very different from the necessary maps. Using advanced excel data charts, you can compare one set of information with the other by using a different set of data. The primary function of an excel chart is to provide information in a single map; this information is represented in a way that is easy to compare and hence this makes the decision making easier. They even help using customizing charts. Uses of Excel in Business Every business today needs the help of various software and tools to manage its functions and operations smoothly. Some of the basic and common uses of excel in a business are- - Excel is considered the best tool for data entry and storage. Data entry and storage are very important for an organization as it helps the employer keep the record of every employer. - For accounting and budgeting too, we use excel in a business; spreadsheets are used to maintain accounts of the organization. - Data analysis can also be done with the help of excel. - Business data is verified too with the help of excel only. - Forecasting is also a primary function of excel; forecasting involves reporting and reviewing results in any business. It is important from a growth point of view. - We can use raw data to make consolidated charts that can be further used to present formal reports. Advanced Excel Functions and Formulas Excel formulas work like magic they make the most complex and time-consuming equations and problems related to statistics, math, science, business etc. After reading this you might be wondering that what excel formulas are and they might be tough to understand, but there is nothing like that, excel formulas are easy to understand. Excel formulas save you from wasting your time, and even they decrease the chances of risk. Now, as we have read about excel so much, you all might be interested in knowing how one can learn advanced excel skills. There are numerous options available today for you if you wish to learn advanced excel as this field is multiplying. One such option is the SASVBA institute. It is a prime institute located in DELHI. SASVBA is offering you courses in advanced excel; you can even learn excel by the ease of your home as we are offering you both online and offline classes keeping the current COVID scenario in mind. Our institute is the best when it comes to advanced excel training in DELHI. We have an excellent team of professionals that assist you throughout your course. Our placement assistance makes us different from all other advanced excel training institutes in DELHI. We provide you with 100% job assistance after your course completion. Whatever course or advanced excel training you go for, keep one thing in mind that it should involve certification after your course completions as only skills will be of no use if you wish to make advanced excel a serious career option. Before enrolling yourself into any course research well about that place.
Salar de Uyuni \|This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)\| Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an altitude of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and the exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is also a climatological transitional zone since the towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulonimbus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the salt flat during the summer cannot permeate beyond its drier western edges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert. Formation, geology, and climate Salar de Uyuni is part of the Altiplano of Bolivia in South America. The Altiplano is a high plateau, which was formed during uplift of the Andes mountains. The plateau includes fresh and saltwater lakes as well as salt flats and is surrounded by mountains with no drainage outlets. The geological history of the Salar is associated with a sequential transformation between several vast lakes. Some 30,000 to 42,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin. Its age was estimated from radiocarbon dating of shells from outcropping sediments and carbonate reefs and varies between reported studies. Lake Minchin (named after Juan B. Minchin of Oruro) later transformed into paleolake Tauca having a maximal depth of 140 meters (460 ft), and an estimated age of 13,000 to 18,000 or 14,900 to 26,100 years, depending on the source. The youngest prehistoric lake was Coipasa, which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), which is roughly 100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. Lake Poopó is a neighbor of the much larger Lake Titicaca. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, which, in turn, floods Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni. Lacustrine mud that is interbedded with salt and saturated with brine underlies the surface of Salar de Uyuni. The brine is a saturated solution of sodium chloride, lithium chloride, and magnesium chloride in water. It is covered with a solid salt crust varying in thickness between tens of centimeters and a few meters. The center of the Salar contains a “few islands”, the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. They include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae. The area has a relatively stable average temperature with a peak at 21 °C (70 °F) in November to January and a low of 13 °C (55 °F) in June. The nights are cold all through the year, with temperatures between −9 and 5 °C (16 and 41 °F). The relative humidity is rather low and constant throughout the year at 30 to 45%. The rainfall is also low at 1 to 3 millimeters (0.039 to 0.118 in) per month between April and November, but it may increase up to 70 millimeters (2.8 in) in January. However, except for January, even in the rainy season the number of rainy days is fewer than 5 per month. The Salar contains a large amount of sodiums, potassiums, lithiums and magnesiums (all in the chloride forms of NaCl, KCl, LiCl and MgCl2, respectively), as well as borax. Of those, lithium is arguably most important as it is a vital component of many electric batteries. With estimated 9,000,000 tonnes (8,900,000 long tons; 9,900,000 short tons), Bolivia holds about 43% of the world's lithium reserves; most of those are located in the Salar de Uyuni. Lithium is concentrated in the brine under the salt crust at a relatively high concentration of about 0.3%. It is also present in the top layers of the porous halite body lying under the brine; however the liquid brine is easier to extract, by boring into the crust and pumping out the brine. The brine distribution has been monitored by the Landsat satellite and confirmed in ground drilling tests. Following those findings, an American-based international corporation has invested $137 million to develop lithium extraction. However, lithium extraction in the 1980s and 1990s by foreign companies met strong opposition of the local community. Locals believed that the money infused by mining would not reach them. No mining plant is currently at the site, and the Bolivian government does not want to allow exploitation by foreign corporations. Instead, it intends to build its own pilot plant with a modest annual production of 1,200 tonnes (1,200 long tons; 1,300 short tons) of lithium and to increase it to 30,000 tonnes (30,000 long tons; 33,000 short tons) by 2012. Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tonnes (9.8 billion LT; 11 billion ST) of salt, of which less than 25,000 tonnes (25,000 long tons; 28,000 short tons) is extracted annually. All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani's cooperative. Salar is salt flat in Spanish. Uyuni originates from the Aymara language and means a pen (enclosure); Uyuni is also the name of a town that serves as a gateway for tourists visiting the Salar. Thus Salar de Uyuni can be loosely translated as a salt flat with enclosures, the latter possibly referring to the "islands" of the Salar; or as "salt-flat at Uyuni (the town named 'pen for animals')". Aymara legend tells that the mountains Tunupa, Kusku and Kusina, which surround the Salar, were giant people. Tunupa married Kusku, but Kusku ran away from her with Kusina. Grieving Tunupa started to cry while breast-feeding her son. Her tears mixed with milk and formed the Salar. Many locals consider the Tunupa an important deity and say that the place should be called Salar de Tunupa rather than Salar de Uyuni. Flora and fauna The Salar is virtually devoid of any wildlife or vegetation. The latter is dominated by giant cacti (Echinopsis atacamensis pasacana, Echinopsis tarijensis, etc.). They grow at a rate of about 1 centimeter (0.39 in) per year to a height of about 12 meters (39 ft). Other shrubs include Pilaya, which is used by locals to cure catarrh, and Thola (Baccharis dracunculifolia), which is burned as a fuel. Also present are quinoa plants and queñua bushes. Every November, Salar de Uyuni is the breeding ground for three species of pink South American flamingo: the Chilean, Andean, and rare James's flamingos, their color presumably originating from feeding on pink algae. About 80 other bird species are present, including the horned coot, Andean goose, and Andean hillstar. The Andean fox, or culpeo, is also present, and "islands" in the Salar (in particular Incahuasi Island) host colonies of rabbit-like viscachas. Salar de Uyuni attracts tourists from around the world. As it is located far from the cities, a number of hotels have been built in the area. Due to lack of conventional construction materials, many of them are almost entirely (walls, roof, furniture) built with salt blocks cut from the Salar. The first such hotel was erected in 1993–1995 in the middle of the salt flat, and soon became a popular tourist destination. However, its location in the center of a desert caused sanitation problems, as most waste had to be collected manually. Mismanagement caused serious environmental pollution and the hotel had to be dismantled in 2002. New salt hotels were built near the periphery of the Salar, closer to roads, in full compliance with environmental rules. One major tourist attraction is an antique train cemetery. It is 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals en route to Pacific Ocean ports. The rail lines were built by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni. The engineers were invited by the British-sponsored Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Companies, now Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia. The rail construction started in 1888 and ended in 1892. It was encouraged by Bolivian President Aniceto Arce, who believed Bolivia would flourish with a good transport system, but it was also constantly sabotaged by the local Aymara indigenous Indians who saw it as an intrusion into their lives. The trains were mostly used by the mining companies. In the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly because of mineral depletion. Many trains were abandoned, producing the train cemetery. There are proposals to build a museum from the cemetery. Salt flats are ideal for calibrating the distance measurement equipment of satellites because they are large, stable surfaces with strong reflection, similar to that of ice sheets. As the largest salt flat on Earth, Salar de Uyuni is especially suitable for this purpose. In the low-rain period from April to November, due to the absence of industry and its high elevation, the skies above Salar de Uyuni are very clear, and the air is dry (relative humidity is about 30%; rainfall is roughly 1 millimetre or 0.039 inches per month). It has a stable surface which is smoothed by seasonal flooding (water dissolves the salt surface and thus keeps it leveled). As a result, the variation in the surface elevation over the 10,582-square-kilometer (4,086 sq mi) area of Salar de Uyuni is less than 1 meter (3 ft 3 in), and there are few square kilometers on Earth that are as flat. The surface reflectivity (albedo) for ultraviolet light is relatively high at 0.69 and shows variations of only a few percent during the daytime. The combination of all these features makes Salar de Uyuni about five times better for satellite calibration than the surface of an ocean. Using Salar de Uyuni as the target, ICESat has already achieved the short-term elevation measurement accuracy of below 2 centimeters (0.79 in). With the use of modern GPS technology, it can now be proved that the Salar de Uyuni is not perfectly flat. New measurements revealed previously missed features resembling ridges, hills, and valleys only millimeters in height. They originate from the variation in material density, and thus the gravitational force, beneath the Salar's sediments. Just as the ocean surface rises over denser seamounts, the salt flat surface also rises and falls to reflect the subsurface density variations. - "Salar de Tunupa". Iris en Tore op reis. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 2016-02-26. - "Uyuni Salt Flat". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-12-01. - Keating, Joshua (2009-10-21). "Bolivia's Lithium-Powered Future: What the global battery boom means for the future of South America's poorest country.". Foreign Policy. - Borsa, A. A; et al. (2002). "GPS Survey of the salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, for Satellite Altimeter Calibration". American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting. - Hand, Eric (2007-11-30). "The salt flat with curious curves". Nature. - Fricker, H. A. (2005). "Assessment of ICESat performance at the salar de Uyuni, Bolivia" (free download pdf). Geophysical Research Letters. 32 (21): L21S06. Bibcode:2005GeoRL..3221S06F. doi:10.1029/2005GL023423. - Reuder, Joachim; et al. (2007). "Investigations on the effect of high surface albedo on erythemally effective UV irradiance: Results of a campaign at the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia" (free-download pdf). Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B. 87 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2006.12.002. PMID 17227712. - Lamparelli, R. A. C.; et al. (2003). "Characterization of the Salar de Uyuni for in-orbit satellite calibration". IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 41 (6): 1461–1468. Bibcode:2003ITGRS..41.1461C. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2003.810713. - "Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia". NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved 2007-12-01. - Bowman, Isaiah (1914). "Results of an Expedition to the Central Andes". Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. 46 (3): 161. JSTOR 201641. - Baker, P. A.; et al. (2001). "Tropical climate changes at millennial and orbital timescales on the Bolivian Altiplano". Nature. 409 (6821): 698–701. doi:10.1038/35055524. PMID 11217855. - Atkinson, David (2007-03-01). Bolivia: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 170; 174–176. ISBN 978-1-84162-165-4. - "Lithium Statistics and Information" (PDF). USGS. - "In search of Lithium: The battle for the 3rd element". Dailymail. 5 April 2009. - National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Science and Technology for International Development, National Research Council (U.S.). Office of International Affairs (1988). Science and technology for development: prospects entering the twenty-first century : a symposium in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the U.S. Agency for International Development. National Academies. p. 60. - "Bolivia holds key to electric car future". BBC. 2008-11-09. - "Bolivian Hotel Truly Is the Salt of the Earth". hotelchatter.com. January 27, 2009. - "Don't Lick the Walls of the Salt Hotel". tripcrazed.com. 19 May 2009. - McFarrren, Peter (1999-03-04). "Salt hotel has a rule: No licking". The Associated Press. - Box, Ben; Kunstaetter, Robert; Kunstaetter, Daisy; Groesbeck, Geoffrey (2007). Peru, Bolivia & Ecuador. Footprint Travel Guides. p. 378. ISBN 1-906098-06-9. - "Photo in the News: New Salt Hotel Built in Bolivia". National Geographic. 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2009-09-01. - Adès, Harry (2004). The Rough Guide to South America. Rough Guides. p. 259. ISBN 1-85828-907-6. - "Palacio del Sal". hbernreuther.de (in German). - "The Hills And Valleys Of Earth's Largest Salt Flat". GPS Daily. 2007-11-29. - Spreen, Gunnar (2008). Satellite-based Estimates of Sea Ice Volume Flux: Applications to the Fram Strait Region. GRIN Verlag. p. 22. ISBN 3-640-13064-2. - Bills, Bruce G.; et al. (2007). "MISR-based passive optical bathymetry from orbit with few-cm level of accuracy on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia". Remote Sensing of Environment. 107 (1–2): 240–255. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2006.11.006. \|This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (June 2016)\| \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salar de Uyuni.\|
Presentation #116.08 in the session Stellar/Compact Objects. The first stars in the universe, soon to be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope, are very powerful Dark Matter probes. If Dark Matter doesn't play a significant role in their formation, then hydrogen burning (Pop~III) stars are believed to form in low multiplicity in high redshift (z~20) micro dark matter halos. We show that the mere observation of a single Pop~III star can be used to place tight constraints on the strength of the interaction between dark matter and regular, baryonic matter. We apply this technique to a candidate Pop~III stellar complex discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope at z~7 and find some of the deepest projected bounds to-date for both spin-dependent and spin-independent DM-nucleon interactions, over a large swath of DM particle masses. Additionally, we show that the most massive Pop~III stars could be used to bypass the main limitations of direct detection experiments: the neutrino background to which they will be soon sensitive. Therefore the method we propose has the potential to probe below the so called “neutrino fog” that will render direct detection experiments very challenging or even downright impossible in the near future. Conversely, under special conditions first identified by Spolyar et. al (PRL 100, 051101), Dark Matter (DM) can play a significant role in the formation of some of the first stars. When that happens DM burners, i.e. Dark Stars are born. At most one such object forms per micro DM halo, at redshifts as high as 20 and potentially as low as 10. Dark Stars can grow to become supermassive, i.e. SMDSs. Once the DM fuel runs out supermassive dark stars (SMDS) inescapably collapse to supermassive black holes (SMBHs). If discovered with JWST, supermassive dark stars could solve one of the most intriguing puzzles of high energy astrophysics: the origin of the supermassive black holes powering extremely bright quasars at redshifts as high as seven, or even larger. Moreover, early data from JWST seems to indicate that too many very massive, yet compact, galaxies form too early in the universe. This is in stark contrast to most numerical simulations of the formation and assembly of the first galaxies. If some of those high redshift (z>12) galaxy candidates are actually supermassive dark stars, this tension is significantly alleviated. Lastly, the observation of those exotic, dark matter powered, stars would constitute indirect evidence for the DM particle and could, in principle, be used to extract two of its fundamental properties, the particle mass and its annihilation cross section.
What was the purose of the ten commandments of "Animalism," and how were they altered by the pigs? The purpose of the commandments was to explain to the animals in the simplest of ways what the idea of Animalism was all about. The feeling was if all animals could live by these tenets, the revolution would be a success and Animal Farm would flourish the way Old Major described in his speech. When the pigs get control, they change the commandments in every way shape and form. They distort some, simplify others, and downright eliminate those that are inexplicably broken. The pigs break the commandments such as no animal shall hurt other animals, so they tack on "without reason" to the end. They say no drinking, but they add "to excess" to the end. They say no dealing with money or humans, but when these get broken, those commandments go away. In the end the only remaining commandment is something that bears no resemblence to any of the original ones: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Animalism was created by the animals in purpose of the Rebellion. Then ten commandments was the law of Animalism, and all animals had to follow those rules no matter what. However, as the need for products (that could not be grown on the farm) increased, the pigs soon started communicating with humans in order to get these products, mainly beer, as the pigs and dogs got addicted to it. Contact and interaction with the humans influenced the pigs, who then began to walk on two legs, wore clothes, and drank alcohol. Since they were breaking the law by doing all these things, they secretly gave themselves permssion to alter the ten commandments so that it seemed that they wouldn't be breaking the rules.
Diffusion - The spreading out of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. - In other words, diffusion is the gradual movement of particles from one area were there are lots of them to an area were there are fewer of them. - Diffusion occurs in both solutions and gases as the particles within these substances are free to move around (as they contain free electrons). - An example of diffusion could be when perfume is sprayed in a room. When it is sprayed, the particles within it start to diffuse through the…
confused, a 17 year old female from Toronto asks on April 2, 2005,Does a person get their blood from both parents or just one? My parents seem to think that one's blood comes only from their father. They plan on marrying me off to my first cousin (my mother's nephew; her sister's son) -- as is a custom in many Middle Eastern traditions -- and they say there would be no harm to a child born to us (no birth defects, mental retardation, etc). I read a few reports that suggest the likelihood of birth defects in children born from consanguineous cousin-unions to be about 2% higher than children born to non-related couples. Furthermore, I don't believe that blood only comes from the father; I have reason to believe it comes from both parents. So, if you could explain it to me in a scientific way, to dispel the myth, so that I can explain that to my parents, it would be extremely appreciated. viewed 19848 times A person gets their blood from both parents. You are going to have to explain it in terms easy for your parents as this will certainly involve overcoming some deep cultural ideas, so here goes. If your parents can accept that a chicken egg is fertilzed or not, then we can start with that. An egg has exactly 1/2 the genetic information it needs to become a chick. The eggs we eat are laid by hens that have no roosters! If roosters were around, then the eggs would see sperm containing the other 1/2 of the genetic information and this would result in a chick developing from the egg. Same for people: we need information from both parents to develop. This genetic information is also required to form the blood within us. Genetic information or genes are carried on chromosomes. Sperm cells in males and egg cells in females have only half the information that every other cell in our bodies has, but that information is split in a special way -- we have pairs of everything. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each chromosome has a partner chromosome with another copy of each gene. Thus, a chick or baby won't develop until there are two copies of each chromosome - two copies of every gene. For the most part, each gene encodes one protein. The proteins are the workhorses of your cells. Now, lets look at blood groups as an example of the mixing of pairs of genes. You could be one of 4 major blood groups: A, B, O or AB. There is a hint here - the blood group AB is a combination of the two genes, A and B - equally. O is the absence or mutation of both an A gene or B gene. A is either AA or AO when we look at the genes. B is either BB or BO when we look at the genes. To explain it a bit further - and I am going to use my family as the example. My mother is B and my father is A. One brother is A, one is O and I am a B. If I had a 3rd brother, he could have been AB. How? To get this, my mother has to have gotten a B gene from one of her parents (my grand mom) and an O gene from the other (my grand dad). My father got an A gene from one parent and an O gene from the other (I don't know their blood types). My A brother inherited an A from my dad and an O from my mother, so this would fit your parent's view. The O brother inherited two O genes, one from each of my mom and dad, thus his is a blend of the two. I inherited my mom's B gene and my dad's O gene, thus I would be exactly opposite your parents idea and that other brother I don't have would have inherited Mom's B gene and Dad's A gene - thus he too would be a blend of both parents. While your parents may view this sceptically, and I can only prove this here with words, please look up examples of the ABO blood groups on the web and understand that part of my backgroud is actually someone who has been trained to provide you with compatible blood if you need a transfusion! While the ABO blood groups are pretty clear cut, many other genes truly do provide you with a blending of characteristics. With a Middle Eastern background, you will know that dark hair and dark eyes are very very prominent. I'm a green-eyed blond. My father is blue eyed, dark brown and my mom was hazel-eyed, black. Where does the blond come from? The green eyes? Green and hazel are blends of colour and blue only seen if other colours are absent or is a recessive trait. Blond is a recessive trait as well - brown and black will mask the blond colour. Thus if I married a black haired women, our children would be black haired and my trait would not be seen! But two recessive genes are seen as blond if my child married another blond - they could have blond or black haired kids. The recessive traits are the problem with marriage between family members - the further apart the relationship, the less likely that recessive genes will form the pair that a child will inherit. Thus while cousin unions are only 2% more likely to share a recessive gene, brothers and sisters are more likely to be 25%. The more that members of small group marry and have children among members of their group, even the liklyhood of cousins having a problem child will grow. Examples of this are 1) Tay-Sachs disease among eastern European Jewish descent. In the United States today, approximately one in every 27 Jews is a Tay-Sachs carrier.; 2) beta thalassemia - a major blood anemia disorder, is very common in Iran, Sardinia, Malta and Cyrus. I found one paper that suggests 70% of Sardinians carry this disease. When a bad recessive trait is that common in a group or culture, the chance that a baby has the disease is 25% - way more a risk than the 2%. As you searched out this site for an answer, please have a look at other sites that deal with genetics. Two great ones that you can find through Google searches are The DNA Learning Centre and the Online Biology Book. Note: All submissions are moderated prior to posting. If you found this answer useful, please consider making a small donation to science.ca.
One of the most important ways we can work toward a campus community free of sex discrimination and sexual harassment is by turning our focus to prevention. Prevention means focusing up-stream and addressing the causes of discrimination. We know that true culture change can only be achieved by addressing the patterns, beliefs and behaviors that are at the root of sexual violence. The Title IX Office implements and supports prevention strategies through training and education efforts, and supporting prevention programming by campus partners and student organizations. \|Risk Factors\|\|Strategies for Prevention\| Not On My Campus is a student-led movement to end the silence surrounding sexual assault and create a safe environment for all students at Texas through peer education programming. A program of Texas Blazers, Men Can End aims to be visible allies on campus against gender-based violence, and offers opportunities for men to get connected with gender-based violence prevention. BeVocal is a university-wide initiative to promote the idea that individual Longhorns have the power to prevent high-risk behavior and harm by recognizing a potentially harmful situation or interaction and choosing to respond in a way that could positively influence the outcome. The Interpersonal Violence Peer Supporters are a group of trained undergraduate and graduate students who offer peer-based support to students who have been impacted by interpersonal violence.
The soleus (also soleus muscle, latin: musculus soleus) is a powerful muscle of the posterior group of the lower leg muscles. The soleus originates from the head of the fibula and the soleal line of the tibia. The soleus joins with the aponeuroses of the gastrocnemius, forming the calcaneal tendon or Achilles tendon that inserts onto the calcaneal tuberosity. The functions of the soleus are flexion, supination and adduction of the foot. It also plays an important role in maintaining the standing pose. The soleus is innervated by the tibial nerve, which is a terminal branch of the sciatic nerve.
Thanks to a discussion in the CriticalChain yahoo groups on OODA, I happened to read a Manual on the theory and philosophy of planning as practiced by the US Marine Corps. What i have given below is a condensed version of a chapter, that Defines what Planning is and isn't, value of Planning and Reasons for proper planning - as i have read and understood. I hope this helps people to answer questions like those i faced. Definition of Planning - Planning is the art and science of envisioning a desired future and laying out effective ways of bringing it about. - Planning is a preparation process. - People are requested to understand the clear difference between a Process (a dynamic system of related activities) and a Procedure (A Prescribed sequence of steps for accompanying some specified task). - Planning process may often involve the use of procedures to perform certain tasks, but planning overall is too complex and situation dependent to be treated as a routine procedure. - Planning is also distinctly a process rather than merely an act because it involves a number of ongoing, iterative, and interdependent activities. - Since situations continuously change, we must continue to adapt our plans as time allows. Planning is a process that should build upon itself – each step should create a new understanding of the situation which becomes the point of departure for new plans. - Planning encompasses two basic functions – envisioning a desired future and arranging a configuration of potential actions in time and space that will allow us to realize that future. - Planning is thus a way of figuring out how to move from the current state to a more desirable future state – even if it does not allow to us to control the transition precisely. - Planning involves projecting our thoughts forward in time and space to influence event before they occur rather than merely responding to events as they occur. This means contemplating and evaluating potential decisions in advance. It involves thinking through the consequences of potential actions to estimate whether they will bring us closer to the desired future. - Planning is a learning process – it is a mental preparation which improves our understanding of a situation. - Planning is thinking before doing,In simplest terms. - Even if a plan is not executed precisely as envisioned – a few ever are – the process should result in a deeper situational awareness which improves decision making. - A plan is any product of planning. It may be a formal articulated document or an informal scheme. Since planning is an ongoing process, it is better to think of a plan as an interim product based on the information and understanding known at the moment and always subject to revision as new information and understanding emerge. - A plan is thus a structured configuration of actions in time and space envisioned for the future. - A Plan is the basis of action, cooperation and adaptation. - Planning for a particular action, only stops with execution, even then adaptation continues during execution. - Planning can mean different things to different people, to different organizations, or to different echelons within an organization. There is no universal procedure or technique equally suited to all requirements. We must adapt the planning methods we use to the particular requirement we face. - Planning, keeps us oriented on future objectives despite the problems and requirements of the present situation. - Nearly all activities in Project management benefit from some kind of planning.This is not the same as saying planning should be done in every situation or that every problem requires a planned solution. - The value of planning changes with every situation, with every type of activity, and with every level of an organization. - Some situations require extensive planning and some none at all. Hence we may succeed without planning and we may fail with it. Hence Planning alone doesn’t necessarily ensure success. - The mere act of planning is not valuable in itself. Use of a prescribed planning procedure does not guarantee that we will improve our situation. - Planning takes on value when done properly, using methods appropriate to the conditions and the activities being planned. - Done appropriately and well, planning is an extremely valuable activity which greatly improves performance and is a wise investment of time and effort. - Done poorly and in appropriately, planning can be worse than irrelevant and a waste of valuable time and energy. - Plan is not executed precisely as envisioned – a few ever are – the process should result in a deeper situational awareness which improves decision making - First, Planning can be essential to the ability to seize initiative. Proper planning puts us in the position to be ready to act when necessary or advantageous and not merely to react to developments. - Second, Planning is essential to reduce the unavoidable time lag between decision and action, especially at higher levels. Proper planning should help us reduce crises by dealing with situations before they reach crisis proportions. This is because in many situations, prompt action requires advance thought and preparation. - Third, Planning is essential when situations reach a certain level of complexity. When a situation is more complex, consisting of numerous interrelated activities and decisions, we may not be able to keep track of the various possibilities without working systematically through the problem. One of the basic reasons for planning is to come to grips with complexity. - Finally, Planning can be essential in novel situations in which experience is lacking. In situations in which we lack specific, first hand experience, we may use planning to think through the problem systematically and devise a workable solution.
The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Friday 11 September 2009 The leader below should have said Papua New Guinea occupies the east of the island, while Indonesia governs the west. It is easy to romanticise New Guinea, the second largest island on the planet, as well as the least explored and the most diverse. It stands out; a different place in a homogenous age, home of perhaps 1,000 languages, 12,000 cultures, biological diversity and extraordinary geography. Its summits are snow-capped - when, in 1623, a Dutch sailor first reported seeing them he was mocked for suggesting glaciers could be found in the tropics. And New Guinea's rain forests remain less ravaged than most. The temptation is to dream of a lost world, an idea given impetus this week by a remarkable BBC film from inside the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi, in the southern highlands of Papua New Guinea. Seen by 4 million people on Tuesday, the film showed waterfalls pouring from caves into a perfect forest, and a giant tame rat, apparently new to science, nibbling a leaf, unafraid of humans. If the programme raises awareness of New Guinea's natural treasures, then it will have achieved something good. But the sad truth is that New Guinea faces difficulties familiar to the rest of the planet: climate change is melting the glaciers, loggers are cutting its forests and the relics of imperial power play haunt its politics. Papua New Guinea, the western half of the island, gained independence in 1975 (though the Queen remains head of state). Former Dutch territory in the east, is now run, despite protest, by Indonesia. The island may look like paradise, but it is at risk of becoming a paradise lost.
American suffragist Alice Paul (1885-1977) was born into a prominent Quaker family in New Jersey. While attending a training school in England, she became active with the country’s radical suffragists. After two years with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), she cofounded the Congressional Union and then formed the National Woman’s party in 1916. Drawing on her experience, Paul led demonstrations and was subjected to imprisonment as she sought a voting amendment, but her actions helped bring about the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Paul continued to push for equal rights and worked from National Woman’s party headquarters in Washington, D.C., until her later years.
* Look for labels on the appliance. They will certify that the stove meets Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards and also list the efficiency range and heat output in BTUs. * Look for standard features including self-cleaning glass, hidden hinges and reversible flues, as well as optional accessories such as fans, gold-plated accents and heat shields for walls. * Use a certified installer. * Read the appliance’s operating manual before building the first fire in the stove. * Your home's air will become very dry when heated with a wood stove. Combat this with a humidifier or by placing a kettle of water on the stove. * Ordinances regulating wood stove use vary by city and sometimes within cities. Check the back of the stove for the EPA certification label to see if you comply with local ordinances. * Hire a certified chimney sweep for regular cleanings. Dirty chimneys can cause catastrophic chimney fires.
Apr 24, 2014 As the Kurdistan Region — Iraq develops rapidly, it is creating jobs that require a solid education and technical skills. The government has launched an ambitious reform of basic and secondary education to increase its quality and has expanded opportunities for tertiary technical and university education. But expansion of secondary vocational education has lagged, leaving many students who cannot or do not want to pursue post-secondary education without the necessary preparation to compete in the evolving labor market and contribute to its economy. Enrollment in secondary vocational education has diminished in recent years, and graduates often have difficulty finding employment because their programs have not given them the skills required by employers. At the same time, employers complain that graduates from local general and vocational educational institutions do not possess the skills they need, and are said to resort to hiring foreign labor whenever they cannot find local graduates. As part of its sweeping efforts to transform education, the Kurdistan Regional Government asked the RAND Corporation to assess its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system. The findings suggest several recommendations for improving TVET, particularly at the secondary level. Rather than implementing all of these at once, the report suggests three phases (short term, medium term and long term) to allow for measured implementation.
What is the appropriate terminology used in transgender medicine? Most of us are evolving to use the term trans* as an adjective that describes the entire range of transgender individuals who have a gender identity different from the sex assigned at birth based on sexual organs. For example: trans* men and trans* women. The term, gender dysphoria, refers to a psychiatric diagnosis given when an individual exhibits strong and persistent cross-gender identification, including significant distress with their own biological gender. The emotional components, distress, and conflict are now referred to as gender dysphoria —the replacement term. Transsexual is the adjective for someone who has “completed the process,” including surgery (eg, transsexual man) but the term is losing favor because there is no clear definition of what “completing the process” means. People choose multiple variations of hormones and strategies. Transgender individuals want to live and be accepted as a member of their gender identity, which is different from their anatomical sex at birth (transfemale: male to female; transman: female to male). What is the endocrinologist’s role in treatment? Endocrinologists, who practice transgender medicine, use hormones to treat transgender individuals. Generally speaking, what do you observe about transgender individuals? An example: Among my patients, there are young transgender men (female to male) who, maybe starting in high school, started to lead "tomboyish lives." Let’s say they see me after they’ve entered college. They are started on testosterone and start living as young men, and feel much better. It is helpful that these transgender men transition rather easily from an appearance perspective. These transgender men had been following their biological default trajectory from childhood (puberty) to a female appearance. When testosterone is administered—even though given later in life—the switch to a very masculine look is relatively easy. Most of my young transgender men patients are quite happy. Many transgender men express relief when they can live as a man—what they always felt they were—and not be treated as female by the world. Why do transgender individuals have difficulty finding clinical care? Broadly speaking, the number of endocrinologists who practice transgender medicine is shockingly small. Interestingly, endocrinologists use the same hormone therapies as those used in transgender medicine, they just don’t know how. Many transgender individuals travel great distances for appropriate care. Transgender individuals report that barriers to care are either (1) lack of physician knowledge or (2) lack of physicians who are appropriately sensitive to the patients. Therefore, a key element to moving patient care forward is educating physicians. Considering my own experience, I didn’t learn about transgender medicine in medical school, in residency, or during my fellowship. Therefore, it would make sense that physicians know very little about transgender medicine. To help remove the barriers to care, I took the necessary steps to develop the transgender medical program at Boston University School of Medicine. Now gender identity/transgender medicine is taught at Boston University School of Medicine. It is a small, but important piece of the medical education program, and was easily incorporated into the standard curriculum. Furthermore, it could very easily be incorporated into the standard medical school curriculums across the United States. Article Continues: Transgender Medicine: Clinical Care of Adolescents
An American Original by Rick Perez Perhaps no other cuisine is as indigenous to America as that from the Southwest. In fact, Southwestern cooking might have been a precursor to what we consider fusion food today. A collaboration of foods, cooking methods and eating styles from the Native American, Spanish and American cultures, Southwestern cuisine is as about American as, well, apple pie. The Mexican contribution to this American regional cooking style comes in the legacy of the Aztecs, who were dining on beans, corn, chiles, avocados, onions and chocolate before the Spaniards arrived in the New World. The Spaniards brought sheep, goats and cattle to the area and introduced salt pork, mutton, ranch-raised beef and cured meats of every kind. Sun-dried strips of meat, or jerky, could be eaten raw or stewed in place of fresh meat. The Mexican and Spanish settlers refined and expanded Southwestern cuisine with the addition of wheat, melons, bell peppers, zucchini, artichokes, tomatoes, peaches and apricots. Fruits that stored well over the winter were most prized, giving rise to pastry filling based on dried apples, raisins, apricots and almonds. With the introduction of cattle came the addition of cheese. Refried beans and thick potato soup, both topped with hot, melted cheese are favorite dishes of the Southwest. For centuries, Native Americans laid the foundation for this cuisine with tasty dishes. Considering the sparse vegetation in most of the areas, with little rainfall in the desert and mountains, the earth yielded a substantial amount of wild edibles, like prickly pear (also called paddle cactus) and cholla buds. The fruit of the saguaro was used for making syrup and ceremonial wine. Mesquite beans were ground into flour for bread and mush. Pinion (pine) nuts have been favorites of the Navajos and Apaches. The nuts were shelled, ground and made into cakes and gruel. Ground acorns were used for thickening stews. Corn has always been the most-important cultivated crop for the American natives, especially for the Hopi, who believe supernatural beings gave the first corn to mankind. Special ceremonies still occur at corn-planting time. Corn was also an important part of Hopi courtship and marriage customs. Hopi girls proposed by leaving blue corn piki bread on a young man's doorstep. If the bread was taken, the proposal was accepted and wedding preparations soon began. Corn in the Southwest is grown in six colors, including red, white and blue. Blue was, and still is, the most distinctive and highly prized of these unique corn varieties. Some retail and food service markets might consider a product like chauquehue (blue cornmeal mush), a thick porridge served with eggs or meat dishes, much like grits in the South. Chauquehue is made from atole (roasted blue cornmeal). To a non-native palate, traditional chauquehue recipes are much improved by adding more salt, black pepper and a generous lump of butter to the finished porridge. Operator or retail-mix instructions might dictate spreading the chauquehue while still hot into a greased, square cake pan, allowing it to cool, cutting into squares like polenta and frying long enough so they crisp up and begin to brown. Chauquehue works well with an accent of chili Colorado or chili verde. Southwestern cooking uses corn in many different ways: cornhusks to wrap tamales; ground kernels pressed for oil or dried and milled into flour; and kernels ground into meal to form masa, a staple -- the Mexican staff of life -- for centuries. The tortilla has not changed appreciably in the last four centuries. Treating hominy corn with lime to remove the tough skins is one step in creating posole -- a thick, hearty soup that often contains port, onion, garlic, chiles and cilantro -- a traditional New Year's Eve dish that is now enjoyed year round. Corn, beans and squash, such as summer and acorn squash, were the only crops grown by Native Americans in the Southwest. Game -- rabbits, antelope, wild turkey, quail, deer and desert rodents -- was plentiful and used in many native recipes. Along the streams, fishing provided another source of quality protein. Beans were also staples of the old Southwest. The traditional black-bean side dish can gain a distinctive accent with smoky chipotle chiles, possibly served in a bowl with crumbled cheese, avocado and lime. Black beans also star in tostadas -- layers of beans, cheese, tomatoes, red onion, avocado and lime juice on tortillas. Black-bean dip is another perennial favorite. At a time when grab-and-go foods, tapas, dashboard dining and other portable eating alternatives are growing in popularity, tacos, tamales, sopes, empanadas and other Mexican and Southwestern hand-held foods have never been more timely. Of course, Southwestern cuisine is perhaps most distinguished by the chile. Whether red or green, mild or super-hot, pickled or smoked, chiles are the source of the spice and big flavors that characterize Southwestern cooking. This is particularly true of the New Mexico green chile that has a sweet, earthy flavor and the New Mexico red chile -- basically a green that has been left on the vine in Northern New Mexico until early October to turn bright red and ripen in the crisp, fall sun. New Mexico red chiles are fleshy, hot and sweet. Processors often fire-roast these two primary chile varieties to intensify flavor; they're served fresh -- or frozen or canned. In addition to fresh and dried chiles, such as ancho and chipotle, as well as dried versions of New Mexico green and red, chile powders are primary flavor ingredients in Southwestern cooking. Chimayo is the best-known, hottest and finest form, made from red New Mexico chiles grown north of Santa Fe, NM. Molido chili powder, also red, varies in heat from mild to medium to hot according to the amount of seed included along with the dried chiles. Molido has an earthy sweetness that, in its mildest form, can substitute for paprika. Chiles, along with tomatoes and tomatillos, make a big, immediately noticeable color contribution to Southwestern foods. Southwestern restaurants, particularly in New Mexico, will often ask diners for a sauce preference that accompanies many dishes: red, green or Christmas (a pairing of both). Another color accent, mole sauce, a smooth, rich, reddish-brown sauce, comes in many variations and is traditionally paired with poultry. Mole almost always includes chocolate, traditionally the Mexican variety -- although bitter chocolate makes a good substitute. One version contains red chile flakes, tomatoes, onion, cloves, sesame seeds, almonds, raisins, cinnamon, coriander, fresh cilantro, chicken broth and semisweet chocolate chips. This can accompany grilled chicken, pork chops, burgers or beef tips. Distinctive cooking methods Various tribes of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States often used techniques that remain unique to their cooking. For example, they developed layers of flavors simply by roasting key ingredients before final preparation. A chile or tomato was roasted over an open flame letting the skin char. The resulting smoky flavor brings a completely new flavor profile to the vegetable and to the final dish, such as adobo sauce or a salsa served with chips. Roasting garlic over medium heat in a cast-iron skillet or in an oven creates an entirely new sweet garlic flavor with fewer "hard edges" -- a flavor that is a major contributor to Southwestern foods such as a barbecue glaze for chicken or ribs. Another technique to give Southwestern sauces a distinct flavor is grinding all the ingredients and frying in a cast-iron skillet with a little oil. This intensifies flavors and thickens the savory mixture. Care must be taken not to scorch, which creates bitterness. A combination of toasted cumin and black pepper makes a great rub for grilled meats with a hearty, earthy flavor. Clay pottery is also a major utensil for Southwestern cooking. Cooking in clay eliminates any metallic tinge that might interfere with the flavors. New Mexican influences What makes Southwestern cuisine unique is its confluence of ethnic and cooking cultures refined over many centuries. Added to this mixture is the rich culinary history of New Mexico, particularly Northern New Mexico. New-Mex is not Tex-Mex. Subtle -- but important -- differences exist, such as serving refried beans in Texas, but black beans in New Mexico. Red salsas are very much a part of Tex-Mex cooking, whereas red and green salsa characterizes New Mexican. Also, Tex-Mex foods are more likely to be greasy and fried, while New-Mex uses more fresh fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes and red and green chiles. The New Mexican influence in Southwestern cooking reflects such ingredients as blue corn, squash and multicolored beans -- black, Anasazi, pinto, lima and many others. For example, a grilled yellow-squash-based vegetable topping, in combination with tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini, can accompany many hot foods, including pasta. A yellow-squash salsa with zucchini, tomatoes and chiles adds big flavor when served at room temperature with grilled fish or chicken. Of course, black beans are a popular New Mexican ingredient in soups, salsas and entrées, as well as a refried side dish. Because of the availability of wheat, tortillas are more likely to be made from wheat flour than corn in New-Mex cuisine. Another variation: In Tex-Mex, chili is made more often from beef than pork. A New-Mex favorite, Santa Fe chili, uses both beef and pork for a unique flavor. Southwestern cuisine is simple, prepared mostly with regional ingredients, relying heavily on chiles, beans, squash and corn. While corn, squash and beans are nutritious, they are bland by themselves and depend on chile peppers for spice, as well as flavor. Chiles are grown all over New Mexico and form the basis for the red and green sauces that top most of the state's dishes. The bold flavors and variety of Southwestern foods make every meal an occasion. Even if the recipe is simple, the result is an earthy, hearty, tasty experience. Today, food designers can easily incorporate the many roasted, smoked and peeled Southwestern food and flavor ingredients into formulations. Using processed versions in shelf-stable, frozen and dehydrated forms, as well as flavor bases, pastes and powders, authentic Southwestern cuisine is surprisingly simple to achieve in large-scale operations. Good examples are chipotle-chile flavor bases, liquid smoke, roasted garlic and grill-flavor additives that all modify final food flavors to mimic many of those of the Southwest. Also, virtually all varieties of dried beans are commercially available, as well as more-exotic ingredients, such as pine nuts, that are produced domestically as well as imported. Masa is challenging to make from scratch, but product designers can conveniently acquire fresh-prepared masa, cornmeal and corn flour to produce basic Southwestern dishes, such as corn bread, tortillas and tamales. Prepared red and green chiles that are fire-roasted, canned or dried, or made into powders and finished sauces, are also available in a variety of flavor and spice configurations to give designers endless choices for both traditional, as well as differentiated, formulas. Product developers can easily achieve authentic, fresh, Southwest profiles using common ingredients. For example, a salsa fresca formula might include tomatillos, tomatoes, green chiles (like jalapeños), onion, lime juice, cilantro, salt, garlic and black pepper -- all readily available, easily sourced ingredients. Perhaps the most-difficult issue facing designers of Southwestern food products is that of heat levels. This might be one area where tradition and practicality depart. While restaurant patrons often can anticipate and even customize spice levels in Southwestern meals, product designers need awareness of general spice preferences, leaving any final spice addition up to the consumer or food service operator. A common bread accompaniment to many Southwestern meals is green chili corn muffins. Once again, product designers can achieve authenticity using available ingredients, such as mild chimayo chili powder and roasted poblano chiles, and even premade mixes. Caution is recommended in the selection of chile powder and poblano chiles for acceptable heat levels. To offset the heat somewhat, include a hint of molasses. New Southwestern and Northern New Mexican cooking is yet another evolution of this centuries-old cuisine influenced by creative chefs, including celebrity chefs Ming Tsai, of the Food Network and former executive chef at Santacafé, and Mark Miller of the Coyote Cafe, both located in Santa Fe. Tsai and Miller have fused other styles -- Tsai, Asian; Miller, California -- with the traditional foods of the Southwest to yield imaginative results. This blending of food cultures allows even further experimentation with other ingredients, such as Asian spices, sauces, exotic produce and more-exotic types of chiles. Blending New Mexico's big flavors, such as chiles, with more-subtle ingredients, like fresh produce, pasta and seafood, results in entirely new eating sensations. Thus, while still conforming to tradition, the definition of Southwestern cuisine continues to evolve, reflecting its multicultural and flavorful history. — Rick Perez is founder and director of the Ever Changing Times, Inc. culinary team, which is headquartered in Mount Dora, Florida, (352) 383-5191. He has over 25 years experience in the food service industry, including 15 years with Hilton Hotels Nationwide. As a member of the Research Chefs Association, Perez is an advocate of promoting education and professionalism in the culinary field.
The Arm-Brain Connection Dancer inspires insight into new ways of approaching brachial plexus Sydney Sanborn was a 9-pound baby whose shoulder was pinched in the birth canal, leaving her with brachial plexus palsy. The injury damaged her left arm so severely that her mother used to safety pin her sleeve to her chest so her limb wouldn’t get in the way. As a toddler, Sydney received physical therapy but grew up favoring her right side. By the time she was in fifth grade, she couldn’t put her hair in a ponytail or touch the back of her neck with her left hand because of limited recovery of her shoulder movement. Her pediatrician in Columbus referred her to the Brachial Plexus Center at Cincinnati Children’s, where orthopaedic surgeon Charles Mehlman, DO, MPH, operated to partially release her subscapularis tendon and muscle to allow her shoulder to rotate. Sydney’s rehabilitation physician, Linda Michaud, MD, was delighted that Sydney could finally move her left arm without pain, fix her own hair and do things she couldn’t do before. Doctors thought they had “fixed” her injury, as her ability to move, especially at the shoulder, was significantly improved. But something Sydney said made them want to investigate further. She said when she danced, she would sometimes “forget to use” her left arm. Mehlman and Michaud, co-directors of the Brachial Plexus Center, wondered why Sydney’s recovery of function seemed incomplete. They hypothesized that, even though Sydney’s brachial plexus injury was a peripheral nerve injury and her shoulder had been repaired, perhaps communication between her arm and her brain was not the same on both sides. They sought the help of Donald Gilbert, MD, MS, director of the Movement Disorder Clinic and a pediatric neurologist at Cincinnati Children’s. Gilbert used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure how Sydney’s left arm was communicating with her brain. For more than 100 years, doctors have thought of brachial plexus injuries as peripheral nerve injuries and not appreciated effects at the level of the brain, Michaud says. But Gilbert’s findings left Michaud rethinking the contribution of cortical (brain) representation of the arm. TMS found that the electrical pathways between Sydney’s arm and brain were not the same on both sides. “What we found in this girl who forgets to use her arm when she dances,” Gilbert says, “is that the side of the brain that controls the arm with the brachial plexus injury resembles the side of the brain of somebody who can’t use her arm because of a stroke.” It took much more energy during TMS to get a normal response in Sydney’s once-damaged side, Gilbert says. “If the same holds true for lots of kids with brachial plexus injuries, then repairing the peripheral nerve or muscle isn’t enough,” Gilbert says. “If you really want to normalize motor outcomes, we need to make sure that they wire their brains in early childhood to use both hands normally.
Restoring Desert Grasslands or Creating Desert Badlands? For 60 years, this National Park Service land has been “protected” from cattle, unintentionally accelerating its desertification. Here is a typical Big Wildlife program being pursued at Big Bend National Park to “protect” degrading habitat. (ABOVE PDF can be viewed here -> ) I don’t doubt the sincerity or diligence of the park employees who wrote this report, which accurately embodies the Big Wildlife paradigm. It reflects what universities like Texas A&M teach in their wildlife programs, what agencies like the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department practice, and what the majority of conservation organizations – from The Nature Conservancy to the Texas Wildlife Association – promote to their members and do for themselves. The fact that hundreds of volunteers are willing to support restoration attempts demonstrates that many of us recognize that a disaster is unfolding and are willing to do something about it. The actions described have twin problems: cost and sustainability. When it comes to cost, manpower must be considered. Roughly 10-1/2 volunteer hours per acre are required for a typical restoration effort. The next consideration is the actual expense. I estimate the total cost per acre approaches $500 when all expenses are included. The second problem is sustainability. If the process of recovery is initiated, land management practices have to change to sustain the recovery or the land’s condition will revert. After all, NPS has had 70 years to prove that animal removals restore habitat. As NPS says, the objective is to “…slow, and perhaps arrest,” the desertification of the Big Bend National Park. This is an implicit admission that NPS doesn’t t know what to do about rangeland decline. How could they? They misunderstand its causes. Managing for failure is unacceptable If NPS’s best hope is to “slow” desertification, this tells us that it is resigned to failure. Indeed, many agencies seem to be managing extinctions when restoration is what is needed. The report doesn’t mention animals at all except for a negative reference to cattle and the need to “protect” land, which is code for removing so-called invasive species. It completely ignores animals as indispensable “tools” for improving habitat health and initiating rangeland restoration. Restoration can be achieved, using practices that can be implemented at many times the speed and at a tiny fraction of the cost. Here are actions that have been proven just up the road at Circle Ranch. All of these practices will work at Big Bend National Park, and anywhere else in the desert Southwest. Cows and Keyline: Restoring Desert Grasslands: This 17-minute video shows how we have taken a horrible gully, and returned its water to grasslands. We discuss the water management techniques that make this possible, why the use of range poisons is a costly, counterproductive mistake, and why we must employ animals, including exotics like cows, for the animal impact without which ranges cannot recover. Desert Grasslands Restorations Without Poisons: This 11-minute video demonstrates how to restore desert grasslands without poison like Spike. Three techniques are employed: 1. Wild and domestic animals to deliver animal impact. 2. Subsoil plowing using Keyline water management and the Yeomans Plow, to improve water function. 3. Water harvesting from eroded roads and gullies. These practices when used together are the safest, cheapest, and fastest way to restore desert grasslands. They do no harm to animals, plants, or people. Restoring Desert Grasslands: Thistle and Keyline: 1-1/2 minutes. In far-West Texas, Keyline subsoiling of desertified dead zones stimulates the growth of thistle, a much-maligned “exotic” which is a superb desert rescue plant. Cattle Impact for Dead Spots: This two-minute video shows how cattle can be used to treat dead spots on rangeland. Time: The Grazier’s Best Friend or Worst Enemy: This two-minute video discusses how cattle can restore desert grasslands, and why time is the most important variable in the equation. Imagine if at Big Bend National Park, the same money and civic spirit were redirected towards practices that are quick, cheap, and physiologically sound. For many articles on these topics, click the tags below and alongside this piece.
For vertebrates, vision requires a compromise between signals from two types of light-detecting cells: rods and cones. Humans see sharply during the day thanks to a cluster of color-detecting cones in the back of our eyes. At night, those cones turn off and light-sensitive rods turn on. Extra rods in cats, for example, help them see best in the dark. And then there are elephantnose fish, whose retinal arrangement of rods and cones seems to doom them to poor vision at night and during the day. In these fish, cone cells cluster into cups along the retina, which reduces the spatial resolution of their vision. These cups shield the rod cells buried underneath, preventing these cells from picking up dim light as well. Now Andreas Reichenbach of the University of Leipzig and his colleagues have figured out how those cups help the fish (Gnathonemus petersii) see in murky African waters. Here’s how it works. Layers of thin crystals made from guanine, one of the bases in DNA, line the outside of each cup in the retina. This photonic crystal reflects red light that penetrates muddy water and funnels those photons to the bottom of the cup where the light-sensitive bits of the cone cells reside. A simulation revealed that this reflection helps the cone cells capture five times more light than enters the cup. Very little light passes through to the super-sensitive rod cells below the cup. This arrangement compensates for the low light sensitivity of the cones, while tempering the activity of the rods. Measuring electrical signals from the fish’s retina, the scientists found that both rods and cones fire during the day. Shifting these sensitivities so the two cells work together is the most ingenious trick of the elephantnose fish’s retina, Reichenbach says. In humans, rods and cones only work simultaneously for a few minutes at sunrise or sunset each day. Humans can see sharp details because each cone cell in that cluster, or fovea, sends a signal to our brain like pixels in a picture, he says. But the elephantnose fish sees the world in cup-sized pixels rather than cell-sized ones, because all the cone cells in one cup register the same image. The fish’s vision is so poor that it can only see an object larger than six times the diameter of the full moon in our eyes, Reichenbach adds. But this poor resolution can be helpful, too. A movie of an expanding circle startled goldfish, often studied for their good vision, and elephantnose fish. But when the circle was covered with gray splotches, the goldfish swam away fewer times than the elephantnose fish. It seems the goldfish couldn’t see the circle through the gray splotches, but the elephantnose fish could, Reichenbach says. Since the elephantnose fish can’t see small particles, it might be able to see past the mud and bubbles in the water and only detect large predators in the water, he adds. Filtering out details to leave the most important visual information extends the principles of retinal function beyond working well in the daylight or dim light, Reichenbach said in the Science podcast. This natural design might help engineers build light detectors for machines working in turbid fluids, he adds.
Causes Of Vertical Foundation Cracks Vertical foundation movement may be caused by: - Soil characteristics–soils have different load bearing capacities. Was the soil your home sits upon properly matched to the weight of the structure? - Frost heave or frost lensing - Footing settlement - Earthquakes or other severe impact damage - Settlement of supporting soils located beneath the footings or foundation walls. In most cases, this type of foundation movement relates to a downward movement of the wall or the footings, for instance if soft soil allows the wall to sink. The first thing you need to uncover is the type of foundation movement and the cause of this movement. Once the cause is determined, a professional can fix the damage and prevent the cause from reoccurring. Are Your Vertical Foundation Cracks High Or Low Risk? In order to know for certain if the cracks in your foundation are high or low risk you should have a professional out to assess the damage. Here are some general guidelines you can use to get an idea what sort of damage you are looking at. Vertical cracks that occur in between two structures, such as an add-on garage built on more shallow footing than the full foundation. Vertical cracks in poured concrete that are fairly straight and even in width. When concrete shrinks during the curing process it is common for cracks to appear, especially in basements. These hairline cracks should measure no more than 1/16 of an inch in width. If cracks measure 1/8 of an inch or larger, it could signal more serious distress. The only issue these tiny cracks may cause relates to excess moisture getting in, which will eventually cause damage. If you notice moisture seeping through cracks, consider having your basement waterproofed by a contractor. Most concrete cracks can be sealed to reduce the risk of moisture infiltration. Low to Moderate Risk: Vertical cracks are noticeable in masonry block walls, mortar joints or through concrete block. Vertical foundation cracks are straight or stepped in brick. Risks increase if the cracks are near the end of a wall. This could be a sign of possible building collapse. Vertical foundation cracks in a foundation wall appearing wider at the bottom than at the top. This is typically related to settlement under the building. There is risk for collapse, especially if the cracks are located in a brick wall. Vertical cracks in foundation wall that are equal in width but cracked higher up the wall on one side compared to the other. This is differential settlement in footings, and may indicate that the foundation has broken and settled down to one side of the crack. It is fairly normal to notice multiple cracks along the foundation of a building. It is not uncommon for multiple cracks to appear near one another or on different parts of the building. New Construction With Vertical Foundation Cracks If you notice vertical foundation cracks in newer construction it usually signals that the foundation was not properly poured, the footing was unsettled due to blasting at an adjacent site, or there is a lack of steel reinforcement. These cracks commonly become wider and wider over time, and often very quickly. This often relates to settlement issues and requires professional evaluation and repairs. Toronto Foundation Repairs The sooner you fix foundation cracks the better off your home will be. The foundation is what keeps your home upright, strong and sound. A faulty foundation can lead to complete structural collapse. In order to protect your most valuable asset, your home, it’s important to pay close attention to any signs of foundation cracks. Cracks may signal nothing at all, but then again they could also signal the need for moderate to major repairs. If you notice foundation cracks on your masonry building, contact Turnbull Masonry for thorough assessment and repairs.
What is MRI? Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, uses strong magnet and radio waves to provide clear and detailed diagnostic images of internal body organs and tissues. MRI is a valuable tool for the diagnosis of a broad range of conditions, including: - heart and vascular disease - joint and musculoskeletal disorders MRI allows evaluation of some body structures that may not be as visible with other diagnostic imaging methods. MRI can also image in all planes and angles with superior tissue. What are some common uses of MRI? Imaging of the Musculoskeletal System: MRI is often used to study the knee, ankle, foot, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. MRI is also a highly accurate method for evaluation of soft tissue structures such as tendons and ligaments, which are seen in great detail. Even subtle injuries are easily detected. In addition, MRI is used for the diagnosis of spinal problems including disc herniation, spinal stenosis, and spinal tumors. Imaging of the Vascular System: MRI of the heart, aorta, coronary arteries, and blood vessels is a tool for diagnosing coronary artery disease and other heart problems. Imaging for Cancer & Functional Disorders: Organs of the chest and abdomen such as the liver, lungs, kidney, and other abdominal organs can be examined in great detail with MRI. This aids in the diagnosis and evaluation of tumors and functional disorders. Furthermore because there is no radiation exposure involved, MRI is often used for examination of the male and female reproductive systems. How should I prepare for an MRI? - Before your MRI exam, remove all accessories including hair pins, jewelry, eyeglasses, hearing aids, wigs, dentures. During the exam, these metal objects may interfere with the magnetic field, affecting the quality of the MRI images taken. - Notify your technologist if you have: - any prosthetic joints – hip, knee - a heart pacemaker (or artificial heart valve) or defibrillator - an intrauterine device (IUD) - any metal plates, pins, screws, or surgical staples in your body - tattoos and permanent make-up. - a bullet or shrapnel in your body, or if you’ve ever worked with metal - if you might be pregnant or suspect you may be pregnant - if you are claustrophobic. Some patients who undergo MRI in an enclosed unit may feel confined. If you are not easily reassured, a sedative may be administered. What should I expect during this exam? Depending on how many images are needed, the exam generally takes 15 to 45 minutes. However, very detailed studies may take longer. - You must lie down on a sliding table and be comfortably positioned. - Even though the technologist must leave the room, you will be able to communicate with them at any time using an intercom. - If necessary, we allow a friend or family member to stay in the room with you during the exam. Please be aware that the friend/family member will be required to go through a written clearance to be in the exam room. - You will be asked to remain still during the actual imaging process. However, between sequences, which last between 2-15 minutes, slight movement is allowed. - Depending on the part of the body being examined, a contrast material may be used to enhance the visibility of certain tissues or blood vessels. A small needle is placed in your arm or hand vein and a saline solution IV drip will run through the intravenous line to prevent clotting. About two-thirds of the way through the exam, the contrast material is injected. What will I experience during an MRI? - MRI is painless. - Some claustrophobic patients may experience a “closed in” feeling. If this is a concern, a sedative may be administered. Also, newer open MRI machines have helped to alleviate this reaction. - For certain scans you have the opportunity to go in “feet first” with a portion of your body outside of the modality. - You will hear loud tapping or thumping during the exam. Earplugs or earphones will be provided. - You may feel warmth in the area being examined. This is normal. - Throughout the exam you will feel a cool air flow. - If a contrast injection is needed, there may be some discomfort at the injection site. You may also feel a cool sensation at the site during the injection.
Picture the last two hundred years without the publication of Darwin's "On The Origin of Species" -- how might the scientific conversation have developed? What were the influences in Victorian England during Darwin's youth, and how tenuous was his opportunity for sailing on the Beagle's voyage? 2016 • Nature Andrew Marr sets off on an epic journey through 70,000 years of human history. Using dramatic reconstructions, documentary filming around the world and cutting-edge computer graphics, he reveals the decisive moments that shaped the world we live in today, telling stories we thought we knew and others we were never told. (Part 5: Age of Plunder) Andrew Marr tells the story of Europe's rise from piracy to private enterprise. The explosion of global capitalism began with Christopher Columbus stumbling across America while searching for China. While Europe tore itself apart in religious wars after the Reformation, the Spanish colonised the New World and brought back 10 trillion dollars' worth of gold and silver. But it was Dutch and English buccaneer businessmen who invented the real money-maker: limited companies and the stock exchange. They battled hand-to-hand to control the world's sea trade in spices, furs and luxuries like tulips. In the 145 years from 1492 to 1637, European capitalism was born and spread across the globe. The final programme in the series looks at Romania, where Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu ran a personal dictatorship for nearly a quarter of a century. Abortion and contraception were banned as their rule reached far into the private lives of every Romanian. When communism collapsed and the regime was overthrown, the self-styled 'mother and father of the nation' were executed by a firing squad on December 25 1989. In the opening episode of the series, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill takes us on a journey across stunning locations in Greece and Italy to find out how Athens gave birth to the idea of a city run by free citizens 2,500 years ago. Every aspect of daily life from defence to waste disposal was controlled not by a king, but by the Athenians themselves. Ultimately, this radical new system would define a way of life and the Athenians would give it a name.
1)The process of blood purification is carried out by the kidneys which isolates the impurities in the form of urine, which is, then, carried to the bladder from where they are, eventually, sent ahead for evacuation from the body. 2)Through the process of osmosis, nutrients get transported to cells and waste materials get moved out of them. 3)Plants wouldn't exist without osmosis and without plants, no other life could exist as they are a vital link of the entire food chain of the planet. 4)it helps maintain a stable internal environment in a living organism by keeping the pressure of the inter and intracellular fluids balanced, and it allows the absorption of nutrients and expulsion of waste from various bodily organs on the cellular level. 5)By enabling nutrients to reach the cellular interiors and aiding in their absorption, the process of osmosis makes sure that cells get repaired and stay healthy so that they perform their intended functions effectively.
Take an example for a hotel has 200 rooms, with 10 DID line and 30 DOD lines. The originating traffic rate & the terminating traffic rate for a hotel is much difference from residential subscriber line. For normal residential subscriber line, the originating traffic will be only 0.04 to 0.05 erlang. But for business line is quite different, it will be 0.06 to 0.16 and depend the type of business line you have. You can divide the rooms into say 5 trunk groups, with room no. 1,6,11,16… to be TG 1; room no. 2,7,12,17…. to be TG 2, room no. 3, 8, 13, 18….to be TG 3 and so on….. Each TG will have 5 DODs, the other DOD lines will be used by office. You also can plan the overflow routes between the TGs. Suppose TG1 overflow to TG3 and then overflow to TG5. It is only a simple configuration for such small size phone lines. (The traffic rates of residential lines had been already mentioned above. You also need to know the day to busy hour ratio, there should be have two different busy hour for residential lines, and the day to busy hour ratio will be 10 to 12)
Global Warming is Reducing Duck Population - Global Warming Threatens Waterfowl By Jimmy Watson, The Shreveport Times July 10, 2005 National Wildlife Federation President Larry Schweiger calls it "a Pandora's box," but Louisiana duck hunters just call it frustrating. During a national teleconference last week, Schweiger and NWF Senior Science Advisor Doug Inkley said that global warming is reducing the number of ducks nationwide by affecting their breeding grounds, their migration habits and Louisiana's coastal wetlands where ducks often Louisiana duck hunters have noticed a major decline in area duck populations over the past several years. The lack of ducks has been blamed on a number of things, including the lack of a concerted effort by conservation groups to improve breeding grounds. "Duck hunting has gotten worse every year for the past several years," said Shreveport hunter Phillip Legler, who has given up hunting on Cross Lake. "I know that the populations of duck and geese have been increasing, but they're not coming this far south." Now conservation groups are apparently off the hook and Mother Nature is on it. A Pandora's box "Global warming is opening a Pandora's box of problems that could dramatically reduce populations of ducks and geese across the nation," Schweiger said. "Global warming poses a basic threat to our conservation tradition. It challenges our responsibility to be good stewards of the water, land and wildlife. I am confident that sportsmen will lead the way in confronting this challenge." The teleconference was held in response to a NWF report, entitled "The Waterfowler's Guide to Global Warming." The 39-page report is viewable at www.nwf.org. The changes caused by global warming are likely to have serious implications for waterfowl in Louisiana. According to the report, more than three-quarters of ducks found in Louisiana originate in the Prairie Pothole region of the upper Midwest and south central Canada. Millions of shallow depressions and ponds in the area, known as "America's Duck Factory," make up one of the most important waterfowl breeding areas on the continent. Research indicates that warmer temperatures could reduce wetland habitats in these vital duck breeding grounds up to 91 percent, resulting in a significant decline in the abundance of ducks settling to breed there. This will affect populations of ducks that winter in Louisiana such as mallards, gadwall, blue-winged teal, northern pintails, canvasbacks and redheads, the report said. Bossier duck hunter Joe Maggio, who recently switched his allegiance from Ducks Unlimited to Delta Waterfowl, said that he agrees that global warming could be a cause of the lack of ducks in north "While there were record-setting low temperatures up north the mid- level states weren't that cold, so it didn't drive the ducks down to us," Maggio said. "A lot of it has to do with which argument you're willing to listen to, but I'm sure global warming is having an The NWF report echoed Maggio's sentiments, saying that in addition to causing a reduction in the number of ducks nationwide, warmer temperatures in northern parts of the country could relieve the need for waterfowl to fly as far south as Louisiana for the winter. Threat to economy "Along with smaller duck populations overall, we may see fewer of the remaining ducks wintering here," said Randy Lanctot, executive director of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. "Louisiana is known as a waterfowler's paradise, but the specter of global warming presents a threat to this heritage and its contribution to the state's A 2001 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey found that migratory bird hunters spent $86.7 million on trips and equipment in Louisiana, ranking the state sixth nationally. "We must not allow global warming to take our nation's waterfowl legacy away from our children," Schweiger said. The report, the first comprehensive look at how global warming's multiple effects threaten North American waterfowl, was issued by the National Wildlife Federation and 27 of its affiliated state conservation organizations, including the Louisiana Wildlife It compiles the latest scientific research into how changes in climate are affecting waterfowl and how increased temperatures will likely affect breeding, migration and populations of ducks, geese and other migratory species. Global warming is already having an impact on waterfowl. In northern breeding habitats, where average temperatures have risen significantly, ducks and geese are responding by breeding earlier and expanding their ranges farther north, the report states. "We are looking at a potent combination of forces all coming together over the next decades. The effect could be harmful to populations of ducks and geese," said Patty Glick, global warming specialist for the National Wildlife Federation and the report's author. The report highlights additional challenges that waterfowl throughout North America will likely face if global warming continues unabated. For example, changes in precipitation patterns and declines in average mountain snowpack are expected to affect the quality and quantity of water in marshes and estuaries along the Pacific Coast. Thawing permafrost and changes in the vegetation of boreal forests and tundra regions of Alaska and Canada also could affect important breeding habitat for a number of waterfowl species. Waterfowl also are facing the loss of up to 45 percent of the coastal wetlands they depend on in winter due to a rise in average sea levels, the report states. Especially vulnerable are the shallow wetlands of the Louisiana Gulf and Atlantic coasts, the report said. These regions provide important wintering habitat for diving ducks such as canvasbacks, redheads, ruddy ducks and scaup. Climate scientists point to carbon pollution as the primary culprit behind global warming. In the last 100 years, global temperature rose by an average of 1 degree Fahrenheit, faster than at any time in In places such as Alaska, the change has been even more dramatic. The average temperature in Alaska has risen by 5-7 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century, and is causing problems associated with softening permafrost and erosion along the state's coastline. Temperatures globally are projected to rise on average from 2-10 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming decades, according to the report, primarily because of carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels that is trapping heat from being released in the atmosphere.
Cinco De Mayo: A comprehensive Illustrated History. By Roberto Cabello-Argandoña. ISBN 978-1483923970. $16.95. "The somber reality of foreign naval invasion of Mexico by three major world powers at the time, Spain, Britain and France constituted the prelude to the Battle of Cinco de Mayo. The author provides a most detailed account of the forces and activities of the French and Mexican sides, during the last three days before, the day of and the day after the battle itself. Examines also the inspiring history of a triumphant Chicano general, Ignacio Zaragoza, (1829-1862)
What is pyramid? A pyramid is a solid bounded by plane faces ; one of its faces is a polygon of any number of sides and the other faces are triangles whose bases are the sides of the polygon and which meet at a common point outside the plane of the polygon. The plane face which is a polygon is called the base of the pyramid and the triangular faces are its lateral faces. The common point at which the lateral faces meet is called its vertex. The straight lines in which adjacent faces intersect are called the edges (or lateral edges) of the pyramid. The perpendicular distance from the vertex to the plane of the base is called the height (or altitude) of the pyramid. Evidently, a pyramid will have n lateral faces if its base is a polygon of n sides. A pyramid is said to be triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal or hexagonal according as its base is a triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon or hexagon. A pyramid has been displayed in given figure. The base of the pyramid is the pentagon JKLMN, its vertex is P; its lateral faces are the plane triangles PJK, PKL etc. and PJ, PK etc. are its edges. If PO be perpendicular to the plane of the base JKLMN then its height is PO. Right Pyramid: If the base of a pyramid is a regular polygon and perpendicular drawn from its vertex to the base passes through the centre of the base (i.e. the centre the circumscribed or the inscribed circle of the regular polygon) then the pyramid is called a right pyramid. The lateral faces of a right pyramid are congruent isosceles triangles. The length of the line joining the vertex to the centre of the base is called height of the right pyramid. The length of the perpendicular drawn from the vertex to any side of base is called the slant height of the right pyramid. Evidently, the slant height is the same for each lateral face of a right pyramid and each slant height bisects the corresponding side of the base. The sum of the areas of the lateral faces of a right prism is called its slant surface. A right pyramid has been shown in the given figure. It’s base is the regular pentagon ABCDE and P is its vertex; PO is the height of the right pyramid, P0 being the centre of the base; PAB, PBC etc. are its lateral faces which are all isosceles triangles having equal area. If PN bisects AE at right angles, then PN is the slant height of the right pyramid. Let a be the length of each side of the base of a right pyramid. If h be the height and 1, the slant height of the right pyramid, then 1. The area of the slant surface of the right pyramid = 1/2 a ∙ l + 1/2 a ∙ l + 1/2 a ∙ l + …….. = 1/2 ( a + a + a + ……) ∙ l = 1/2 × perimeter of the base × slant height; 2. Area of whole surface of the right pyramid = area of its slant surface + i.e. area of its base 3. Volume of a right pyramid = 1/3 × area of the base × height.
How alkali metals are formed? Table of Contents How alkali metals are formed? Each alkali metal atom has a single electron in its outermost shell. This valence electron is much more weakly bound than those in inner shells. As a result, the alkali metals tend to form singly charged positive ions (cations) when they react with nonmetals. How are alkali metals found in nature? You might wonder how the alkali metals were ever discovered in nature if they react so violently to air and water. Well, as it turns out, most of the alkali metals are found in nature as ions due to their high desire to react and lose that one valence electron. In their ionic form the metals are far less reactive. What are pure alkali metals known for? Alkali metals are highly reactive at standard temperature and pressure and readily lose their outermost electron to form cations with charge +1. All the discovered alkali metals occur in nature. Why are alkali metals rarely found as pure elements? The alkali metals are found on the left edge of the periodic table. Because alkali metals are so reactive, they are rarely found in nature as pure elements. Rather, they are found combined with other elements as compounds. How are alkali metals different from other metals? The Group 1 elements are called the alkali metals. they have low melting points (increasing up the group from 28°C for Cs to 180°C for Li, whereas typical metals have much higher melting points, such as iron which melts at 1,540°C) they are very soft and so can easily be cut with a knife. Which of the following alkali metals exist in elemental form? Group 1A (or IA) of the periodic table are the alkali metals: hydrogen (H), lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), cesium (Cs), and francium (Fr). These are (except for hydrogen) soft, shiny, low-melting, highly reactive metals, which tarnish when exposed to air….Group 1A — The Alkali Metals. Where is alkali metals found? Alkali metals are the chemical elements found in Group 1 of the periodic table. Where are alkaline metals found naturally? They all occur in nature, but are only found in compounds and minerals, not in their elemental forms. They react with halogens to form compounds called halides. All of them except beryllium react strongly with water. How do alkali metals differ from alkaline earth metals in atomic structure and general properties? 1. The alkali metals all have a single s electron in their outermost shell. In contrast, the alkaline earth metals have a completed s subshell in their outermost shell. In general, the alkali metals react faster and are more reactive than the corresponding alkaline earth metals in the same period. Why are alkali and alkaline earth metals never found in their pure form in nature? All alkaline Earth metals have similar properties because they all have two valenceelectrons. For example, alkaline Earth metals will react with cold water, but not explosively as alkali metals do. Because of their reactivity, alkaline Earth metals never exist as puresubstances in nature. Why are alkali metals rarely found as pure elements quizlet? The elements in Group 1 of the periodic table are known as the alkali metals. These metals are extremely reactive, reacting with water and with most nonmetals. Alkali metals are so reactive that they do not occur in nature as pure elements; they are always found in compounds. What are the characteristics of alkali metals? Information on Alkali Metals. In their pure forms, the alkali metals (lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium) are soft, shiny metals with low melting points. Alkali metals react readily with air and moisture. Due to their reactivity, special precautions must be taken when using and storing these metals. What group do alkali metals belong to on the periodic table? Together with hydrogen they comprise group 1, which lies in the s-block of the periodic table. All alkali metals have their outermost electron in an s-orbital: this shared electron configuration results in their having very similar characteristic properties. Why do alkali metals have low melting and boiling points? Being very soft, alkali metals have low melting and boiling points compared to the other period elements. Melting and boiling points decreases from Lithium to Cesium. Chemical Properties of Alkali Metals These metals are highly electropositive and form compounds which are ionic in nature. What happens when alkali metals react with oxygen and water? The alkali metals react readily with atmospheric oxygen and water vapour. (Lithium also reacts with nitrogen .) They react vigorously, and often violently, with water to release hydrogen and form strong caustic solutions. Most common nonmetallic substances such as halogens, halogen acids, sulfur,…
President Obama said that inequality is the defining challenge of our time. and he staked his presidency on trying to reduce inequality in access to health insurance and health care. Pope Francis said that Inequality is the root of social ills. But what do I mean if I say that I am against inequality? I will briefly summarize a few puzzles about equality in recent moral philosophy and give you some links to explore them. I see three big questions. This first is, Equality Among Whom? Who falls in the population within which things should be equalized? The American founders believed that “all men are created equal” but they notoriously did not include women or slaves. Today, Americans mostly debate inequality among Americans. This special concern for our countrymen stands in need of justification, because inequality between Americans and the world’s poor is greater than inequality within America. Similarly, I am committed to reducing inequality among children. And yet I worked very hard to give my children the best health care and schooling I could. Can I square my partiality toward my children with my commitment to equality? The second question is: Equality of What?, that is, what aspect(s) of a person’s life should count when an egalitarian considers whether her ideal is realized in a given society? There are many social outcomes that we might seek to equalize. Much recent discussion focuses on inequality in health, health care, income, wealth, and political power. Considering these diverse aspects of life prompts us to ask whether there is a more fundamental social outcome that we are trying to equalize. Perhaps we should focus on equality of wellbeing? Or perhaps we should equalize the primary goods or resources that a person can use to pursue their life goals and leave it to the individual to convert these to wellbeing? But what if you disapprove of the life that gives me wellbeing? Suppose that I just want to surf: Are egalitarians required to subsidize my lifestyle? Amartya Sen argues that we should not focus on equalizing wellbeing, but rather on ensuring that each person has the capabilities necessary to lead the type of life he or she has reason to value. Or should we not focus on social outcomes at all, but only on equality of opportunity to achieve those outcomes? But what does equality of opportunity actually imply? Must every child have the same probability distribution of social outcomes at birth? Could we get there without equalizing their parents’ wealth and income? Or is it sufficient for equality of opportunity that everyone is equal before the law? OK, suppose that we know what we want to equalize. The third question is: Why Do I Want Equality? in itself bad if some people are worse off than others through no fault or choice of theirs. These people want to achieve equality for its own sake. A common objection to this view, however, is that it appears to endorse “levelling down,” that is, this principle implausibly implies that, if some people are better off than others, it would be in one way better if everyone became much worse off, but the better off people suffered greater misfortunes, so that everyone became equally badly off. Parfit distinguished the goal of seeking a better distribution from a prioritarian view, in which we have stronger reasons to benefit people the worse off these people are. Others believe that it doesn’t really matter that some people have less. Rather, the problem is that some people do not have enough by some criterion of need (see an influential account of this ‘sufficientarian‘ view here). For example, I may believe that everyone is entitled to sufficient health care to address life-threatening or disabling disorders, but I don’t have a further obligation to, for example, deliver care for less severe health problems, or to see that everyone receives health services conveniently or in an attractive setting. The challenge for this view is to find a non-arbitrary method to define sufficiency. Thinking through these questions is deeply illuminating, but given their complexity, I am far from certain that I understand what the norm of equality means — let alone what causes inequality. Yet this is not disabling. Inequality is hard to define, but I think we know it when we see it. Daniel Hausman writes beautifully that: What really drives most egalitarians… is a concern with the terrible circumstances of those who are worst off in the societies that we are familiar with. The misery, shame, helplessness, degradation, and servility of those who are poor give one reason to fight against inequalities in wealth. The limitation of freedom and the stunting of intellect and sensibility caused by poor education give one reason to fight against inequalities in schooling. The suffering of those who are sick and the shrinking of their lives give one reason to fight against inequalities in health… [This] concern with those who are poor bleeds into the other factor… that motivates egalitarianism, which is [that]… All people have the same intrinsic worth, deserve the same “baseline” respect from others, and deserve from their society an impartial and equal respect for their interests… Each person should be able to get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say to himself or herself [that] “I have the same worth as everyone else, and that is how others treat me and how they must treat me. I have no betters, and my society recognizes none as better than me. The institutions in my society favor none over me and favor me over none other. Should we happen to find one another’s company agreeable, I could be friends with anyone. No one is above me or below me.” See also the quotations from Adam Smith in Thoma’s post. My advice is: Make egalitarianism a way of life rather than a mode of rhetoric. Be careful about accusing others of not caring about equality. It’s likely that your adversary believes in equality, but construes it differently than you. Look past partisan labels. See who is truly committed to living with her neighbor as an equal.
Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba super-volcanic eruption ~74,000 years ago Imagine a year in Africa that summer never arrives. The sky takes on a gray hue during the day and glows red at night. Flowers do not bloom. Trees die in the winter. Large mammals like antelope become thin, starve and provide little fat to the predators (carnivores and human hunters) that depend on them. Then, this same disheartening cycle repeats itself, year after year. This is a picture of life on earth after the eruption of the super-volcano, Mount Toba in Indonesia, about 74,000 years ago. In a paper published this week in Nature, scientists show that early modern humans on the coast of South Africa thrived through this event. An eruption a hundred times smaller than Mount Toba – that of Mount Tambora, also in Indonesia, in 1815 – is thought to have been responsible for a year without summer in 1816. The impact on the human population was dire – crop failures in Eurasia and North America, famine and mass migrations. The effect of Mount Toba, a super-volcano that dwarfs even the massive Yellowstone eruptions of the deeper past, would have had a much larger, and longer-felt, impact on people around the globe. The scale of the ash-fall alone attests to the magnitude of the environmental disaster. Huge quantities of aerosols injected high into the atmosphere would have severely diminished sunlight – with estimates ranging from a 25 to 90 percent reduction in light. Under these conditions, plant die-off is predictable, and there is evidence of significant drying, wildfires and plant community change in East Africa just after the Toba eruption. If Mount Tambora created such devastation over a full year – and Tambora was a hiccup compared to Toba – we can imagine a worldwide catastrophe with the Toba eruption, an event lasting several years and pushing life to the brink of extinctions. In Indonesia, the source of the destruction would have been evident to terrified witnesses – just before they died. However, as a family of hunter-gatherers in Africa 74,000 years ago, you would have had no clue as to the reason for the sudden and devastating change in the weather. Famine sets in and the very young and old die. Your social groups are devastated, and your society is on the brink of collapse. The effect of the Toba eruption would have certainly impacted some ecosystems more than others, possibly creating areas – called refugia – in which some human groups did better than others throughout the event. Whether or not your group lived in such a refuge would have largely depended on the type of resources available. Coastal resources, like shellfish, are highly nutritious and less susceptible to the eruption than the plants and animals of inland areas. When the column of fire, smoke and debris blasted out the top of Mount Toba, it spewed rock, gas and tiny microscopic pieces (cryptotephra) of glass that, under a microscope, have a characteristic hook shape produced when the glass fractures across a bubble. Pumped into the atmosphere, these invisible fragments spread across the world. Panagiotis (Takis) Karkanas, director of the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies, Greece, saw a single shard of this explosion under a microscope in a slice of archaeological sediment encased in resin. "It was one shard particle out of millions of other mineral particles that I was investigating. But it was there, and it couldn't be anything else," says Karkanas. The shard came from an archaeological site in a rockshelter called Pinnacle Point 5-6, on the south coast of South Africa near the town of Mossel Bay. The sediments dated to about 74,000 years ago. "Takis and I had discussed the potential of finding the Toba shards in the sediments of our archaeological site, and with his eagle eye, he found one," explains Curtis W. Marean, project director of the Pinnacle Point excavations. Marean is the associate director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and honorary professor at the Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. Marean showed the shard image to Eugene Smith, a volcanologist with the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and Smith confirmed it was a volcanic shard. "The Pinnacle Point study brought me back to the study of glass shards from my master's thesis 40 years earlier," says Smith. Early in the study, the team brought in expert cryptotephra scientist Christine Lane who trained graduate student Amber Ciravolo in the needed techniques. Racheal Johnsen later joined Ciravalo as lab manager and developed new techniques. From scratch, with National Science Foundation support, they developed the Cryptotephra Laboratory for Archaeological and Geological Research, which is now involved in projects not only in Africa, but in Italy, Nevada and Utah. Encased in that shard of volcanic glass is a distinct chemical signature, a fingerprint that scientists can use to trace to the killer eruption. In their paper in Nature, the team describes finding these shards in two archaeological sites in coastal South Africa, tracing those shards to Toba through chemical fingerprinting and documenting a continuous human occupation across the volcanic event. "Many previous studies have tried to test the hypothesis that Toba devastated human populations," Marean notes. "But they have failed because they have been unable to present definitive evidence linking a human occupation to the exact moment of the event." Most studies have looked at whether or not Toba caused environmental change. It did, but such studies lack the archaeological data needed to show how Toba affected humans. The Pinnacle Point team has been at the forefront of development and application of highly advanced archaeological techniques. They measure everything on site to millimetric accuracy with a "total station," a laser-measurement device integrated to handheld computers for precise and error-free recording. Naomi Cleghorn with the University of Texas at Arlington, recorded the Pinnacle Point samples as they were removed. Cleghorn explains, "We collected a long column of samples – digging out a small amount of sediment from the wall of our previous excavation. Each time we collected a sample, we shot its position with the total station." The sample locations from the total station and thousands of other points representing stone artifacts, bone, and other cultural remains of the ancient inhabitants were used to build digital models of the site. "These models tell us a lot about how people lived at the site and how their activities changed through time," say Erich Fisher, associate research scientist with the Institute of Human Origins, who built the detailed photorealistic 3D models from the data. "What we found was that during and after the time of the Toba eruption people lived at the site continuously, and there was no evidence that it impacted their daily lives." In addition to understanding how Toba affected humans in this region, the study has other important implications for archaeological dating techniques. Archaeological dates at these age ranges are imprecise – 10 percent (or 1000s of years) error is typical. Toba ash-fall, however, was a very quick event that has been precisely dated. The time of shard deposition was likely about two weeks in duration – instantaneous in geological terms. "We found the shards at two sites," explains Marean. "The Pinnacle Point rockshelter (where people lived, ate, worked and slept) and an open air site about 10 kilometers away called Vleesbaai. This latter site is where a group of people, possibly members of the same group as those at Pinnacle Point, sat in a small circle and made stone tools. Finding the shards at both sites allows us to link these two records at almost the same moment in time." Not only that, but the shard location allows the scientists to provide an independent test of the age of the site estimated by other techniques. People lived at the Pinnacle Point 5-6 site from 90,000 to 50,000 years ago. Zenobia Jacobs with the University of Wollongong, Australia, used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date 90 samples and develop a model of the age of all the layers. OSL dates the last time individual sand grains were exposed to light. "There has been some debate over the accuracy of OSL dating, but Jacobs' age model dated the layers where we found the Toba shards to about 74,000 years ago – right on the money," says Marean. This lends very strong support to Jacobs' cutting-edge approach to OSL dating, which she has applied to sites across southern Africa and the world. "OSL dating is the workhorse method for construction of timelines for a large part of our own history. Testing whether the clock ticks at the correct rate is important. So getting this degree of confirmation is pleasing," says Jacobs. In the 1990s, scientists began arguing that this eruption of Mount Toba, the most powerful in the last two million years, caused a long-lived volcanic winter that may have devastated the ecosystems of the world and caused widespread population crashes, perhaps even a near-extinction event in our own lineage, a so-called bottleneck. This study shows that along the food-rich coastline of southern Africa, people thrived through this mega-eruption, perhaps because of the uniquely rich food regime on this coastline. Now other research teams can take the new and advanced methods developed in this study and apply them to their sites elsewhere in Africa so researchers can see if this was the only population that made it through these devastating times. Publication: Eugene Smith, Zenobia Jacobs, Racheal Johnsen, Minghua Ren, Erich C. Fisher, Simen Oestmo, Jayne Wilkins, Jacob A. Harris, Panagiotis Karkanas, Shelby Fitch, Amber Ciravolo, Deborah Keenan, Naomi Cleghorn, Christine S. Lane, Thalassa Matthews, and Curtis W. Marean (2018). Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba super-volcanic eruptions ~74,000 years ago. Nature DOI:10.1038/nature25967.
OK, please don’t switch off right away. Despite the nerdy title, this page will be written especially for the 99% of people who are not engineers. No equations or engineering jargon will be used, I promise. The reason for dedicating a special page to the second law of thermodynamics is simply because it has profound implications on our energy future and, as stated on another page, the world is totally and utterly dependent on cheap and abundant energy. The average developed world citizen consumes the energy equivalent of 140 slaves working 24/7 (almost 600 manual laborers working 40 hour weeks). If all of us suddenly lose the cheap work done by these 600 diligent laborers (aka fossil fuels), our society will instantly crumble to dust. Our energy future should therefore be at the very top of the list of priorities of each and every world citizen. So, let’s get straight to it then. The implications of the second law of thermodynamics as it applies to our energy future is this: energy will always try to move from more concentrated forms to less concentrated forms and can only be made to do some useful work during this transition. The more well-known first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but this law has very little to do with the energy future of our civilization. We can have all the energy in the world, but if this energy is not in a sufficiently concentrated form, it is physically impossible to make it do any meaningful work for us. This is why fossil fuels are so incredibly fantastic; they contain their energy in a highly concentrated form and, by burning these fuels (freeing this concentrated energy to disperse as heat throughout the biosphere), we can easily make them do a lot of meaningful work for us. However, as already discussed in the aforementioned page, we are now running out of easily accessible fossil fuels and therefore need to expend a lot more effort and a lot more of the fossil fuels we already have to extract further fossil fuels. Naturally, when the energy return on investment (EROI shown below) of extracting fossil fuels becomes too low, the entire exercise becomes futile. And then of course there is also this other little issue called climate change… The fact is that we are constantly moving closer to the point where new difficult-to-access fossil fuels (especially oil) become too expensive to extract and many people think that climate change might already make our futures very uncomfortable even if we manage to magically cut all CO2 emissions right now. It is therefore pretty obvious that we seriously need to start planning for the decarbonization of our economy. As the global energy consumption figure below shows, however, we sure have a very long way to go in this regard. Most people intuitively feel that this transition must be led by renewable energy (the purple line at the bottom of the graph). However, as this article will illustrate, the second law of thermodynamics poses significant challenges to this ideal. The declining red line (nuclear energy) is a much more thermodynamically favoured option (actually much more so than fossil fuels), but faces a great deal of public resistance. Renewable energy and the second law of thermodynamics Renewable energy from solar, wind and bio-matter certainly has the fundamental potential to carry our civilization into an age of sustainable prosperity (illustrated by the figure below), but the vast majority of people severely underestimate the challenges that these technologies will face from (among several others) the second law of thermodynamics. The primary aim of this page is to inform readers about this fundamental limitation and grant some much needed perspective. Optimism about renewables is nice, but misguided beliefs that the market will deliver renewable energy solutions and allow us to continue our exponential economic expansion after the age of fossil fuels unfortunately belong in the same league as Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy. It is vitally important that the world wakes up to this fundamental fact ASAP. Ultimately, all of our energy (except for nuclear and geothermal) comes from the sun. You might have heard that the earth receives enough sunlight in one hour to satisfy human energy needs for an entire year, but, thanks to the second law of thermodynamics, this massive amount of energy is totally useless to us unless we manage to massively concentrate it from the diffuse form in which it hits the surface of the earth. And unfortunately for us, energy does not like to be concentrated. Just like many other things in nature, it naturally diffuses away from regions of high concentration and towards regions of low concentration. Our task of concentrating the sunlight hitting our planet into useful forms like electricity or biofuels will therefore be very, very challenging. Let’s take a closer look at the challenges related to the two options we have for solar energy concentration: technology and photosynthesis. Solar energy concentration through technology Direct solar power is the best example of the technology option and will form the backbone of this little section. However, it should be acknowledged that wind, hydro and wave power are all caused by the earth’s great weather engine which is powered almost exclusively by solar energy. Conclusions regarding solar power are therefore just as applicable to wind, hydro and wave power. In general, solar energy can be converted to electricity either directly through the photovoltaic effect (solar panels) or through thermal concentrators using mirrors to concentrate solar energy to a central point in order to drive a steam turbine (solar thermal power plants). In principle, these technologies are very simple, but the second law of thermodynamics quickly shows its ugly face when you consider the scale on which these technologies have to be rolled out in order to have any meaningful effect. On average, the surface of the earth receives about 180 W/m2 over a 24 hour period, but, because energy does not like to be concentrated, we can only get access to small amounts of this solar energy influx. More specifically; solar panels made from common materials which are sufficiently abundant for mass production typically manage to convert about 10% of the incoming solar radiation to useful electricity and solar thermal is even worse. When considered relative to the solar radiation falling on the total plant area, a large solar thermal power plant produces electricity at an efficiency of less than 3%. Solar panels therefore can generate about 18 W/m2 of electricity on average while solar thermal is restricted to about 5 W/m2. Actually solar PV farms (which require significant spacing between the panels) also have a power density of about 5 W/m2. This implies that you would need about 20 m2 of solar farm to power a single traditional 100 W light bulb 24/7 (if you also have the energy storage capacity to smooth out the intermittent nature of solar power of course). For some more perspective, consider that many modern fossil fuel power plants produce electricity at a rate of 1000 MW or more. Achieving the same result through solar plants will require roughly 20000 hectares (40000 football pitches) of land covered with solar towers and steam turbines surrounded by millions of mirrors (each with its own automated sun-tracking motor and regular cleaning mechanism) to achieve the same result. If we look at rooftop solar, we need about 15 relatively large 200 Wp panels to satisfy the ravenous electricity demand of the average American. Getting the roughly 1 billion rich people on Earth electricity independent will therefore require about 15 billion solar panels. (Note that “electricity independence” is a bad term because it implies that the home is no longer connected to the electric grid. This is impossible at present because it would require very expensive battery storage technology and substantial lifestyle changes from the occupants of the home.) For perspective, we are currently installing about 150 million 200 Wp solar panels per year (most of which is at utility scale). Even if we eventually manage to install rooftop solar at this rate, we will require an entire century to get the homes of the richest billion people “electricity independent”. And yes, residential electricity demand is only about 30% of the total. And electricity consumption is only about 40% of total energy consumption (on a primary energy basis)… As a final little bit of perspective, it must be acknowledged that it is highly unlikely that the limping global economy will be able to keep on subsidizing the projected exponential growth in solar power generation. Even China, which is striving for a solar PV monopoly through government subsidies which are so large that the US thinks they are illegal, is now slowing down. If subsidies go away, solar growth will vanish with it simply because solar electricity is projected to be at least twice as expensive as increasingly hard-to-get-at fossil fuels by the end of the decade. And yes, then it must also be recognized that today’s fossil fuel prices are already too high for achieving sustained economic growth. For example, a previous post discussed how the total credit market debt in the USA has grown faster than GDP for the last several decades, culminating in 2008 when debt grew 2.5 times faster than GDP. Naturally, if your monthly debt repayments grow 2.5 times faster than your monthly income over an extended period of time, you will not last for very long. Indeed, the fossil fuels we need for sustained growth is not the $70/barrel shale oil everyone is so excited about nowadays, but rather the $3/barrel conventional oil still being extracted in the Middle East. These super-cheap conventional fossil fuels are what built our civilization and, in the absence of such cheap energy, the only remaining path to temporary growth is cheap credit (which has predictably transformed virtually the entire developed world into one big debt crisis). For some real-world examples of the economic challenges facing renewables one can look to Germany, which now faces growing public resistance to the electricity price increases caused by renewables, and Denmark, where large-scale wind generation is helping to provide the most expensive electricity in the developed world (about 33% more expensive than their closest rival, Belgium, according to Wikipedia). Unlike Germany, however, Denmark still has wide public support for its ambitious renewable energy program (possibly mainly because they make so much money from selling wind energy technology to the rest of the world). I sincerely hope that this public support stays strong within an environment of escalating prices and dwindling economic growth. Solar energy concentration through photosynthesis Along with water, photosynthesis is the primary reason for life on earth. Without photosynthesis, living organisms would have no way in which to absorb the energy required for daily life. In short, photosynthesis is the wonderful process by which plants can capture solar energy and use it to convert the carbon in atmospheric CO2 to high-energy carbon fuels that can be consumed as food by other living organisms or burned to release energy for human use. In common language, this option is known as biofuels. Unfortunately, the prospects of employing photosynthesis as an energy concentration mechanism are even worse than doing this through technology. While solar PV can capture about 10% of solar radiation in a form that can do useful work for humans, plants capture only about 1%. In addition, the plants need to be processed to a form that can be used as liquid fuels or for power generation, consuming large quantities of additional energy and labor in the process. And yes, then there is of course the fact that the most common type of biofuel nowadays – corn-based ethanol – competes directly with the world’s dwindling food supplies. But hey, what about algae? Yes, it is true; a lot of recent hype has been going on about algae, primarily because of its ability to capture solar energy with an efficiency possibly even as high as 5% and the fact that it does not compete with human food stocks. However, producing algae-based biofuels on a large scale in a manner where it actually produces substantially more energy than it consumes, is cost-competitive with fossil fuels and does all this without having serious environmental impacts will be incredibly difficult. Take a look at this page to get an idea about the challenges facing algae based biofuels. With these challenges in mind, it really seems highly unlikely that 30 years of operating about 3 square meters of algae farm turns out to be more economical both in terms of money and energy than building a 1 square meter solar panel and simply letting it sit in the sun for 30 years. Yep, like so many other “miracle solutions” to our impending energy crisis, I’m afraid that algae-based biofuels will probably also run into the unbreakable brick wall called reality. In summary, I think that further economic hardship over the coming years will get society to slowly realize just how amazing fossil fuels really are. Necessity will force the common man to get a lot better acquainted with the second law of thermodynamics and finally understand the blatantly obvious: real-time concentration of diffuse solar energy (be it through solar, wind or biofuels) will never ever be able to compete on a level playing field with burning five years of ancient sunlight every single minute in the form of fossil fuels. The laws of physics simply make this a total mismatch. And yes, it is only when we accept this fundamental truth that we can really start building a sustainable energy future. But before we can start building our sustainable energy future, the next page will provide a further dose of objective reality by discussing three additional challenges faced by renewable energy (as if the second law of thermodynamics was not enough already).
The new Vantablack introduces the blackest material ever found on Earth There is none more black than the new Vantablack. When Surrey NanoSystems introduced the original Vantablack, the company said the carbon nanotube material is capable of absorbing 99.96 percent of light that touches it. It’s so dark, it can fool your eyes into seeing a smooth surface even when the nanotubes were actually grown on crumpled foil (seriously — watch the video below the fold). Well, the new version of Vantablack is darker than that. In fact, Surrey can’t even give us the percentage of light that gets absorbed, because its spectrometers can’t measure it. In this video below (and the GIF above), you can see the material engulf the laser pointer in darkness when it moves across: This one’s the older version, which is still so dark, looking at it is like peering into the abyss: Vantablack has a lot of potential applications, especially in the military and space sector. It could, for instance, be used to coat stealth vehicles. A team of Utah State University researchers found a rather novel use for it, though. They used the material to create an extremely absorbent urinal cake — a black hole that sucks in your pee. How to submit an Op-Ed: Libyan Express accepts opinion articles on a wide range of topics. Submissions may be sent to firstname.lastname@example.org. Please include ‘Op-Ed’ in the subject line. - Tripoli hosts international conference on Libyan stabilisation - October 21, 2021 - Libyan FM, UN official discuss ‘Libya Stability Initiative’ - October 20, 2021 - L’Humanité accused Morocco of using “Pegasus” to monitor individuals and governments - October 20, 2021
Adhi Esala Full Moon Poya Day is Today Commemorating the lord Buddha's first sermon and the arrival of the Tooth Relic in Sri Lanka, the Esala Full Moon Poyaday is celebrated today by the Buddhists all around the world. Buddha's preaching of his First Sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, to the five ascetics took place at the ‘Deer Park', near Benares, on an Esala poya day thereby inaugurating his public ministry. The other noteworthy events connected with this day include the conception of the Bodhisatta in the womb of Queen Maya, his Great Renunciation, the performance of the Twin Miracle (yamaka-patihariya), and his preaching the Abhidhamma for the first time in the Tavatimsa heaven. An additional factor that enhances the value of this poya to Sri Lanka is the first local ordination of a Sri Lankan, when Prince Arittha, the nephew of the king, entered the Order at Anuradhapura, under Arahant Mahinda, following the introduction of Buddhism. On this day there also took place the laying of the foundation for the celebrated dagoba, the Mahastupa or the Ruwanvelisaya and also its enshrinement of relics by King Dutugemunu. It is owing to the combination of all these events that the Sinhala Buddhists fittingly observe this day ceremonially by holding Esala festivals throughout the island, giving pride of place to the internationally famous Kandy Esala Perahera. Esala poya assumes prominence for yet another ritual of the Sri Lankan Buddhists. This is the annual rains retreat of the monks, 'Vas', which commences on the day following the Esala full moon. On the next poya day, Nikini (August), those monks who failed to commence the normal Vas on the day following Esala Poya, are allowed to enter the 'late Vas'.
Organic killer (NK) cells are important for health, yet small is usually known on the subject of human being NK turnover in vivo. and the percentage of Compact disc56dim NK cells improved with age group, there had been zero significant age-related expansion or apoptosis variations for these two populations or for total NK cells. In vivo human being NK cell turnover is usually quick in both youthful and seniors adults. Intro Organic monster (NK) cells quickly destroy contaminated, broken, and changed cells. NK cells also secrete cytokines and chemokines that straight influence unusual cells and form following adaptive defenses (1). Individual NK cells may end up being divided into four subsets based on Compact disc56 and Compact disc16 phrase. Compact disc56bcorrect (Compact disc56++Compact disc16lo/?) cells comprise a little small fraction of bloodstream NK cells, but are extremely enriched in some tissue (1). They possess limited cytotoxic activity, but secrete cytokines and chemokines upon pleasure. Compact disc56dim (Compact disc56+Compact disc16+) are the main bloodstream NK subset, wipe out prone growth cells automatically, and quickly secrete cytokines and chemokines (1, 2). At least some Compact disc56dim NK cells are extracted from distinguishing Compact disc56bcorrect cells (1, 3C6). The characterized CD16 poorly? Compact disc56low inhabitants may consist of lately triggered Compact disc56dim NK cells, GSK2606414 supplier because Compact disc16 is usually GSK2606414 supplier downregulated by numerous stimuli, but this populace offers not really been completely analyzed (7C9). Compact disc16+Compact disc56? NK cells are heterogeneous. These cells boost in HIV contamination and are badly practical, constant with senescence (10, 11). Nevertheless, NK cells with the Compact disc16+Compact disc56? cell surface area phenotype are common in neonates and differentiate into practical NK cells in vitro (12, 13). We understand small of the balance of and flux between human being NK subpopulations in vivo. Unlike Capital t and W lymphocytes, NK cell quantity is usually managed in healthful ageing and NK function is usually affected just reasonably on a per cell basis (8, 14C16). Likened with the healthful seniors, frail seniors people are NK-deficient and are extremely vulnerable to attacks and malignancy fatalities, recommending that NK cells are crucial for healthful ageing (14). At all age groups, NK cell insufficiency is usually connected with contagious illnesses and with non-infectious illnesses of many body organs (1, 17C19). Although essential for wellness, small is known approximately NK cell turnover relatively. DNA labels and cell routine evaluation demonstrated that adult mouse splenic NK cells proliferate quicker than Rabbit Polyclonal to ADCK4 total splenic Testosterone levels cells, but equivalent to NK1.1+ T cells (20). GSK2606414 supplier In evaluation, 2H-DNA labels research in human beings and primates recommended that NK cells proliferate even more gradually (21, 22). Because individual NK turnover is certainly characterized, we researched apoptosis and growth among four NK subsets, in relationship to maturing. GSK2606414 supplier Strategies and Components Donor recruitment As accepted by the individual topics organization review panel, we deferred topics with circumstances that influence NK cells, severe disease, or irregular essential indicators, as explained (23). Many research had been carried out on 38 youthful (typical age group 26.5, range 21C30) and 34 seniors (median age 81.2, range 74C96) ladies. Compact disc57+ cell expansion was evaluated in 5 feminine and 7 male healthful topics, age groups 28C72 years. NK cell function was analyzed in 3 healthful men, age groups 37C57. Bloodstream from 1C3 topics was gathered into heparin by regular venipuncture and examined the same day GSK2606414 supplier time. Circulation cytometry evaluation Peripheral bloodstream mononuclear cells (PBMC) had been pre-incubated with human being IgG (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) to stop non-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) subscriber base, and after that discolored with mAb to Compact disc14 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, California), Compact disc3 (Abcam, Cambridge, MA), Compact disc16 (Invitrogen), Compact disc56 (BioLegend, San Diego, California), Compact disc57 (BioLegend), and either NKG2A.
How Yandex.Metrica works Using Yandex.Metrica begins with creating a tag, which is a code snippet to insert in webpage contents. When a tag is generated, Yandex.Metrica also creates a data store associated with it. Users interact with the webpages of a site where the tag is installed. The code snippet runs and transmits data to the Yandex.Metrica service about the page itself and about events that occurred when a user interacted with it. Collecting and transmitting data script element, and HTML code in the script element runs. Otherwise, the content of the noscript element is processed. If the page is loaded by something other than a browser (for instance, by a robot), any interpretation of the code snippet is possible. You may notice that Yandex.Metrica allows you to get more information about users and their interaction with the site pages than the tag itself can collect. For example, the browser doesn't have information about the user's gender, age, or locality. This information is detected by the service. Significant computing resources and large volumes of data are often used for this purpose. The data collected by the tag is processed on Yandex.Metrica servers and supplemented with various information. Processing and storing data The collected data is processed by the service. Statistical objects are formed in the tag's storage based on this data. Yandex.Metrica works with multiple data levels and uses the following types of statistical objects: outbound link click outbound link click A statistical object is defined by a set of attributes. Some of the attributes are shared by all types of statistical objects. For example, any type of object can have the operating system and user's country defined, if this information was detected. Some attributes are specific to certain types of statistical objects. For example, a defining pageview attribute is the page URL of the click (referer), a session attribute is the session length, and a user attribute is the date of the user's first session. These levels can be represented in a diagram: You can transmit additional parameters to Yandex.Metrica while users are interacting with the site. However, it is important to differentiate between session or pageview parameters and user parameters. User parameters differ from session or pageview parameters in that they aren't tied to a specific time of the site session. For example, the “send feedback” event belongs to a specific session, because the user could only submit the feedback once over the entire history of sessions. There isn't any point in making this event a user attribute, because the reports would make it look like this user submitted the same feedback once during every session. To compare the behavior of users who have left feedback at least once with those who have never sent feedback, you need to configure sending this event via session parameters, and then create the appropriate segments. The user parameters should only transmit attributes that don't change from session to session, and that don't contain users' personal information. For instance, you can transmit the type of client — “retail” or “wholesale”. Receiving and displaying data. Metrics Each object is defined by the start time of the corresponding event (or sequence of events). So we can select statistical objects of a specific type within a certain time period. Then we can use attribute values to calculate a variety of absolute or average numbers. These numbers are called metrics. Examples are the overall page depth, or the number of sessions with a depth greater than 5. Metrics are always calculated for the same type of statistical objects. A typical task when analyzing metrics is to determine how much one of the groups contributes to the total. For example, you may want to find out how many of a site's users are men, and how many are women. In Yandex.Metrica, you can define groups of objects using conditions placed on attribute values, and calculate the metric values for each group. This process of breaking up a total into its parts is called dimensions. Often you don't need all the objects, but just those that match the specified criteria. For example, you want to analyze the behavior of users who click through from ads. Yandex.Metrica lets you form a sample of desired objects using conditions placed on attribute values. This process is called segmentation, and the selected set of objects is a segment. Segmentation and dimensions can be used together. For example, you can select a segment of sessions that came from search engines, and group the sessions by keyword.
Algebraic Simplification: Simplifying Expressions in Wolfram\|Alpha Wolfram\|Alpha is written in Mathematica, which as its name suggests is a fantastic system for doing mathematics. Strong algorithms for algebraic simplification have always been a central feature of computer algebra systems, so it should come as no surprise to know that Mathematica excels at simplifying algebraic expressions. The main two commands for simplifying an expression in Mathematica are Simplify and FullSimplify. There are also many specific commands for expressing an algebraic expression in some form. For example, if you want to expand a product of linear polynomials, Expand is the appropriate function. The good news is that everyone has access to the power of Mathematica‘s simplification and algebraic manipulation commands in Wolfram\|Alpha. We will now outline some of these features in Wolfram\|Alpha, starting with the expression: and we will use Wolfram\|Alpha to break it down to something significantly much simpler. The expression simplifies to zero (excluding \|x\| = 3). Let’s take a closer look at this simplification. First, the denominators. We will expand the polynomial (x – 3)(x + 3) and see that it is equal to the other denominator. So we have a common denominator: Now we can simplify the numerator: We see that it is zero. Let’s look at some other examples. We can express sin(n x) in terms of a polynomial in sin(x) and cos(x) by asking Wolfram\|Alpha: We can factor polynomials over their splitting fields: Form a single fraction from a number of terms: Express a single fraction in partial fraction form: And solve equations: We now have implemented a new simplification program for Wolfram\|Alpha, which allows Wolfram\|Alpha to find even more alternate and simplified forms for algebraic expressions. Here are a couple of examples. In the near future, we will have the functionality to show the steps used to derive an algebraic simplification. Stay tuned to this blog for more details!
In this tips and trick, we will learn how easy the basic command prompt in 16 Steps Tutorial Basic Command Prompt. Some people says "Oh no, command prompt is make me headache, because it's only black and white screen with text". I dont think Command Prompt is horrible like that :p you can learn command prompt in an easy way. Learning from the very basic until the advanced section. In this tutorial we will learn how to use Command Prompt that listed below : cd(change directory); dir(view directory contents); type(view text file); write(Graphical User Interface text editor); edit(command prompt text editor – XP); cp(copy file); mv(move file); cls(Clear Screen); 1. For this tutorial, I have a few files for you and need to download to make you more understanding this basic tutorial. (I guarantee that the file below is virus free) 2. Extract the files and copy the folder "cmdlearn" into drive C:\ 3. Click Run(see shortcut here) and type "cmd" in the text box, click OK. 5. In your Command Prompt, type cd\, that means we will change into the drive C:\. 6. We're in drive C:\ now, we need to change directory into cmdlearn. Type " 7. Okay that's easy isn't it? now is time to view our directory contents by using If you need to clear the text, just type cls(Clear Screen). 8. We will start from "program folder". We need to change directory into there, type cd program. 9. Inside the program folder, there's a small application using BAT extension about asking your name. Simply type myapp.bat in your command prompt. This method also can be used to run an EXE or VBS, because Windows will automatically know how to run that extension. You can use TAB for auto-complete command prompt 10. Now let's change into text directory. Type cd ..\text to go into text directory. The double dotted means that we will go into the parent directory "cmdlearn". 11. To view the text contents in mytext.txt you can use "type mytext.txt". If you want to edit the text, You can use "write mytext.txt" to edit using Wordpad. 12. For editing the text in Windows XP, You can type "edit mytext.txt". 13. Now let's change directory to our last lesson "..\tocopy" 14. To copy the picture( mario.png) from tocopy folder into topaste folder simply type copy mario.png ..\topaste. 15. To Move the picture( superman.png) from tocopy folder into topaste folder, You can type move superman.png ..\topaste. 16. To Delete the picture( tux.png) you can type del tux.png. Okay that's enough for your basic learning about Command Prompt :-).
William Henry Chase \|William H. Chase\| \|Born\|\| June 4, 1798\| Chase's Mills, Massachusetts (now Buckfield, Maine) \|Died\|\|February 8, 1870\| \|Occupation\|\|Engineer, land developer\| William Henry Chase (1798-1870) was a military engineer who supervised the construction of many U.S. coastal fortifications, including Forts Pickens, Barrancas and McRee on Pensacola Bay. Chase made his home in the city and was involved with local banks, railroads and other businesses that benefitted greatly from the military contracts he brought to the area. He also amassed large land holdings on the east side of Pensacola, which he and his brother George planned to develop under the name "New City" until a loss of investors after the Panic of 1837. At the commencement of Civil War, he was recruited by Confederate forces to demand the surrender of Union-held Fort Pickens, but was refused by U.S. Lieutenant Adam Slemmer. Chase Street is named for him. Early life & engineering career Chase was born in what is now Buckfield, Maine, then an exclave of Massachusetts. He graduated from West Point in 1815 and was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. He worked in repairing Fort Niagara from 1817 to 1818, then began constructing new defenses for New Orleans and other Gulf of Mexico ports, which had been shown to be vulnerable during the War of 1812. He engineered Fort Pike, Fort Macomb, and other defenses at the Rigolets, Chef Menteur Pass, Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Dupre. He was made captain in 1825. In 1828, the Army transferred Chase to Pensacola to oversee the construction of a fort to protect the new Navy Yard. The resulting venture, Fort Pickens, was situated on the western end of Santa Rosa Island and provided easy targeting of any ship entering Pensacola Pass. The fort construction and subsequent military projects were a major boon to Pensacola's economy. After relying briefly on imported construction materials, Chase urged local businessmen to build their own brickyards using the available clay deposits. A rapid infusion of federal money allowed the nascent brick industry to grow quickly, but after more than 20 million bricks had been delivered by 1831, years ahead of the actual completion, the manufacturers still had millions of surplus bricks and few prospects for future contracts. Using his position as commanding engineer of the Gulf region, Chase requested funding to construct further defenses that were "vitally needed" to protect Pensacola's harbor. The resulting projects, Fort McRee on Perdido Key and a brick rebuilding of the Spanish Fort San Carlos de Barrancas (Fort Barrancas), were completed over the next several years. Chase also successfully lobbied for $106,000 in funding to dredge the waterway for heavier warships. - Fort Morgan at the mouth of Mobile Bay - Fort Jackson in Louisiana - Improvements at the mouth of the Mississippi - Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas - Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West Bricks from Pensacola's yards were exported for use in many of these projects, bolstering the local economy. President Franklin Pierce appointed Chase superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, but he resigned from duty on October 31, 1856, to remain in Pensacola as president of the Alabama and Florida Railroad Company. Other dealings Civil War As the outset of Civil War became inevitable in January 1861, Chase sided with the Confederate partisans in Pensacola and was commissioned a colonel in the Florida militia. On January 8, two days before Florida officially seceded from the Union, Florida Governor Madison S. Perry authorized Chase to seize all federal forts in Pensacola. He was active in securing the surrender of the Navy Yard on January 12. On January 15, he and a small party rowed out to Fort Pickens, where Union forces had relocated, to demand surrender from Lieutenant Adam Slemmer. As recounted by J. H. Gilman, Chase said the following to Slemmer: "… It is a most distressing duty to me. I have come to ask of you young officers, officers of the same army in which I have spent the best and happiest years of my life, the surrender of this fort. I would not ask it if I did not believe it right and necessary to save bloodshed; and fearing that I might not be able to say it as I ought, and in order, also, that you may have it in proper form, I have put it in writing and will read it." He then took the manuscript from his pocket and began to read, but, after reading a few lines, his voice shook, and his eyes filled with tears. He stamped his foot, as if ashamed of exhibiting such weakness, and said, "I can't read it. Here, Farrand, you read it." After the demand for surrender was read, Slemmer and Chase discussed what chance of success the 800 Confederate troops would have in seizing Pickens by force. Chase insisted that a defense would be futile: I could carry it by storm. I know every inch of this fort and its condition. … If you have made the best possible preparations, as I suppose you have, and should defend it, as I presume you would, I might lose one-half of my men. … You must know very well that, with your small force, you are not expected to, and cannot, hold this fort. Florida cannot permit it, and the troops here are determined to have it; and if not surrendered peaceably, an attack and the inauguration of civil war cannot be prevented. If it is a question of numbers, and eight hundred is not enough, I can easily bring thousands more. Slemmer refused to surrender and held the fort until reinforcements could arrive. Pickens remained under Union control throughout the war. Chase was promoted to brigadier general and later major general of the Florida forces, but due to his age and health, he had little active role in the war.
Staying safe on social media Social media can help you connect with friends and family, share your interests with others, or get the latest news. But social media can also put your safety at risk because you are sharing personal information online. That’s why it is important to be very careful about the information you put online, to adjust your privacy settings and to limit the information you put on social media. While users can try to do their best to protect themselves, social networking sites must meet their legal obligations under privacy laws and allow their users to ensure they maintain control over their personal information. Businesses have a legal responsibility to protect your personal information. Once it is out there, you may not be able to control what happens to it. This could pose a risk to your privacy or even make you vulnerable to phishing, identity theft or fraud. We’ve gathered 10 helpful tips to help you stay safe on social media. On this page - Choose your passwords carefully - Understand and manage your privacy settings - Think long term - Be considerate and get consent - Review regularly - Avoid fraud and theft - Watch out for scams - Log off - Close unused accounts and delete your data Choose your passwords carefully Use a strong and unique password for each of your social media accounts to prevent your accounts from being hacked. Avoid obvious choices such as your mother’s maiden name, child’s name, pet’s name or anything else someone may be able to guess through information you have posted. Passwords should also be eight or more letters, numbers or symbols. Also allow multi-factor authentication where possible. Multi-factor authentication is an extra layer of protection that requires additional identification, such as a connection to a separate device, an ID, or even fingerprint or voice recognition. Multi-factor authentication is a great tool for sensitive accounts like mobile banking or password managers. Finally, you should choose a password that you will remember, but won’t be easy to guess. You may want to use a phrase for your password, or the acronyms method, where you use the first letter of each word in a sentence. For example, “I always play tennis with 2 friends on Thursdays at 4.” could become this password, “Iaptw2foTa4.” Understand and manage your privacy settings Find out how to adjust your privacy settings, customize them so that information is shared only in the ways you want it to be. Review and update these settings regularly, since social media sites can change their settings. This regular review process can be especially important for parents and families who want to ensure information about children is shared only with those they know well. It’s best to choose the highest and most restrictive security settings available and not give out information like your phone number, birthday, social insurance number, address and location, and you should consider using a pseudonym. It is also important to remember that privacy settings are not a silver bullet for privacy protection, but they can and should help you increase the control you have over how your personal information is handled online. Think long term Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want everyone to see. Think carefully about the photos, comments, messages and videos you want to post online—before you post them. Would you want a potential employer to see those compromising photos? Also, remember that regardless of the audience you choose for your posts, the organization is still collecting everything you post. While you may use tools to delete or hide information, data posted online can persist in different places. Permanent removal can be difficult if not impossible. Be considerate and get consent Consider the privacy of others and get their consent before you share their photos or other personal information online. When you post about friends or family, or tag them in images, it affects their privacy, too. When posting pictures that involve other people, judge if it’s appropriate, or if there are any potential negative consequences. Review your social media profiles and posts on a regular basis—what may have seemed like a good idea at the time may not seem like such a good idea months or years later. Delete content that you are no longer comfortable with. Avoid fraud and theft Limit identifying details and don’t share your location. This type of information can leave you vulnerable, including to identity fraud or theft. Posting pictures while overseas can let would-be burglars know exactly when you are not at home. Think carefully before you decide to tell the world exactly where you are or where you’ve been. Watch out for scams There are many scams that involve trying to get you to provide personal details. These details can give scammers access to your bank account or credit card, for fraud. “Spear phishers”, for example, target users of a specific social media sites by masquerading as a member of that community. The scammer creates a fake account imitating a real person, including photos, occupation and other details, increasing the probability of gaining the trust of the target. Attacks can take the form of a direct message containing questions or links to other sites, or malicious code embedded in a web link that prompts users for information. Ultimately, the goal is to take advantage of the user’s trust to ask for money or other information that may be profitable. If in doubt, don’t open messages or click on suspicious links. Also, don’t disclose any personal information online unless you are sure you know who you are dealing with. If you aren’t sure, authenticate the message by contacting the person or organization that purportedly sent it to you. Remember to log off and delete your web browsing history when you’re done if you’re using a shared device or computer. This simple step will ensure you don’t inadvertently give access to your social media accounts to someone else. Close unused accounts and delete your data Close accounts you don’t use anymore and ask the company to delete your data. If you just deactivate the account, your data may remain on the company’s servers. - Date modified:
Today 12 September 2019 coincides with the first day of the Coptic month of Tut, the first month of the Egyptian New Year 6261 and the Coptic New Year 1736. New Year Day is celebrated on 12 September every four years, marking a leap year. Otherwise, for three successive years it hails on 11 September. The “6261” was calculated by Egyptologists, based on ancient writings that denote when the first calendar was instated in Egypt. The Coptic calendar is the same EgyptIan one, but begins with the AD year 284. That was the year the Roman Emperor Diocletian ascended the throne and initiated the worst persecution Egypt’s Christians had known; thousands of them were martyred for their faith. So much so that the Copts marked that year as the beginning of their calendar. The Egyptian year is a solar-based one that begins with the appearance of the star Sirius on the horizon at sunrise. The year is divided into three seasons of four 30- day months, based on the annual Nile flood and consequent agricultural activity: the inundation, cultivation, and harvest seasons. A ‘short’ month of five days in a simple year and six days in a leap year finishes off the year. The months are named after the ancient Egyptian gods. The calendar continued to be in use till the mid-19th century when Khedive Ismail, Egypt’s ruler, abandoned it in favour of the internationally used Gregorian calendar. Egypt’s farmers and peasants, however, continue to use it to this day since it closely relates to their main activity of agriculture. And the Coptic Church uses it as the base of all its liturgical services, saying specific supplications in Mass during each season, asking the Lord to bless the Nile waters, the plants and crops, and the winds. Today, the New Year is marked only by the Coptic Church. There are calls by many Egyptian intellectuals to proclaim the day a national occasion. Several non-official events are held to celebrate it, emulating ancient Egyptian celebrations of the New Year held on the Nile banks. Copts uphold the tradition of feasting on red dates which are then in season. The red symbolises the blood of the persecuted martyrs, the white heart of the date reminds of their pure hearts, and the hard stone their steadfast faith. In Church, a celebratory Mass is held, with the refrain to the traditional praise sounding: “Crown this year with the blessings of Your goodness.” Amen. Painting by Artist Mahmoud Feteih 12 September 2019
In a groundbreaking study, scientists from the Museum of Natural History of Geneva and the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have unveiled fascinating insights into a new species of coelacanth dating back to the Middle Triassic period. Coelacanths are known as “living fossils” due to their ancient lineage and slow evolutionary changes over the course of 420 million years. The research focused on fossils discovered in the Grisons and Ticino regions of Switzerland, both from the same geological era. These peculiar fish, which exhibit a remarkable morphology, shed light on the period following a mass extinction event that occurred 252 million years ago, decimating over 80% of marine species. Coelacanths are extraordinary creatures that offer valuable clues about the ancestors of terrestrial vertebrates, including humans. Their unique fins and other characteristics place them closer to land-dwelling vertebrates than to typical fish. Therefore, studying coelacanths allows us to gain insights into what our ancient fish ancestor might have looked like. Among the exciting findings was the identification of a new species, Foreyia maxkuhni, from coelacanth fossils discovered in the Grisons region. These specimens display a peculiar appearance, featuring a compact body and a dome-shaped skull. The researchers were prompted to expand their investigation to coelacanth fossils found in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Monte San Giorgio in Ticino, which are of the same age as those in Grisons. These ancient specimens, preserved in the Paleontological Museum of Zurich since the mid-20th century, have never been thoroughly studied due to their complex interpretation. The study’s results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, provide valuable insights into the rapid formation of several coelacanth species following the mass extinction event. This discovery challenges the common notion that coelacanths evolved slowly over time. Instead, it suggests a burst of diversification during a critical period of Earth’s history. The new species’ strange characteristics and its implication in the evolution of coelacanths make it a significant addition to the field of paleontology. The study serves as a testament to the enduring fascination with these “living fossils” and their crucial role in understanding the history of life on our planet. A new species of coelacanth Christophe Ferrante, a researcher at the UNIGE Faculty of Science, made a significant breakthrough during his doctoral thesis by unveiling a new species of coelacanth named Rieppelia heinzfurreri. Interestingly, this species is evolutionarily closely related to the Foreyia species found in the Grisons region. However, while some characteristics of Rieppelia resemble those of Foreyia, others are remarkably reversed, presenting intriguing differences such as variations in fin size and opercle dimensions. The study conducted by Ferrante reveals an exciting phenomenon: both Rieppelia heinzfurreri and Foreyia maxkuhni, along with two other coelacanth species with more conventional traits, are part of a small evolutionary radiation. This phenomenon involves the rapid emergence of several species within a confined period and geographical area. Remarkably, this is the first time such an occurrence has been identified in coelacanths. The research sheds light on an important period in Earth’s history. Approximately 252 million years ago, our planet experienced a catastrophic mass extinction event, with over 80% of marine species vanishing due to massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia. Remarkably, the Swiss coelacanths, living about 10 million years after this catastrophic event, managed to thrive in the unique conditions of the post-extinction environment, giving rise to distinct and unusual forms throughout their evolutionary journey. These niche habitats later became inhabited by other groups, including major bony ray-finned fish that continue to occupy these ecological spaces today. To further unravel the mysteries of these postapocalyptic coelacanths from the Triassic era, Lionel Cavin’s team at the Natural History Museum in Geneva continues their research by describing new fossils found in various locations worldwide. Additionally, they are exploring potential genetic characteristics that may be responsible for these peculiar forms, drawing comparisons with the genomes of present-day vertebrates. The discoveries made by Ferrante and the ongoing research led by Cavin’s team showcase the remarkable resilience and adaptability of these ancient coelacanths. They provide us with valuable insights into the evolutionary processes that shaped life on Earth after one of the most significant mass extinctions in history. Source: University of Geneva
Nehemiah: Nehemiah and Ezra should have been twins except that Ezra was a priest (thus of the tribe of Levi, a son of Aaron and Nehemiah was of the tribe if Judah. Ezra had returned to Jerusalem ahead of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was an official sent by Artaxerxes (or Xerxes the king) to oversee the rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The place was in shambles: Nehemiah’s job was to encourage the Jews to return to the City to help rebuild it. Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30 New Testament: Revelation 6:12 – 7:12 Old Testament: Nehemiah 2:1-20 Missed a day? Find all of the Daily Bible Readings here!
Karen Rudolph, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (image) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Share Print E-Mail Caption Understanding children's social goals may lead to better interventions to change the dynamic between a bully and his or her targets, said University of Illinois psychology professor Karen Rudolph, who led a study of children who are bullied. Credit L. Brian Stauffer Usage Restrictions Photo may be used only with stories about the research described in this news release. Please credit: L. Brian Stauffer Share Print E-Mail Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
3D Scanning is a process of digitally collecting information on the shape of an object using either white light or laser light, with collected data utilized to create three-dimensional models. Numerous varieties of 3D scanning and Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) technology exist, including stationary 3D scanners, handheld 3D scanners and arm-based 3D scanners. Why utilize 3D scanning for your project? Here are the key benefits: 3D scanning allows you to gain information that would otherwise be expensive to obtain without a scan. The process allows for rapid feedback on a part or product, quickly and easily showing areas that differ from Computer Aided Design (CAD) or original part expectations. From a scan, you can learn where dimensions and measurements start to differ from original prototypes or designs. This ability is very helpful for additive manufacturing, as you can adjust the design of your part to ensure that the final print matches the model. The data collected by 3D scanning gives you the relationship between all of the surface points of a part (point cloud), which can then be used to make a 3D model based entirely off of the data measured. By doing a full sweep of the surface of the object with a 3D scanner, you capture the shape of the object (mesh) in data that is easy to translate into CAD. Reverse engineering allows you to create 3D models on parts where molds or original drawings have been lost. This allows you to make additional parts, run finite element analysis (FEA), and recreate critical product information. It can be utilized in a vast array of engineering applications. Many 3D inspection systems function not only as a scanner, but also as a CMM – measuring physical geometric characteristics of an object. Using a contact CMM probe, you can record the X, Y and Z coordinates of a part or product, creating a detailed point cloud of the object’s critical features. The point cloud data collected from a CMM device can be compared to the original CAD model, allowing for targeted inspection of your part or product. For additional information on how ARL can help with all your additive manufacturing needs, please feel free to contact our team for testing, our sister company SabeRex for production, or TekRex for design and development.
How can we stop indiscipline among students? How to Deal with Indiscipline in the Classroom - Set Expectations Early. Set expectations early in the year. - Make Rules Together. Let kids be involved in making the rules. - Contact Parents. - Invite Volunteers. - Invite Another Teacher. - Why, Oh Why? - Quick Learner Detected. - Attention Span. What are the problems according to you for the indiscipline of the students in the present world? Indiscipline among students may lead to lack of self-control, disrespect of authority figures, including parents, have no understanding of appropriate behaviour, students are selfish, unpleasant, and unhappy, and lack empathy, patience, and the ability to share and make friends. What is student indiscipline? Discipline in student life means working with all honesty with strict adherence to rules and regulations, cultural standards, and values. Many other attributes and character traits come from discipline. Discipline refers to orderliness in life, which is necessary for success in one’s life. What are the problems of indiscipline in schools? Indiscipline among student manifest mainly in various unruly behaviors exhibited by student in and outside the school. It includes untoward behaviors like violence, fighting and hooliganism, truancy at school, improper dressing even when they wear their uniform, moral laxity, gambling and other immoral acts. How can we prevent indiscipline in our society? - The rules and regulations for maintaining discipline should be framed in consultation with the employees’ representatives. - Employees should be given a chance to improve their behaviour. - Rules should be made known to employees and they should be reminded of those rules after regular intervals. How can we improve discipline in school? 10 Ways to Improve Discipline in School - Plan and Organize. - Resolve issues from the beginning. - Establish Proper Procedures in Place. - Explain the rules. - Practice what you preach. - Make your classes interactive. - Establish a connection with your students. - Reward good behavior. How can students be disciplined? How to Be a Disciplined Student in School - Put away your phone or other distractions. - Take good notes. - Update your calendar and review deadlines often. - Make your own personal deadlines for larger essays or projects. - Set up a good study area at home for yourself. How do you solve school discipline problems? Here are the ten awesome tips to manage discipline issues: - Be Organized. - Deal with Problems Right from the Start. - Have Good Control Procedures. - Teach the Procedures Well. - Keep your Students Engaged. - Move Around the Classroom. - Develop a Rapport with the Students. - Be Professional. How can you improve discipline in students? How do you deal with misbehaving students? - Step 1: Observe. Resist the urge to jump in and stop the misbehavior right away. - Step 2: Stop the activity. Stop the activity by signaling for your students’ attention. - Step 3: Wait. - Step 4: Send them back. - Step 5: Replay. - Step 6: Reteach. - Step 7: Practice. - Step 8: Prove it. How do you discipline a student? 5 Ways To Management Classroom Discipline - Create Consistency. Students of all ages will react positively to a consistent approach to discipline. - Make Sure Punishments and Rewards Are Clear. - Don’t Reward Disruption With Attention. - Keep Things Exciting. - Wipe The Slate Clean. How can students improve discipline?
Raising Money for We still don’t understand what causes migraine. Current thinking about the source of migraine symptoms reflects advances in technology that help us see how the brain and nervous system work. Previously, the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the head were thought to be the primary source of migraine pain, and early medications focused on the blood vessels as the principal target for treatment. Researchers now believe that migraine is a neurological disorder involving nerve pathways and brain chemicals. We know that migraine often runs in families. But genes aren’t the only answer – studies show that environmental factors play an important role, too. Just about everyone has headaches. But contrary to popular belief, migraine is not just a bad headache. It’s an extremely incapacitating collection of neurological symptoms that usually includes a severe throbbing recurring pain on one side of the head. However, in 1/3 of migraine attacks, both sides are affected. Attacks last between 4 and 72 hours and are often accompanied by one or more of the following disabling symptoms: visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, extreme sensitivity to sound, light, touch and smell, and tingling or numbness in the extremities or face. Of course, everyone is different, and symptoms vary by person and sometimes by attack. There are different types of migraines. The type of migraine is usually identified by its predominant symptom. Migraine is a moving target: symptoms can change from one attack to the next, and many sufferers have more than one type. Most people who have a migraine attack begin by treating themselves with over-the-counter medications. Sufferers sometimes consult a doctor as symptoms become more severe and disabling, but more than half of all migraine sufferers are never diagnosed. Migraine is a diagnosis of exclusion – it’s diagnosed by a process of elimination because there’s not yet a test or biomarker to show it’s present. Migraine is diagnosed by analyzing the symptoms, reviewing family history, conducting medical tests, and eliminating other possible causes of the headache. Diagnosis is not always easy, however, as symptoms are often present in other conditions. It’s important to consult a headache specialist if your symptoms are disabling, change, or don’t respond to your usual headache remedies. The information provided here should not be used for the diagnosis, treatment, or evaluation of any medical condition. The Migraine Research Foundation has made every effort to ensure that the information is accurate; however, we cannot warranty its reliability, completeness, or timeliness. © Migraine Research Foundation.
We hope that you enjoyed your weekend. This week, we will be focusing on volume and capacity. Below is an explanation of both of these. For your task, you will need: -a measuring jug -5 containers (the stranger the shape, the better. Ensure they have no holes and you ask a parent before moving or using them). -find somewhere suitable to complete the task (for example, outside or near a sink). -make an estimate: how much water do you think each container will hold? -fill a measuring jug with water then pour this slowly into a container. Subtract this from the original amount. See example below if you are unsure. If the container is not full, fill the measuring jug to the same level as before and pour it into the container until the container is full. Remember how many jugs you have used! -repeat as above for all of the other containers, remembering to fill the measuring jug to the same level each time. -record your measurements in a table in your Home Learning book or use the example given. -answer these questions about your measurements: -which container has the greatest capacity? Least? -what is the difference in the volumes of water in containers 1 and 3? -what is the total volume of water in containers 4 and 5? -what is the total volume of water in all 5 of your containers? If you have any difficulty, refer to your resource pack or contact us for more support. Want more? Check out your challenge! Find the difference in capacity between each estimate and the actual capacity. Did any of the measurements surprise you? Why? This week we are going to focus on poetry. Your main task today is to read the poem below 'Last night I saw the city breathing' and to begin to understand it. After reading the poem, please make your way through the PowerPoint and complete the mini tasks. I have also posted your spellings from Friday below for you to practice. Keep up the great work! Each day this week, we are going to set you an optional third task. The rules are very simple: -we will set the theme by 9am that morning. -you need to draw, paint, model or photograph something that represents the theme. -e-mail us a photograph of your creation by 2pm on that same day. -please check with an adult that they are happy for you to enter. -please only show the item in the photograph. Miss Thompson and Mrs Higgs will upload all of the photographs together in the 'Your Achievements' section so that you can have a giggle at what other children in Y3 have created. If you have not yet contacted us to send in your photographs, send us a message through the contact forms and we will send you a way. Theme 1: The silliest thing you can wear on your feet.
TLF ID L8553 Identify five amphibians from among other types of animals. Sort animals into groups based on their physical features. For example, identify a group of animals that have a backbone, then identify a subset which have slimy skin. Work through a list of features to classify animals and identify an amphibian. This learning object is one in a series of four learning objects.
Sydney Rose ENGLISH A Professional Approach to Learning English Learning English is not optional, but vital in the twenty first century. That we, all think of conquering linguistic ability as second language is quite impossible. However, with teacher Rose, it is not certainly true, even not a fairy tale dating back hundreds of years ago. [Sydney Rose English & IELTS] has our own grammar structure, this grammar structure is called as 'Rose Grammar'. The most astonishing thing is that our method keeps changing, depending on era, the modern age. Students are able to build up their knowledge of English with beautiful creation linguistically and express their own thinking with logical and rational ways of western culture, based on independent and innovative grammar method, created by teacher Rose. Our goal is to make it simple and clear for students to acquire new knowledge about how to speak, listen and write fluently without conscious memorization. In a fast-paced world that’s constantly changing, it’s time for you to take learning English rightly with a lot of fun with [Sydney Rose English & IELTS].
Firstly, let's tackle the use of the phrase "you know everything there is to know about me" and ignore the word "else" for now. It would be equally grammatically correct (and not really change the meaning, either), to say "you know everything about me." In this context "there is" is basically synonymous with "that exists." You know everything [that exists] to know about me. So, reworded, this means of all the things there are to know about me, you know every single one. This is obviously the same meaning as just saying you know everything about me. It is, however, a slightly more emphatic way of saying it. Generally the more words you use to express the same meaning the more emphatic you'll sound. So "you already know every tiny little thing there is to know about me" sounds even more emphasized (and, in this context, more aggressive, too). So the other half of your confusion seemed to come from the word "else." "Else" needs to refer to something, and in the specific context of this sentence, ought to refer to the only thing the listener didn't already know (or still doesn't). It's easier to see why it's being used when the thing it's referring to is in the previous sentence. I'll leave you instructions on how to prepare the side-dish, but you know everything else [about preparing this meal]. Here the "else" is all the meal preparation other than the side-dish. Do you really not know my favorite color? How is that possible? You know everything else there is to know about me! Here the "else" is everything about the speaker other their favorite color -- which brings us back to the context you provided. Without knowing exactly how the conversation went prior to this sentence and only having the vague context it's a little hard to say exactly what the "else" is referring to. It sounds like she may have just asked him a question, such as "Would you like some sugar in your tea?" or perhaps "Why are you upset?" and he responded with this, meaning she already knows all facts about him other than this, and thereby implying she should probably also know whether he takes sugar or why he's upset. There is a little wiggle room here since he's obviously being sarcastic and refusing to come out and say what he actually thinks, so he may even be referring to everything other than the fact that he doesn't like horse racing. Regardless of the words he picked, what he's actually saying is, "You are acting like you know more about me than you actually do, and I want you to realize that."
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are Everywhere If you attended the RSA conference, or any other recent security conference, you’ve probably noticed that many vendors pitch machine learning and artificial intelligence as the latest and greatest ways to defend against cyber threats. Unfortunately, it’s rarely explained how these concepts work to actually help keep you safe. Understanding these terms is an important part of determining how they should fit into your overall email threat protection strategy. AI vs Machine Learning Machine learning is the ability to teach a machine how to learn from experience, something that comes naturally to humans. A child that sees a cat for the first time and then sees a dog, may confuse the two. But after the child sees several cats, they learn to distinguish cats from dogs. In a similar way, machine learning systems improve the accuracy of their pattern identification over time, without human intervention. These systems are built to focus on and improve at a specific task. Let’s take, for example, the identification of cat pictures. The more images of cats we use to train the machine, the more accurately it will be able to identify future images of cats and distinguish them from images of dogs. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability to teach a machine to mimic human behavior or intelligence. This requires the machine to perform multiple tasks and adapt to its surroundings while performing its tasks. For example, with AI we can build a robot that takes care of household chores, like walking your dog. To accomplish this task, the robot would use machine learning to identify your dog, your house, the sidewalk, other dogs and potential street traffic, and then adapt based on what is going on around it. This means machine learning is a component of an AI system but AI is a broad field of technology. Although machine learning and artificial intelligence are often used interchangeably, most threat detection solutions rely primarily on machine learning. So how are the two types of machine learning, supervised learning and unsupervised learning, used to detect email threats? Supervised Machine Learning for Threat Detection With supervised machine learning, a system is trained with predefined data. The system uses this data to create a predictive model that can in turn be used to identify future data. To return to our previous example, supervised learning can be used to identify cat pictures by feeding the system with cat images and labeling them as cats. The system analyzes image attributes and builds a predictive model that allows it to look at future images and assign a probability as to whether the image is a cat or not. With enough data (images of cats), the machine will learn to accurately identify images that contain cats and images that do not contain cats, for example an image of a dog. In the world of email threat protection, supervised machine learning is used to detect malicious or unwanted emails. The protection software is trained using known bad emails. A predictive model is then built by looking at all available email attributes (body, attachments, HTML and MIME) of the malicious or spam messages. The more example emails used to train the system, the more accurately it’s able to predict whether a new message is malicious or spam. To ensure accuracy over time, the system is re-trained with new email samples as threats evolve. Unsupervised Machine Learning for Threat Detection With unsupervised learning the machine is trained using data that has not be predefined. The system analyzes the data and groups or categorizes it. Using our previous example of cat images, the system would be given various images of cats without being told what the images contain. The system would identify and use similarities in these cat images and group them together. If one of the images was a dog, it would determine that the image was not in the same category as the cats. This form of machine learning is very useful in detecting data anomalies. While unsupervised machine learning is not as commonly used in threat protection solutions as supervised machine learning, there are systems that use it to detect email attacks. In this scenario the system is fed regular email communication data. Over time this system can learn what normal email communication looks like for the organization and its users. This means it can detect when an email purportedly from the CEO is actually from an email address that has never been used by the CEO, or when the content doesn’t match the CEO’s normal writing style. This means that unsupervised machine learning can be particularly helpful in identifying business email compromise or other impersonation attacks. Machine Learning as Part of a Layered Defense Strategy Prior to machine learning, email threat protection solutions depended primarily on signatures of known spam and malware to block the unwanted emails – we could tell the system that a specific email is known to be bad, so if you see this email again, block it. This technique was, and still is, important in preventing known threats. But hackers have figured out that small modifications to their attack campaigns can get through signature based systems. Over time, other methods of identifying malicious emails have also been developed, such as blacklisting URLs and IPs, attachment sandboxing and DMARC sender authentication. All of these methods are useful in preventing some attacks but the attacks keep evolving. Machine learning now adds another layer of defense to protect against advanced threats. The ability to assign a threat probability to an email, in combination with information from other layers of defense, provides the best possible level of protection. Additionally, the ability to automate threat identification and feed that data into a SIEM platform, allows limited human IT resources to focus on identifying threats that may come in through email but then permeate other systems across the organization. While there is no silver bullet that can stop all threats, using machine learning as part of a layered defense can reduce the number of attacks that get through, and help identify when they do. This combined, layered approach represents the best available strategy to keep your organization safe.
The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) released their statistical analysis for the month of January late last week. According to NCDC, North Dakota as a whole recorded the 65th coldest January on record. If that surprises you, although Fargo was nearly 5 degrees below average last month, it was the 59th coldest January on record locally, plus, western North Dakota actually finished the mont h of January with above average temperatures keeping last month close to normal on a statewide level. Minnesota on the other hand recorded below average temperatures statewide. NCDC ranked January as the 24th coldest on record for Minnesota. Nationally, with the exception of a few New England states, all states east of the Mississippi finished in the Top 30 coldest on record. On the opposite extreme most states west of the Great Plains finishing in the Top 30 warmest on record. Therefore, just a few states in the center of the country and New England finished the month of January near average.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 The Sky This Week - Thursday May 17 to Thursday May 24 Evening sky looking North as seen from Adelaide at 8:00 pm local time on Saturday May 19 showing Mars, Regulus, Saturn and Spica and comet Garradd. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. The inset shows the telescopic appearance of Saturn at this time. Click to embiggen. The New Moon is Monday May 21. Mars is in the constellation of Leo. It is the brightest object in the northern sky, and its distinctive red colour makes it easy to spot. Mars is rising before sunset and is at its highest in the northern sky around 7:20 pm local time. Mars is close to the bright star Regulus in Leo. However, it continues to move away over the week. Mars was at opposition on March 4, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. Sadly, this is a poor opposition and Mars will be fairly small in modest telescopes. Saturn is above the north-eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica. Saturn is high enough in the northern sky for telescopic observation in the late evening, being highest at 10:00 pm local time. local time. Saturn was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on the 16th of April, but now is still a great time for telescopic views of this ringed world. Comet C/2009 P1 Garrad is visible in the northern sky. At magnitude 9, it isnow observable only in telescopes . It's still relatively low to the horizon and the effects of light pollution means that the best views nder dark sky condition. Morning sky on Saturday May 19 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:00 am local time in South Australia. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen) Mercury is visible above the eastern horizon by 6:00 am in the morning. Mercury is sinking towards the horizon, but is still visible this week if you have a flat, unobstructed horizon (such as the sea). On Saturday Mercury will be near the thin crescent Moon, low in the twilight. Evening sky on Wedensday May 23 looking north-west as seen from Adelaide at 6:00 pm local time in South Australia showing Venus near the Star Elnath. The inset shows the appearance of Venus seen telescopically at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen) Bright white Venus is visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for about 3/4 of an hour. You will need a clear , level horizon to see it at its best. On the 23rd, Venus is below the thin crescent Moon (on the 22nd the thin crescent Moon is not far from Venus, but this may be a challenge to see). Venus remains in Taurus this week. It starts the week not far from the star Elnath, and doesn't move very far away. Venus is slowly sinking towards the horizon, and will become more difficult to see. It is a thin crescent in even small telescopes now. In three weeks tine Venus will cross the disk of the Sun in a rare transit, the last until 2117. More details on viewing the transit will be published later. Jupiter is lost in the twilight. With Mars past opposition and Saturn high in the sky, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums. Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEDST, Western sky at 10 pm AEDST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch. Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky. Labels: weekly sky
In July, I was invited to tour a recycling sorting facility. This facility is the local hauler for my town and many of the surrounding towns in my county. All of those towns can certainly add up to a lot of recyclables that are being picked up! I will say that I learned many thi… Read More To stay updated with the latest in the worm farming industry to can check out our composting latest news. On the other hand in case you are new to composting and desire to begin professional worm farming now download a copy of our how to make a worm farm ebook. Worm farming is a huge step toward making your family friendly and our planet a bit greener. You won’t find an easier way to do that than worm farming. Beneath, you will find out exactly what worm farms are and learn about the advantages of worm farming. You are going to feel better about yourself knowing that you did your part to help the earth. Individuals who are thinking about worm farms often use food scraps so that they can be decomposed by the worm farm. What the worms excrete is called casts, or vermicompost. This is then used to fertilise the grass, the garden and other areas. The food scraps become worm compost, which compost is rich in nutrients and minerals. This is an excellent option without using commercial fertilisers for garden lovers and individuals seeking an organic and 100 percent natural way to enrich land. You should look for the two common worms, if you are contemplating starting a worm farm. These are the Red Earthworm (the Lumbricus rubella) and the Red Wiggler (the Esienia foetida). You are able to determine if you would like to make a worm farm on a large scale or on a small scale. You’ll also find that many of the commercial farms sell the vermicompost and the worms or both worm casts. The organic compost sold here is sought after. Or, should you not want to purchase it you could always make your own. In the neighbourhood you will become another seller with a little research on the topic! The great thing about worm farming is you could take action in your own backyard. You may also do it in your kitchen if you need. Composting bins or vermiculture bins (worm-farm bins) can be bought online. Nonetheless, you can start worm farming with a few simple containers for example metal containers, plastic bins, buckets, wooden crates and many other things, of your own.
Nov. 19 was Day 379 in the construction of MIT.nano, the nanoscale characterization and fabrication facility scheduled to open in June 2018. It also marked the halfway point in the excavation phase of this ambitious and complex capital project situated in the center of campus. “Forty-nine percent of the dig is done, and we’ve hauled out 17,000 cubic yards of fill,” says Richard Amster, director of campus construction. “Only 621 days to go.” Day 379 was also when staff from the Department of Facilities, their contractors, and MIT.nano convened the third in a series of “tool talks” — sessions that provide the MIT community with an insiders’ view of construction tools and techniques in use on the site. Outside the session’s Building 4 conference room window, a 15-foot-deep hole and small hill of fill inside the footprint of the former Building 12 are the early indicators of a much larger project. Excavators and trucks edge carefully in and out of the site, hauling away what will eventually amount to 57 thousand tons of fill. “Coordinating the digging and hauling is tough on such a tight site,” says Travis Wanat, senior project manager. “And characterizing the dirt isn’t a trivial task either.” All of the dirt must be evaluated, explains Keith Johnson, a geotechnical consultant with Haley and Aldrich, a consulting company specializing in underground engineering and environmental science working on MIT.nano. “We collect soil samples at 5- to 5-foot depth intervals, and classify what we find using a portable scanning instrument,” he says. If the scans find high enough levels of volatile organic compounds, for instance, then the fill must be evaluated using analytical testing methods for the soils at that specific location. The test results for the soils at Building 12 indicate low levels of contamination for historic urban fill. For his soil studies, Johnson delves not just into the Earth but back in time. In addition to the original Building 12 plans, Johnson studied historical maps that show the campus rising on the edge of a sea wall constructed along the Charles River. “At MIT, we have going for us what they used for fill in the late 1800s,” said Johnson. The land on which campus buildings were constructed came from river dredging, and in this soil layer Johnson found “nothing unusual.” However, the dig has uncovered unmistakable evidence of the brackish origins of MIT fill, he says: the “overpowering smell of hydrogen sulfide,” a naturally occurring gas “that’s been under the organic soils for the last 100 years. It comes from clams.” With 600-800 cubic yards of fill leaving the site each day, it’s a “constant battle to minimize the amount of mud that gets on truck tires,” notes Peter Johnson, the project lead for Turner Construction. Rainy days pose enormous challenges for managers who need to avoid tracking excavation muck out of the site and onto Cambridge roads. So trucks moving in and out of the site use a road surfaced with “riprap,” a special kind of gravel that pulls debris from tires — like wiping shoes on a welcome mat. Workers also hose down truck tires constantly, and a street sweeper comes by multiple times a day. Sump pumps forcing 10 gallons per minute out of the bottom of the excavation help keep the site as dry as possible. As the excavation reaches the sand layer (about 15 feet down), contractors install diagonal steel tubes as corner bracing against the newly exposed slurry walls, said Johnson. This prevents the dirt on the outside of the walls from exerting excessive pressure on the perimeter of the dig. The goal is to avoid lateral or vertical movement in these walls, and to that end, said Wanat, “we take readings with a variety of instruments, and maintain a lot of monitoring points.” After the excavation concludes, at a depth of approximately 30 feet, MIT.nano will begin its next construction phase: the laying of a concrete ground floor slab. This process is scheduled to start in December, and spring will bring big, above-ground construction, and, at last, the rise of steel support towers and the structure itself. The leadership team for the MIT.nano project is holding community meetings on Dec. 10 and 11 to present information and hear about opportunities for engagement with the MIT community. Please join them Thursday, Dec. 10, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in room 26-100, and Friday, Dec. 11, from 10-11 a.m. in room 1-190. For more information about the project, contact [email protected] or visit mitnano.mit.edu.
As Americans begin the process of breaking their New Year's resolutions — sure, one king-sized Kit Kat won’t hurt anyone — they can forgive themselves with a consolation: Hormones may be to blame. In a new study, which was published online Dec. 24 in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers have found that the hormone ghrelin causes mice to search out food — even when they weren't hungry. "We've shown that ghrelin affects behaviors related to eating and that it may consequently lead to overeating," said study researcher Dr. Jeffrey Zigman, assistant professor of internal medicine and psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The results could apply to us, as we also have this hormone, which has been shown in the past to activate the same brain regions excited by cocaine in humans. In the experiments, Zigman and colleagues trained mice to remember that a room with striped walls held a high-calorie treat, while a chamber with gray walls contained a low-calorie snack. After the training, satiated mice were given the opportunity to wander to whatever room they wanted. Those mice that were injected with a dose of ghrelin preferred the room known for calorie-infused goodies, even if the room was empty of food. Mice that were ghrelin-free had no preference. "The mice's behavior had nothing to do with eating," Zigman said. "Their behavior was linked to obtaining the more pleasurable thing." Ghrelin is not the only factor involved with overeating, however. Here are other reasons some folks just can't stop chowing down: - Genetics: A 2003 study from Imperial College London revealed that people who carried the gene GAD2 were more likely to be obese. GAD2 speeds up the production of a neurotransmitter in the brain, which in turn stimulates us to eat. - Dopamine: In a study published in 2007 in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, participants with low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine were more likely to overeat in an attempt to stimulate pleasurable feelings. - Larger portions: Genetics aside, all people are induced to eat more if they are given larger portions. A 2005 Cornell University study found when moviegoers were served stale popcorn in big buckets they ate 34 percent more than those given the same stale popcorn in medium-sized containers. - Creatures of habit: If you always eat a box of Milk Duds at the movie theatre, there’s a good chance when you go to see "Avatar" you'll order some, even if you aren’t hungry. Finally, there's the problem of limited willpower. If we ask the brain to do too many things at once, we simply won’t have the energy left to either stop ourselves from overeating (ghrelin or no ghrelin) or from imbibing in other activities we find rewarding, according to a 1999 study by Stanford University's Baba Shiv. - Top 10 New Year's Resolutions to Keep You Alive - 10 Bad Things That Are Good For You - Take Our Nutrition Quiz
One school math problem is making some question how teachers evaluate their students. In an image posted to Reddit, a student was given a problem that would stump almost anyone on first glance. "Marty ate 4/6 of his pizza and Luis ate 5/6 of his pizza. Marty ate more pizza than Luis. How is that possible?" it read. The student answered, perhaps rationally, that Marty's pizza was bigger. The teacher marked that answer wrong, saying that the situation posed in the question wasn't possible because 5/6 is greater than 4/6. The question was meant to gauge the student's ability to assess reasonableness, or whether or not an answer makes sense in certain circumstances. One homework help website has similar sample problems, such as "Martha read four books spread out evenly over the summer. They had a total of 48 chapters and she read for 12 weeks. Is it reasonable to think that Martha read four chapters a week over the summer?" But as one Redditor pointed out, the pizza question is poorly phrased. "'How is that possible' sounds like you're supposed to reason a way it could be possible," wrote AllUltima. Another person thought the problem should have specified that both pizzas were the same size. What do you think? Should the teacher have marked the answer right? Let us know in the comments below. Also on HuffPost
To assist doctors in diagnosing Ebola virus disease quickly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will pursue development of an Ebola virus diagnostic test for use in a doctor’s office, hospital, clinic, or field setting that will provide results within 20 minutes. “Fast and inexpensive point-of-care diagnostics will improve our ability to control Ebola virus disease outbreaks,” says Robin Robinson, PhD, director of ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which will oversee this development program for HHS. “Faster diagnosis of Ebola virus infections allows for more immediate treatment and an earlier response to protect public health worldwide.” Diagnosing Ebola virus infections quickly in resource-poor areas would enable health care providers to isolate and provide necessary treatment and supportive care to patients suffering from Ebola. Quickly isolating patients helps limit the spread of the disease. Emerging evidence has shown that early initiation of supportive care improves outcomes for patients suffering from Ebola virus disease. The development of this simple, low-cost, lateral-flow test, called the OraQuick rapid Ebola antigen test, will take place under a $1.8 million contract with OraSure Technologies Inc., headquartered in Bethlehem, Pa. Lateral flow tests detect the presence of a virus with a drop of the patient’s blood or saliva on a test strip, similar to the tests used in doctors’ offices to diagnose strep throat. The agreement supports clinical and non-clinical work necessary to apply for approval of the test by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The contract could be extended for up to a total of 39 months and $10.4 million. In addition, OraSure will evaluate whether the test can be used in the post-mortem analysis of oral fluids. During the current epidemic, people died before Ebola virus infections could be confirmed, yet the bodies of people infected with Ebola virus would have remained highly infectious. A simple, rapid test that could determine disease status quickly from the body’s oral fluids would facilitate infection control efforts and support the appropriate handling of remains infected with the Ebola virus. The OraQuick rapid Ebola antigen test is the first point-of-care Ebola virus testing device to receive BARDA support. To help the United States prepare for and control Ebola virus disease outbreaks, BARDA also is supporting development of vaccines to prevent Ebola virus infections and therapeutic drugs to treat the disease. The new test is part of BARDA’s comprehensive integrated portfolio approach to the advanced research and development, innovation, acquisition, and manufacturing of vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products for public health emergency threats. These threats include chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents, pandemic influenza, and emerging infectious diseases.
Anthony R. Dickinson Championing the ascent of reptiles as much as the descent of man, this thoughtful volume on the evolution of intelligence by Skoyles and Sagan is a welcome addition to the nature/nurture neurophilosophy shelf. The authors take us well beyond the 'usual suspects' listing of gross anatomical brain structure and function of the familiar phyla, traveling a welcome breadth of comparative data to include a wide variety of species (including our earlier selves). Rather than merely outline the familiar shopping list(s) of evolving structures culminating in the development of the modern human cerebral cortex, Skoyles & Sagan do not end with the discussion of its distinctive "associative" or "silent" areas of the brain of old (as so many other authors are still content to do). Instead, and throughout the book's eighteen chapters, we are treated to a series of detailed proposals concerned with the continuously adaptive neural architecture of both the intra- and inter-cerebral structures underlying the evolution human intelligent behavior. Reminiscent of learning the names of Tolstoy's characters in the early pages of 'War & Peace', one meets here parts of the brain rarely mentioned (let alone claimed to be of any significance in explaining who we are and why we behave as we do). Following the publication of this volume, the long overdue and normally restricted cast of human brain features will now include the structure and functional connectivities of the anterior cingulate, the amygdala, the insula, the orbital and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain (and these are just a few of the characters amongst many others that might have been introduced here). We may still not be able to agree upon how best to measure intelligence (IQ, in my view, still tautologically measuring 'what IQ tests measure'), but the physiological substrates of the brain supporting intelligent behavior are slowly coming to be located and characterized. Many of the examples and theoretical components put forward may perhaps appear predictable to those familiar with modern paradigms in comparative psychology and the study of intelligent systems (both biological and man-made), but the real strength of this book is to be seen in its successfully discussing adaptive neural systems for the technical non-specialist. The story as told here is a great achievement for a book aimed at the popular science reader. The basic thesis of the book follows the development of the nervous system in the aftermath of the 'KT event' (coincident with the demise of the reptilian dinosaurs), which favored flexible, mobile species with nocturnal, cold-adaptable behaviors, capable of finding shelter and forage. In contrast, species with relatively reflexive nervous systems, whilst satisfactory when situated in a stable, predictable environment, can often fail to adapt to changes within the time course of sudden catastrophic events. En route to the architecture of the modern human brain, we meet the aetiology of social and emotional life and their associated neural substrata in the prefrontal cerebral and limbic cortex (amongst other structures). The level of neuroanatomical detail is sufficient to provide a coherent and consistent story of successive adaptations leading to the development of 'higher intelligence', but the pathway taken argues not for this result deriving solely from phylogenetic mutation (per se), but, and more importantly, from ontogenetic neural plasticity and enculturation despite the SAME genetic makeup. If this idea is new, and at first glance appears to be an uncomfortable one, don't panic! If the authors are right, your prefrontal brain cortex will soon get to work in generating some reflex inhibition, allowing one to assess (and reassess) the situation, temporarily delay one's actions, and then to organize and activate novel planned behaviors towards worked goals. Whether the modern human can prove him/herself to be intelligent enough to plan the survival of any future catastrophe (whether it be of our own making or another KT-like event) we will have to wait and see. In the meantime we have in this book, an accessible version of a still-emerging story telling how, and as the solution to what challenges, the intelligence of a variety of species (including modern humans) currently evolved to demonstrate. Excellently referenced throughout, with bibliography aplenty for those wishing to read more of the detailed research literature, my only gripe with this book would be with its lack of visualization aids for those unfamiliar with the brain areas mentioned. Although the text is sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to construct crude schematics for him/herself (as one may have done in the case of Tolstoy's family trees?), both anatomical and flowchart illustrations might be of help in hastening the orientation of those perhaps new to the anatomy and neurophysiology of the brain. Whether this would indeed have been the book that Carl Sagan would have written in 1977 had he possessed the vast corpus of knowledge concerning the brain now available, one may only guess? It is my own view that Skoyles & Sagan's title serves more than to merely pay homage to 'The Dragons of Eden', in whose memory this book is in part written. "The only book on our origins that will be read 100 years on". Surely not? But this book hides the nuts and bolts of a new answer to an old question that will reshape the sciences of human nature - below I give details and let you decide whether this is indeed the next big thing. But first that old question: what turned the human brain -- initially evolved 100,000 years ago to be, and only be, a smart hunter-gatherer -- into a brain that in each of us is superfitted for our hi-tech modern life. The problem is an embarrassment to science. No neurologist or paleoanthropologist can explain why your brain so obviously not evolved to read this, does so, like with so many other nonevolved modern skills, with such great finesse. Human evolution lacks foresight and so could have made no preparation. It is a big question. Evolutionary psychology offers no explanation. But the genius of Skoyles and Sagan provides a clear and plausible account. Before summarizing what that is, a criticism. You start off thinking this is Dragons of Eden: The 25 year Sequel -- but Carl was a science populariser; this book, though averagely well written, lacks illustrations and has rather too many notes and references - more a book for getting out of the library than buying for a holiday read. That said, you soon realize that, with all respect to Carl Sagan, this book is much more important than anything he wrote. Request, even buy, and get it, for its explanation of that old problem. Chapter 14 lays out its core story one which fits together the jig-saw puzzle pieces that the authors have earlier assembled in chapters 3-13 that describe the latest findings in neuroscience and paleoanthropology. The synthesis they offer is a radically novel, reductive and unexpectedly powerful new neurobiological and anthropological theory of symbolism. Two theories intertwine. First, that the radical changes in cognition and behavior that make us unique are piggybacked upon earlier evolved primate cognitions and emotions. Symbols - stand-ins - they show are at the heart of the human revolution. Evolved primate cognitions process innate inputs - but culturally transmitted nonevolved signs can co-opt their innate processes. The co-optation just needs (and humans are good at this) the ability to learn abstract associations. When symbols co-opt innate ape psychology, it is like an engine being put into a new chassis -- ape psychology is refitted thus into doing something radically new -- human psychology with all its nonevolved cognitions. For example, the core process of fear in apes uses the innate inputs of snakes, spiders, angry faces and blood. But humans can uniquely hock on novel sign inputs such as swastikas, the radiation sign, evil eyes and the thoughts of God - and so use them to power the radically new behaviors that make us cultural. But what enables humans to put a new culturally derived `chassis' on the ape brain? Here is their second theory. Symbolic co-optation arose from the prefrontal cortex working memory acting as an abstract association "catalyst" upon neural plastic networks. Many molecules would meet too rarely to react unless another molecule - a catalyst puts them together. The same with the neural connections that underlie the abstract associations of symbolic cognition - the `catalyst' in this case being the working memory of the prefrontal cortex that can 'tutor' new neural links. And the new associations that it creates happen thanks to the recently discovered phenomena of neural plasticity which allows old cognitions to rewire to do radically new tasks. The theory uses bits of already established science. It is theoretical innovation at its best - clear "mechanical" sound processes with no hand waved `dues ex machine' processes. Simple - yet overlooked - perhaps because of the breadth of knowledge they bring together -- by those whose business it is to invent such ideas. You have to read the argument to appreciate its explanatory power. For a hint, consider how our social attachment is both different and not different from that of other apes. Both ape and human attachment depends upon the same limbic processes. But in nonhuman apes, the inputs to such process arise entirely from the actual physical presence of another individual -hugging, grooming, facial reactions, and the feel of warmth. Symbolic culture puts new a chassis on these limbic processes by adding new inputs such as wedding rings, name changes, and rituals. In doing so, the new `symbolic chassis' enables our ape limbic brain to create human specific forms of social bonds - such as those of marriage, with distant kin, the supernatural and society. This idea is simply an act of genius since reveals how neuroscience and grammatology so easily fit under anthropology and even such fields as cultural studies. Further, the authors make the breakthrough of showing how what is a transient and private emotion in other apes could by a simple scientifically analyzable process become one that in humans is resistant to separation (symbols can stand-in for missing people and relationships with them), and embedded in communities (symbols allow societies to define relationships and so build up social complexity). One hates the phrase "scientific revolution" or "new paradigm" but these authors have done it - the core problem of our origins has been found. They call their idea, the missing link of human evolution. And they are right. The resulting approach is not only elegant, simple and powerful - but the stuff of which I bet further science discoveries will be born. It is the first book that can be properly called `neuropaleoanthropology'. It is the beginning of something big. The oddly titled book - a wrong title if there ever was one -- does what evolutionary psychology should have done, but has not - reveal the biological dragons under our anthropological Eden.
EMI in borrowing terms stands for equated monthly installment, which is the set payment that you must make every month over the term of the loan. When you take out an EMI loan, the EMI is set based on the interest rate, size of your loan and term of repayment. Each month, part of the EMI goes towards paying off the interest that accrues on your loan and whatever is left pays down the balance of the loan. These portions change over the life of the loan, but the monthly payment does not. Multiply the amount borrowed by the periodic interest rate. For example, if you borrowed $305,000 and the monthly interest rate equals 0.0065 (or 7.8 percent per year), you would multiply $305,000 by 0.0065 to get $1,982.50. Multiply the number of years in the term of the loan by 12 to calculate the number of monthly payments you will make on the loan and call the result P. For example, if you took out a 25-year loan, you would multiply 25 by 12 to get 300 monthly payments. Plug in P, the number of monthly payments over the life of the loan, and R, the periodic interest rate, into the following expression: 1 - (1+R)^-P. In this example, you would plug in 0.0065 for R and 300 for P so your expression would be 1 - (1 + 0.0065) ^ -300, or 0.85682532. Divide the result from step 1 by the result from step 3 to calculate your equated monthly payment. Finishing this example, you would divide $1,982.50 by 0.85682532 to find your EMI would be $2,313.77.
“What counts here—first and last—is not so-called knowledge of so-called facts, but vision - seeing. Seeing here implies world view and is coupled with fantasy, with imagination.” Josef Albers, Interaction of Color In this Exploration, we will work to establish a keen eye - and nose, ear, and hand - when evaluating the qualities of our living world. We will use these observational skills moving forward in our continued exploration of the urban environment. What is ecology? What is urban ecology? How do I learn to see or uncover interactions between living things and their habitats or ecosystems? What are things I’ve started to notice that I didn’t before? What can my senses tell me about the place I live? How can I share this information with others? Field journal with zine holder (one per participant) Viewfinder (one per participant) Pens and pencils Printed, cut, and folded zines (see below) Printed images from first design journal (three images you took to capture nature in the city, or the city in nature, during facilitation preparation) Printed and cut sensory nature prompts (optional: you can tape these into field books ahead of time, or have participants do this during the activity) Two pre-selected field sites for the sensory nature walk (we suggest using the library grounds for one of these sites) OPTIONAL: Nature Field Guides (the field guide on tree classification was popular with our group) OPTIONAL: camera and mobile printer (we used the Polaroid Zip Instant Photoprinter) The Sensing zine introduces a working definition of ecology, as well as a city scene in which to practice looking for interactions. Finally, it includes information about setting up and using the field journal. Download and print your copies here: (Visit this website to learn how to cut and fold the zine after printing.) This session focuses on heightening the senses to more easily notice interactions in the city or town. To get started, participants should work together in small groups to review the Sensing zine, which presents working definitions of ecology and urban ecology, and also includes an example setting (a bustling city street!) in which to notice interactions between ecosystem components. After a few minutes, bring the group together for discussion: what types of interactions did they notice in the illustration? What are some other interactions they’ve observed in their community they might think capture or convey urban ecology? Shift attention to the three images that you captured for your design journal (these should be printed and distributed amongst the participants along with the zines). Discuss: Whats sorts of interactions can they notice in these photos? How do nature and ‘the city’ come together in this instances? In what ways do they work together, or against one another? Do these images inspire any other thoughts or reflections? Have the participants observed similar interactions? After the short discussion, distribute field journals: the urban explorer’s most important tool! Discuss what you might choose to include in the journal (this information is also presented in the zine)—drawings; words; observations and reflections; even samples or specimen. Give the participants some time to setup the first page of their journals with their names, dates, location, and the ‘zine holder.’ Introduce the idea of capturing information that comes from your senses. This process is what we’ll test in the field. Time to head outside! Additional resources for keeping a field journal: Your body is a sensor; a tool for gathering information, or data, about the world around you; an instrument to understand the environment. To become an expert urban ecologist, you must train your body—your sensor—to notice different phenomena, or unique aspects (maybe problems) of the landscape. In the Sensory Nature Walk, we will tune our senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing to gather information about the local environment and try to uncover some of its mysteries! The handout (below) provides a number of prompts that might be explored during the walk. Print this document and cut it in half for putting into the field notebook. Note that these prompts are just guides for the nature walk—they are helpful tips if participants get stuck and are unsure of what to sense! All of these prompts can be used as discussion points. Note that since there are more prompts than likely is time to explore each, facilitators can also choose to edit a more consist list. The printout is also downloadable here as a word document in case you’d like to edit it down! Head to your first field site. Before allowing groups or individuals (we suggest small groups of 2 - 3!) to explore on their own, come together first as a group outside. Sit in a circle, have everyone close their eyes and be silent for 30 seconds, and do an example reflection together: What can be heard? Are there any distinct scents? What are ways that we can record our observations in the field book? Guide participants in recording this information. Experiment with both words and drawings. Following the group reflection, allow participants to explore the site further while recording on their own or in small groups. Head to your second field-site for the Landscape Show & Tell. In this part of the activity, participants will group up, explore the site, and choose a space within it to focus on and ‘present' to the other patrons as part of a show and tell. Each group should describe the sorts of interactions they observe in that space, and perhaps how it relates to other parts of the field-site that other groups have selected. In total, this exercise should take around 30 minutes. On your walk back to the library, reflect with the group about phenomena you observe along sidewalks, around buildings, on fences, in the road, etc. Encourage the participants to lead the way, highlighting elements of urban ecology along the way, asking probing questions: What do participants notice now that they didn’t before? Can they discover any new interactions that they hand’t thought about or seen before? Which senses do they use the most? What are different scents telling them about the urban environment and the way people are living in/using it? We’ve found that participants love looking through regional guidebooks that describe local species and their behaviors—in particular, we used the guides by the National Audubon Society. If you have similar texts in your library, we recommend bring them to these workshops! This activity will work best if participants can work individually or in small groups—avoid groups larger than 4 participants if possible. There are more prompts than there is time to answer; if desired, pare down the questions ahead of time, perhaps as they are most relevant to your library grounds (or field-site) Encourage different ways of completing the activity—remaining stationary and investigating all the senses; moving about and focusing on one sense; etc. We suggest that that you finish all final reflections outdoors before concluding the session and heading indoors. In our playtest, we found that the change of scenery (wrapping up inside after the field visits) was challenging. This is the example schedule from a playtest we ran with a local library: Time: 2 hours 10 minutes: Getting started; participant and facilitator introductions (your name and something exciting you did outdoors lately!) 20 minutes: Reading the zine; talking about definitions or ideas of ecology and urban ecology; discussing interactions observed in the zine; setting up field books with names, dates, and sensory nature prompts; brief discussion on how we can use the field book 60 minutes: Sensory Nature walk between 3 locations - library courtyard, sidewalk, park (Show and Tell done at the park) 30 minutes: Walk back to library; discuss some observations along the way; hand-washing and snack time!
These reviews and comments have been addressed to and about "Geography World" National Geographic says: "This is a stellar geographical Web site created by high school teacher, Brad Bowerman. It provides access to topics such as erosion, plate tectonics, and weather, and also covers issues such as population, the environment, and conservation. It has links to maps, games, resources, and quizzes that teachers could easily incorporate into their interactive lesson plans. Both older and younger students would be interested in the variety offered by this site." National Education Association says: "This site provides access to a large amount of information and to many different aspects of geography. The contents are separated into topics such as erosion, plate tectonics, and weather and also covers issues such as population, the environment, and conservation. It has links to maps, games and quizzes that teachers could easily incorporate into an interactive lesson plan. Younger students would be excited by the information on earthquakes and tsunamis, and by the space photos. Older students could handle topics such as rain forests, the Greenhouse Effect, and mining. In addition, the site has information on the field of geography including careers in geography, world records, and geography in the news. This would make an excellent resource for all geography teachers where they will find information on the five themes of geography and national geography standards." Discovery-School newslist says: "A comprehensive site that covers all the continents. The graphics are beautiful... From careers in geography, to geography songs, to jokes from various parts of the world (and given in several languages), this site, created by an educator, is superb. You will meet your state's standards with many of the links, and you will be astonished at the wealth of material available--from the technical to the whimsical" GEOGRAPHY WORLD was featured in an article in the 1998 issue of BEE LINE - Newsletter from the National Geography Bee. "...it transports geophiles from Pole to Pole. ...it has garnered awards from many groups, including the Los Angeles Times. The key to Geography World's success lies with the links Bowerman provides to web sites of geographical interest. Geography World lists more than 1,000 links, and Bowerman is continually updating and revising the offerings. Geography World has grown from a modest home page to a lively classroom geography web site..." Cable in the Classroom Dennis Hershberger, National Teacher Advisor says: "I'm writing to say how much I enjoyed your site, Geography World when I came across it recently. I spend a lot of time looking at education-related websites, and yours was excellent. Your site has excellent resources for geography teachers to access quickly and efficiently." World says: Content: A+ Aesthetics: A+ Organization: A+ Overall: A+ Many different aspects of geography are featured here. The contents are separated into topics such as erosion, plate tectonics and weather. The site also covers issues such as population, the environment and conservation. The site has links to maps, games and quizzes that teachers could easily incorporate into an interactive lesson plan. In addition, the site has information on the field of geography including careers in geography, world records and geography in the news. Because of the extensive list of geography links this would make an excellent resource for all geography teachers. Younger students would be excited by the information on earthquakes and tsunamis, and by the space photos. Older students could handle topics such as rain forests, the Greenhouse Effect and mining. Teachers will also find information on the five themes of geography and national geography standards. The time and latitude/longitude information could also be used in mathematics classes and population issues could be discussed in social studies or ethics classes. This site shouldn't be missed!" Education World: Put Your Class on the Web says: "For some excellent examples of teacher Web sites, ...For older students and for an example of a more complex page, visit Geography World. This page contains a wealth of information, but requires a bit more Web design savvy and skills than a templated page created at a site such as Web Worksheet Wizard or Scholastic." United Nations International School says: "Geography World features a large collection of resources and links for geography teachers and students at all levels. It covers things like erosion, ecosystems, population, and conservation." Teacher Education says: "What better way to start the Site of the Moment in the new millennium than with a site that details the whole globe. Geography World is a huge resource for any geographical information that you hope to find. With resources covering every nation and continent, homework sites, culture facts, population data, the list is endless...Geography World is all you need in this subject. It is a credit to its creator Mr. Bowerman. Fantastic work Geography World!" SchoolZone - (UK) - 4 1/2 stars rating (based on 2 reviews) "The site lists all geographical interests ranging from climate, weather, population, conservation, environment. Hosted by Brad Bowerman, a real US teacher (you can even see his classroom from all angles!) and sponsored by Google, this site is a comprehensive search tool to find any website geographical, for example Agriculture, Conservation, Erosion, Weathering, GIS. There are even links to geographical games and a teacher area with useful links to all sorts. This is the personal site of Brad Bowerman who has collected a large collection of geographical links on a site supported by adverts and donations. The site is very slow to load, so be patient. Once opened it has a list of around fifty categories include various continents, countries, time zones and earth sciences. Clicking on a category brings up a large nummber of links with very brief descriptions. All thge links appear current. The site also has a large section devoted to links rto games, puzzles, quizzes and related materials. The site is also fully searchable, making bthis a wonderful source of information." Netsurfer Education says: " Arrrh! Help! Like a fly in a spider's web, we found ourselves entangled in an enveloping screen full of geography links. With our struggles weakening, we frantically took refuge in the alphabetical list of topics, but found ourselves once again confronted, surrounded, boxed in with hot links. This sticky place is Brad Bowerman's, who teaches geography at Lakeland High school, in Jermyn, PA, and it's an absolute gold mine for teachers, parents, students involved one way or another, willingly or unwillingly, in geography. Surely every place of any merit that deals with geography is here, with Bowerman's comments. The place has evidently won lots of awards and collected adulatory reviews. This is the kind of awesome place that makes you wonder: where does the guy get the energy, the time, the creative zest to do this? It's not as if he never gets out of the classroom or the computer lab either, because he coaches track and field and weightlifting and he's a pretty mean lifter himself. And he takes vacations, all linked and annotated here, natch, including his year 2000 vacation to Montreal. We're exhausted just reviewing the place. This site definitely deserves your eyeballs." Please report broken links! Copyright © 2014. Geography World. All Rights Reserved.
Martin Luther wrote The Freedom of a Christian in response to the Pope’s criticisms of his teaching. Contrary to popular belief, Luther wasn’t opposed to the Catholic Church as such, and was pretty gutted when they kicked him out; it was more that he thought they were wrong about some crucial things, and should admit the errors of their ways and agree with him instead. The Freedom of a Christian comes accompanied with a charming little letter which goes roughly like this: Dear Pope Leo, I want to make it clear that, while I've attacked the ungodly doctrines of the Catholic Church and your terribly corrupt See, I've never attacked you personally. Sometimes I actually stand up for you, and to show you just how much I wish you well, I've sent you this little treatise, explaining why you are wrong and I am right. Lots of love, Luther’s argument revolves around two basic principles: 1. A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. 2. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all. He says that human beings have a twofold nature: the spiritual, inner soul, which the Bible refers to as the ‘new man’, and the carnal, outward flesh, which the Bible calls the ‘old man.’ A Christian becomes righteous not by anything to do with the flesh, but only by faith in the Word of God. Only the soul can accept the Word of God, so nothing the flesh can do makes any difference. You can’t think that works get you anywhere and also have faith: as soon as you have faith you realise that you’re entirely ‘blameworthy, sinful, and damnable’, and only by trusting Christ can you become a new man. No outward work can justify a person, and nor can any outward work make a person guilty. Scripture is divided into commandments and promises. The commandments of the Bible teach us what is good, but they don’t help us to do good things: they’re just meant to show us how incapable we are of doing good. When we despair of ourselves, then the promises come to our aid: they promise that if we only believe in Jesus, we will have all things. Now, the greatest compliment you could have in a person is having faith in their goodness and trustworthiness, and the greatest insult you could pay a person is to be suspicious of them. The highest worship we can offer to God is to trust him, and the greatest rebellion against him is to disbelieve his promises. When we do good works because we think they’ll make us righteous, because we don’t trust God’s promises, they’re not worth anything and are worse than useless. Faith unites the soul with Christ as a bride with her bridegroom (giggedy giggedy), and the soul becomes one flesh with Christ. This means that everything Christ has, the soul can claim for its own and vice versa, so that soul gains Christ's grace, life and salvation, and Christ gains sin, death and damnation (aw, crap). He made them his own, and suffered, died, and descended into hell to defeat them. His sinless life was stronger than death, so he defeated death and hell and set the soul free. So, does that mean we don’t need to do good works? Well, it’s not that straightforward, sadly. Although we’re justified by faith and don’t need anything else spiritually, we still have to live on earth. The soul that has been set free by Christ wants everything else to be set free, and so disciplines the body to purify it so that it too can worship God. Works aren’t done to justify ourselves, but out of love for God. It’s a bit like a bishop: baptising children doesn’t make him a bishop, but the other way round: if he wasn’t a bishop, he wouldn’t be able to baptise children (don’t bash the bishop...analogy). A good or bad house doesn’t make a good or bad builder; a good or bad builder makes a good or bad house. When Jesus was asked to pay taxes, he pointed out that the sons of the king are exempt from taxes; but then he freely submitted and paid taxes anyway (more tax systems should depend on fish-gold). We do good works not because we need to but out of love for God and others. Some people might say, well, since I’m not justified by works, I don’t need to do any: I will do what I feel like and won’t take part in the ceremonies and rituals of Church. Incorrect. In the same way that we need food or drink, but they don’t make us righteous, we can’t stop doing good works. In this world, we’re still bound to the life of the body. In the same way that wealth is a test of poverty, the ceremonies of the Church are the test of the righteousness of faith. Small boys need to be cherished in the bosoms of maidens, but when they are older, maidens become a danger and a temptation, and in the same way, inexperienced young Christians need the restraint of Christian ceremony, even though for more mature Christians there is a danger that they will come to believe that they’re justified by ceremonies. I found it interesting reading Luther, because it made me realise just how much of the theology I've heard in churches I've belonged to can be traced back to him. But I do find him pretty dualistic: can body and soul really be separated that clearly? Are we really so hopelessly depraved and corrupt that there's nothing good in us at all before we accept Jesus? For all his clever similes, I don't find him such a rich thinker as Aquinas, and it makes me sad that he sees the beauty of salvation apparently only by contrast to the corruption of everything else.