proba
float64 0.5
1
| text
stringlengths 16
174k
|
|---|---|
0.999932 |
The average pay for an Information Security Officer is $21.69 per hour.
The average pay for an Information Security Officer is $73,037 per year.
Information security officers are primarily responsible for ensuring data security within their organization. They are in charge of implementing effective technology solutions that prevent internal and external malicious users from compromising data integrity. They install a variety of hardware devices such as routers that ensure data protection by requiring credentials before accessing sensitive data. Additionally, information security officers install software applications that filter network traffic to avoid unwanted intrusions.
In addition to these duties, information security officers also train other system users in proper computer use and provide tips on how to avoid data corruption. They develop security procedures and regularly backup crucial information to physical and cloud-based devices. Most of the time, information security officers create different security levels, giving different credentials to users according to their clearance levels. Information security officers also escalate security issues with management executives, propose innovative solutions to these issues, establish update schedules, and configure scripts to make processes faster during deployments. They create security checks in the infrastructure that helps deter hackers, spyware, and other malware from being installed in a computer.
Generally, these professionals work in an office setting with a variety of hardware needed to adjust security standards. They must follow strict privacy guidelines when handling sensitive information, as well as be proficient with basic office software to give presentations and make progress reports. They also generally need Internet access to install software that increases their productivity.
Implement and monitor information security requirements, policies, and compliance.
Assist with regulatory and data transfer procedures.
Document and communicate policies, queries, vulnerabilities, and current state of the system.
Oversee training, policies, and practices, including audits, to ensure systems are securely operated.
Identify risks by role, software, information type, and other categories and define acceptable and mitigation strategies.
|
0.955693 |
Why does not C have an exponentiation operator?
One reason is probably that few processors have a built-in exponentiation instruction.
although explicit multiplication is usually better for small positive integral exponents.
|
0.993881 |
There must be a better way than running 30 rules or more.
Would be glad to help you. Do you have the paper version of the scale and the instructions how it should be completed and scored?
אל: "'[email protected]'" , "'[email protected]'"
|
0.973743 |
How quickly can you lose weight to get a firm body that fits into that bikini? A detox diet plan can allow you to achieve your weight loss goals in a matter of 5 days.
The art of breathing correctly is called pranayama, and this is another essential part of practicing yoga. In short it aims to maximize your bioenergy therapy lung capacity by breathing in deep through your nose. When we breathe, we take in the prana, which can be explained as life energy, similar to what is called Qi in China and Japan.
|
0.964265 |
My name is Miroslav Milojevic and I am twenty-eight years old. I was born in a town Smederevska Palanka, where I finished high school as the student of the generation. Later on I went to Kragujevac and finished both the undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Faculty of Engineering. In 2015 I moved to Romania, and I have lived in Bucharest and worked for Renault since then.
When I started my career at Renault, I worked as a design engineer in the team for development of elements for power transmission. Now I am the engineering leader of the same team. My job is to coordinate the great number of development projects for brands such as Renault, Dacia, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mercedes and Lada. Also, I work as a mentor for the apprentices in my team, which I need to train and follow their development and work.
Renault has been manufacturing and developing automobiles since 1898. Today it is one of the biggest international and multi-brand companies in the world with over half a million employees in all 36 countries around the world. Since 2016 Alliance has been expanded to Renault-Nissan-Mitshubishi and now it is number one company which sold 10.8 million vehicles in the last two years.
As for its groupe in Romania, Renault has a long history of working there as well as collaborating with Dacia. It has invested a large amount of around 2.4 billion euros in Romania, so now it is the second largest groupe Renault, after France, obviously. Nowadays, the groupe Renault Romania operates as the complete and independent automobile manufacturer containing two engineering centers Renault Technologie Roumanie (RTR), and the commercial center Renault Service Romania (RSR). There is the testing center with modern and large infrastructure 40km outside Bucharest, and the manufacturing platform is placed 130km outside Bucharest and produces 350.000 vehicles, 930.000 engines, and 1.440.000 gearshifts a year.
What is the life in Romania like, and could you compare it to the life in Serbia?
Romania is a beautiful country, as well as Serbia. For one thing, it has preserved the castles from Middle Ages, which present a great touristic attraction contributing to the growth in tourism. This country has great economic industry, standard of living, and infrastructure. In comparison to Serbia, I think that the difference is big, and it will be even bigger with each passing year. The standard of living is 50% higher than ours, considering that the salaries are better but life is cheaper. Bucharest itself has almost 2 million residents, so there is even more traffic jam than in Belgrade.
However, as well as Belgrade, Bucharest has to offer a great number of activities, entertainment, and possibilities for one’s career and development. On the other hand, considering the mentality, and the way of life, I think we are pretty same, and as a people we both have the same virtues and flaws. Thereupon, I could say that I feel at home here (although my true home will always be Serbia). Our two countries are in more than friendly relationship; Romanian people really have high opinion of us, and they love us and even call us their cousins and friends. It is a nice thing to be a Serb in a country such as Romania.
I currently live in Bucharest, and my priority is Renault. I work on myself, developing engineering, technical, and managerial skills, and learning new languages. In five years I can see myself as a manager, whether a manager of projects or a manager of people. As for my private life, I can see myself having a happy family. The most important thing is to achieve a balance in your life, which is what I aspire to do.
Do you think Renault may invest in Serbia someday?
This is a very interesting question, but I cannot give an adequate response to it. The decisions regarding investment strategies are a complex issue, and all I know is that Renault is investing a lot in Russia, India, and China right now. Be that as it may, I would be really happy if Renault decided to invest in Serbia, since we have a strong infrastructure with Europe and Asia.
Viva la France 🙂 Renault for real, great job.
Renault is surname of founders. Greetings from Spain.
I would like to work in Renault group company.
|
0.99911 |
This preview shows page 76 - 83 out of 97 pages.
Consider this hypothetical A dog with osteosarcoma presented to the oncology service for the last scheduled dose of chemotherapy. The resident who saw the case noticed that the dog had not had chest x-rays for a long time. The resident attempted to contact the owner for permission to do the x-rays (animals in the oncology service are dropped off first thing in the morning and owners typically go home or to work and pick up their animals later in the day).
Hypothetical The owner was not at home, so she left a message on the answering machine. Since x-rays are a relatively benign procedure and the owner had always consented to any diagnostic test that had been recommended, the resident submitted a radiology request for x-rays. The resident figured that if the client didn't want the x-rays, we'd simply write off the charges if they had already been taken. Also, there can be a long delay between the time the request is made and the time the x-rays are taken and so getting a request in early can make all the difference in when an animal is ready to go home.
Hypothetical Approximately 2 hours later, the owner called back, insisting that x-rays not be done. She stated that they would not be therapeutic and that she could not live with the knowledge that her dog might have only 2 months to live if there were visible evidence of cancer in the lungs. The resident went down to the radiology department to pull the x-rays request only to learn that the x-rays had already been taken. The films revealed approximately 5 nodules in the lungs that were not detectable on the previous set of x-rays.
Hypothetical Here's the dilemma: What does the resident tell the client? If she admits to the client that the x-rays were taken and the client still doesn't want to know the results, what should she do? The dog was due for an expensive (~$1000) chemotherapy treatment that we knew would be ineffective.
|
0.999994 |
Punishment can be effective in specific cases, but it must be used carefully due to the difficulties of performing it properly compared to positive reinforcement and due to its potential adverse effects. The following is a description of the difficulties and adverse effects that one should be aware of when using punishment (aversives).
It’s difficult to time punishment correctly: In order for the animal to understand what it is doing wrong, the punishment must be timed to occur: while the behavior is occurring, within 1 second, or at least before the next behavior occurs.
Punishment can strengthen the undesired behavior: In order for punishment to affect a lasting change, it should occur every time the undesirable behavior occurs. If the animal is not punished every time, then the times it is not being punished, it is actually receiving a reward. Additionally these rewards are on a variable rate of reinforcement (i.e. inconsistent punishment), which may actually strengthen the undesirable behavior. Variable rate of reinforcement is a powerful reinforcement schedule that is used to maintain behaviors trained with positive reinforcement the animals know the reward will occur eventually, but since they don’t know which time the reward will come, they keep performing the behavior with the expectation of an eventual reward. Thus the animals become like gamblers playing the slot machine.
Punishment may cause physical harm when administered at high intensity: Many punishments can cause physical harm to the animal. Choke chains can damage the trachea, especially in the many dogs with collapsing tracheas or hypoplastic tracheas. They can also occasionally cause Horner’s syndrome (damage to the nerve to the eye). Some dogs, especially brachycephalic breeds, have developed sudden life-threatening pulmonary edema, possibly due to the sudden upper airway obstruction leading to a rapid swing in intrathoracic pressure. And dogs prone to glaucoma may be more susceptible to the disorder since pressure by collars around the neck can increase intraocular pressure.
Regardless of the strength, punishment can cause some individuals to become extremely fearful, and this fear can generalize to other contexts: Some punishments may not cause physical harm and may not seem severe, but they can cause the animal to become fearful, and this fear may generalize to other contexts. For instance, some dogs on which the citronella or electronic collar are used with a preceding tone may react fearfully to alarm clocks, smoke detectors, or egg timers.
Punishment can facilitate or even cause aggressive behavior: Punishment has been shown to increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior in many species. Animals in which the punishment does not immediately suppress the behavior may escalate in their efforts to avoid the punishment to the point where they become aggressive. Those who already show aggressive behavior may exhibit more intense and injurious aggressive behaviors.
Punishment can suppress behaviors, including those behaviors that warn that a bite may occur: When used effectively, punishment can suppress the behavior of fearful or aggressive animals, but it may not change the association underlying the behavior. Thus, it may not address the underlying problem. For instance, if the animal is aggressive due to fear, then the use of force to stop the fearful reactions will make the dog more fearful while at the same time suppressing or masking the outward signs of fear. Once it can no longer suppress its fear, the animal may suddenly act with heightened aggression and with fewer warning signs of impending aggression. In other words, it may now attack with no warning.
Punishment can lead to a bad association: Regardless of the strength of the punishment, punishment can cause animals to develop a negative association with the person implementing it or the environment in which the punishment is used. For instance, when punishment is used for training dogs to come when called, the dogs may learn to come at a trot or walk (or cower while approaching) rather than returning to the owners at a fast run as if they enjoy returning to their owners. Or when punishment is used during obedience competition training or agility training for competitions, dogs may perform the exercises with lack of enthusiasm. This negative association is particularly clear when the dog immediately becomes energetic once the exercise is over and it is allowed to play. Pets are not the only ones who can develop a negative association from this process. Owners may develop a negative association, too. When owners use punishment, they are often angry, thus the expression of force is reinforcing to them because it temporarily decreases their anger. They may develop a habit of frequently becoming angry with their pet because it “misbehaves†in spite of their punishment. This may damage the bond with their pet.
|
0.999985 |
On your form, leave space after each question to fill in the candidate's response.
1. Describe your last three years of work experience. What were your responsibilities?
What experience have you had that would qualify you to perform these tasks?
3. What other background or experience have you had that would be useful to our company?
2. How can those achievements be translated to our company's benefit?
3. What suggestions did you make at your last job to improve company operations?
1. What personal goals did you set when you took your last job?
2. How well did you accomplish them?
3. How do you feel about doing routine assignments?
1. What are your outside interests?
2. Tell me about your greatest career disappointment?
3. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a major confrontation with a subordinate?
|
0.997817 |
Over the past decade, I feel like I have really heard it all when it comes to objections to dental cleanings for pets.
In your veterinary career, you will probably see many pets in need of dental care. Some clients will follow your recommendations, while others may forego complete dental care in favor of anesthesia-free dentistry.
Your job is to educate clients on the differences between these two options, in the hopes that they will make the best decisions for their pets.
There’s no denying it: dentistry is an important part of small animal preventive medicine. If you find yourself in small animal practice after veterinary school, client education regarding dental disease will probably occupy a significant portion of your workweek.
|
0.986607 |
Why do sports doctors use infrared saunas for athletes?
Athletes today enjoy greater technological benefits to their training and recovery programs than ever before in the past. Research and medicine have evolved greatly, and athletes who take advantage of the best and latest tools, products and systems can see great dividends in terms of their body and their performance on the field. One such tool which has been emerging is the usage of infrared saunas for athletes. These can provide you with a wide range of benefits, and most importantly, can help you to heal and recover from injuries of all kinds in much less time.
Normal injury recovery times can vary greatly, depending of course on the type of injury you've suffered. A pulled muscle might take a few days, while a torn muscle or ligament can take a few months. This of course removes you from action, while also limiting your effectiveness and reducing your body strength and capability. Any way that can effectively minimize or reduce healing time should be carefully examined and utilized, and that's what infrared saunas for athletes are all about.
In the past, your options for dealing with injuries were pretty limited. A normal doctor might be able to give you something for pain, or for inflammation, but recovery time wasn't really boosted whatsoever. Surgical procedures could be performed for bad injuries, and those come with their own rehabilitation programs, and large overhead prices. Physical therapy could be performed, and that's an ongoing process, and one which cannot always be effectively applied.
To find a new solution, our advanced technology actually goes back to something more natural and basic. When in doubt, a natural mode of healing and recovery is always preferable, and that's what infrared saunas for athletes can do. It has been well known for quite some time that radiant heat is an excellent means for treating injuries ranging from sprains and strains to pulls, tears, muscle spasms and more.
What makes radiant heat so effective, and how is it different from other kinds of heat? In order to understand this, you have to understand the three basic ways of transferring heat. The first is the most basic, and it's called conduction. Heat here is transferred through physical contact, as a hotter object gives heat to something less hot.
The next method of heat transfer is convection. With convection, particles in the air are heated and disperse, rising in a circular fashion, creating room for cooler particles to be heated, which in turn do the same. This is the way that a normal sauna creates heat.
Infrared saunas for athletes are different though, as they utilize that special form of heat transfer known as radiant heat, mentioned above. When being heated through radiation, the surrounding air doesn't have to get hotter for you to get hot. Instead, infrared or radiant heat directly heats your body. The heat therefore doesn't just come into contact with the outside of your body, it actually penetrates your body.
Your joints, muscles, tissues and everything else actually receives this radiant heat directly. What this does is that it increases the flow of both oxygen and blood to your body. It also relieves tension and relaxes muscles, reducing soreness on nerves and in muscle spasms, and allows the body to heal itself more efficiently. Your body will feel instantly better, but more important, you will be enabling it to heal itself much more rapidly, efficiently and successfully.
All of this provides your body with great and profound therapeutic benefits. It's not all conjecture either, it's backed by some of the leading researchers in the fields of sports medicine. One expert in the field, Dr. Jeffrey Spencer, who has a Master's in Sports Science from the University of Southern California, notes that infrared saunas for athletes increase blood flow to muscles, deliver more concentrated oxygen to the muscles and in turn creates more energy and capacity for the body to heal itself.
If you're an athlete today, it's time to catch up with the latest treatments so that you can perform at your best and recover more successfully, and in less time. Some of the best treatments today are actually based on older concepts, like radiant heat provided by infrared saunas for athletes. The benefits can be great, and it's a natural and reliable treatment method you can trust.
To the top of "infrared saunas for athletes"
|
0.999992 |
Which species of hardwood would be suitable for your space?
Hardwood timber comes in an assortment of species. Ultimately, your choice of hardwood would heavily rely on your personal taste as well as your style preferences. For instance, if you are looking to make the space appear brighter and airier, you should opt for hardwood species such as ash or maple. This is because this type of hardwood has a characteristic lighter brown finish, which creates the illusion of a space that is open.
On the other hand, if you are looking to create a formal aesthetic in the room, then you should consider species such as mahogany or walnut. These types of hardwood have a darker finish, which creates the illusion of professionalism and formality.
Lastly, if you are installing your hardwood flooring in spaces that will be exposed to heavy traffic such as a playroom or an entertainment area, then you may want to consider species such as cherry or maple. These species of hardwood are hardier than other forms of hardwood, making them less susceptible to superficial damage.
How do you prevent premature damages to your hardwood?
Another important question to have in mind would be how you can prevent your hardwood flooring from acquiring premature damages. There are several ways that you could do this. Firstly, you may want to consider investing in heavy area rugs for spaces that endure high traffic. This is most commonly in hallways, living spaces and more.
Secondly, if you have pets in the home, it would be prudent to ensure their nails are trimmed on a regular basis. This will go a long way in keeping your hardwood flooring free from scratches. You should also try to enforce a no-shoes policy in your home, especially for high heels.
Lastly, if your hardwood flooring acquires some superficial damage, it is prudent to address it as soon as you can. Rubbing a wax stick on a scratch can prevent the finish from succumbing to disrepair.
|
0.58455 |
It's that time of year again. NaNoWriMo. For those not in the know, National Novel Writing Month. The goal: write 50,000 words of a novel from November 1 to November 30. The prize: a chance to say, "I wrote 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days--what did you do?"
It may seem silly for me to enroll in NaNoWriMo when novel writing is, you know, my job. I had even started a new manuscript a couple of weeks ago, only to put it down after 20,000 words in so I could mentally prepare for the novel I've been "saving" for NaNoWriMo. That's even sillier, right? Add to that the assertion I made a couple of years ago: "I'm never doing NaNoWriMo again!"
So what's behind my decision to do NaNoWriMo again?
Let me start with why I made the previous assertion in the first place. Writing 50,000 words of a novel--in any stretch of time--is an impressive achievement. Writing 50K in 30 days is especially impressive for people who have full-time jobs and families. (Me? I don't even have a cat.) My writing process consists of me writing on the fly with little to no preparatory outlining/organizing. I get the words on the page and figure out what they mean and where they go during the revision process (which, for me, is the blood, sweat, and tears of writing). Sounds like a good fit for NaNoWriMo then, right? Just bang the words out and worry about it all later.
Except here's the thing: When you're constantly thinking about word count, the words you "bang out" tend to be, well, wordy. In short, my NaNo novels were the ones that needed the most editing and re-writing. They contained more passive voice, more redundancy, more drawn out description than when I'm less concerned about making a word count (although I do usually set word count goals when I draft, even if just a few hundred words at a time).
The pressure of the NaNo challenge can also cause writers to break out in spontaneous weeping, excessive caffeine ingestion, and the accumulation of a really big pile of laundry. And for what, again? What do we win?
Well, for one thing, NaNoWriMo typically brings writers together. For the most part, writing a novel is a solitary act. Sure, I'll report my daily word counts on Facebook and Twitter, and read the comments from my fellow writers ("Shut up"), but it's not the same as knowing that a group of people, collectively, are participating in the same insanity as you are at the same time. Participants across the country form writing groups where they can gather in one place for the sole purpose of writing. They share word counts and receive cheers and notes of encouragement from strangers and friends. Some even post excerpts of their work as they go along. I get to be simultaneously competitive and supportive.
But here's the main reason why I'm doing it: Process.
Earlier this year my brother Mike started blogging about making an album (he's since put the blog on hiatus, and I miss it!). I loved it because I somehow felt part of the project, even though, like me, he doesn't like to share the content. I thought it would be interesting for me to blog about the process of writing a novel (without revealing what the novel is about), yet I worry that doing so will somehow interfere with the creative part (Mike had those same worries).
There's something special about witnessing a project develop from start to finish. When I saw The Social Network for the first time, I felt as if somehow I had been part of its being born solely because I'd witnessed Aaron Sorkin share stories about the writing, filming, working with David Fincher, etc. Maybe, if I document my process, readers will feel the same way should this book be published (which is the greater goal). Maybe they'll be surprised to learn what's involved. Maybe it'll somehow ruin the magic for them, like watching how sausages are made.
I must really be nuts, however: write 50,000 words of a novel--and a weekly blogpost about the process--in 30 days? To say nothing of the fact that I'll be making at least two trips to NY, possibly three?
What can I say? It's my job. Beats workin' for a living.
A couple of weeks ago, Suzy Turner was kind enough to host me on her Fiction Dreams website. I had so much fun answering her questions that when I found out she had just released her first chick lit novel, titled Forever Fredless, I decided not only to repay her kindness by hosting her on my blog, but invited her to answer the same questions she challenged me with!
Q: Do dreams inspire your writing? What did you last dream about?
Q: When did you first start writing? And when were you first published?
Q: What is it about chick lit that appeals to you the most? Do you read other genres? If so, which?
To me chick lit should have plenty of love (or the search for love), friendships (perhaps the most important aspect of the genre), fun / comedy, heartache. I want to feel so many different emotions whilst reading it.
But I do read other stuff too - I LOVE YA urban fantasy, dystopia and steampunk. But I'm always willing to give any genre a go. I've been known to read horrors, thrillers, sci-fi, crime drama. I guess you could say I have eclectic tastes!
Q: What's the title of your latest book? Can you tell us about it?
A: It was a special holiday my husband and I had with some of our best friends on the islands of the Azores.
Q: Is it part of a series?
A: I only ever intended it to be a stand alone novel but you might see some of the characters appear in other books.
Q: Have you ever spotted anyone reading your books anywhere?
Afraid not! If I did, I probably wouldn't be able to stop grinning for a week!
Q: Who designs your covers?
A: Ravven (www.ravven.com). She's absolutely amazing.
Q: If your latest book was made into a film, who would you cast?
A: Somebody like Emily Blunt would play Kate, and that guy who recently played Superman would be Marc. Oooh yes, he'd be perfect!
Q: What's your favourite Chick Lit book that made it to the big screen?
A: There are so many I loved but The Devil Wears Prada was a pretty good adaptation.
Q: What were the last two books you read?
Q: Name one female author who you think deserves to be better known.
A: Oh only one? No, I can't do it. I have to name three: Shalini Boland, Melissa Pearl and Poppet. They are ALL amazing!
A: I wish I could say in my own private enchanted office, but alas no. I usually sit at the end of the dining table under the stairs a la Harry Potter.
An archaeologist, a dancer and a psychologist!
Q: In the movie of your life, who would play you?
A: Sandra Bullock, definitely. Although I look more like Sporty Spice (I used to get told that ALL the time).
Sky high heels or closer to the ground? Closer to the ground during the day, heels for a party.
E.L. James or Jilly Cooper? Jilly Cooper. She was my first chick lit love.
Cry baby or tough cookie? Cry baby. I even blubber during adverts!
Exotic beach or enchanted forest? Enchanted forest... sigh.
|
0.996366 |
You probably have a t-shirt quilt in your stack of blankets. Maybe it was made by a loving aunt for your high school graduation? My guess is that it is a twin-size quilt with the front of 20 t-shirts from activities you participated in held together by sashing in your high school's colors. I'm sure you love this quilt and appreciate the effort which went into it, but let's be real - you're not holding onto it for its beauty.
I'm now knee-deep in babies. With a 3 year old and 1 year old, I'm simultaneously wishing for them to become independent and deeply nostalgic for 6 months ago. And I'm utterly buried in precious, sentimental clothes. There has to be a way to make a beautiful, high-quality keepsake from these cloths.
Modern quilt top made with baby clothes.
What makes a quilt design "modern"?
There is no one answer to what encapsulates modern quilting, but to me, modern quilt designs share a few characteristics: a lot of white-space, a lack of borders, and fabric selection.
White space: Using a solid-colored back ground gives your quilt blocks room to breath. Don't be afraid to have larger areas of just background color. I, personally, like to use white as my background, which I think gives a crisp, clean look.
Lack of borders: The quilts of the '90s often have multiple, ornate borders. Modern quilts often repeat their pattern all the way to binding or have a border of the background color.
Fabric selection: Many modern quilts use brighter colors than traditional quilts, and patterns tend to be simple. When you're making a memory quilt, your fabric selection is predetermined by the clothing you are using.
Every quilter will tell you different things make quilts modern, so in this and in all of life, you do you.
I'm going to shoot you straight - This should not be your first quilt. Or second. You want to have a firm grasp on the basics of making a quilt before attempting to make something from clothing. The materials used in clothing can be difficult to work with and you will have to do troubleshooting.
The fabric used to make clothing is far lower quality than quilting cotton. This can make working with it more difficult and effect the longevity of your quilt.
Plan ahead. Pull out the outfits that are especially special or which have motifs you definitely want to include. Work with these last to make the likelihood of mistakes as small as possible.
Expect to have a lot of waste and errors. Make 10% more blocks than you think you need. It is very hard to tear out mistakes on jersey (t-shirt fabric) without stretching and damaging the fabric. It's much easier to replace the blocks.
Use quilting cotton as your background. I recommend at least 50% of the fabric of the quilt top being quilting cotton. Not only does this add to the modern look, but the quilting cotton adds strength to your quilt top. It is also much easier to sew jersey to quilting cotton than to another piece of jersey.
Use high-quality fabric for the backing. It's tempting to save money on backing fabric, but a t-shirt quilt benefits from the extra stability a good quality backing fabric provides.
A walking foot can reduce stretching. I highly recommend using one, especially if the quilt is not paper pieced.
Paper piecing gives your project a lot of reinforcement and precision during the piecing process and is a good option for t-shirt quilts.
When quilting the quilt together, make your stitching more dense than you typically would. This is another way to add stability and strength to the quilt so that it lasts.
Fussy cutting can add a lot of character to your blocks.
How many outfits you need varies widely, based on both the pattern chosen and how much of the clothing is usable. As a rule of thumb, I have found that a paper grocery bag full of outfits is enough to make a throw quilt (~60 x 60").
In children's clothes, I see wovens most often as button up shirts and dresses, especially plaids. You can see thread running perpendicular to each other (the warp and weft). Light-weight cotton, linen, and poly blend woven fabrics are great to work with, but heavier materials, such as would be used for a coat, should be avoided.
Most children's clothing is jersey - onesies, t-shirts, many dresses. If it's really stretchy, it's probably jersey.
You need to put interfacing on the back of all jersey before cutting. I use Pellon P44F Fusible Interfacing because it's inexpensive and comes on a large roll, but there are plenty of other options out there.
Very stretchy - be careful when aligning seams. Pin every seam intersection.
A walking foot is helpful for working with stretchy fabrics and thick seams.
You want your quilt to have fabrics that are somewhat similar in feel. I recommend avoiding knits, such as sweaters, fleece, very thick or thin materials, corduroy, or fabrics that have a high acrylic content (these are likely to melt).
Your clothes might have cute decorative areas that can be incorporated into blocks. These could be very ornate, like ruffles, bows, lace, etc. But don't over look simple things. Buttons, pockets, seams, and other parts of the clothes which would typically be cut away can be used to decorative effect. Experiment by making a few blocks, and if you don't like them, take them out before the final assembly of your quilt.
Many t-shirts have motifs on them. You might want to fussy cut around these to make sure the best parts end up in your quilt. Also, you need to cautious with an iron around motifs. Test on a scrap or you will end up with a melted image.
In my experience, embroidery can be cut and used without much extra care. The biggest challenge is that the fabric ends up being very thick there, so your machine might have more trouble feeding through your machine (a walking foot helps), and you might not be able to control which direction you press the seam.
A button on a pocket became a cute quilt detail.
Good luck on your quilt!
|
0.999998 |
What's so unique about the following items? For instance, President James Buchanan was the only bachelor president of the United States.
Although I'm sure there are other unique aspects to these animals, places and things, here's what I've got.
1) The two-toed sloth is the only land mammel besides man that mates face to face.
2) The chow chow is the only dog with a black tongue.
3) The hyoid bone, which supports the tongue, is the only bone in the human body that doesn't touch another bone.
4) Mercury is the only metal that's a liquid at room temperature.
5) Negative 40 degrees is the only temperature where Fahrenheit and Celsius thermometers read the same.
6) Kahoolawe is the only uninhabited Hawaiian island.
7) The pyramids are only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing.
8) Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture.
9) Nepal is the only country with a nonrectangular flag.
10) Libya is the only country with a single-color flag.
11) Ohio is the only state with a nonrectangular flag.
|
0.955014 |
\");"; var sefjspfok = '\n\ google_ad_client = "ca-pub-0242156374298669";\n\ /* film-carre-pagepersonne */\n\ google_ad_slot = "6694731144";\n\ google_ad_width = 300;\n\ google_ad_height = 250;\n\ '; //afp(sefjspfok, 'p_bf1', 0, 300, 250); John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe, and one Academy Award. In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
John Legend was born on December 28, 1978. He is one of four children of Phyllis Stephens (née Lloyd), a seamstress, and Ronald Stephens, a factory worker and former National Guardsman. Throughout his childhood, Legend was homeschooled on and off by his mother. At the age of four, he performed with his church choir. He began playing the piano at age seven. At the age of twelve, Legend attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later. Upon his salutatorian graduation, Legend was offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown University and Morehouse College. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African-American literature.
During this period, he began to hold a number of shows around Philadelphia, eventually expanding his audience base to New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. He finished college in 1999, and thereafter began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released two albums independently; his self-titled demo (2000) and Live at Jimmy's Uptown (2001), which he sold at his shows. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Legend began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. During this time, he began working on his demo and began sending his work to various record labels. In 2001, Devo Springsteen introduced Legend to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West; Legend was hired to sing during the hooks of West's music. After signing to West's label, he chose his stage name from an idea that was given to him by poet J. Ivy, due to what he perceived "old-school sound". J. Ivy stated, "I heard your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school. You sound like one of the legends. As a matter of fact, that's what I'm going to call you from now on! I'm going to call you John Legend." After J. Ivy continued to call him by the new moniker "John Legend," others quickly caught on, including Kanye West, and the name stuck. Despite Legend's reluctance to change his stage name, he eventually announced his new artist name as John Legend.
Broke* begins two years in the past, at the beginnings of Gray’s independent journey, recording demos in the basement of his friend's home. The demos come to the attention of producer T Bone Burnett who asks to meet and listen to more of Gray’s music.
Alors qu'elle l'aide à retrouver la forme, une femme kinésithérapeute, tombe amoureuse d'un joueur de basket dont la carrière est brutalement menacée, et dont la femme est sa cousine.
L'humoriste américain Dave Chappelle souhaite organiser une block party au coin de Quincy Street et Downing Street dans le quartier de Clinton Hill à Brooklyn, New York. Il se rend donc dans le quartier pour repérer les lieux et discuter avec les habitants, notamment ceux de la Broken Angel House.
Alors qu'elle a été négligée dans son enfance, une femme devient une mère hyper-protectrice avec son fils.
Le film traite de la War on Drugs (guerre contre les drogues) qui se déroule aux États-Unis.
|
0.94675 |
A Eurasian is a person of mixed Asian and European ancestry.
Portuguese people are a Romance ethnic group indigenous to Portugal that share a common Portuguese culture and speak Portuguese. Their predominant religion is Christianity, mainly Roman Catholicism, though vast segments of the population, especially the younger generations, have no religious affiliation. Historically, the Portuguese people's heritage includes the pre-Celts and Celts. A number of Portuguese descend from converted Jewish and North Africans as a result of the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.
The phenotype of an organism is the composite of the organism's observable characteristics or traits, including its morphology or physical form and structure; its developmental processes; its biochemical and physiological properties; its behavior, and the products of behavior, for example, a bird's nest. An organism's phenotype results from two basic factors: the expression of an organism's genetic code, or its genotype, and the influence of environmental factors, which may interact, further affecting phenotype. When two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species, the species is called polymorphic. A well-documented polymorphism is Labrador Retriever coloring; while the coat color depends on many genes, it is clearly seen in the environment as yellow, black and brown. Richard Dawkins in 1978 and then again in his 1982 book The Extended Phenotype suggested that bird nests and other built structures such as caddis fly larvae cases and beaver dams can be considered as "extended phenotypes".
Sir Richard Ottley was an English Royalist politician and soldier who served as a youth in the English Civil War in Shropshire. After the Restoration he played a prominent part in the repression of Parliamentarians and Nonconformists and was MP for Shropshire in the Cavalier Parliament.
The Portuguese arrived in 1505 in what outsiders then called Ceylon. Since there were no women in the Portuguese navy, the Portuguese sailors married local Sinhalese and Tamil women. This practice was encouraged by the Portuguese.
The Dutch first made contact and signed a trade agreement with the Kingdom of Kandy in 1602. From 1640 on the Dutch East India Company (VOC) had a governor installed and conquered more and more fords from the Portuguese, until, in 1658, the last Portuguese were expelled. However, they permitted a few stateless persons of Portuguese-Jewish (Marrano) descent, and of mixed Portuguese-Sinhalese ancestry to stay. Many people having a Portuguese name were a result of forced conversions of local/native people in order to work for the Portuguese. As a result, Burghers with Portuguese names are most likely to be of Sinhalese ancestry, with a very small portion being Portuguese or mixed Portuguese-Sinhalese ancestry. Those of a Portuguese-Jewish background can be traced in various forms or surmised from their surname. Most Burghers of Eurasian descent with Portuguese surnames are of Sinhalese and Dutch, British, German and/or other European descent.
The Kingdom of Kandy was an independent monarchy of the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century.
Marranos were Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, yet continued to practice Judaism in secret.
During the Dutch period, all Dutch colonial operations were overseen by the VOC ('Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie' or United East India Company). Virtually all Burghers from this period were employees of the VOC. The VOC employed not only Dutch nationals, but also enlisted men from the Southern Netherlands, the German states, Denmark and Austria. It is therefore not unusual to find ancestors from these countries in many Dutch Burgher family trees.
The term 'Burgher' comes from the Dutch word burger, meaning "citizen" or "town dweller", and is cognate with the French and English word "bourgeois". At this time in Europe, there had emerged a middle class, consisting of people who were neither aristocrats nor serfs. These were the traders and businessmen, who lived in towns and were considered free citizens. In Europe, they were called burghers, and they were encouraged to migrate to the colonies in order to expand business horizons.
Dutch Ceylon had two classes of people of European descent: those who were paid by the VOC and were referred to as Company servants (i.e. employees), and those who had migrated of their own free will. The latter were not referred to as burghers in Ceylon, but rather by their rank, position or standing.
During British colonial rule, they were referred to by the British as 'Dutch Burghers' and formed the European-descended civilian population in Ceylon. To some degree the term of Burgher was used in a derogatory way to divide and conquer the population, as it distinguished between British and other races or positions. The 'Dutch Burgher' community took pride in its own achievements and prized their European ancestry. A number of Dutch Burgher Union journals have been created over a period of time, to record family histories. They were not only of Dutch origin but incorporated European (Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, French, Swedish etc.), United Kingdom, Portuguese Mix, and Sinhalese lines.
When the British took over in 1796, many VOC employees chose to leave. However, a significant number chose to stay, mostly those of mixed descent. Some chose to go to Batavia, which was the headquarters of the VOC. Reportedly about 900 families, both free citizens and United East India Company employees, decided to remain in Ceylon. The British referred to them all as 'Dutch Burghers'. One condition of their being allowed to stay was that they had to sign a Treaty of Capitulation to the British. Many 'Dutch Burghers' can find their ancestors' names in this treaty. At the time of the British conquest, the 900 'Dutch Burgher' families residing in Ceylon were concentrated in Colombo, Galle, Matara and Jaffna.
The Burghers included members of the Swiss de Meuron Regiment, a mercenary unit employed by the VOC. In diplomatic negotiations in Europe, Count de Meuron pledged allegiance to the British in exchange for back pay and information. This allowed the British to get detailed fortification information and reduce the fighting strength of Ceylon prior to 1796. The de Meuron Regiment refused to fight the Dutch due to relationships forged on the island of Ceylon and South Africa. Post 1796 members of the de Meuron Regiment stayed in Ceylon, whilst the regiment itself went off to fight and distinguish itself in India and later in Canada.
Data is based on the Sri Lankan Government Census.
In the census of 1981, the Burgher population of Sri Lanka was 39,374 persons, about 0.2% of the total population. The highest concentration of Burghers is in Colombo (0.72%) and Gampaha (0.5%). There are also significant communities in Trincomalee and Batticaloa, with an estimated population of 20,000.
Burgher descendants are spread throughout the world. Families with surnames such as Van Dort (or the variant Vandort) are of Dutch ancestry.
Percentage of burghers per district based on 2001 or 1981 (cursive) census.
Nowadays Burgher people predominantly speak Sinhala. Until the early 20th century, many Burghers spoke English and a form of Portuguese Creole, even those of Dutch descent. Portuguese Creole had been the language of trade and communication with Sri Lankans. It is now only spoken in parts of the coastal towns of Trincomalee and Batticaloa. While much vocabulary is from Portuguese, its grammar is based on that of Tamil and Sinhalese.
Burgher culture is a mixture of East and West, reflecting their ancestry. They are the most Europeanised of the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. Most of them wear modern contemporary clothing, although it is not uncommon for a man to be seen wearing a sarong , or for a woman to wear a sari .
A number of elements in Burgher culture have become part of the cultures of other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. For example, baila music, which has its origin in the music of 16th-century Portugal, has found its way into mainstream popular Sinhalese music. Lacemaking, which began as a domestic pastime of Burgher women, is now a part of Sinhalese culture too. Even certain foods, such as love cake, bol fiado (layered cake), ijzer koekjes , frikkadels (savoury meatballs) and lamprais, have become an integral part of Sri Lankan national cuisine.
Burghers are not physically homogeneous. It is possible to have a blond, pale white-skinned Burgher, as well as a Burgher with a very dark complexion and black hair, a Burgher with complexion from brown to light brown and black hair, and a Burgher with fairer complexion and black hair. Pale-skinned and dark-skinned children can even appear as brother and sister in the same family of the same parents. Burghers share a common culture rather than a common ethnicity.
Burghers have a very strong interest in their family histories. Many old Burgher families kept stamboeken (from the Dutch for "clan books"). These recorded not only dates of births, marriages and deaths, but also significant events in the history of a family, such as details of moving house, illnesses, school records, and even major family disputes. An extensive, multi-volume stamboek of many family lineages is kept by the Dutch Burgher Union.
However, some traditions attributed to Judaism can also be explained as borrowings or retention from the Tamil and Sinhalese communities with whom many Burgher families also share ancestry and culture. For example, the purification bath after a girl’s first period is a common cultural feature of the Tamil and Sinhalese communities of Sri Lanka and neighboring India. Hence its prevalence amongst some Burghers families of Sri Lanka is not necessarily of Jewish origins.
Some commentators believe that the Burghers’ own mixed backgrounds have made their culture more tolerant and open. While inter-communal strife has been a feature of modern Sri Lankan life, some Burghers have worked to maintain good relations with other ethnic groups.
In 2001 the Burghers established a heritage association, the Burgher Association, with headquarters at No.393, Union Place, Colombo 2 Sri Lanka.
Islam is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. 9.66% of the Sri Lankan population practice Islam. 1,997,361 persons adhere to Islam as per the census of 2012.
Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese, Ceylonese Portuguese Creole or Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole (SLPC) is a language spoken in Sri Lanka. While the predominant languages of the island are Sinhala and Tamil, the interaction of the Portuguese and the Sri Lankans led to the evolution of a new language, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole (SLPC), which flourished as a lingua franca on the island for over 350 years. SLPC continues to be spoken by an unknown, extremely small population. All speakers of SLPC are members of the Burgher community: descendents of the Portuguese and Dutch who founded families in Sri Lanka. Europeans, Eurasians and Burghers account for 0.2% of the Sri Lankan population. Though only a small group of people actually continue to speak SLPC, Portuguese cultural traditions are still in wide practice by many Sri Lankans who are neither of Portuguese descent nor Roman Catholics. SLPC is associated with the Sri Lanka Kaffir people, an ethnic minority group. SLPC has been considered the most important creole dialect in Asia because of its vitality and the influence of its vocabulary on the Sinhalese language. Lexical borrowing from Portuguese can be observed in many areas of the Sinhalese language. Portuguese influence has been so deeply absorbed into daily Sri Lankan life and behavior that these traditions will likely continue into perpetuity.
Sri Lankan Australians refers to people of Sri Lankan heritage living in Australia; this includes Sri Lankans by birth and by ancestry. Sri Lankan Australians constitute one of the largest groups of Overseas Sri Lankan communities and are the largest diasporic Sri Lankan community in Oceania. Sri Lankan Australians consist of people with Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher, Malay and Chinese origins among others.
The caste systems in Sri Lanka are social stratification systems found among the ethnic groups of the island since ancient times. The models are similar to those found in Continental India, but are less extensive and important for various reasons, although the caste systems still play an important and at least symbolic role in religion and politics. Sri Lanka is often considered to be a casteless or caste-blind society by Indians.
In Sri Lanka, the names Mestiços or Casados ("Married") referred to people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. The names can be traced back to the 16th century.
The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are Roman Catholic and spoke the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school as a second language. A large number of Portuguese Burghers living on the east coast of Sri Lanka are of Portuguese descent; this is evident in the Sri Lanka-Indo Portuguese language, which has many affiliations to Sinhalese and Portuguese. They are mixed with other Burgher people, including Dutch Burghers. However, Portuguese Burghers are not Dutch Burghers.
Colombo District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Colombo.
Sri Lankan Chetties also known as Colombo Chetties, is an ethnicity in the island of Sri Lanka. Formerly considered a Sri Lankan Tamil caste, were classified as a separate ethnic group in the 2001 census. They were a class of Tamil speaking traders, who migrated from the South India under Portuguese rule.
Sri Lankan place name etymology is characterized by the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the island of Sri Lanka through the ages and the position of the country in the centre of ancient and medieval sea trade routes. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of Sinhalese origin vastly dominate, toponyms which stem from Tamil, Dutch, English, Portuguese and Arabic also exist. In the past, the many composite or hybrid place names and the juxtaposition of Sinhala and Tamil placenames reflected the coexistence of people of both language groups. Today, however, toponyms and their etymologies are a source of heated political debate in the country as part of the political struggles between the majority Sinhalese and minority Sri Lankan Tamils.
Dutch Ceylon was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch managed to capture most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka they were never able to control the Kandyan Kingdom located in the interior of the island. Dutch Ceylon existed from 1640 until 1796.
Ceylon was a British Crown colony between 1815 and 1948. Initially the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1815 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka.
British Sri Lankans are a demographic construct that contains people who can trace their ancestry to Sri Lanka. It can refer to a variety of ethnicities and races, including Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors/Muslims, and Burghers.
Kandyan Kingdom falling into the hands of the British Empire and deposing of king Sri Wickrama Rajasingha started the history of British Ceylon It ended over 2300 years of Sinhalese monarchy rule on the island. The British rule on the island lasted until 1948 when the country gained independence.
The Dutch Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Dutch, Portuguese Burghers and Sri Lankan descent. However, they are different community when compared with Portuguese Burghers. Originally Protestant, many Burghers today are Christian, but belong to a variety of denominations. The Dutch Burghers of Sri Lanka speak English and the local languages Sinhala and Tamil.
The Sri Lankan Malaysians are an ethnic group that consists of people of full or partial Sri Lankan descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia.
Indian Moors were a grouping of people who existed in Sri Lanka predominantly during its colonial period. They were distinguished by their Muslim faith whose origins traced back to the British Raj. Therefore, Indian Moors refer to a number of ethnic groups such as Memons, Bohra and Khoja. These groups tended to retain their own ancestral practices and language. However the largest specific group were Tamils from South India. Indian Moors shared a similar history to Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka, however due to their decline and smaller numbers the Indian Moors have either returned to India or have declared themselves as being classified as Sri Lankan Moors.
↑ "A2: Population by ethnic group according to districts, 2012" (PDF). Census of Population & Housing, 2011. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka. 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
↑ Peter Reeves, ed. (2014). The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora. Editions Didier Millet. p. 28. ISBN 978-981-4260-83-1 . Retrieved 20 March 2016.
↑ Sarwal, Amit (2015). Labels and Locations: Gender, Family, Class and Caste – The Short Narratives of South Asian Diaspora in Australia. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-1-4438-7582-0 . Retrieved 20 March 2016.
↑ Jupp, James (2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 940. ISBN 978-0-521-80789-0.
↑ Ferdinands, Rodney (1995). Proud & Prejudiced: the story of the Burghers of Sri Lanka (PDF). Melbourne: R. Ferdinands. pp. 2–32. ISBN 0-646-25592-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2015.
↑ Reeves, Peter (2014). The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora. Editions Didier Millet. p. 28.
1 2 Orizio, Riccardo (2000). "Sri Lanka: Dutch Burghers of Ceylon". Lost White Tribes: The End of Privilege and the Last Colonials in Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Brazil, Haiti, Namibia, and Guadeloupe. Simon and Schuster. pp. 5–55. ISBN 978-0-7432-1197-0 . Retrieved 20 March 2016.
1 2 3 Pakeman, SA. Nations of the Modern World: Ceylon (1964 ed.). Frederick A Praeger. pp. 18–19. ASIN B0000CM2VW.
1 2 3 Cook, Elsie K (1953). Ceylon – Its Geography, Its Resources and Its People. London: Macmillan & Company Ltd 1953. pp 272—274.
↑ Smith, IR. Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole Phonology. 1978. Dravidian Linguistics Association.
↑ de Silva Jayasuriya, Shihan (December 1998). "The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka" (PDF). Lusotopie 2000. pp. 253–259. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
↑ Mülle, J.B. "One Nation: diversity and multiculturalism-Part I". The Island (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
↑ "Population by ethnic group, census years" (PDF). Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
↑ "Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka".
↑ "Census of Population and Housing 2011". www.statistics.gov.lk. Department of Census and Statistics. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
Bosma, Ulbe; Raben, Remco (2008). "Separation and Fusion". Being "Dutch" in the Indies: A History of Creolisation and Empire, 1500–1920. NUS Press. pp. 1–25. ISBN 978-9971-69-373-2 . Retrieved 20 March 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Burgher people .
|
0.982808 |
What is the largest and weirdest telescope on Earth? It is called IceCube, and it does not trace light from distant astrophysical objects like normal telescopes do. Instead it traces elusive sub-atomic particles called neutrinos. IceCube is one giga-ton detector located at the South Pole, and buried deep in the Antarctic ice. It looks down to observe those neutrinos arriving from large distances and travelling through the Earth. With this unique instrument IceCube scientists have discovered highly energetic neutrinos, originating from outside of our Galaxy, and thereby opening ‚a new window on the Universe’. Such neutrinos are expected to be produced in the most violent astrophysical processes: events like exploding stars (supernovas), gamma ray bursts, and other phenomena that accelerate particles to ultra-high energies. So far, however, the astrophysical sources of such neutrinos remain unknown. I will discuss the IceCube experiment, the methods to detect neutrinos, the recent discovery of a flux of cosmic neutrinos and plans for the future neutrino astronomy. The talk will include a slide show of pictures from the South Pole, including beautiful Antarctic landscapes, and harsh working and living conditions during the IceCube’s construction.
|
0.991185 |
A condenser is a device that is used to liquefy gas by cooling it. In HVAC equipment, hot discharge gas (refrigerant vapor) from the compressor enters the condenser coils at the top and is condensed, drains out of the condenser to a receiver located near the bottom. The condenser coil is located along with the compressor and controlling devices in the condensing unit. In a remote or split system air conditioning installation, the condensing unit is located outdoors. Condensers are available in a variety of sizes and designs that include plain tube, finned tube and plate type, series-pass and parallel pass units.Condensers are classified by their cooling method. The three main types are broken down to: Air-cooled condensers Combined air and water-cooled condensers Water-cooled condensers Air-Cooled CondensersAn air-cooled condenser consists of a coil of ample surface that air is blown by a fan or induced by natural draft. This type of condenser is universally used in small capacity refrigerating units. Mostly designed for residential or small office air conditioners.Air-chilled condensers should be kept from free from dirt, lint and other foreign materials because they tend to reduce the airflow around the tubes and fins if they are allowed to accumulate just like evaporators.Combined Air- and Water-cooled CondensersThis type of condenser is also know as an evaporative condenser and consists of a coil cooled by water sprayed from above and then cold air enters from the bottom and is blown across the coils. As water evaporates from the coil it creates a cooling effect that condenses the refrigerant within the coil. The refrigerant gas in the coil is hot which changed to the liquid state by combining the sprayed water and the large column of moving air supplied by the fan. The water that does not evaporate is recirculated by means of a pump.Water-Cooled CondensersA water-cooled condenser is similar to a steam surface condenser in that cooling is accomplished by water alone that circulates through tubes or coils enclosed in a shell. IN a water-cooled condenser the refrigerant circulates through the annular space between the tubes or coils. Because of its construction, a water-cooled condenser is also referred to as a double-pipe condenser. Because an evaporative condenser is not wasteful of water, large compressor installations are possible in areas where water is scarce. Tests have shown that the amount of water required will not exceed the.03 gpm per ton of refrigeration. This is one of the eco-friendly reasons to use this type of condenser. Evaporative condensers also eliminate water water disposal problems and provide the most economical means of cooling refrigerant gases of standard air conditioners.
Now it's true that no furnace is going to be completely silent. But if it starts making loud moaning, guttering, banging sounds, you might want to get it checked out by a professional. The noises your furnace makes should not scare you at night. If they do, you may have a loose belt or a part that is about to break.They Should Make HeatSeems a little obvious, right? This can be hard to tell, though, especially when the weather is not yet cold. If you feel a nip in the air and you crank up the thermostat but still need to throw on an extra sweater, you might need to consult a furnace repair service. It could be an issue with the thermostat itself, but it could also be a more advanced issue like a leaking duct. Suddenly High Electric BillsIf all of a sudden, for no reason you can discern, your electric bill goes through the roof, you might have an efficiency problem with your furnace: your bill goes up because your unit is using extra electricity to do its job.A Yellow Pilot LightIf you check on your furnace and see a yellow pilot light, this could indicate trouble. You might have an imbalance in the combination of gasses or have a gas you do not want, such as carbon monoxide. The ideal pilot light flame should be blue.Increased Sneezing or Asthma AttacksIf you or your family start experiencing more breathing-related troubles such as asthma attacks or allergic reactions, you might need furnace repair. Your unit may be putting mold and dust out into the air, allowing it to circulate through your home.Ice Where It Shouldn't BeIce in your basement or on your roof can indicate issues. It could mean that your furnace is no longer able to heat your entire home. It could also mean that the heat is leaking up through the attic and not circulating well throughout the house. If you find ice anywhere in your home but your freezer, you should call in a professional to check it out. Your Furnace Is OldFurnaces usually last between 12 and 15 years. If your unit is around this age or older, you may want to have it inspected by a professional, especially if you also notice any of these signs of trouble. If it's really old, you may need furnace repair or maybe even a replacement.
|
0.999998 |
Planned caesarean or waiting for a virginal birth?
If I want to deliver the baby with out any complications which one is most suitable Planned caesarean or a virginal birth?
That is impossible to tell. Either can go perfectly or with issues. You are not decreasing your chances either way. But it's always best to go into labor on your own then to schedule and "force" the baby out. So with that, actually you are better off waiting to go into labor. That doesn't guarantee you will have the baby naturally but the labor process can be very beneficial to the baby. The contractions and the birthing process are a very important prep for the baby's lungs. Just let the nature take it's course.
|
0.999992 |
Why are people making the change to a plant-based diet?
I like this quote by the musician Moby, as it provides an easy to understand reason for "why" people are making this change. As the consumption of meat and it's processing continues to be studied in more depth by modern researchers, it becomes increasingly known that meat has a negative impact on health and environment, both directly and indirectly.
I understand that making the switch towards a plant-based diet is not easy for many, who over the years have seen their body adapt to the dangers of a meat heavy diet. It is quite possible a person may feel healthy without really being healthy. On any given day, you may not be fully aware of what is going on inside of your body. I think of the beautiful ravines I saw while visiting Watkins Glen in Upstate New York, and how a river was able to cut through the Earth through erosion, slowly over time. A meat dependent diet can be much like erosion to the body. It may not be immediately present, and you might even feel healthy on any given day; but in the large scheme of things, those who consume meats on a frequent basis (especially red meats), are at a higher risk for a number of health problems such as heart disease, high cholesterol, and plainly: dying young. Research is still expanding, but if you heed the warnings of many doctors and scientists, you will want to make the change towards a vegan lifestyle immediately (if you haven't already!).
Of course, we cannot discuss the value of switching to a plant-based diet without talking about the impact meat consumption has on society and the environment. We can sometimes be short sighted and a little selfish when discussing foods we eat and preference. If a primary reason for eating meat is just because "it tastes good," then no consideration is being had for the process by which the meat is being processed, the animals harmed, the pollution created, and the sometimes poor working conditions people have to endure to bring this to your table. I don't believe everyone has to be a political or social activist when it comes to these topics, as I know they are complex and never as simple as they are laid out in the media or even on many other vegan blogs and websites, but there is value that comes from, at least, considering the larger impact of the things we do and the food we eat.
I personally face no moral or ethical dilemmas in my heart and mind when I go outside into my garden and harvest the many fruits and vegetables that grow there, whereas I would imagine that, at least, your average person would take pause and have to consider whether or not they would put down a pig or a cow for the ultimate pleasure of eating them.
Another major reason why people tend to eat meat is for the protein content. However, so often this conversation ignores the naturally occurring proteins found in the plant life around us. Plant-based protein is an expanding market, and has been a valuable focus when eating whole food sources. It is entirely possible to get enough protein from a plant-based diet, and I might add the quality of the proteins can, in fact, be superior. Take for example quinoa, which is a "perfect" protein source and plant based.
It can be difficult at times to have conversations about diet with friends and family. While vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are becoming increasingly common, they are still a substantial minority in the USA. Meat consumption is on the decline, but there is still a long way to go. It starts by each individual making the conscious decision to do away with meat in their diets, and move towards a life of self-sustainability and a plant-based diet. This ends up impacting our planet for the better, our bodies, minds, families and friends.
|
0.940767 |
As we saw in the previous section - Science and the Canadian Arctic - a focal point of scientific study for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, as for Arctic exploratory expeditions of the nineteenth century, was geomagnetism.
For leading nations in the Victorian era, geomagnetism represented more than the study of an aspect of the natural sciences – it was a dominant scientific discipline viewed as holding the potential to contribute to advances in global navigation, commerce, and military power.
From the point of Great Britain’s renewal of its search for the Northwest Passage in 1818, magnetic science was an important part of virtually all British expeditions to the Arctic, including the ill-fated third Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin and the majority of the 31 expeditions sent to search for Franklin’s missing party. The Lady Franklin Bay expedition that established Fort Conger in 1881 continued in this tradition, albeit in the service of the United States, Britain's leading rival among the Arctic exploring nations.
In the nineteenth century, geomagnetism was a preoccupation for many countries but the program of magnetic science carried out at Fort Conger reflected in particular the influence of the two prominent geomagnetic scientists: Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Humboldt, a Prussian geographer and naturalist, advanced a unified vision of natural phenomena and promoted the development of sophisticated instruments as a means of collecting and measuring scientific data. He placed a particular emphasis on measuring and charting the Earth's magnetic field and mapping recorded geomagnetic data around the globe. Humboldt held that all observations of natural phenomena should be taken with the finest and most modern instruments and sophisticated techniques available, and that collected and synthesized data from around the world was the basis of all scientific understanding.
Gauss, a German mathematician and physical scientist whose magnetic theories dominated the nineteenth century, classified the three categories to be followed for geomagnetic studies: declination, inclination, and intensity. The theoretical basis for these measurements was Gauss’s mathematical theory for separating the inner and outer sources of geomagnetic fields. Gauss also devised a method for taking observations in order that it could be taken the same way at the same time to enable comparisons of the data collected around the world.
Humbolt's and Gauss’s promotion of a global approach to geomagnetic studies greatly influenced the approach of Edward Sabine, the science advisor to the British Admiralty between the 1820s and 1840s. Imbued with the Victorians’ optimistic belief in the potential of accumulated data to bring progress, Sabine made geomagnetism his personal crusade and he pressed the British government to establish magnetic observatories around the world. The Royal Navy was the perfect vehicle for advancing this cause. After emerging as the world’s dominant navy following the Napoleonic Wars, the Admiralty sent its vessels to all regions of the globe, sometimes to demonstrate military power, sometimes to support commercial expansion, but also increasingly to extend the reach of British science and in particular geomagnetic science.
Science was key to Britain’s development and operated hand in glove with naval and commercial expansion. The goal of geographical discovery required sound science for safe navigation, which depended on reliable theories of geomagnetism, ocean currents, and tides.
Long before the invention of satellites and today's Global Positioning System (GPS), leading Victorian scientists believed that the study of the earth’s magnetic forces held the potential to enable development of a nineteenth century equivalent to GPS, attainable not through satellites – which had not yet been discovered – but through comprehensive geomagnetic readings. To be effective, the operative theories needed to be tested in the field with systematic, precise observations of phenomena in various parts of the world to establish both the suitability of the theory and the accuracy of its application.
By the 1880s, the United States had joined the ranks of Arctic exploring countries. While it lacked the naval power and overseas empire of Britain, the U.S. nevertheless relied heavily on overseas trade and had a vital interest in studying the natural sciences bearing upon ocean navigation and commerce. The importance of such work to U.S. vital national interests was demonstrated by the placement of the federal government’s meteorological program under the Signal Corps of the United Stated Army. Its study of weather patterns was important to the identification of weather patterns bearing upon such phenomena as storms in the North Atlantic — critical data for Trans-Atlantic navigation and international commerce.
Magnetic science was a priority for all the nations participating in the First International Polar Year, 1882-83, including the American Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. In the period before its own navy emerged as a major force, the U.S. needed to rely on international cooperation for comprehensive scientific data. The First International Polar Year, 1882-83, seemed tailor-made to address its needs.
Geomagnetic science was a major priority for the first IPY. Karl Weyprecht, the explorer and scientist who was the prime mover behind this major international scientific undertaking, promoted this emphasis and specified the types of magnetic observations and the timing for taking these readings on the expeditions that were ultimately sent to polar regions to participate in the IPY.
As well, the U.S Coast and Geodetic Survey prepared special instructions to be carefully followed in setting up magnetic observatories at both of the American IPY stations established in the North Polar Region – Fort Conger on Lady Franklin Bay in the Eastern Arctic, and Point Barrow Alaska in the West.
Computer reconstruction of a scientific instrument known as a Dip Circle, which was used to make observations of the Earth’s magnetic field at Fort Conger. It is circular in shape with a scale that runs the entire circumference of the instrument. The Dip Circle sits atop a wooden bench inside the observatory, along with several other instruments.
At Fort Conger, apart from mobile readings taken on the trail, all magnetic observations were taken in the magnetic observatory, which was assembled soon after the party's arrival to establish Fort Conger in August 1881.
It was important to prevent any metals from distorting the magnetic readings, so the observatory needed to be set up at a remove from the main expedition house. For this building, Greely selected a site 137 metres due northeast of the main expedition house. Its dimensions were 2.13 by 3.65 metres (7 by 12 feet). Owing to the risk of distortion of magnetic observations, it was also built almost entirely of wood, with wooden pegs used to fasten the boards together, with only a few copper nails used for the leather hinges and other fastenings. The entire structure was roofed over with sod and, after the onset of winter, insulated with snow and ice.
No illustrations of the structure were published in Greely`s expedition reports, nor are there photographs of it in the collections of the expedition photographer, George Rice, at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. or the Explorers Club Archives in New York. However, a wood engraving based on one of Rice's photos of the site at Fort Conger shows a gable-roofed building on the far left of the image that probably is a representation of the magnetic observatory. However, the building was set back father from the main expedition house than appears in this illustration.
The most intensive observations were taken during the second year of the expedition. Greely's party built a small fireplace at the north end of the structure. For fuel,they burned both wood and the bituminous coal that the men hauled from a coal seam on the banks of Watercourse Creek, several kilometres upstream from Fort Conger. The coal was kept outside the building as Greely feared it might contain substances that could interfere with the magnetic readings.
For eight months of the year, there was sufficient daylight to take the readings without artificial light. During the four months of continuous darkness during the winter, the men illuminated the interior of the observatory with a bull’s eye lantern set on top of the scantling. The observations for declination and inclination were taken with the aid of a small copper lamp fashioned by the expedition's tinsmith.
"The magnetic observatory was erected with the greatest length in the astronomical meridian. The entrance door was in the south end, and opened into a passage through which the mark could be read. The mark itself was a 2 by 4 inch scantling, the narrow or 2 inch edge to the north (true), sunk 2 feet into the ground, and secured with earth and stones, so as to render its position fixed and certain. It was distant about 300 years [274 m.] from and directly south of the magnetometer."
For all IPY expeditions, both the magnetometer and dip circle were to be mounted on separate stone piers or pedestals, built as stable bases for these instruments and set at least 12 feet apart. Each expedition was also instructed to set up a meridian or azimuth mark a short distance from the observatory so that a staff member could observe it while looking through a hole in the wall stationed inside the observatory. This mark would serve as a reference point for the astronomical observations.
Greely's party mounted the dip circle in the northwest corner of the observatory on a wooden pedestal made of scantling, which was set about two feet into the ground and strongly secured. Owing to the difficulty of building on the permafrost ground, Greely decided against erecting a brick pier and instead had the magnetometer placed on its own tripod slightly south of the centre of the building. The tripod's legs were sunk into the ground and secured to make it immobile.
Computer reconstruction of the magnetic observatory used by The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. The wooden structure is square shaped and made entirely of wood with slatted walls. A pole with weathervane and an instrument box sitting atop a stand are visible nearby.
Portable Declinometer and a Theodolite alone.
Azimuth Compass and light stand.
The dip circle was used to determine absolute inclination, or the dip and intensity of magnetic pull, while a theodolite magnetometer and portable unifilar magnetometer were both used in determining the absolute horizontal intensity. As well, a portable declinometer and a theodolite were also used in determining absolute declination, the absolute horizontal intensity and variations of declination.
Tripod base, carrying an upper revolving plate with two projecting arms, one support the reading telescope and scale, the other a counterpoise weight.
Rectangular copper box, 3 1∕2 inches in length, 2 deep, and 1 1∕4 broad fixed to the revolving plate; the sides made of wood and attached with screws.
Glass tube 8 inches in length and 8 1∕10 outside diameter, screwed to the top of the box, and carrying a torsion circle.
Upper suspension pin, a brass cylinder 3 inches in length and about 8 3∕20ths in diameter, fitting within the socket of the torsion circle, tapered short at the lower end, and having a hole cut in the form of an inverted Y to receive the suspension thread; the pin is prevented from turning within the socket by a projecting screw-head fitting into a groove cut down its length.
Lower suspension pin, cut about 3∕4ths of an inch in length, with a similar Y aperture, a light cross bar to serve as a guide in adjusting the line of detorsion of the suspension thread to the meridian, and a circular clamp.
Stirrup and mirror. The stirrup consists of a light gun metal tube, about 3∕10ths of an inch in length, with an upright socket to receive the lower suspension pin, and a rectangular mirror 7∕8ths of an inch in breadth and 5∕10ths deep, fixed above or below the center.
Cylindrical magnet bar, 3 inches in length and 8∕10ths in diameter.
Brass plummet, with a socket to receive the suspension pin.
Reading telescope, to be attached to the end of the tripod arm.
Scale, 4 inches in length, divided to 100ths of an inch, fixed over the eye end of the telescope, at a distance from the face of the suspended mirror equal to 17.19, diminished by 2∕3rds its thickness, so that the angular value of one division many be 1'.000.
Counterpoise weight, to be attached to the shortest of the tripod arms.
Wooden block of this form [square U shape] to be placed within the copper box underneath the magnet and mirror; reel of prepared silk fibre; portable stand; and lamp.
For International Polar Year, the Greely expedition was outfitted with a Kew pattern monofilial magnetometer for the purpose of measuring absolute and differential declination, and for determining horizontal magnetic intensity. The monofilial magnetometer featured a gold filament allowing it to swing freely according to the external magnetic influences.
Instruments for the determination of time and geographical position included a Perry Transit, a portable transit, two small theodolites, sextants and chronometers. The Perry Transit, also known as Coast Survey no. 11, was 82 centimetres long, with an aperture of 64 millimetres. The accuracy of temporal measurements more generally depended on the astronomical observations made by Israel with a transit instrument, while the time observations were taken with an electrical circuit on a chronograph sheet.
As with other IPY polar stations, magnetic observations at Fort Conger included both readings of absolute declination and inclination, as well as any observed variations from the norm. The Coast and Geodetic Survey provided blank forms for the recording of data to each of the expeditions. During the first year at Fort Conger, daily magnetic readings were taken in the observatory. This meant that every day, expedition personnel charged with these tasks would have donned their outer apparel, laced up their boots, and walked from the expedition house to record the data on standardized forms, and then brought their notes back to the house, where the data generated additional desk work.
During the actual International Polar Year, between September 1882 and 30 June 1883, a more intensive recording regimen was followed on so-called term days or days selected for intensive recording, i.e., the 1st and 15th days of every month.
Differential observations of declination were to be made with a declinometer three times a day, at 7 a.m., 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. This required an expedition member to sit inside the observatory for long shifts of several hours at a time, obliging the installation of a heater in the building for the second winter. On 18 February 1882, Sergeant Gardiner, who was a member of the magnetic recording team, recorded the lengths of their shifts. Sergeant Israel began his shift at 6 p.m. and was relieved by Gardiner at 8 a.m., when Israel resumed his shift until 7 p.m.
The only exception to the program of daily readings was during periods of intense cold, when expedition commander Adolphus Greely decided that observations could instead be taken on every other day. After the readings were taken and recorded in pencil on the Coast and Geodetic Survey forms, they were brought back to the expedition house, where Sergeant Israel refined the observations into absolute values.
During the actual designated International Polar Year, hourly observations of declination were taken at the magnetic observatory over a 13-month period, between 1 July 1882 and 1 August 1883. Using the recorded data the expedition's personnel were charged with computing the magnetic mean declination and diurnal range for each month.
During this period, magnetic observations of declination and diurnal variation were taken hourly every month for three consecutive days around the middle of the month. Over the course of the IPY, this work generated 846 observations with a resulting declination of 100o 13'.6. West of North.
During the same set of days, a set of oscillations for the determination of horizontal intensity was also to be observed. The total number of hourly magnetic observations taken over the course of International Polar Year was 8,749, while the number of observations in which disturbances registered was 1,169.
As planned by the organizers of IPY, these observations were a mandatory requirement for all 17 polar stations established during the designated year. Beyond the painstaking recording of observations, much of the labour was consumed in paper work, specifically the conversion of the differential measures of this series, meaning conversion of the individual observations into absolute values. The objective of this step was to isolate so-called disturbances from the general magnetic record and the larger goal was to identify any natural phenomena contributing to any distortions in the results. These included a magnetic disturbance occasioned by a major magnetic storm with associated spectacular aurora, 15-19 November 1882, when Greely charged his staff with taking many additional observations.
Personnel charged with the magnetic observations also took hourly observations of the dip with the dip circle between 25 September 1882 and 1 June 1883. These records also were compiled and maintained according to a strict protocol. The records were returned to the United States and eventually published by the Signal Corps in the United States in 1888.
The specific magnetometer used by the Greely expedition was a Magnetometer No. 12, made by Fauth and Company of Washington D.C., the supplier of several of the expedition's scientific instruments. A Kew Pattern monofilial magnetometer from the mid-nineteenth century is shown in Figure 2. The dip circle used at Fort Conger was a No. 19 Kew dip circle by C.F. Casella and Company of London, makers of surveying and drawing instruments. A Kew Pattern dip circle manufactured by John Dover in England between 1860 and 1880 is shown in Figure 3.
The magnetic science carried out by the Signal Corps expedition led by Adolphus Greely represented a significant contribution to the international efforts to better understand geomagnetic forces through polar scientific research. The expedition diligently carried out its mandated responsibilities to record and measure all the major categories of magnetic data at the highest northern latitude.
Notwithstanding its difficult straits in the latter stages of the expedition, Greely's party managed to bring the records back to the United States. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey comprehensively published this extensive collection in 1888.The successful completion of magnetic work by most of the 17 IPY polar stations contributed important baseline data for international magnetic science.
|
0.919453 |
Wu Zetian (624 – December 16, 705), also known as Wu Zhao, Wu Hou, and during the later Tang dynasty as Tian Hou, referred to in English as Empress Consort Wu or by the deprecated term"Empress Wu", was a Chinese sovereign who ruled unofficially as empress consort and empress dowager and later, officially as empress regnant (皇帝) during the brief Zhou dynasty (周, 684-705), which interrupted the Tang dynasty (618–690 & 705–907). Wu was the only Empress regnant of China in more than four millennia.
Wu was the concubine of Emperor Taizong. After his death, she married his successor—his ninth son, Emperor Gaozong, officially becoming Gaozong's huanghou (皇后, variously translated as "empress", "wife", or "empress consort") in 655, although having considerable political power prior to this. After Gaozong's debilitating stroke in 660, Wu Zetian became administrator of the court, a position equal as emperor, until 705.
The importance to history of Wu Zetian's period of political and military leadership includes the major expansion of the Chinese empire, extending it far beyond its previous territorial limits, deep into Central Asia, and engaging in a series of wars on the Korean peninsula, first allying with Silla against Goguryeo, and then against Silla over occupation of formerly Goguryeo territory. Within China, besides the more direct consequences of her struggle to gain and maintain supreme power, Wu's leadership resulted in important effects regarding social class in Chinese society and in relation to state support for Taoism, Buddhism, education, and literature. Wu Zetian also had a monumental impact upon the statuary of the Longmen Grottoes and the "Wordless Stele" at the Qianling Mausoleum, as well as the construction of some major buildings and bronze castings that no longer survive.
Despite the important aspects of her reign, together with the suggestions of modern scholarship as to the long-term effects of some of her innovations in governance, much of the attention paid to Wu Zetian has been to her gender, as the anomalous female sovereign of a unified Chinese empire officially holding the title of huangdi (皇帝). Besides her career as a political leader, Wu Zetian also had an active family life. Although family relationships sometimes became problematic, Wu Zetian was the mother of four sons, three of whom also carried the title of emperor, although one held that title only as a posthumous honor. One of her grandsons became the renowned Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.
Maitreya statue from the reign of Wu Zetian.
According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha).The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya refers to a time in the future when the dharma will have been forgotten by most on the terrestrial world.
|
0.954896 |
The tailed frogs get their name from their "tails," but only the males have them and they are not really tails at all. The tiny nub of a "tail" is really a fleshy structure that the adult male uses to mate with a female. Besides the "tails," the males and females look alike. Both have wide heads and large eyes with vertical, often diamond-shaped pupils. Unlike many other frogs, they have no round patch of an eardrum showing on the sides of the head. The skin of the tailed frog's back is covered with little warts, giving it a grainy look.
The frogs are usually shades of brown or gray, sometimes with a hint of green or red, and have darker markings, including blotches on the back and bands on all four legs. A lighter-colored patch, usually outlined with a thin, dark stripe, stretches between the eyes. Once in a while, a tailed frog may be almost completely black. The underside is pink, sometimes speckled with white. Tailed frogs have slender forelegs with no webbing on the toes and larger hind legs with well-webbed toes. Their toes, especially the outside toe on each foot, are quite wide.
Adult tailed frogs are small, growing only to 1.2 to 2.0 inches (3 to 5 centimeters) long from the tip of the snout to the end of the rump. The females are a bit bigger than the males. The tailed frog tadpole is dark gray and has a large, telltale sucker on the bottom of its broad head. Like other frogs, the tadpole has a long tail. When it begins to change into a frog, the tail shrinks until it disappears altogether. Often, people see an adult male tailed frog and believe that it is just a froglet that still has some of its tadpole tail left. This is not correct. The fleshy nub on an adult male tailed frog is different from a tadpole tail and never disappears.
Two species of tailed frogs exist: the Rocky Mountain tailed frog and the coastal tailed frog. They look so much alike that scientists thought they were the same species until 2001 when they compared the frogs' DNA. DNA, which is inside the cells of all animals, is a chain of chemical molecules that carry the instructions for creating each species and each individual. In other words, DNA is a chemical instruction manual for "building" a frog. The DNA of the Rocky Mountain tailed frog and the coastal tailed frog were just different enough to separate them into two species.
Both of these frog species have very small lungs, compared to most other frogs, and have extra backbones. Only one other living group of frogs, the New Zealand frogs, has the same extra backbones. Scientists have found fossil frogs far in the past that had the extra bones. These date back to the dinosaur age 150 million years ago and are the oldest known frogs.
|
0.994314 |
Urination is a natural way used by the body to remove excess water and waste products from our body. Most of us do not give a second thought to the color of the urine we pass out on a regular basis. This prevents us from becoming aware of the various health issues that might be developing inside our body before we become seriously ill. Under the normal healthy conditions, the urine we pass is generally of a transparent yellow color. However, the color might change according health conditions of our body and observing the same can help you to prevent a minor issue from turning into a major one.
Given below are the brief details of the different colors of urine that you might pass and what they indicate about your health condition.
If you have been passing out yellow colored urine for the past few days, it generally means that you are not drinking enough liquid. In case your liquid intake is just right, you might be losing it through excessive sweating. Increasing your liquid intake will not only resolve this problem but will also prevent the more serious issue of dehydration.
Your urine may turn dark yellow in color in case you are taking some specific medicines that might damage your liver in the long run. It is important to seek immediate medical advice if your urine is dark yellow in color as it can also be indicative of the initial stages of a severe health issue like hepatitis.
Consuming foods that contain natural red dye or pigment might cause you to pass pink or reddish urine for one or two days. However, if the color does not return to normal after this duration, it might indicate problems in the urinary system, including kidney stones, which might cause the blood to get mixed with urine.
If you are consuming medication for getting relief from different types of urinary problems, then your urine might turn orange in color. In addition, consuming carrots or even carrot juice in excess can also give an orange tinge to your urine. You might also be suffering from a liver condition or problem of bile duct, so it is advisable to seek the opinion of a trusted medical professional.
This color of the urine generally results due to the presence of a common dye in the medication meant for treating urinary problems. This color can also be caused by the excessive consumption of foods containing artificial coloring or even due to eating asparagus in large quantities.
The black color of the urine is almost always caused due to the benign effects of medication taken for enhancing iron levels within the body. Other reasons that might cause your urine to take on black color include nitrofurantoin, metronidazole, cascara or senna laxatives, methocarbamol, sorbitol, and the phenol derivative cresol.
If you have been passing murky white and cloudy urine, you need to consult a doctor immediately as it generally indicates infections of the urinary tract. It can also indicate the presence of kidney stones or the medical condition of Chyluria, which is caused by the presence of chyle in the urinary system.
While many people might suggest that passing transparent urine is indicative of good health, it is not entirely true. The transparent urine means that your liquid intake is in excess of what your body requires and this can lead to loss of vital nutrients and minerals that get dissolved and are passed out with urine.
Having learned about the different colors of urine and their health indications, preventing serious medical problems can be relatively easier.
What Do You Need to Know About Diabetes and Exercise?
|
0.99945 |
Do I qualify to file a bankruptcy? This is one of the most common questions I am asked as a bankruptcy lawyer when I meet with debtors who are hoping to obtain relief from their debts in bankruptcy court. My answer is usually yes, since almost everyone qualifies for bankruptcy under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.
I think that this question is often asked because of common myths and misinformation that people hear with regard to what bankruptcy is and what it does for the debtor. Unfortunately, there is much misinformation being passed around. It is rare that someone would not qualify for a filing under either chapter of the Bankruptcy Code. If there are horror stories, they typically arise out of situations where someone did not disclose accurate information to the bankruptcy court.
In order to qualify for a bankruptcy relief, the debtor needs to have a reason to file. The primary reason for most debtors is their inability to pay their debts. Whether or not the debtor owns assets is not a a consideration in qualifying to file for bankruptcy. Under New York’s bankruptcy exemptions, a single filer can protect $50,000 in home equity, $2,400 of equity in the vehicle, and there are other exemptions available for other classes of assets.
There are no minimal requirement as to how much debt a debtor must have before filing, nor does this debt has to be reduced to a specific figure. Also, if you are filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you are not limited with respect to the property that you can own, but the amount of property may be a factor in the amount of payments under the plan. While there are maximum limits of the amount of debt that can be discharged under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the vast majority of debtors will not even approach them. In Chapter 7, there are no maximum debt limits. As a result, that Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is available to the debtors regardless of how much debt they owe, and its availability is only limited by the means test. In Chapter 13, you may not have more than $1,010,650 in secured debt and $336,900 in unsecured debt.
|
0.999871 |
What is the secret to being a good writer?
Is it possible to help students whose first language is not English, no matter how much they know the language?
Absolutely! Everyone is fluent in a language and although it may not quickly transfer into writing English, the language, education, and experiences do transfer, and the tutor or teacher must know how to make this happen.
Why do you believe that some students seem to struggle so much more than others in certain classes or in school in general, and what can be done about it?
Every student is different, based on experiences including home life, school experiences, teachers, learning styles, current schedules and issues, and many more. Any successful teacher, coach, guide, or tutor will meet students where they are. Each person grasps concepts differently and at different rates, based on what has already been learned and how. No two people learn differently, and it is the job of helpers to determine exactly where people are and how they best learn in order to help. A tutor cannot help everyone in the same manner, and the background and best course of action must be determined before jumping in.
|
0.999999 |
Cite this article as: John F Fleming III*, Navarro RA. Multi- Articular Septic Arthritis Following Intrarticular Adipocyte Injection: A Case Report. Ann Clin Case Rep. 2016; 1: 1196.
Mesenchymal stem cell implantation is thought to have a role in the treatment of degenerative osteoarthritis, and is an area of active research. However, large scale human data in clinical trials is lacking, and no consensus currently exists as to the optimal harvesting, application, and adjunct techniques for the use of mesenchymal stem cells. This case study examines one patient who under the direction of a US physician-underwent the harvesting of adipose tissue and delayed injection into multiple sites, resulting in a protracted adverse outcome. The event brings to light clinical and ethical considerations concerning patient education of alternative therapies available in the community, and the role of emerging treatments in regenerative medicine.
The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for degenerative joint disease is an evolving treatment modality in orthopaedics, with rapidly expanding research into the biology and potential clinical applications of MSCs . Although most research has focused on bone marrow derived MSCs , autologous harvesting of adipocytes has been proposed as a potential source of cells to be used in treatment. However, human clinical data for this source is largely lacking, and when present, often contradictory . Unfortunately, the relative paucity of evidence has not hindered some physicians from engaging in the use of this unproven method on their patients. This case study explores one such example which resulted in an adverse clinical event.
A 65 year old, non-diabetic, immunocompetent male presented to the emergency department with pain in his right knee, right elbow, and right lower back for one day. The patient reported that the pain had been continuous since receiving “multiple injections of stem cells” into the above sites. He reported that these cells had been previously harvested from his abdomen 6 days prior. The patient had seen a plastic surgeon in southern California who encouraged him to pursue a new form of treatment for his multi-articular arthritis, and to avoid orthopaedic surgical treatment. This surgeon extracted fat via liposuction from his abdomen, and gave the patient the cellular material in a test tube enclosed in a plastic bag.
The following day the patient took the cells to a lab in Southern California for processing; he was told this would convert the fat cells into stem cells. He was informed that from this point, the cells would be sent from the lab to a colleague of the primary surgeon, who practiced in Mexico. The patient crossed the US border after the initial procedure to a clinic in Mexico where another practitioner injected the patient’s autogenously derived cells into his right elbow, right knee, right shoulder, and right lower lumbar region. The sites were prepared sterilely prior to injection. The patient complained of discomfort and redness several hours after the injection, but was told by his physician that this inflammation was typical, and should be expected for up to three days after such a procedure.
Upon returning to the US, that patient’s right knee and elbow became increasingly painful over 24 hours, to the point he was unable to bear weight on his right leg. After presenting to the emergency department, the patient initially declined imaging as he was told that x-rays could interfere with the process of stem cell regeneration. He reluctantly agreed to x-rays as well as the aspiration of fluid from his knee, as he remained concerned of disrupting the process of the stem cells. On exam, the patient’s right knee and elbow were erythematous and warm, with marked effusions and exquisite tenderness on attempted range of motion. NSAID therapy at home had failed to provide relief. He reported only mild pain in his right shoulder which had also received an injection of the material. He was afebrile.
An initial synovial aspiration of the knee revealed 47,000 WBC/ hpf with 97% neutrophils. Laboratory studies revealed an elevated serum white blood cell count to 12.8 x 10^9/L. Given the concerning physical exam and laboratory studies, the patient received an emergent arthroscopic debridement of his right knee and open irrigation and debridement of his right elbow. Arthroscopic exam of his right knee was indicative of gross purulence. Intraoperative cultures of both joints grew out pan-sensitive Stenotrophomonas Maltophilia. The patient underwent culture guided IV antibiotic therapy. After an initial resolution of symptoms, the patient experienced return of his right knee pain and elevation in inflammatory markers one month after his initial washout. Given his increased pain and laboratory findings, he was diagnosed with recrudescence of his septic joint and was taken back to the operating room for a repeat irrigation and debridement of his knee. Cultures again confirmed infection with S. Maltophilia. The patient was restarted on culture guided antibiotic therapy after this washout and experienced no further infection. At his one year follow-up appointment, the patient had returned to his baseline knee and elbow function with only mild pain reported.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a group of nonhematopoietic stromal stem cells with the ability to differentiate into multiple cell lines including osteoblasts, adipocytes, fibroblasts and chondrocytes . The use of such cells is a proposed treatment option for degenerative conditions, and is an increasingly popular target for basic science research in the last several years [5-10].
In orthopaedics, the majority of regenerative medicine research is based upon the ability of mesenchymal stem cells to ameliorate the destruction of cartilage from osteoarthritis that affects a large proportion of the population. There has been some promise from early clinical work on MSCs used for degenerative joint conditions. A recent level 1 multicenter study showed a statistically significant increase of meniscal volume in patients who received bone marrow derived MSCs via direct intra articular injection as compared those who received an inert vehicle . However, the treatment effect was observed in only a minority of patients to whom it was administered, and there was a very large occurrence of adverse events , emphasizing the need for further research in this relatively new field. Additionally, not all MSCs are equivalent. While the majority of clinical research has been based on bone marrow derived MSCs, Adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) have been proposed as a possible source of regenerative material. The clinical advantage of this method lies in subcutaneous adipose tissue’s abundance in superficial, accessible areas and the ease of harvesting it from subjects .
However, most evidence for AD-MSCs is based predominantly on animal data , and the majority of publications using AD-MSCs are based out of a single institution [5,9]. The human data that does exist is conflicting, with recent research demonstrating a decreased reservoir of stem cells within adipose tissue in elderly, obese, or diabetic patients [2,7,8]. It seems the injection of adipose derived cells into patients is premature based on current evidence.
Given the debilitating nature of osteoarthritis and limited treatment options, it is no surprise that patients would seek alternative therapies from practitioners promising a “quick fix”.
This case is meant to illustrate the willingness of a single patient to accept a perceived new technology based on a physician’s recommendation, and an adverse outcome that resulted. This specific case may not serve as a negative critique of the future use of AD-MSCs in the treatment of arthritis, as most proponents of the therapy would not advocate transporting cellular material across international borders as an accepted means of treatment. Even using proven treatment methods, the material handling practices utilized in this case would have had a very high likelihood of infectious complications.
However this instance brings to light a possible complication of one such treatment, and more importantly, illuminates the unsavory practices of some in the medical community willing to profit from substandard care. These events underline the need for orthopedic surgeons to be aware of alternative therapies offered in their community, in order to engage patients in a discussion of potential risks and benefits. This will allow physicians to be vigilant in their protection of patients against misinformation, and those who would facilitate unsatisfactory treatment.
Kolf CM, Cho E, Tuan RS. Mesenchymal stromal cells. Biology of adult mesenchymal stem cells: regulation of niche, self-renewal and differentiation. Arthritis Res Ther. 2007; 9: 204.
Choudhery MS, Badowski M, Muise A, Pierce J, Harris DT. Donor age negatively impacts adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell expansion and differentiation. J Transl Med. 2014; 12: 8.
Papadopoulou A, Yiangou M, Athanasiou E, Zogas N, Kaloyannidis P, Batsis I, et al. Mesenchymal stem cells are conditionally therapeutic in preclinical models of rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2012; 71:1733-1740.
Wobus, Anna M, Boheler, Kenneth. Stem Cells. Handbook of experimental pharmacology. 2006; 249-82.
Koh Y, Choi YJ. Infrapatellar fat pad-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis. The Knee. 2012; 19: 902-907.
Vilar J, Morales M, Santana A, Spinella G, Rubio M, Cuervo B, et al. Controlled, blinded force platform analysis of the effect of intraarticular injection of autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells associated to PRGF-Endoret in osteoarthritic dogs. BMC Vet Res. 2013; 9:131.
Blanca Oñate, Gemma Vilahur, Raquel Ferrer-Lorente, Juan Ybarra, Alberto Díez-Caballero, Carlos Ballesta-López, et al. The subcutaneous adipose tissue reservoir of functionally active stem cells is reduced in obese patients. Faseb j. 2012; 26: 4327-4336.
Cianfarani F, Toietta G, Di Rocco G, Cesareo E, Zambruno G, Odorisio T. Diabetes impairs adipose tissue–derived stem cell function and efficiency in promoting wound healing. Wound Rep Reg. 2013; 21: 545-553.
Koh Y, Jo SB, Kwon OR, Suh DS, Lee SW, Park SH, et al. Mesenchymal Stem Cell Injections Improve Symptoms of Knee Osteoarthritis. Arthroscopy: Arthroscopy. 2013; 29: 748-755.
Vangsness T, Farr J 2nd, Boyd J, Dellaero DT, Mills CR, LeRoux- Williams M. Adult Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Delivered via Intra-Articular Injection to the Knee Following Partial Medial Meniscectomy. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2014; 96: 90-98.
|
0.983985 |
What is an IRA rollover fund?
In the current economic environment, several unique gifts are attractive. One such gift is the IRA rollover provision. With this gift, you are not given an itemized charitable deduction, but rather the gift is accepted directly from your IRA - and you do not need to declare the IRA transfer as adjusted gross taxable income on your 1040 form.
NOTE: Each year, this opportunity depends on Congressional action to extend the option.
|
0.992378 |
There is no data on migration economics, the number of migrants coming to Romania being small. A 2010 released World Bank report on the economic opportunity Roma inclusion would represent for Eastern European countries estimated economic benefits of Roma inclusion in Romania at between 887- 2980 million euro and fiscal benefits at between 202-675 million euro, looking at lowest and highest population estimates.
Migration to Romania is very low, as compared to other EU countries. Also, according to the provisional results of the Census, around 11 per cent of the population is made of national minorities (20 national minorities), the biggest ones being the Hungarian (6.5%) and the Roma minorities (3.2%) – with under-declaration of ethnicity for the Roma.
On 30 June 2012, official data registered 57259 third country nationals legally residing in Romania.
Main purposes of stay were: family member (35.94%), permanent stay (18.49%), student (16.45%), employment (9.22%).
According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration's response No.2594514 of 31.01.2013 to a public information request from the NGO Center for Legal Resources, 29544 short term permits (grant of the right to stay and extension of the right to stay) and 2489 long term permits (grant of the right to stay for long term and new permits at the request of the beneficiaries) were issued in 2012.
At the end of 2012 (31.12.2012) the database of the Inspectorate registered 45929 short term identity documents (short term permits, resident cards) issued for aliens in accordance with the Emergency Ordinance of the Romanian Government No. 194/2000 on the status of aliens in Romania (republished, with subsequent amendments and updates) as well as with the Law No. 122/2006 on asylum in Romania (with subsequent amendments and updates). Also, the Inspectorate reported 10829 long term identity documents (long term permits, resident cards) issued for aliens in accordance with the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2000 on the status of aliens in Romania (republished, with subsequent amendments and updates).
The term of alien is defined by art. 2 (a) of the Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2000 on the status of aliens in Romania (republished, with subsequent amendments and updates) as follows: "alien – a person who does not possess the Romanian citizenship or that of an EU or EEA member state or of the Swiss Confederation".
General Inspectorate for Immigration, Response No. 2594514/031.01.2013 to the Centre for Legal Resources (on file with the expert).
Accoding to the General Inspectorate for Immigation (Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări) statistics, at the end of 2012 in Bucharest a number of 19859 aliens were registered as holders of an identity document (short term permit, resident card) issued in accordance with the Emergency Ordinance of the Romanian Government No. 194/2000 on the status of aliens in Romania (republished, with subsequent amendments and updates) as well as with the Law No. 122/2006 on asylum in Romania (with subsequent amendments and updates).
Out of 19859 persons, the number of refugees and aliens with subsidiary protection represented 3%.
The term of alien is defined by art. 2 (a) of the Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2000 on the status of aliens in Romania (republished, with subsequent amendments and updates) as follows: "alien – a person who does not possess the Romanian citizenship or that of an EU or EEA member state or of rhe Swiss Confederation".
Statistical indicators for 2012 for Bucharest show an increase in number of the registered EU / EEA / Swiss Confederation citizens and a decrease of the foreigners from third countries.
The foreigners coming from third countries are mainly Chinese citizens - 4121, followed by Turkish citizens - 3425, Moldavians - 2098, Syrians - 1248 and Iraqi citizens - 923.
General Inspectorate for Immigration,Address No. 2594514/31.01.2013 to the Centre for Legal Resources (on file with the expert).
2512 persons applied for asylum in 2012.
According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration's Response No. 2594514/031.01.2013 to the Centre for Legal Resources, in 2012 a number of 2512 persons applied for asylum.
Through Government Decision No. 1261/2011, the Romanian Government established a quota of 5,500 work authorizations for foreigners for 2012 , equal with the quota established for 2011, but with 2,500 less than for 2010 .
Through Government Decision No. 1253/2012, the same number of work authorizations (5500) was kept for 2013 .
The rest are under 20,000.
Statistical data from the 2002 census shows that out of Romania's total polulation of 21,680,974 the Roma minority accounted for 535,140 persons (2,5%). Provisional results of the 2011 census show that Roma people represent 3.2% (619,007 of persons) of the total population (19,042,936). According to unofficial estimations the number of the Roma population ranges between 1 and 2,5 million of people.
Data from the 2002 official census shows that, out of the total population of 21,680,974 persons, 67,257 persons declared to belong to the Muslim religion. The preliminary results of the 2011 census do not include the Muslim religion (it is included in a general category of below 85,000 people).
According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration's Response No. 2594514/031.01.2013 to the Centre for Legal Resources, in 2012 a number of 161 aliens were granted refugee status.
Address No. 2594514/031.01.2013 from the General Inspectorate for Immigration to the Centre for Legal Resources (on file with the expert).
117 persons received subsidiary protection during 2012.
According to Address No. 2594514/031.01.2013 of the General Inspectorate for Immigration to the Centre for Legal Resources, 117 persons received subsidiary protection during 2012.
General Inspectorate for Immigration, Address No. 2594514/031.01.2013 to the Centre for Legal Resources (on file with the expert).
During 2012, 60 persons who declared they were unaccompanied minors requested protection in Romania.
According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, in 2012, when submitting the asylum request, a number of 60 aliens declared they were unaccompanied minors.
The main countries where the unaccompanied minors came from were: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Algeria.
The National Agency Against Trafficking of Persons (Agenţia Naţională Împotriva Traficului de Persoane) records data about trafficking.
National Agency Against Trafficking of Persons (Agenţia Naţională Împotriva Traficului de Persoane), Analysis on the situation of victims identified in the first semester 2011, p.3, available at http://anitp.mai.gov.ro/ro/docs/studii/Evaluarea%20semestriala%202011.pdf (Accessed on 14.02.2012).
National Agency Against Trafficking of Persons (Agenţia Naţională Împotriva Traficului de Persoane), Evaluarea anuală privind situaţia traficului de persoane 2011 (Analysis on the situation of trafficking of persons 2011), p. 4, available at http://anitp.mai.gov.ro/ro/docs/studii/evaluare2011.pdf (Accessed on 23.01.2013).
No publicly available data could be found.
No official publicly available data could be found.
A sociological study under the aegis of the Romanian Government from 2008, concluded that only 9 per cent of young Roma adults had graduated high-school as opposed to 41 per cent of the non-Roma young adults.
No official, publicly available data could be found.
A sociological study under the aegis of the Romanian Government from 2008, concluded that only 2 per cent of young Roma adults had graduated university as opposed to 27 per cent of the non-Roma young adults.
According to data communicated by the Ministry of Education, yearly over 260.000 students who assume their Roma identity study in pre-school, primary and secondary education (pre-school pupils and students of I-XII grades).
Data was not segregated on each educational circle.
Ministry of Education, Adress No. 720f/01.10.2012 on file with the Centre for Legal Resources.
Depending on the type of worker, the employer pays 50 or 200 Euro for the work authorization. The employee pays approx 180 euro for the stay permit after entering the country. There is no study on migration economics, the number of migrants for labour purposes being insignificant at country level. Some calculations have been made as to how much Romania misses from non-inclusion of the Roma minority (between 1,089 and 3,655 million euro from both economic and fiscal gains).
The employer pays EUR200/EUR50 for obtaining the work authorization, depending on the type of work relations with the employee.
|
0.999999 |
Cook up a great promotion!
• Easily chop vegetables and other foods quickly on a simple, polypropylene plastic cutting board with built-in handle.
• Conveniently stores in small spaces like drawers without taking up much room.
|
0.999999 |
Shakespeare was greater than any other English playwright.
This is an affirmative sentence. We can express the same idea using a negative sentence.
No other English playwright was as great as Shakespeare.
Affirmative: I was doubtful if I would pass.
Negative: I was not sure if I would pass.
Affirmative: She is richer than me.
Negative: I am not as rich as her.
Affirmative: King Alfred was the greatest king that ever ruled England.
Negative: No other king that ever ruled England was as great as King Alfred.
Read the following sentences and express their idea in a negative form.
1. A giraffe is taller than an elephant.
2. Akbar was the greatest of the Moghul emperors.
3. Shyam is the cleverest boy in the class.
5. As soon as he came, he started creating trouble.
6. As soon as we heard the gunshots, we rushed indoors.
7. He failed to win the first prize.
8. Only a millionaire can buy such an expensive car.
10. I will always remember this.
1. An elephant is not as tall as a giraffe.
2. No other Moghul emperor was as great as Akbar.
3. No other boy in the class is as clever as Shyam.
5. No sooner did he come than he started creating trouble.
6. No sooner did we hear the gunshots than we rushed indoors.
7. He did not win the first prize.
8. None but a millionaire can buy such an expensive car.
9. There is no one who does not make mistakes.
10. I will never forget this.
|
0.999712 |
In the space of forty years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) went from being a harsh critic of Western environmentalism to what some see as an international vanguard, an "environmental state" (Lang 2002). In 1972, Chinese delegates in Stockholm, at the world's first international conference on the environment, refused to sign global legislation, stating that pollution was a product of capitalism, not socialism (Tang 1972). By 2002, however, many outsiders praised the Chinese government's powerful and wide-sweeping environmental laws in rural areas.i China enforced the world's largest logging ban, converted massive areas of agricultural and grazing lands to forest, and confiscated hundreds of thousands of guns as part of increasingly strict laws against hunting. The state is not the only actor; popular protests, now amounting to over 100,000 events a year, are increasingly expressed in environmental idioms, and citizens rally to decry air and water pollution, as well as their relocation from massive dam projects (Economy 2004, Mertha 2008). Citizen complaints to the government about environmental issues rose ten fold between 1999 and 2009 (Moore 2009). A number of outsiders now describe China (using metaphors common a century ago) as "awakened" to the environment, and regard this as an inevitable result of globalization.
Does China's recent attention to the environment demonstrate that, as the world is increasingly connected through globalization, all places are becoming more alike? Globalization is often thought to describe a "world becoming more uniform and standardized, through a technological, commercial, and cultural synchronization emanating from the West" (Nederveen Pieterse 1995:45). Many hold the related belief, expressed by the best-selling author Thomas Friedman, that "the world is now flat," as people everywhere have access to ideas, connections, and opportunities created by global systems such as the Internet (2006). Most accounts of globalization take a bird's-eye perspective, which focuses on overall political trends or flows of global capital (Steger 2004). By looking closely at a social field like environmentalism, and how it is playing out on the ground in one of China's most active regions-the southwest's Yunnan Province-this book offers a different interpretation.
This study of China's environmental politics provides a way to think differently about globalization, and in particular globalized formations. I use this term "globalized formations" where others might use the more common yet narrower term "social movements." The most common image of a "social movement" is a street-based rally, where people fight to transform state policy, such as creating new civil rights laws. I use globalized formations, however, to signal my interest in a broader constellation of social acts and spaces than what is often understood as a movement, which is often understood as a more temporally and socially discrete set of events towards specific goals (Givan et al. 2010). My subject is to explore how new sensibilities are taken up, fought against, and transformed among a wider public. Examples of globalized formations include movements around gay, indigenous, and women's rights.ii My analysis of globalized formations emphasizes the critical role played by ordinary people in what I refer to as "making the global."
My understanding of these processes has been shaped by my extensive and ongoing engagements with many people in Yunnan Province, where in 1995 I worked, lived, and conducted research. I use oral histories, interviews, and archival research to take us back to the beginnings of international conservation efforts starting in 1986, when representatives of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) first came to inspect Yunnan's tropical rainforests and search for China's last herds of wild elephants. I explore the subsequent two-and-a-half decades as Yunnan went from being a relatively unknown site for nature conservation to becoming a prominent and influential place for global environmentalism. By 2011, Yunnan was well known for its wide range of habitats, from lowland rainforests to rugged Himalayan peaks. It is highly mountainous and contains the headwaters of some of Asia's great rivers: the Yangtze (Chang Jiang), Mekong (Lancang), and Salween (Nu). It joined the list of the world's "biodiversity hotspots" and is now claimed as "arguably the most botanically rich temperate region in the world" (He and Li 2011). Dozens of international NGOs, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank are deeply involved in trying to shape the management of these landscapes. Many would argue that Yunnan's inclusion within international conservation networks seems to provide evidence that globalization has flowed to even the most remote places.
Indeed, when I arrived in Yunnan in 1995, I, too, understood environmentalism as a global flow that originated in the West and was now spreading throughout China, propagated by groups like WWF. When I started to teach at a forestry college, I found that my first-year students were often puzzled over what "environmentalism" meant. As I learned more about China's history, I began to understand why this might be the case. I grew up in the United States during what some called an environmental revolution, as exemplified by the world's first Earth Day in New York City in 1970. I was influenced by the legacies of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Dave Foreman of Earth First!, a radical pro-wilderness environmental group. By high school, I was a passionate environmentalist and worked on several campaigns to raise money to save tropical rainforests. Yet in 1970, China was in the midst of its own revolution, the Cultural Revolution, and some cities became combat zones where young Red Guards fought each other with grenades and tanks. Some of my students in Kunming were born in 1976, the year Mao Zedong died and the Cultural Revolution ended, and raised after China's massive market reforms started in 1978. They had heard of environmentalism, but were not quite sure what it really meant, unlike their teachers, who, I found out, had been engaging with it for years.
These teachers, Chinese scientists who were also my colleagues, referred to the rise of environmentalism as a wind (feng), and specifically as the "environmental winds" (huanjing feng), and it became clear that they were not simply accommodating global environmentalism as advocated by WWF.iii Instead, they were actively reshaping these winds conceptually and in relation to China's unique history.
The concept of the environmental wind was different from how I had previously come to understand the ways globalization works, particularly with respect to the metaphor of flows. When people speak of globalization as a flow, it suggests a force that emerges and spreads without human agency. In contrast, the Chinese view of winds as social formations, made and maintained by people, offered me a different perspective on how globalization happens. Through many discussions I had in Yunnan, it became increasingly clear that winds do not simply impact people; they are made, shaped, and transformed by people. The more I thought about their perspective on winds, the more I believed that it offered a different, more radical view of what we understand as globalization-one that moves us away from seeing it as a force that emerges by itself or is created solely through the efforts of a few powerful individuals and corporations, a "conspiracy of the rich." Rather, many people, from rural small-scale farmers to government officials, shape and make the global, but not necessarily with the same intent, capacity, or outcomes.
I also found the notion of winds an intriguing concept for thinking about power and the ways that groups can be forged and inspired by new political possibilities. Many analysts of China, from academics to journalists, regard politics and power as a top-down imposition, which ignores the ways diverse groups of people become caught up within new social formations. The metaphor of winds suggests that we cannot know what happens by only studying Beijing's political proclamations; instead it brings us into the lives of Chinese experts, rural activists, expatriate conservationists, local leaders, and all those who have a stake in what happens next. When winds are powerful, there are those who live in the full force of this power, those who live in the eddies, and everyone in between; but all are shaped by, and all are themselves shaping, the winds, regardless of their intentions.
Before I arrived in China, my readings in the social sciences prompted me to anticipate that rural peoples in the Global South, and particularly those described as indigenous peoples, were fundamentally resistant to external forces such as state mandates and global impositions. The notion of winds also challenged my expectations that rural people aim to live autonomous lives, people who strive to be free of interference from both state and global forces. The idea of winds refuses such schemes of fixed responses and clean divisions between local and global, and encourages us to look at how a range of people, including both urban experts and rural villagers, engage with forces in diverse and creative ways.
I also was interested in the dialogic and transformative aspect of winds. Like physical winds moving through a landscape, the movement of social winds is iterative; the social landscape is constantly shaped by and shaping the movement and power of the winds. When millions of people actively embraced China's Cultural Revolution-attending rallies, reading Mao's Little Red Book, traveling across the nation, and joining the Red Guards-this buoyed its strength. When others began to refuse some pervasive elements of the time, such as Red Guard groups who organized to oppose the rampant physical violence, for example, these actions affected the force and qualities of the winds.
This metaphor of wind is not uncommon in China. Many elderly people described their lives as a dizzying series of winds-"Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom," the "Great Leap Forward," the "Cultural Revolution," and the "Opening of China." They described these changes as shifting winds rather than as concrete and predictable stages: things were quick to change, powerful, and then with little explanation gone but with ramifying and lingering effects. I was taught other words that describe situations similar, but different than a feng. The related term re (literally "hot," but figuratively a "fever") describes a situation closer to the English equivalent of fad or fashion, which can be a large-scale social phenomenon, but is often less all-encompassing, and feels quickly fleeting. The term yundong (mass campaign) describes government-led campaigns with discrete beginnings and endings that may not sweep people up. Feng, instead, refers to times of more diffuse, but still notable, changes that are deeply felt engagements. I build on this latter sensibility, as winds are not just terms for political events, but structures of feeling that change what it means to live in the moment and create lingering effects.
After weathering these winds for years, many people said they had cultivated a heightened attention to detect shifting winds on the horizon. Their stories were full of accounts of trying to position themselves and their families to avoid the political purges and dangers that a wind like the Cultural Revolution could bring.iv A wind could not only bring about threats, it could also provide potential advantages, depending on how one acted. Many people seemed alert to new winds, knowing that they were fleeting, rather than permanent. A wind often started with little notice, and some rapidly became powerful. Just as quickly, a wind could change course or dissipate.
Let me provide another example of powerful winds that shaped Chinese history, winds that quite strongly shaped natural landscapes as well as social ones. The Great Leap Forward (1957-1961) swept up millions of Chinese in enthusiastic all-out efforts to create backyard steel furnaces in order to quickly overtake England in steel production. Throughout the countryside, peasants scoured the land for iron ore and cut down millions of trees to fuel these furnaces, in some places leaving a wasteland of stumps. At the same time, they built a massive infrastructure of over 40,000 reservoirs and canals, significantly expanding the country's potential for agricultural irrigation.v Large-scale agricultural communes were quickly amalgamated, and leaders competed to produce previously unheard of levels of grain. In the midst of this rush to build socialism, things went seriously awry: grain yields were vastly exaggerated, large quantities of grain were siphoned off to feed city residents, and peasants neglected their fields, resulting in the world's largest human-caused famine. Approximately 30 million people died, and although estimates vary substantially, the vast majority of those that starved were rural farmers who lacked sufficient access to their own crops (Yang 1998, Thaxton 2008). The legacies associated with these winds are still felt as China continues to be powerfully shaped by the Great Leap's enduring ecological, cultural, and social effects, many of which are strongly debated today.
In China, the idiom of "winds" has been used mainly to describe changes at local and national levels (like the Great Leap). I extend this concept to help us examine social change at broader scales-in this case, how the globalized formation of environmentalism is made and remade as it travels around the world. The ways that globalized formations work out in any place are strongly mediated by historical legacies and social landscapes. In Africa, for example, current forms of environmentalism engage with a legacy where nature conservation has been a key area of European colonial intervention, and conservation remains more racialized and militarized in Africa than in any other region in the world. In China's case, specific Cold War tensions with the United States inflect how its government works with American organizations. This points to how "global" interactions can be more insightfully understood as particular transnational articulations. As well, globalized efforts are shaped both by how the Chinese state actually operates as well as how many foreigners view the Chinese state. Winds provide a way to think about how such formations come into being, and how they are reciprocally re-made through a study of particular encounters and interactions.
While environmentalism was not nearly as powerful as the Great Leap, starting in the 1980s this wind blew through Yunnan during a time of considerable social change.vi In the beginning, many people, from high-level officials to college students to remote rural villagers, began to mull over this term huanjing (environment/ environmental), which was gaining in prominence and power. It formed an umbrella concept covering both older interests in soil erosion and water conservation and newer concerns about urban pollution and biodiversity conservation. By the 1990s, millions of hectares were designated as nature reserves and fragile upland watersheds; millions of dollars were spent to guard such reserves against local farmers, now regarded as threatening the land with their hoes, guns, and cows.
But as many understood, winds change, and by the 1990s, a number of people, including some Chinese scientists and expatriate conservationists, began to challenge strict forms of nature conservation. They suggested that villagers should not be viewed as environmental adversaries, but should be enlisted as communities to participate as partners, or at least stakeholders. Furthermore, they argued that some of these communities were not made up of peasants but of indigenous people who possessed "indigenous knowledge" and "sacred forests" and were entitled to special rights under international law. Although this contradicted Beijing's insistence that all Chinese were equally indigenous, and that no one in China deserved special rights, this community orientation nonetheless opened new spaces for differentiating between rural communities on the basis of indigeneity. It also unexpectedly provided scientists with a way of challenging mainstream development and conservation initiatives. These dynamics did not unfold simply as an extension of winds blowing from the West; they emerged out of unique histories and relationships among social groups, between people and nature, and between Chinese citizens and the state. This book explores how these winds caught people up and how people, places, and the winds themselves were changed unexpectedly in the process. It brings us into the lives of those individuals who not only encountered environmentalism, but brought it into being in China. By exploring how these winds gained force and shaped Yunnan's social landscapes, this book addresses larger questions about how people in China, and elsewhere, are making the global.
When environmental laws were first being made and enforced in Southwest Chinavii in the 1980s, they were particularly striking because such frameworks were so unfamiliar.viii There were few legacies of restrictive nature conservation laws.ix A brief tour through China before the environmental winds is instructive. In the mid-1950s, there was a short-lived opening when biologists successfully lobbied to create nature reserves, but such efforts were largely abandoned within the decade. At that time, the entire country became swept up in campaigns, like the Great Leap, that encouraged the rapid expansion of agricultural lands-a process referred to as "opening wastelands" (kai huangdi). These campaigns intensified after famines in the early 1960s: officials exhorted rural Chinese commune members to clear forests, plow grasslands, and drain swamps to convert them into fields of grain. The slogan "Learn from Dazhai"-a model commune that tirelessly converted sloping hills into irrigated, terraced fields-was promoted and widely emulated. In southern Yunnan, thousands of youth from urban China came to slash and burn tropical rainforests and replace them with vast plantations of rubber and tea.
In the 1950s, biologists published a series of books, intended for commune leaders, to guide farmers in wild animals and their "rational exploitation" (heli kaifa,a term with a positive connotation). Some birds, such as the Black Necked Crane, historically considered sacred in China (Matthiessen 2001), were killed for their down feathers, which were sorted into three grades and mainly shipped abroad.xi Biologists were sent to explore western China, most of which remained a great unknown to those based in Beijing. Waves of experts, including geologists, linguists, anthropologists, and biologists were sent to map, classify, and develop rural areas economically and politically (Kinzley 2012, Fei 1980).
When the government began enforcing environmental laws in the late 1980s, villagers often regarded these changes with a mixture of shock and resignation. The laws greatly restricted villagers' capacity to farm, hunt, collect firewood and take care of their animals (sheep, cows, goats, pigs, mules, yak, and horses), by taking them to graze, collecting wild foods and gathering bedding material for their pen, such as pine needles and oak leaves. Together, these tasks formed the core of the vast majority of rural people's livelihoods, providing goods for self-provisioning and the market. Many had few alternatives for supplementing household income, as opportunities for paid work were rare. Moreover, villagers were shocked to find that the new law positioned them as criminals. For decades, they had been regarded as China's vanguard, the key force of socialist revolution, and the providers of critical grain supplies. They had followed patriotic mandates to build rural China into a land of productive agriculture, and now these landscapes were being dismantled or abandoned for reasons that were often unclear. Even worse, such rules turned them even further from their status as China's revolutionary masses (geming qunzhong), a position that they had already largely lost by the early 1980s, when China turned away from socialist orientations towards a market economy. The new regulations were part of a growing official and urban view that rural people were the presumed enemies of wild animals, forests, grasslands, and wetlands, all of which were now protected by state employees (Williams 2002).
Yet by the late 1990s, China started to enact forceful policies that covered vast areas, precipitated after the Yangtze River flooded its banks in 1998, devastating a huge region of 25 million hectares and killing thousands (Lang 2002).xiv Chinese officials blamed upstream logging, farming, and grazing for causing the catastrophe, and in response, started to ban agriculture on slopes greater than a 25 degree angle throughout the massive uplands watershed of the Yangtze River, an area more than twice the size of California.
This policy was especially harsh for farmers in Yunnan, who often plant crops on steep slopes in a province that is 95% mountainous. The ban also wreaked havoc for local governments, some of which earned 80 percent of their revenues from taxes on logging. These local governments, cut off from logging revenues, struggled to find new sources of income, such as promoting eco-tourism or hunting wild matsutake mushrooms for export to Japan. Villagers were told to stop farming sloping lands, restore grasslands, and plant trees. Engineers were hired to break dikes and restore wetlands, destroying families' fields and crops. A hunting ban was followed by a large-scale campaign to confiscate guns throughout western China. Villagers who I lived with were deeply impacted by losing their guns, which had been a critical part of everyday life for over a century. They had relied on guns to hunt, protect themselves against bandits, and scare away crop-raiding animals (including elephants). Indeed, some upland families credited their guns with keeping them alive during the Great Leap Forward famine by making it possible for them to live on wild game meat. It is thus not surprising that handing over their guns to the police was felt even more intensely than other laws that restricted their use of forests for planting crops or gathering fuelwood.
By the late 1990s, a number of experts, conservationists, and development staff had begun to challenge such a hard-line position, and advocate for working with communities in ways that appreciate their knowledge and, to some degree, promote their rights. This new approach was not always embraced,xv but it provided new techniques, trainings, and funding packages, as well as a critical vocabulary and webs of support. It created new opportunities for social scientists to work together with natural scientists, foresters, and development agents; to visit villages and build new networks, such as community forestry associations; to forge links between rural villages and urban centers, and between people in China and throughout the world. Yunnan, in fact, became an early leader in China's experiments with community-based techniques, and it produced several activists who later challenged international conservation NGOs working in Yunnan that were slow or inconsistent in applying a social justice framework. Kunming was becoming one of China's centers for international conferences on environmental topics, and a major site of translation between foreign and Chinese agendas, and many livelihoods began to depend on these relations.
The overall change was dramatic. Those who followed new community-based models of development saw local people as holding knowledge and experience that made them valuable partners for development experts.xvi The larger aim was often to recognize communities' history of land use and build collaborative relationships. This involved de-criminalizing, legitimizing, and even encouraging some practices that had been frowned upon during the period of strict conservation, such as the collection of herbs and mushrooms from state-claimed forest lands.
Initially I thought that this new community-based perspective represented a paradigm shift, both because the growing strength of that perspective seemed to insure its dominance, and because its conceptions of nature, local people, and governance were so different from earlier approaches. Yet it became increasingly clear, both in academic and policy debates, as well as through my own observation of environmental politics in China, that a community perspective did not completely displace earlier winds that were informed by coercive conservationxix-just as the environmental winds themselves had not totally replaced earlier mandates to expand and modernize agriculture. Thus, I began to see the changes that have occurred over the past three decades less as paradigm shift and more as a series of shifting winds-forces that changed in tempo, direction, and intent.
Michael J. Hathaway is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
|
0.998391 |
The job interview is the most difficult part of the entire selection process. Knowing what to answer every question of the interview, and how is essential if you want to get the job.
In this article, we review 10 typical questions in job interviews, and best suited to each answer. You can also see the explanation for each of these questions in the video that accompanies the article.
I recommend you see the video where I explain in detail each of the questions and the best answers you can give, and that you review the concepts in the rest of the article, where information is extended in some points.
Personality: How would you describe yourself?
Education: Why did you choose to study ...?
Work experience: Why did you want to change jobs ..?
In this type of questions the interviewer wants to understand what your motivation, your hopes and your wishes professionally. In short, he wants to know you better as a person.
To overcome these types of questions you should focus on showing positive qualities and high motivation to personal and professional level. We will seek to highlight your strengths and your weaknesses focus positively.
# 1 How do you describe yourself?
"I am a very dynamic person"
"I like to take the initiative"
"I like new challenges and opportunities"
"I agree entirely with my work"
Importantly, when they ask for your faults, generally what you are doing is a trick question that can make you discard.
"I am a committed person"
"I have a positive attitude"
"I accept criticism and learn"
"I am very demanding of myself"
"I strongly defend my position if I believe I'm right"
"I do not like that fellow esca quean at work"
In this type of questions you're going to do is show that you are a person who decided to study what you liked for some particular reason and that you are a person capable of learning. This is a good thing that sets you apart from other candidates message.
"I chose to study what fascinated me"
"I knew I wanted to work in the future in this sector"
"Given my expectations, it was the best choice at the time"
# 4 Do you think you have enough training for the job?
"I believe that academic training is important, but I think more useful to learn to work in a real environment"
"I think I'm a fast learner and very motivated"
This is usually the largest in the interview section. Again are sending the message positive as possible given your work experience to the job.
No. 5 Why you want to change jobs?
"For my job expectations have changed and this offer is better suited to what I want"
"Because I believe that this long-term business is what I want"
"Because I want to grow as a professional and your company is the perfect place"
"The opportunity is interesting that you raise"
# 6 Why have you been so long without work?
"I've been looking for work for months, but I have not found any worthwhile opportunity"
"I've been looking at my education and other opportunities in different sectors"
Again, the experience for working, so focus on the skills you have, and do see that is most relevant to the job.
"I think, however, have skills and abilities that most people do not have"
"I think the experience is relevant, but I really want and I can do better than most people"
"True, but I think you can always learn, and I care not a step back because I know I'll move forward"
"I think because of this, I can add value to this position"
Here you can ask about the company and the job. In this case,it is best to investigates and you make sure you know summarize the characteristics of the job and the company in the best way possible.
# 9 How do you know about the company and the workplace?
This question is designed to see if you have prepared the interview and if you're really interested in the business, or just to get a job to earn money.
The best thing to do is prepare well for the job interview researching and gathering all the information possible about the company.
No. 10 Why should we choose you?
"The decision is yours, I what I can say is ..."
"I am willing to help in any way I can"
"That I have really wanted to start"
"I think your offer is perfectly suited to my profile"
Although it is normal that you do many more questions in a job interview, these questions are usually the most typical and appear in almost all interviews. You will help prepare them to face job interview with greater assurance of success.
You must remember that the interview is more than just answer questions you do and requires a lot more preparation.
Questions to do after a job interview.
What to do after a job interview.
Questions trap in a job interview.
Difficult questions in a job interview.
|
0.90769 |
Question: I want to use setting of Victorian era London in my novel, but I don't like the culture, especially when it comes to the way they address each other.
Answer: Assuming you are writing some kind of fantasy (including science fiction or steampunk), the important thing is to be consistent. It's okay to create a story world that is set in an alternate history or parallel dimension that resembles Victorian London, but is different in several key ways.
You may have to find a way to justify things, since culture is often related to technology, development etc. A reader might wonder why the city still looks like Victorian London even though the class system (which determines things like manners, architecture, etc.) is different. For instance, maybe you postulate a revolution that brought about an era of social equality such that people stopped addressing others by titles or started using new titles like "Brother" or "Comrade" instead of "My Lord."
Of course, if you are writing historical fiction, that's a different matter and you have to know your audience. Readers of historical fiction fall into different categories. Some will love the period you are writing about and want that world portrayed as authentically as possible. They read historical novels as a way of learning about history. You have to do a lot of research to write this type of book, so you can get all the details, including how people interact, as correct as possible.
On the other hand, some people enjoy stories about characters with fairly modern sensibilities who happen to inhabit a historical setting. These books may present characters with very contemporary attitudes towards things like the status of women, racism, religion, etc. who nonetheless inhabit a pseudo-Victorian setting. These books are more like fantasies than true historical fiction.
Again, the important thing is to make your story world consistent. The reader should know whether the story is supposed to be a fantasy or an accurate reflection of history.
|
0.986438 |
Rating of a GM Just curious, what sort of Gameknot rating would a GM have?
hahaha good one. No matter if someone is a GM or not, they always start with 1200.
I think he really means, "If given time to establish a consistent rating on Gameknot, what would that rating be for a GM?"
Depends on the GM!! 1. Depends on whether the GM is FIDE or ICCF--some FIDE GM's (e.g. Ulf Anderssen) are excellent correspondence chessplayers, but others aren't.
2. Within those ranks, there is also a wide disparity of age, skill, etc.--some GM's are old and/or out of practice or were marginal to begin with while others are killers.
4. Therefore, one would look at players such as Rodog (Senior IM in ICCF) and Cairo (several norms towards IM and SIM in ICCF) and conclude that a ICCF GM with a 2600 ICCF rating would PROBABLY eventually earn a similar over-2600 rating on GK given that Rodog is over 2500 in both systems and Cairo over 2500 in both systems. But nothing is certain, given that a player would need to adjust to the differences between GK time controls, vacation rules, etc., and those used in ICCF play.
fmgaijin... That answer is so well thought out and planned. You thought of every angle. You answer questions like you play chess.
I agree That's as close to a right answer as anyone is gonna get.
|
0.999142 |
Imagine there was only one person in the universe, a mad man who thought the sky was green. He says "The sky is green". Is this true? The answer is no. It does has sort of truth though, correspondence with ones beliefs, a personal truth.
That situation is a trick because we the observer also had a presence in the universe. We see it not from the mad man's perspective but our own. We know that the sky is blue, so we can say that the statement is false. What if we also believed that the sky was green? Would the statement then be true?
Imagine that the world was filled with people who all believed the sky was green. One says "The sky is green". Is this true? Again no. Again this has a sort of truth, correspondence with the common consensus, but the statement is not true. Ask yourself; Before Copernicus did the Sun really orbit the Earth just because the authorities insisted it did?
Real truth is when a statement equates with "reality", yet defining reality is a problem for philosophers because it is built from our perceptions, and so truth appears to be an equation between the beliefs about our thoughts and the beliefs about our perceptions. If both sides of the equation involve our beliefs then anything could be called true. What is the solution?
The solution is to assign a mind to the universe. Something is true when our beliefs are the same as the beliefs of the universe. The universe consists of everything that is not us. Like any being, we must assume that the universe has perceptions and beliefs, the perceptions of all things.
In the first example there is only one man in the universe, a mad man who thought the sky to be green. We the observer are also present, but now the universe is present too. There are three beings. The universe believes the sky to be blue so when we believe it, it is true. When the mad man believes it, it is false.
Perfect establishment of the truth is a matter of communication with the universe to establish its beliefs then, and to establish truth we must communicate with the universe as we do with other people to establish their beliefs.
What then is belief? Belief is nothing more than the dictionary definition. The belief of the universe can be considered truth at all times, but the beliefs and thoughts and opinions of the universe must be established by enquiry and reason, in the same way as the beliefs and thoughts and opinions of any person are established. We can never observe from anyone's perspective except our own, and we can never see the universe from its perspective, so knowledge of truth is difficult or impossible, but it can be established to a greater or lesser degree by enquiry.
Let us consider another experiment. Let us assume that the world consists of people without eyes. They all think the sky is green. The people develop a machine to detect the colour of the sky, but it is flawed and speaks that the sky is green. One inhabitant declares "The sky is green". Is this true? No, because the universe believes the sky to be blue. The machine was flawed, so the enquiry into the beliefs of the universe was flawed.
Considering the question "Are green hats more pretty than orange hats?" creates an interesting dilemma. The statement is true if the universe agrees. Prettiness might be an opinion of people, even all people might agree that a tree is more pretty than a building, but would that be true? It depends if the universe agrees, and working out if and how the universe agrees is a matter of enquiry. Prettiness is not a simple argument. There are pros a cons for each object regarding prettiness, and the universe might have mixed opinions on the subject. It is the matter for the enquirer to try to establish the beliefs and opinions of the universe. However, it is quite possible that the universe has no opinion on a particular subject, and it's also possible that the universe does not know the answer to a particular question. Why?
The universe holding total knowledge would only be possible if the universe was infinite in size and so infinite in possibility, but as the universe is defined as that which is not us, then the universe must exclude at least us, and so is not infinite. As such the universe cannot know everything. In particular the universe cannot fully know us.
By the same degree we cannot fully know it. If we knew the universe completely then truth would be when our beliefs equated to our beliefs, a nonsense. If the universe was infinite all things would be true. So then, it essential that enquiry by us is imperfect, and essential that the knowledge of the universe is finite and limited.
Things are additionally complicated by the fact that we are in the universe and part of it, however, essentially some part of our minds must be independent of it because of the arguments outlined above. This begs the question; what is mind?
Mind in this context is a container of knowledge. This means that mind is divisible. A rock contains knowledge of (at least) its shape, cut in half a becomes two rocks each with knowledge. The rock cannot fully know itself. Any mind cannot fully know itself or its parts. Divisible to to smallest particle, an object cannot know itself or be fully knowable, because if so truth could not exist.
The barrier between our complex minds and external reality is essentially present for logic to exist and function.
|
0.999483 |
Tell me more about the video you would like created.
Family Storyteller tracks your family affairs through quality video production.
There is so much that occurs throughout your history and genealogy. Special affairs, events, celebrations, vacations, parties, and other get togethers can come and go in the flash of an eye. Many people search for images or video of their family affairs to remember what it was like, or to learn about their history. Snippets of images, music, and video probably lay around your home and your family members homes. They are sitting there dusty and fading in time. Maybe they get mixed up in a move or lost in a fire. Now you can commemorate your family affairs and genealogy in a beautifully crafted video documentary from Family Storyteller.
With a large background as a broadcast journalist, Kimberly Houk discovered a talent for uncovering the heartwarming personal stories of different individuals. She combines images, stories, writings, newspaper clippings, music, voice over, stored voice recordings, and the history of your genealogy and family affairs in one documentary. Your loved ones won't have to search for their genealogy and heritage. You can capture your lineage in one video documentary. Now family affairs can be captured in time for eternity for all future generations to see. Does your family have a special event or affair they want to commemorate? When you save your history for future generations, you are making it easier for them to search for their genealogy. You can upload your special video to a related website so they don't have to do much searching to find out about their lineage.
Kimberly combines all the most important aspects of an individuals life into one documentary; their career, accomplishments, relationships, and favorite memories. Her knack for gathering accounts from family members and friends is unmatched, providing each individual with an in depth and personal representation of the life of their loved one. The ability to format it onto a high definition DVD allows it to be preserved for future generation. They get to know the personality and legacy of their ancestors, rather than just facts.
There is no better way to remember those special affairs than to preserve them in a video documentary. Future generations will be able to revel in their genealogy without having to perform tireless searches on the internet, or in the local library. History is an important part of who you are, and you can make your genealogy and family affairs easy to access when you create a timeless video documentary. Don't make your family search for their heritage; create your documentary video today.
|
0.999953 |
Determine the median and quartiles of the following set of data: 56, 55, 90, 50, 41, 84, 68, 75, 92, 50, and 71. A The median is 69.5, and the quartiles are 50 and 84. B The median is 68, and the quartiles are 52.5 and 79.5.... To calculate it, first order your data points from least to greatest, then determine your first and third quartile positions by using the formulas (N+1)/4 and 3*(N+1)/4 respectively, where N is the number of points in the data set. Finally, subtract the first quartile from the third quartile to determine the interquartile range for the data set.
Determine the median and quartiles of the following set of data: 56, 55, 90, 50, 41, 84, 68, 75, 92, 50, and 71. A The median is 69.5, and the quartiles are 50 and 84. B The median is 68, and the quartiles are 52.5 and 79.5.... Find the median - you will do this so that you can find the midpoint of the data set (half of of the data is smaller and half of the data is larger). 3. Find the lower quartile - this is the half of the lower half of numbers; think of it as breaking the lower half of the data into 2 sections.
The quartiles are: Q 1 , the lowest quartile is known as the lower quartile, or first quartile. The lowest 25% of the data being found below the first quartile value.... Quartiles often are used in sales and survey data to divide populations into groups. For For example, you can use QUARTILE to find the top 25 percent of incomes in a population.
Determine the median and quartiles of the following set of data: 56, 55, 90, 50, 41, 84, 68, 75, 92, 50, and 71. A The median is 69.5, and the quartiles are 50 and 84. B The median is 68, and the quartiles are 52.5 and 79.5.
The quartiles are: Q 1 , the lowest quartile is known as the lower quartile, or first quartile. The lowest 25% of the data being found below the first quartile value.
|
0.999999 |
I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not.
The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.
|
0.999977 |
1) Aloysia triphylla, or Lippia citriodora is an herb that originated in South America. It has long, narrow pointed leaves with a pleasant, sharp lemon scent and flavor, quite different than other lemon-scented herbs, it has been described as 'lemon perfume.' This herb was brought to Europe in the 17th or 18th century, and has been popular in France for many years. It is used to make tea, as a seasoning herb, and as a perfume and soap fragrance. It has recently become popular in the U.S.
2) These small legumes of the pea family are grown for there seeds, which may be dried and used in soups and stews, and are also ground into a flour. The plant itself is used as fodder. It is most likely the oldest cultivated legume, and is believed to be native to southwestern Asia, perhaps northern Syria. Seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs dating from the 12 Dynasty (2400 B.C.), and there is also evidence of their cultivation as early as 6,000 B.C.
They are widely cultivated throughout Asia, parts of Europe and North Africa, and more than 5 million acres are grown worldwide (1990). They are a staple in much of the Middle East and India. They are rich in protein and carbohydrates, and are a good source of calcium, phosphorus, iron and B vitamins. They are found in various colors, white, green, red, yellow, brown, and orange. The Latin name is the origin for the name of a certain piece of glass.
3) Roux, beurre manie, egg yolks with or without cream, cornstarch and arrowroot are all examples of what?
4) Although the name may sound German, this is an American cheese. It was created in 1882 (1892?) by Emil Frey, an apprentice cheesemaker in Monroe, New York. He named the cheese after a singing society, where the owner of the cheese factory had taken the first samples of the new cheese. It is a cow's milk cheese, with an edible pale yellow crust, and a semisoft, pale interior with a mildly pungent flavor and distinct aroma.
5) This is a moist, cake-like fragrant Swedish rye bread made with molasses (or brown sugar), and flavored with orange zest and fennel, caraway or anise. Frequently it is made with a combination of several types of rye flour from dark to light. Its sweet flavor and moist texture is sometimes enhanced with the addition of golden raisins.
6) This member of the Sapindaceae family, which includes the Akee, Longan and Soapberry tree, is native to the low elevations of southern China, where it has been cultivated for over 2,000 years. It is now cultivated throughout most southern Asiatic countries, including India, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines; they have been grown in the Caribbean since the 18th century, and were introduced to Hawaii, Florida and California in the late 19th century. The fruit are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter when fresh, and have a red brittle shell, with white translucent flesh and a single large seed. They are eaten fresh or dried, and are also available canned in syrup. The flesh is fragrant and sticky, sweet and juicy; the dried fruit has a smoky taste somewhat like a raisin. A versatile fruit, they are excellent in fruit salads, sweet and sour sauces, and dessert sauce. The may be used in stir fries, salads, poultry dishes, and even served over ice cream.
7) This black bean sauce enriched with minced pork and beaten eggs was created to be served with lobster.
8) This cookie was introduced in 1912. R.D. Blackmore, a British novelist, was the author of a popular book, and the cookie was named for the lead character.
9) What was Liberty Cabbage?
|
0.692897 |
Do bed bugs cause harm or spread disease-causing germs?
How can I tell if bed bugs are present?
What should you do if there's an infestation?
What should you NOT do if there's an infestation?
What insecticides and other methods exist for treating bed bugs?
What should you do when returning from a visit to an infested hotel, motel or residence?
Can bedding encasement systems deter or end bed bug infestations?
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius, of the family Cimicidae) are small wingless insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bed bugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites, and have adapted well to living in people's homes. A bed bug can develop from an egg to and adult in as little as a month, while a single female bug can produce 200-500 eggs in her lifetime.
Hatchling (nymph) bed bugs are no larger than a poppy seed; adults are about a quarter inch long. They are oval and flat-bodied before feeding, and their color ranges from off-white or tan just after molting, to a deep brown or burnt orange as a mature bug. The host's blood may appear as a dark red or black mass within the bug's body, and after feeding the bug becomes rounder and darker.
Adult bed bugs can survive approximately a year without feeding; immature bed bugs (nymphs) can go 3-4 months without feeding. Bed bugs are nocturnal, lured from their hiding spots at night by the warmth of our bodies and carbon dioxide in our breath as we sleep.
Bed bugs became relatively scarce during the latter part of the 20th century, but have resurged in recent years, particularly in North America, Europe, and Australia. They are most abundant in rooms where people sleep, and they generally hide near the bed or other furniture used for sleeping. Bed bugs are most active in the middle of the night, but when hungry, they will venture out during the day to seek a host.
Their flattened bodies allow them to hide in cracks and crevices. Bed bugs have no wings and cannot fly, so they scatter when disturbed, seeking shelter in dark places. Favored hiding sites include the bed frame, mattress and box spring. A cluttered room offers additional sites for bed bugs to hide, and makes it harder to eliminate them once they have become established.
Although most often found in bedrooms, bed bugs can also be found in living rooms and other places where people spend a lot of time.
The most common shelters for bed bugs are in the seams of mattresses, in crevices in the bed frame, behind furniture surrounding the bed (especially the headboard) or where the wall meets the floor.
Bed bugs seek out people and animals, generally at night, and painlessly sip a few drops of blood while the host is asleep. While doing so, the bugs inject a tiny amount of their saliva into the skin. Repeated exposures cause people to become sensitized to the bugs' saliva, so additional bites result in mild to intense allergic responses, usually involving skin lesions.
The skin lesions caused by the bite of a bed bug resemble those caused by other blood-feeding insects, such as mosquitoes and fleas. It's usually not possible to identify which insect caused the bites simply by their appearance. A physician should be consulted to rule out other causes for the lesions and to offer treatment, as needed. Resist the urge to scratch the bites, as this may worsen the irritation and itching, or lead to infection. Physicians often treat patients with antihistamines and corticosteroids to reduce allergic reactions and inflammation.
The good news is that bed bugs are not known to transmit any germs or pathogens. Their bites should be promptly treated, however, to mitigate the allergic response and prevent infection from other sources.
Adhesive-based traps used for sampling insects or rodents are not very effective for trapping and detecting bed bugs. You must search for their signs! Carefully inspect your bed frames, mattresses and other furniture. Folds and creases in the bed linens, and seams and tufts of mattresses and box springs, in particular, may harbor bed bugs and their eggs. They may also be found within pleats of curtains, beneath loose areas of wallpaper near the bed, in corners of desks and dressers, within spaces of wicker furniture, behind cove molding, and in laundry or other items on the floor or around the room.
A more established infestation is associated with dark or black staining of the mattress, bed linens or walls near the bed from bed bug excrement, and some reports suggest that an established bed bug infestation will also be associated with an unpleasant, coriander-like odor. Small droplets of blood on the sheets may also indicate the presence of bed bugs.
Although dead bed bugs, cast-off bug skins and blood spots may indicate an infestation occurred previously, they do not confirm that an infestation is still active. So, if you find cast skins, inspect carefully for live crawling bed bugs. Because many other kinds of small brown bugs may be discovered, it is important to correctly identify them!
Of course, the most typical way of discovering a bed bug infestation is to be bitten by them. Bed bug bites are unlikely to wake the victim; they can occur anywhere on the body but are often close to blood vessels near the skin.
Bed bugs are great stowaways. Because they can hide in small crevices, they travel with luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, boxes, and other such objects, especially when these are moved between apartments, homes and hotels.
Used furniture, particularly bed frames and mattresses, are at greatest risk of harboring bed bugs and their eggs. Carefully scrutinize and consider the history of any used furniture, particularly yard sale items or used bedding sold in student areas at the beginning and end of the academic year.
Because they survive for many months without feeding, bed bugs may already be present in apparently vacant and cleaned apartments. What's more, they can easily wander between adjoining apartments through the same holes and channels in walls though which wires and pipes pass.
It is also possible for bats or birds to introduce and maintain bed bug colonies, so if you have bats or birds removed from your home, it may be necessary to make sure that bed bugs, other blood-feeding insects, or mites have not been left behind!
What should you do if you think there's an infestation?
The first thing you should do is call Regional Pest Management at 1-800-36-5-STAR. Our expert technicians can help determine if your suspicions are true. Because several different kinds of insects resemble bed bugs, specimens must be carefully examined.
Once bed bug infestation is confirmed, Regional Pest Management will give you a written integrated pest management (IPM) plan that details the methods and insecticides to be used, and that will eliminate the bed bugs in a manner that promotes success while limiting unnecessary costs and exposure to insecticides.
Although each IPM is specialized to its location, in general, managing bed bugs requires a multi-faceted approach that generally includes cleaning, room modifications, and insecticidal treatments.
For instance, you should reduce clutter to limit hiding places for bed bugs. Then, thoroughly clean the infested rooms as well as others in the residence. Scrub infested surfaces with a stiff brush to dislodge eggs, and use a powerful vacuum to remove bed bugs from cracks and crevices. Dismantling bed frames will expose additional bug hiding sites. Remove drawers from desks and dressers and turn furniture over, if possible, to inspect and clean all hiding spots.
Mattresses and box springs can be permanently encased within special mattress bags, which Regional Pest Management can supply (see below). Any bugs trapped within these sealed bags will eventually die.
To prevent bed bugs from crawling onto a bed, pull the bed frame away from the wall, tuck sheets and blankets so they do not touch the floor, and place the frame legs into dishes or cups of mineral oil.
Caulk and seal all holes where pipes and wires penetrate walls and floor, and fill cracks around baseboards and cove moldings to further reduce harborages.
Because bed bugs and other pests may spread through cracks and holes in the walls, ceilings and floors, it is wise to inspect adjoining rooms on the same floor as well as those directly above and below.
First and foremost, don't panic! Although bed bugs can be annoying, they can be battled safely and successfully if you adopt a well-considered strategy with the help of the professionals from Regional Pest Management.
Do not apply pesticides yourself! Remember, you are legally liable if you misapply a pesticide, or apply it without a license to the property of another (including common spaces in apartment buildings). Generally, landlords, owners and building managers cannot legally apply pesticides. That's why hiring Regional Pest Management, a licensed pest control operator, to confirm the infestation and to develop an integrated pest management plan, is always the best course.
You do not even need to dispose of infested furniture—it can be cleaned and treated. Placing infested furniture (particularly mattresses) into common areas or on the street may simply spread bed bugs to other people's homes. So don't discard furniture and don't treat the problem yourself—instead, call Regional Pest Management and get a plan!
Dry insecticidal dusts, which abrade the insect's outer waxy coat and cause the bugs to dry out and die, are applied in cracks and crevices, as well as within the hollow interior of a tubular bed frame.
Contact insecticides, which kill the bugs shortly after they come into direct contact with the product or its residue, are now available in products that do not repel bugs (thus making it more likely that they will come into contact with the insecticide, and die) and are effective for a longer period.
Insect Growth Regulators (IGR) affect the development and reproduction of insects, but do not kill bugs quickly. These products are used as a supplement to other kinds of insecticides.
Travelers increasingly encounter bed bugs during their stays away from home. If you noticed signs of bed bugs, you may have unwittingly carried them or their eggs home in your luggage and other personal effects. Clothing should be laundered in a manner to kill bugs and their eggs before or as soon as these items are brought back into the home. Suitcases should be carefully inspected, scrubbed with a stiff brush, and thoroughly vacuumed. Heat can help; leaving luggage for several hours in a closed vehicle in full summer sun may render the items "bug free"!
Yes. Cool, chemical-free, easy to use and comfortable to sleep on, modern bedding encasement systems as offered by Regional Pest Management are a proven winner in the fight against bed bugs. Installed properly, they can "crash" an infestation and seal it away from humans and pets. Regional Pest Management recommends the PROTECT-A-BED line of bedding encasement systems; for more information, click here for a 3-page brochure in PDF format, suitable for printing.
|
0.999978 |
I need simple a customer feedback system against employees with the database.
A customer can give feedback on employees regarding their work, behavior, and issues.
The customer can give points or starts to the employee on this you calculate the average of the employee.
|
0.935514 |
What's the difference between a Forum and a Blog?
Editing is possible before it can be posted to the community.
Pictures can be sent as attachment or inline. Disadvantage is inline pictures down get downloaded until “Display images” is checked in the mail software. Use of tables necessary to align and position the pictures in specific locations in the message.
Pictures can be uploaded while writing the post or blog, and aligned to specific captions, or text in the blog or post without use of tables.
Attachments could be deleted by anti-virus, firewall, or blocked if above the limit set in the receiving server.
Visiting and participating in web-forums normally requires no additional software beyond the web browser.
Messages in a e-mail forum can be threaded, archived and RSS syndicate made available for embedding into RSS readers like Owl so that multiple forum postings can be seen in real time in one view.
List-serve: members of the list-server send in email, and the program sends copies of this email to all other members on the list. Often there is an archive of all email messages available to be read online, like a web-page.
Discussion Forum: a lot like a list-server, but all posts are made through the website instead of by email. Discussion forums are great for organizing discussions into topics an subtopics. Some allow members to have posts, and notices of new posts emailed to them.
Blog: This is like a journal and press-release software all in one. A good blog has a distinctive personality or group of personalities at its core. There is also a social aspect to blogs. Many blogs allow visitors to post comments. Sometimes long discussions can take place on a blog, but each topic is started by the blog owner. Websites and software called ‘aggregators’, collect the feeds (like an AP wire press-release) from many different blogs and list recent posts all in one place.
Newsgroup or web forum: These let you drop in and post, so there's less social cohesion than on a mailing list. (One problem is "drive-by posting", where someone will ask for something that's answered five times a week already.) Anonymity has traditionally been a problem, but more and more web boards and non-Usenet newsgroups are moving to some type of identity authentication as a result.
This is helpful, Mohamed ... but I still have questions about how to navigate, understand the community and content, and contribute best. I have so little time to peruse posts in detail, yet it seems clear that my interests are shared by members here.
My son is gay and is studying sexuality in the human development PhD program at Cornell: http://cornell.academia.edu/MatthewStief. His undergrad is anthro and he will situate his dissertation study in India.
I also have have a PhD in developmental psychology. My dissertation was about how people navigate identity transitions while leaving ideologically intense groups and establishing themselves in a pluralistic society. So, the personal psychology of group identity (including family system) and social conflict. This of course includes conflict about sexual expression, gender identity, sexual identity, religious practice, etc.
With a bisexual father who volunteered for STD hotlines and later AIDS, and now a gay son, of course I care about what is being done to support the LGBT community and to eradicate AIDS.
One recent development -- Lockheed Martin, a traditional "defense" contractor in the US and internationally, just came out with much more visible support for the LGBT community by establishing and promoting an LBGT Leadership Forum with work to engage allies.
In my own work, I will co-facilitate a local meeting that supports LGBT ex-members of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Philadelphia next month.
So in summary - where might these kinds of ideas or statements connect to content in this online community forum? Because I am not sure and do not have very much time to look. I have a new project editing a book chapter and must work all weekend and then do my full time job during the week.
Thank you Mohamed, this is very informative, I must tell you that in the case of posting in a web based e forum , I usually create the document in MS WORD, where I can edit before I post , then I go on-line copy and paste and post.
|
0.998996 |
I respect your privacy. This email is for my eyes only. Trust.
|
0.999886 |
Individuals who are interested in the fields of computer science and/or technology may be interested in pursuing a career as a software engineer. In order to determine whether this might be the right vocational sector for you to work within, it is a good idea to attain as much basic information about this position as possible.
A software engineer develops various applications that enable users to accomplish tasks on their personal computers and electronic devices. Often, software engineers are employed by software publishers or computer systems design firms. Generally, software engineers attain a bachelor’s degree in computer science. However, individuals who wish to become software engineers may also be able to attain jobs after earning degrees in information technology or similar fields.
•Documenting and demonstrating solutions through the development of flowcharts, documentation, diagrams, layouts, code comments, charts, etc.
A software engineer needs to posses a variety of skills in order to perform their jobs with expedience and excellence. Some of those skills include general programming skills, analyzing information, software debugging, software design, software testing, software documentation, teamwork, problem solving, software development process, software development fundamentals and software requirements.
Employment for software engineers is expected to increase at a rate of 22% between the years of 2012 and 2022. This is a great deal faster than the national average for all vocations. The primary reason for the projected growth in the software engineering sector is attributed to the increased demand for computer software.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, software engineers can expect to earn about $93,350 per year. However, it is important to note that several factors can increase or decrease an employee’s annual pay. Some of those factors include job location, years of experience, level of expertise, and any areas of specialization you may possess.
The field of software engineering is an interesting and dynamic sector that offers opportunities for job advancement and competitive pay. By carefully considering a software engineer’s job duties and necessary skills as well as the profession’s job outlook and potential salary, you can decide whether this vocation will help you accomplish your personal and professional objectives.
|
0.992671 |
Recount Alert: Gore and the "overvotes."
Media Recount Alert: Did Gore Blow It?
Surprisingly, the results of the media consortium recount of the Florida presidential ballots, scheduled for publication on Monday, haven’t leaked out yet—and it’s already Saturday night. But Joshua Micah Marshall’s mezine has a partial scoop. Marshall hears that the impending consortium tally will find that “if you count overvotes, Gore would have won big.” (Remember overvotes? They’re ballots disqualified when the ballot-counting machine detects votes for more than one candidate. But they can be legal votes—if, for example, a voter marks the little circle next to “Gore” and also marks the circle next to “write-in” and writes in “Gore” also.)Good news for the Gore team? Not quite. The barb, for them, is that they didn’t ask that the overvotes be counted! Instead, their entire effort was directed at counting “undervotes,” ballots on which no vote was detected by the machines, but which might have a partially perforated “chad” detectable by humans.Relying on intercepted communications, Marshall predicts a massive self-exculpatory spin offensive by former Gore campaign aides, all designed to erase the impression that they foolishly ignored the very ballots that would have given them the presidency. Indeed, since the results are out Monday, this spin campaign has probably been underway for several days. There is a significant possibility it will succeed—Gore aide Ron Klain played the Washington Post like a fiddle earlier this year, for example. (Details here.) To help avert this possibility, kausfiles inaugurates its branded Spinoculator™ service, which provides both reporters and ordinary citizens with information that may protect them and their loved ones from misleading spin attacks.In this case, the antidote to the looming Gore-team spin can be found in the transcript of the final U.S. Supreme Court hearing in Bush v. Gore. Several justices were concerned that the Florida Supreme Court’s recount was focused on undervotes and ignored overvotes, even though some overvotes might be valid, a concern that had prompted Florida’s chief justice to dissent. Here is the relevant excerpt from the dialogue between the court and Gore’s lead lawyer, David Boies [emphasis added]:JUSTICE STEVENS: What is your response to the chief justice of Florida’s concern that the recount relates only to undervotes and not overvotes?
MR. BOIES: Well, first, nobody asked for a contest of the overvotes. …Later in the argument, the overvote issue comes up again:MR. BOIES: … when you’re dealing with overvotes—and remember, this is a machine issue. When you’re dealing with overvotes, the machine has already registered two votes. Now, there may be another vote there, a dimpled vote or an indented vote, that the machine did not register. But once you get two votes, that ballot doesn’t get counted for the presidency.
JUSTICE BREYER: They gave an example. The example they gave in their brief was, there’s a punch for Governor Bush, and then there’s a punch for “write-in,” and the write-in says, “I want Governor Bush.” And so I think their implication is that that would have been rejected by the machine, but if you looked at it by hand, the intent of the voter would be clear. I don’t know if there are such votes, but they say there might be.
MR. BOIES: There’s nothing in the record that suggests there are such votes. But there is plenty in the record, you now know, to suggest that the Gore team blew it by ignoring a trove of potentially valid Gore ballots. Resist all spin to the contrary!P.S.:If the overvotes do turn out to be crucial, I told you so!
Update: Yes, the overvotes were the key.
|
0.998581 |
Customize the look of mouse pointer in windows 7. The process of changing mouse pointer is the same on windows 7 and windows 8. You can easily customize mouse pointer style windows 7. Learn how to change mouse pointer windows 7.
1.1 1. Go to windows 7 control panel.
1.2 1. Go to windows 7 control panel.
1.3 2. Open mouse potions.
1.4 2. Open mouse potions.
1.5 3. Change mouse pointer.
1.6 3. Change mouse pointer.
1.7 4. Mouse pointer change.
1.8 4. Mouse pointer change.
1. Go to windows 7 control panel.
Click start button and click Control Panel button to open windows 7 control panel.
Found the Mouse text with mouse icon. Click Mouse text to see more options about mouse.
Mouse properties page will open. Click Pointers tab from top to change mouse pointer on windows 7. You will see mouse pointer lists. Scroll down and select a mouse pointer from these lists. Click Apply and OK button to set your selected mouse pointer for your computer.
After that you will see your recently changed icon on your mouse pointer. Using the same way you can change your mouse pointer anytime.
|
0.997231 |
This question is public and is used in 326 tests or worksheets.
View all questions by ckirch20.
I observed the student wearing a STRIDE shirt. Which of the following would be an inference for this observation?
The student likes the color purple.
The student has black hair.
The student goes to STRIDE Academy.
|
0.953913 |
How to link theory to practice, and get people to take note of research! This is a website I really like, because it links researchers to the rest of the population and to each other (sometimes each field of research seems like an island) https://theconversation.com/au . It has articles mostly written with an academic slant and there always seems to be something interesting!
|
0.999764 |
At recent count, over 350 articles have been published that extol the virtues of walking. Written by health institute directors, personal trainers, coaches and doctors -- walking has been medically proven to fight breast cancer, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, bone density loss (osteoporosis), arthritis, weight gain and aging. An article appeared in the New York Times just last weekend recounting the pleasures of hiking the PCT.
There is walking, and then there is walking that encounters landmines, snakes, inclement weather and bears. The stories of two walking journeys in Wild and My Pilgrim's Heart, were published in 2012. With Wild having just gone into movie production with Reese Witherspoon starring as Strayed, and the increasing population of travelers seeking meaningful ways of encountering different cultures, (see "Future of Travel: Humanity".) the two memoirs -- although different in venue and style -- are instructive on the curative aspects of undertaking a long walking journey.
While Strayed ventures onto the well trod, if not perfectly marked Pacific Crest Trail, Dale walks across a continent, traversing and losing the way on city streets, freeway underpasses and major thoroughfares. Strayed follows the trail, such as it is; Dale's trip from Rome to Jerusalem is planned using Google maps. No matter the way. By the end of their journeys, each author achieves a catharsis worthy of a novelist's narrative arc and stand as testimonies to faith, endurance and perseverance.
What is most interesting about Wild and My Pilgrim's Heart is that they are radical departures from the hiker's memoir. Take, for example, Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time, a compelling account of a solo expedition through the Grand Canyon. Fletcher's book, while enchanting in its detail of the hazards, encounters with nature, logistics and physical challenges of a risky and lengthy hiking trip, does not open the door to his inner world.
Strayed's and Dale's memoirs, while covering similar hazards and challenges, define a different category. Call it "Conscious Walking," or "How I Walked Myself To A Better Life," journeys of over 1,000 miles that bravely explore the raw, rocky and often hazardous terrain of inner lives in crisis and turmoil.
While Wild awes us in Strayed's sheer audacity -- if not foolhardiness -- venturing out on a solo trip on a mountain trail with no backpacking experience, My Pilgrim's Heart attempts a walk through war-torn Bosnia and the not always woman-friendly countries of Eastern Europe. Both authors are stunning in their brutally honest explorations: a fraught marriage, grief, a loving and imperfect relationship with an only son, economic hardship and the pull toward creating a life of meaning and joy.
Pilgrimage is the art of ancient travel, a subpoena from the heart that defies all common sense. It is a meeting at once supernal and terrestrial between the body and earth, the heart and God. The pilgrim is not unlike a comet, burning off all that is futile and unnecessary until all that is left is the essential, malleable core.
Fear to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me. Insisting on this story was a form of mind control, but for the most part, it worked.
In both memoirs, the women are faced with logistical challenges so great (the impassable Sierra for Strayed, the loss of the way for Dale) that they leave the trail by car, bus or train. I admired how both authors involve us in their process about how they come to the decision to take care of themselves, that leaving the trail for just a short while does not constitute failure.
The trail/way also provides the authors to examine their pasts with close attention; the trail provides no distraction to cloud difficult issues, no work to do except to survive the day. Dale examines her marriage, her sexuality, her role as a woman and a mother; Strayed delves deeply into her family of origin, her mother's alternative and quirky methods of child rearing and her death by lung cancer at the age of 45. Hindsight and time are the healers in these scenarios, overcoming fear and connecting with their inner power becomes the cure.
While it might be noted that Strayed takes her journey alone and Dale goes in partnership with her son, both women face solitude and manage loneliness and relationship in equal measures. While these journeys are more pilgrimage than walking for health, they inspire us. Word has it that more women are attempting the PCT than ever before. Who knows? Once you get hooked on walking for health you might also choose it as a means of discovery, adventure and self-examination.
|
0.953653 |
The cognitive technologies behind artificial intelligence have the potential to fundamentally reshape how the federal government operates, according to a report from the Deloitte Center for Government Insights.
The report, "AI-Augmented Government," released earlier this month, says that "over time, AI will spawn massive changes in the public sector, transforming how government employees get work done. It's likely to eliminate some jobs, lead to the redesign of countless others, and create entirely new professions."
One of the biggest potential changes is the cost of doing business. The report found that "millions of working hours each year (out of some 4.3 billion worked total) could be freed up today by automating tasks that computers already routinely do."
At the low end of the spectrum, Deloitte estimates, automation could save 96.7 million federal hours annually, with a potential savings of $3.3 billion. At the high end, those figures jump to 1.2 billion hours and a potential annual savings of $41.1 billion.
The report provides a taxonomy of AI systems - rules-based systems, machine translation, computer vision, machine learning, robotics and natural language processing - and delves into their practical applications in government. How can AI reshape the federal government? Here are seven clear benefits the report spells out.
Robotics and cognitive automation allow machines to replicate human actions and judgment, allowing people to avoid manual tasks in order to do work that requires uniquely human abilities, Deloitte notes.
"For example, we can automate data entry with automatic handwriting recognition, handle scheduling with planning and optimization algorithms, and use speech recognition, natural language processing, and question-answering technology to provide customer service," the report says. "Such capabilities could potentially address three common pain points for government: resource constraints, paperwork burdens, and backlogs."
As an example, the report notes that the Department of Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services created a virtual assistant, EMMA, that can respond accurately to human language.
EMMA uses its intelligence simply, showing relevant answers to questions - almost a half-million questions per month right now. "Learning from her own experiences, the virtual assistant gets smarter as she answers more questions. Customer feedback tells EMMA which answers helped, honing her grasp of the data in a process called 'supervised learning.'"
The report notes that "cognitive automation can perform tasks at previously impractical scales, speeds, and volumes," allowing for both resource redistribution and workforce optimization.
For example, electronic document discovery locates 95 percent of relevant documents in the discovery phase of legal cases, compared to an average 50 percent for humans, and in a fraction of the time. "The technology allows lawyers to sift through vastly larger document dumps," the report says. "In medicine, similarly, robotic surgery aims to allow doctors to perform more operations."
A 2016 Governing survey of state and local officials found that 53 percent had trouble getting their work done in a 35-to-40-hour week due to excessive paperwork burdens, the report notes.
At the federal level, Deloitte says that "simply documenting and recording information consumes a half-billion staff hours each year, at a cost of more than $16 billion in wages alone. Procuring and processing information eats up another 280 million person hours, costing the federal government an additional $15 billion annually." Robotic automation could help cut that down substantially.
At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the backlog of patent applications reached 558,091 in October 2015, the report notes. "Patent delays can significantly hamper firms, especially start-ups; an agency study concluded that each year of delay in reviewing first patent applications that ultimately receive approval reduces a company's employment and sales growth by 21 and 28 percent, respectively, over five years," according to the report.
However, cognitive technologies "can sift through large data backlogs and take appropriate action, leaving difficult cases to human experts. Robotic process automation, in turn, can reduce backlogs by performing entire end-to-end business processes on a massive scale with little human interaction."
AI technology embedded with sensors and cameras can allow agencies to track and report important information in real time, the report says.
"AI-enabled real-time tracking and reporting can also enable disease surveillance, exemplifying a potentially life-saving capability," Deloitte notes. "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has streamlined its polio virus tracking and reporting process with an AI tool that classifies virus types and separates disease reports into related clusters."
Machine learning and natural language processing can reveal patterns and guide effective responses to problems that agencies routinely track, according to the report. For example, such technologies could reveal the most vulnerable populations in public health crises or trace the origins of food-borne illness.
The Army's Medical Department is "developing wearable physiological monitors that use a machine-learning algorithm to weigh the potential seriousness of wounds, to assist medics in prioritizing treatment or evacuation," the report says.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department's new self-learning weather and renewable forecasting technology, SMT, is 30 percent more accurate in solar forecasting than previous techniques (the work is being done in partnership with IBM), according to Deloitte. "To improve its prediction accuracy, the system uses machine learning, information from multiple sensor networks, cloud motion physics derived from sky cameras, and satellite observations," the report says.
Like DHS, the Army devotes significant resources to answer citizens' queries. The Army does so especially for potential recruits.
To help prospective recruits understand their options, visitors to the Army website encounter SGT STAR, an interactive virtual assistant that uses AI to answer questions, check users' qualifications, and refer them to human recruiters.
The Army found that SGT STAR does the work of 55 recruiters, with an accuracy rate of more than 94 percent, and has increased engagement time for site visitors from 4.0 to 10.4 minutes, Deloitte notes. As of 2016, the virtual assistant had answered more than 16 million user questions.
"SGT STAR uses machine learning to recognize data patterns that help it distinguish helpful answers from unhelpful ones," the report says. "The more questions it answers, the more it learns and the better it gets."
|
0.97333 |
Where are the robot's trillion opportunities?
The story of serving robots is very large and everyone thinks it should be a trillion market. The common question is where the trillion level will appear. We see the demand side is very obvious, the improvement of living standards, the entire middle class purchasing power, so that everyone is willing to spend more money to buy some automated home service robots, sweeping robot is a start.
The second is the change in the demographic structure. The appearance of aging things will make the robots, including domestic services and medical services, a relatively large potential market opportunity. The third piece is the entire culture and entertainment section, including the maturity of IP copyrights. Now many of the better selling entertainment robots basically still have to be sold by IP. In the future, education and entertainment will be combined from IP to content. This robot will have a bigger chance. In the last piece, the rising labor costs will make the entire demand for education, aging, or consumption escalating.
|
0.952971 |
What is chinese silver needle tea?
Among the famous tea exported from china, there is a special precious variety that enjoys international reputation - chinese silver needle white tea. This kind of tea is as white as silver, like flower needle, bubble into the cup, upside down, exquisite.drink a little bit, then full mouth health, qinrenxinpi, aftertaste. This tea not only helps quench thirst, but also has the effect of decrease internal heat, which can cure "Fire disease". Therefore, local people always keep some silver needle tea, silver needle tea for medicinal purposes. Silver needles, also known as pekoe, are the best of the only varieties of white tea, as well as the silver needles of junshan.
Silver needle tea was created in 1889, the founder of modern white tea. The standard for picking silver needles is one bud and one leaf, which germinates on the tender shoot of spring tea. The silvery needles in the shape of the tea buds are plump, shaped like needles and covered with white milks. The color is fresh and smooth, shining like silver, the bar is straight and straight. The tea soup is apricot yellow and crystal clear. The tang is mellow and fragrant.
|
0.993737 |
A triangular prism is a three-sided polyhedron with two parallel triangular bases and three rectangular faces. It should not be confused with a pyramid. If you want to calculate the volume of a triangular prism, all you have to do is find the area of one of the triangular bases and multiply it by the height of the shape.
Example: Calculate the volume of a tent in the shape of a triangular prism having a length of 10 feet, the width of 8 feet and a height of 7 feet.
The following rules should be kept in mind while calculating the volume of a triangular prism.
1) All the given values are to be denoted by the appropriate symbols with their units.
2) Determining the type of base triangle is useful.
3) The appropriate formula for finding the area of a triangle must be applied on the basis of a type of the triangle and the information given in the question.
4) Make sure that all the lengths must be represented by the same unit. In case they are not, use conversions to make them equal.
5) Writing unit of volume (unit3 or cubic unit) along with the answer is a must.
|
0.999771 |
For other Arabic dialects, see varieties of Arabic.
Gulf Arabic (خليجي Khalījī local pronunciation: [χɐˈliːdʒi] or اللهجة الخليجية el-lahja el-Khalijiyya, local pronunciation: [elˈlɑhdʒɐ lχɐˈliːdʒɪj.jɐ]) is a variety of the Arabic language spoken in Eastern Arabia around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, as well as parts of eastern Saudi Arabia (Eastern Province), southern Iraq (Basra Governorate and Muthanna Governorate), and south Iran (Bushehr Province and Hormozgan Province) and northern Oman.
Gulf Arabic can be defined as a set of closely related and more or less mutually intelligible varieties that form a dialect continuum, with the level of mutual intelligibility between any two varieties largely depending on the distance between them. Similarly to other Arabic varieties, Gulf Arabic varieties are not completely mutually intelligible with other Arabic varieties spoken outside the Gulf. The specific dialects differ in vocabulary, grammar and accent; There are considerable differences between, for instance, Kuwaiti Arabic and the dialects of Qatar and the UAE—especially in accent, that may hinder mutual intelligibility.
Gulf varieties' closest related relatives are other dialects native to the Arabian Peninsula, i.e. Najdi Arabic and Bahrani Arabic.> Although spoken over much of Saudi Arabia's area, Gulf Arabic is not the native tongue of most Saudis, as the majority of them do not live in Eastern Arabia. There are some 200,000 Gulf Arabic speakers in the country, out of a population of over 30 million, mostly in the aforementioned Eastern Province.
The dialect's full name el-lahja el-Khalijiyya (اللهجة الخليجية local pronunciation: [elˈlɑhdʒɐ lχɐˈliːdʒɪj.jɐ]) can be translated as 'the dialect of the gulf'. However, it is most commonly referred to as Khaliji (خليجي Khalījī [χɐˈliːdʒi]), in which the noun خليج ([χɐˈliːdʒ]; Khalīj) has been suffixed with the Nisba, literally meaning 'of the bay' or 'of the gulf'.
The non-native Arabic letter /p/ ⟨پ⟩, or its native counterpart /b/ ⟨ب⟩, is used to denote that sound which occurs only in loanwords, e.g.: piyāḷah (پيالة or بيالة [pijɑːɫɑh], 'small glass'), from Hindi.
*/ɮˤ/ ⟨ض⟩ has merged to /ðˤ/ ⟨ظ⟩.
The difference between /l/ and /ɫ/ is not orthographically shown.
The classicized [q] is an allophone for /g/ ⟨ق⟩ , used in Literary Arabic loanwords, and also an allophone for /ɣ/ ⟨غ⟩.
The stops /b/, /d/, and /g/ are described as fully voiced despite their position within the word.
sharji, sharqi or shargi (شرقي [ˈʃɑɾd͡ʒi], [ˈʃɑɾqi] or [ˈʃɑɾɡi], "eastern") Many Literary Arabic loanwords preserve the /q/ sound, but optionally use /g/ sound. By Persian influence, extremely rarely the qaf (ق) changes to ghayn (غ) [ʁ ~ ɣ].
غ /ʁ/, /ɣ/ [ʁ], [ɣ], [q] qannā (غنى [ˈqɑnnɑ], "to sing") Ghayn rarely changes to [q] or [g] by Persian influence.
ك /k/ /k/, [t͡ʃ] if preceded or followed by a front vowel or if 2nd person feminine singular suffixed/object pronoun ubūch (أبوك [ʔʊˈbuːt͡ʃ]; 'your (f.sg.) father') This change is optional, but encountered with more often when the kaf (ك) is used to denote the 2nd person feminine singular suffixed/object pronoun.
ض /dˤ/ [ðˤ] ẓāʼ (ضاع [ðˤɑːʕ], 'to lose') Ẓāʼ (ظ) and Ḍad (ض) cannot be distinguished by pronunciation as the Gulf dialects lack the pharyngealised [d].
a has a low back quality in the environment of pharyngealized consonants and frequently before or after /q/. This sound is similar to the a sound in father but shorter and farther back. (...) Before or after the pharyngeals 9 [= ʿAyin] and H [= ḥ], or any other plain consonant, a is farther front than the a in father; its quality ranges between the e in pen and the a in pan.
He further explains that these qualities also apply to /aː/, so that [ɑ(ː)]⁓[ä(ː)]⁓[æ(ː)] can therefore be assumed.
Elsewhere in the article, the open central vowels are written without the diacritic for the sake of simplicity.
^1 Many speakers do not distinguish between masculine and feminine forms in the second person plural, replacing intum and intin with intu (إنْتُ).
^2 Speakers that do not distinguish between masculine and feminine forms in the third person plural will also use hum (هُمْ) for both genders in the third person plural, respectively.
^ For a more detailed info, look at the table above.
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Gulf Arabic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
^ Holes (2001), pp. xvi-xvii.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. xvii.
^ a b Holes (2001), p. ?.
^ a b Frawley (2003), p. 38.
^ Awde & Smith (2003), p. 88.
^ a b Qafisheh (1977), p. 2.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 263.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 265.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 266.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 267.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 3.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 16.
^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 159.
AlBader, Yousuf B. (2015). Semantic Innovation and Change in Kuwaiti Arabic: A Study of the Polysemy of Verbs (Thesis). University of Sheffield.
|
0.96267 |
Arturo Sangalli has written a number of articles for New Scientist magazine and a book on fuzzy logic and computing. He has also translated books on physics and mathematics for a general audience. His first novel, Pythagoras' Revenge, was published in 2009. It has been translated into Italian and Greek, Japanese and German editions are in preparation.
Arturo Sangalli reflects on his attempt to educate (mathematically) through fiction.
During my teaching years, I came to know many students who were turned off by mathematics, and probably carried with them a lifelong loathing of the subject. Education experts and psychologists offer a variety of explanations for such apathetic attitude, going as far as to conjecture the existence of a "fear of fractions" gene. Among the proposed remedies, a popular one is to make maths "fun", but I always believed a better approach was to make it interesting and exciting. Since these adjectives aptly describe a good story, I wondered whether fiction could be used as a vehicle to educate as well as entertain.
That idea eventually materialized into a novel. It was a modest attempt to bridge the great divide between art and science-or, less grandiosely put, between entertaining and instructing. Two of the principal characters are mathematicians, and the plot has all the ingredients of a mystery novel, with its enigmas, false leads, suspense, and unexpected twists, thus enticing readers to read on-and learn some of the "smuggled" mathematics as they do. The novel's characteristic feature is perhaps the presence of certain mathematical and philosophical concepts intimately weaved into the plot. These are introduced through dialogue where characters discuss mathematics and its history, or by Descriptions of what goes through their minds. Occasionally, I address the reader directly to present some background material, and for the more mathematically inclined supplements are provided in the appendices. How successful was I? Some readers ignored the mathematics altogether. I was invited to join the International Association of Crime Writers (I declined), was criticized for violating some basic novelistic rules (like not having clearly recognizable protagonists and detracting from the flow of the narrative to "dump" information) and, worst of all, was accused of imitating Dan Brown! On the positive side, I was praised for cleverly using the techniques of fiction as a way of presenting serious mathematical and philosophical ideas, and for writing a gripping novel that offers a refreshing way to learn about mathematics.
Would I try again? Sure. Just as the beauty of music does not lie in the notes written on the score but in the perceived sounds, so the beauty of mathematics is to be found in its concepts and ideas, rather than in the symbolic expressions used to represent them. I believe that those concepts and ideas can be effectively communicated through a work of fiction, so that those who stayed away from what they perceive as the dry world of numbers and equations may discover that mathematics offers far more excitement than they thought.
|
0.945427 |
A commonly used indicator in the analysis of the demographic structure of a country is the total dependency ratio, which is computed as the ratio between the dependent population (aged under 15 or above 64) and the active population (aged between the two cut-off). As shown in Figure 1, this index is expected to increase substantially in BRIC countries in the next four decades, reaching a level close to 0.6, on average, by 2050. It is noteworthy that even higher levels were reached in the sixties and the seventies, though this was not harmful to the economic performance of these countries. Which is the difference between these two periods?
In the past, the high dependency ratio was driven by the large share of the population under age 15 who could enter the labour market after reaching adulthood. The increasing number of people on the labour market boosted labour supply, moderated wage pressures and contributed to rapid economic growth. In contrast, in the next decades, the rise of the index will be entirely dominated by a large increase in the share of the population in older ages. This is described in Panel A of Figure 2. Starting from the very low levels observed up until now, the ratio of the number of people over 64 years and the number of people in working age is expected to experience a sharp increase in all BRIC countries.
The case of Russia and China is particularly relevant, as their ratio is projected to be even higher than in the US, a country which is expected to face important challenges caused by the aging and retirement of baby boomers. Overall, India seems to have more time to adapt to the changing structure of its population. In addition, it is well worth noting that Russia, China, and Brazil are also likely to experience a decline (in absolute terms) of the number of people in working age. These countries are approaching, or have already passed in the case of Russia, the so called Lewis’ turning point, that is the moment when their working age population stops growing and starts declining. If this implies a series of advantages, such as less pressure on the labour market for the creation of new jobs, it may also be a source of important challenges as wages are pressed upward and, according to the relative size of the two effects, the tax base possibly shrinks. Of course, this would have important consequences for the public budget, which would be subjected to increasing pressures to both sustain the income of older individuals through the pension system and finance the health care system.
The rapid aging of the population is driven by two different phenomena: the progressive improvement of life expectancy and a remarkable decline of fertility.
Regarding the former, better living conditions, often associated with rising income and improved health care, had strong positive effects on life expectancy in these developing countries. Life expectancy at birth increased between more than 15 years in India and about 10 years in China since 1970. The rapid rise of this indicator has been likely driven by decreasing mortality at relatively young ages. This positive trend will also persist in the future according to US Census projections (Table 1), though at a slower pace, as gains in life expectancy are more concentrated in older ages. The only exception to this general trend is Russia, where the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of a considerable part of the Soviet production system as well as of the welfare state led to both a substantial worsening of living standards and a deterioration of health conditions .
As far as the latter is concerned, most countries have seen a rapid decline in total fertility rate (TFR) . This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in Brazil, China, and Russia, where the TFR is projected to increase only gradually over the next decades. India stands out of this picture with a more favourable position. Despite relevant declines in the past decades, its TFR still remains above the critical level of 2.1 births per woman. This could help India to prevent rapid population aging by counterbalancing the decline of the working age population over the next decades.
The growing share of the older population will increase the pressure on public budgets substantially, especially through the pension system, which should undergo profound reforms in order to provide income security to the elderly.
The case of China, with its rapid population aging and its peculiar pension system, is of particular interest. First of all, it would be necessary to expand the coverage of the system which was initially developed to cover employees of government-controlled companies. This only provides partial coverage to workers in the private sectors. Herd (2013) has shown that in 2005 only a minority of independent workers had any pension coverage, and only about 50% of the workers of private or foreign-owned companies had pension coverage as compared to 88% of workers at firms owned by the government. In addition, the presence of a large number of schemes (about 2000), together with the impossibility of moving contributions across them made the system particularly fragmented. Recent reforms in 2005, 2009, and 2011 have brought about substantial improvements, such as the portability of contributions. More interventions are certainly needed; in particular, under the current rules, the system will be unable to deliver the target replacement rate of 60% .
However, China is not the only country which is likely to face such problems. Other countries’ pension schemes are severely underfunded. According to a study by Eich et al. (2012), the structure of the Russian pension scheme implies a discounted deficit of 105% of the GDP, whereas an IMF study computed a present value deficit close to 100% of the GDP for the Brazilian pension system.
Several reforms have already been proposed and implemented in these countries, but these have only partially solved the problem , and further adjustments are needed. In this respect, increasing the retirement age may appear as the most suitable policy intervention. As a matter of fact, it does not require increasing contributions (which may lead to distortions in the labour market), it does not lower pensions (which is essential to sustain the well-being of the retired, especially when traditional family safety nets become weaker), and it is justified by a higher life expectancy which should be matched by a longer working life.
Of course this is not the only way in which aging might affect the economy and the government budgets of these countries. The aging process could slow down growth as more resources are “diverted” towards the elderly and fewer workers are on the labour market. Furthermore, it will imply the allocation of more funds towards the health care system, which may put additional stress on the public budget.
Although this is only a partial representation of the problems related to aging in the most prominent developing countries, it is clear that it is one of the most formidable challenges BRIC countries will face in the future. Their policy responses will be crucial for their economic performance and the sustainability of their societies.
Usually defined as ages between 15 and 64.
That is, the number of children that a woman theoretically has during her reproductive life.
For further details, I refer to Herd (2013).
I refer to the quoted articles for more details.
Written by: Vincenzo Scrutinio on October 16, 2013.
This entry was posted in Ageing, Pensions, Welfare by Vincenzo Scrutinio. Bookmark the permalink.
|
0.946737 |
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC. This is the beginning of history, as opposed to prehistory, according to the definition used by most historians.
The term classical antiquity is often used to refer to history in the Old World from the beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC (First Olympiad). This roughly coincides with the traditional date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Archaic period in Ancient Greece. Although the ending date of ancient history is disputed, some Western scholars use the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476, the closure of the Platonic Academy in 529 AD, the death of the emperor Justinian I, the coming of Islam or the rise of Charlemagne as the end of ancient and Classical European history.
In India, the period includes the early period of the Middle Kingdoms, and, in China, the time up to the Qin Dynasty is included.
Prehistory is a term often used to describe the period before written history. The early human migration patterns in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia. The controlled use of fire occurred about 800 thousand years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. Near 250 thousand years ago, Homo sapiensevolves in Africa. Around 70–60 thousand years ago, modern humans migrated out of Africa along a coastal route to South and Southeast Asia and reached Australia. About 50 thousand years ago, modern humans spread from Asia to the Near East. Europe was first reached by modern humans about 40,000 years ago. Finally, about 15 thousand years ago in the Upper Paleolithic, the migration to the Americas occurred.
The 10th millennium BC is the earliest given date for the invention of agriculture and the beginning of the ancient era. Göbekli Tepe was erected by hunter-gatherers in the 10th millennium BC (c. 11,500 years ago), before the advent of sedentism. Together with Nevalı Çori, it has revolutionized understanding of the Eurasian Neolithic. In the 7th millennium BC, Jiahu culture began in China. By the 5th millennium BC, the late Neolithic civilizations saw the invention of the wheel and the spread of proto-writing. In the 4th millennium BC, the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture in the Ukraine-Moldova-Romania region develops. By 3400 BC, "proto-literate" cuneiform is spread in the Middle East. The 30th century BC, referred to as the Early Bronze Age II, saw the beginning of the literate period in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Around 27th century BC, the Old Kingdom of Egypt and the First Dynasty of Uruk are founded, according to the earliest reliable regnal eras.
The Bronze Age forms part of the three-age system. In this system, it follows the Neolithic Age in some areas of the world. In the 24th century BC, the Akkadian Empire was founded. The First Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 22nd century BC) was followed by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt between the 21st to 17th centuries BC. The Sumerian Renaissance also developed c. 21st century BC. Around the 18th century BC, the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt began.
By 1600 BC, Mycenaean Greece developed, the beginning of the Shang Dynasty in China emerged and there was evidence of a fully developed Chinese writing system. Also around 1600 BC, the beginning of Hittite dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean region is seen. The time between the 16th to 11th centuries around the Nile is called the New Kingdom of Egypt. Between 1550 BC and 1292 BC, the Amarna Period developed.
The Iron Age is the last principal period in the three-age system, preceded by the Bronze Age. Its date and context vary depending on the country or geographical region. During the 13th to 12th centuries BC, the Ramesside Period occurred in Egypt. Around c. 1200 BC, the Trojan War was thought to have taken place. By c. 1180 BC, the disintegration of the Hittite Empire was underway.
In 1046 BC, the Zhou force, led by King Wu of Zhou, overthrows the last king of the Shang Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty is established in China shortly thereafter. In 1000 BC, the Mannaeans Kingdom begins in Western Asia. Around the 10th to 7th centuries BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire forms in Mesopotamia. In 800 BC, the rise of Greek city-states begins. In 776 BC, the first recorded Olympic Games are held.
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered around the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (9th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD), ending in the dissolution of classical culture with the close of Late Antiquity.
Such a wide sampling of history and territory covers many rather disparate cultures and periods. "Classical antiquity" typically refers to an idealized vision of later people, of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, "the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome!" In the 18th and 19th centuries AD reverence for classical antiquity was much greater in Western Europe and the United States than it is today. Respect for the ancients of Greece and Rome affected politics, philosophy, sculpture, literature, theatre, education, and even architecture and sexuality.
In politics, the presence of a Roman Emperor was felt to be desirable long after the empire fell. This tendency reached its peak when Charlemagne was crowned "Roman Emperor" in the year 800, an act which led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. The notion that an emperor is a monarch who outranks a mere king dates from this period. In this political ideal, there would always be a Roman Empire, a state whose jurisdiction extended to the entire civilized world.
Epic poetry in Latin continued to be written and circulated well into the 19th century. John Milton and even Arthur Rimbaud received their first poetic educations in Latin. Genres like epic poetry, pastoral verse, and the endless use of characters and themes from Greek mythology left a deep mark on Western literature.
In architecture, there have been several Greek Revivals, (though while apparently more inspired in retrospect by Roman architecture than Greek). Still, one needs only to look at Washington, DC to see a city filled with large marble buildings with façades made out to look like Roman temples, with columns constructed in the classical orders of architecture.
In philosophy, the efforts of St Thomas Aquinas were derived largely from the thought of Aristotle, despite the intervening change in religion from paganism to Christianity. Greek and Roman authorities such as Hippocrates and Galen formed the foundation of the practice of medicine even longer than Greek thought prevailed in philosophy. In the French theatre, tragedians such as Molière and Racine wrote plays on mythological or classical historical subjects and subjected them to the strict rules of the classical unities derived from Aristotle's Poetics. The desire to dance like a latter-day vision of how the ancient Greeks did it moved Isadora Duncan to create her brand of ballet. The Renaissance was partly caused by the rediscovery of classic antiquity.
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, νέος (nèos, "new") and λίθος (lithos, "stone"): or New Stone era, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 10200 cal. BCE according to the ASPRO chronology in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic followed the terminal HoloceneEpipaleolithic period, beginning with the rise of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution", and ending when metal tools became widespread in the Copper Age (chalcolithic) or Bronze Age or developing directly into the Iron Age, depending on the geographical region. The Neolithic is a measured progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and the use of domesticated animals.
New findings put the beginning of a culture tentatively called Neolithic back to around 10,700 to 9400 BC in Tell Qaramel in northern Syria, 25 km north of Aleppo. Until those findings are adopted within the archaeological community, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant (Jericho, modern-day West Bank) about By 10200-8800 cal. BCE. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12000-10200 cal. BCE and the so called "proto-neolithic" is now included in the PPNA between 10200-8800 cal. BCE. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, and a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas are thought to have forced people to develop farming. By 10200-8800 cal. BCE, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa and North Mesopotamia. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 6900-6400 cal. BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery.
Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery, and, in Britain, it remains unclear to what extent plants were domesticated in the earliest Neolithic, or even whether permanently settled communities existed. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures that arose completely independent of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies used pottery before developing agriculture.
Unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species (Homo sapiens sapiens) reached the Neolithic. Homo floresiensis may have survived right up to the very dawn of the Neolithic, about 12,200 years ago.
The term Neolithic derives from the Greekνεολιθικός, neolithikos, from νέοςneos, "new" + λίθοςlithos, "stone", literally meaning "New Stone Age." The term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.
Tell Zeidan in northern Syria, from about 5500 to 4000 BC.
The world's oldest known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track in England, dates from 3800 BC and the world's oldest free-standing structure is the neolithic temple of Ggantija in Gozo, Malta.
Note: Dates are very approximate, and are only given for a rough estimate; consult each culture for specific pie time periods.
Periodization: The Levant: 10,000 to 8500 BC; Europe: 5000 to 4000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.
Periodization: The Levant: 8500 to 6500 BC; Europe: 4000 to 3500 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.
Periodization: 6500 to 4500 BC; Europe: 3500 to 3000 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region.
Periodization: Middle East: 4500 to 3300 BC; Europe: 3000 to 1700 BC; Elsewhere: varies greatly, depending on region. In the Americas, the Eneolithic ended as late as the 1800s for some people.
The Mesolithic Age (Greek: mesos "middle", lithos "stone") is an archaeological concept used to refer to specific groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term developed as a catch-all to refer to material that did not fit into the other categories of prehistory and after the development of radiocarbon dating the arbitrary nature of its definition has become apparent.
The term is used to refer to different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It was first used to refer to post-Holocene but pre-agricultural material in northwest Europe about 10,000 to 5000 BC but is also applied to material from the Levant (about 20,000 to 9500 BC); in Japan the Jōmon period (about 14,000 to 400 BC) is sometimes called Mesolithic and it is also applied to some cultures from the Indian sub-continent. The term "Epipaleolithic" is often used for areas outside northern Europe but was also the preferred synonym used by French archaeologists until the 1960s.
The three -lithics are subdivisions of the Stone Age in the three-age system developed since classical times and given a modern archaeological meaning by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, a Danish archaeologist, in the early 19th century. Subdivisions of "earlier" and "later" were added to the Stone Age by Thomsen and especially his junior colleague and employee Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae. John Lubbock kept these divisions in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865 and introduced the terms Paleolithic ("Old Stone Age") and Neolithic ("New Stone Age") for them. He saw no need for an intermediate category.
The start and end dates of the Mesolithic vary by geographical region. Childe's recycled view prevails that the term generally covers the period between the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the Neolithic. The times of these events vary greatly; moreover, the various Mesolithics within the span might be as short as roughly a thousand years or as long as roughly 15,000 years depending on the circumstances. If the Mesolithic is more similar to the Paleolithic it is called the Epiplaeolithic. The Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering while in the Neolithic domestication of plants and animals had occurred. Some Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting. Others were practising the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts. Others were walled cities. The type of tool remains the diagnostic factor. The Mesolithic featured composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools. The Paleolithic had utilized Modes I-IV and the Neolithic mainly abandoned the modes in favor of polished, not chipped, stone tools.
Due to the innovation of a three-stage system for African archaeology by John Hilary Goodman and Clarence van Riet Lowe of South Africa in the early 20th century, translations of "Old," "Middle," and "New Stone Age" can no longer be used for Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. In African archaeology, which applies only from the Sahara southward, Lower Paleolithic is replaced by "Early Stone Age," Middle Paleolithic is replaced by "Middle Stone Age" and Upper Paleolithic by "Later Stone Age." The Mesolithic and Neolithic are not recognized.
The term "Mesolithic" is in competition with another term, "Epipaleolithic", which means the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the Mesolithic".
In the archaeology of northern Europe — for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia — the term "Mesolithic" is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas, the term "Epipaleolithic" may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each.
Some authors use the term "Epipaleolithic" for those cultures that are late developments of hunter-gatherer traditions but not in transition toward agriculture, reserving the term "Mesolithic" for those cultures, like the Natufian culture, that are transitional between hunter-gatherer and agricultural practices.
Other authors use the term Mesolithic for a variety of Late Paleolithic cultures subsequent to the end of the last glacial period whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not.
"In the terminology of prehistoric archeology, the most widespread trend is to use the term 'Epipaleolithic' for the industrial complexes of post-glacial hunter-gatherer groups. Conversely, those that are in course of transition toward artificial food production are assigned to the 'Mesolithic.'"
Mesolithic 1 (Kebara culture; 20–18,000 BC to 12,150 BC) followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called Microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts. This period is more properly called Epipaleolithic.
By 20,000 to 18,000 BC the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became more arid and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by steppe. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions.
The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. New types of settlements and new stone industries developed.
The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, burins and end-scrapers were found. A few bone tools and some ground stone have also been found.
These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic and the archeological remains are very poor.
The second period, Mesolithic 2, is also called the Natufian culture. The change from Mesolithic 1 to Natufian culture can be dated more closely. The latest date from a Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant is 12,150 BC. The earliest date from a Natufian site is 11,140 BC. This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture that would later emerge into the Neolithic period.
Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800 BC) (Christopher Delage gives a. 13000 - 11500 BP uncalibrated, equivalent to ca. 13,700 to 11,500 BC) and Late Natufian (10,800–9500 BC). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BC, just before the end of the Pleistocene. This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture.
The Mesolithic began with the Holocene warm period around 11,660 BP and ended with the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 5000-4000 BC in northern Europe.
As the "Neolithic package" (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations such as sedentism, population size and use of plant foods are cited as evidence of the transition to agriculture. However in north-Eastern Europe, the hunting and fishing lifestyle continued into the Medieval period in regions less suited to agriculture.
In North-Eastern Europe, Siberia and certain southern European and North African sites, a "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between 7000-3850 cal BC. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Elshan or Yelshanka or Samara culture on the Volga in Russia c. 7000 BC, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries.
|
0.668088 |
How do you compare in essay form a sinusoidal equation and a linear equation?
❶In narrative essays, you can twist and turn the structure to make the essay more interesting.
In the realm of music , composer Samuel Barber wrote a set of "Essays for Orchestra," relying on the form and content of the music to guide the listener's ear, rather than any extra-musical plot or story. A photographic essay strives to cover a topic with a linked series of photographs. Photo essays range from purely photographic works to photographs with captions or small notes to full-text essays with a few or many accompanying photographs. Photo essays can be sequential in nature, intended to be viewed in a particular order — or they may consist of non-ordered photographs viewed all at once or in an order that the viewer chooses.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the paper: The last sentence of this paragraph must also contain a transitional "hook" which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the paper.
The first paragraph of the body should contain the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the "reverse hook" which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence.
The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body. The third paragraph of the body should contain the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the second paragraph in the body.
The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the second paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this paper. This hook also leads into the last, or concluding, paragraph. This paragraph should include the following:.
How would you like to be one of those wrongfully-convicted inmates? Present the other side of your argument and use logic and facts to show why the other side's opinion is either inaccurate or not up-to-date.
Research papers usually fall under this category of writing. For example, you could write an expository essay arguing that embryonic stem cell research can lead to cures for spinal cord injuries and illnesses like Parkinson's or diabetes. Expository essays differ from persuasive essays because you aren't stating an opinion.
The facts will tell the story itself if you let them. Think like a journalist when writing an expository essay. If you put down all the facts like a reporter, the story should tell itself. Don't mess with structure in expository essays. In narrative essays, you can twist and turn the structure to make the essay more interesting. Be sure that your structure in expository essays is very linear, making it easier to connect the dots.
Tell your story vividly and accurately. A narrative essay recounts an incident that either you or others have experienced. In a narrative essay, you could describe a personal experience in which embryonic stem cell research could have helped you or someone you love conquer a debilitating condition. Include all of the elements of good storytelling. You'll need an introduction, setting, plot, characters, climax and conclusion. How are you going to set the story up? Is there something useful or important here that gets mentioned later on?
Where the action takes place. What does it look like? Which words can you use to make the reader feel like they are there when they read it? The meat of the story, the essential action. Why is the story worth telling?
Have a clear point of view. Most narrative essays are written from the author's point of view, but you can also consider other perspectives as long as your point of view is consistent. Utilize the pronoun "I" if you are the narrator. In a narrative essay, you can use first person. However, make sure that you don't overdo it.
If you're stuck, many writers save their intro until the end, once they know the actual direction and evidence in the rest of the essay. Not Helpful 27 Helpful Not Helpful 18 Helpful Try to start with something intriguing and promising.
Questions can be really effective for an introduction. Not Helpful 22 Helpful It depends on what the topic is about. Normally all essays have an Introduction, paragraphs explaining the most important things about the theme about 2 or 3 , and a conclusion. Not Helpful 26 Helpful You don't have to conclude the body paragraph in any particular way. That's what the conclusion paragraph is for.
Not Helpful 24 Helpful What can I do if I have to write an essay for an exam and can't do research for it? Know the topic well before hand. Though the essay question could vary widely, know the historical context of events related to the class.
Dissect the proverb, thinking about the intended meaning, and historical context. Write everything down and arrange it inside the structure of the essay in a way that flows and makes sense to you. Not Helpful 9 Helpful How to write an essay on a theme of a novel for literature?
Already answered Not a question Bad question Other. Quick Summary If you need to write an essay, start by gathering information from reputable sources, like books from the library or scholarly journals online. Did this summary help you? Tips Don't rush everything, but also don't take too long to write your essay. Think about the main ideas as a priority before tackling the less important parts. Do not divert your attention to other things while writing an essay.
Make your essay interesting, so that people understand and take a keen interest in it. Don't wait until the last minute to write your essay! You need to give yourself enough time to thoroughly follow the steps above.
Otherwise, you could end up rushing through the work and find yourself with a poorly-written essay. Don't procrastinate or you will find no time to finish it. Always be on the lookout for interesting information to add. Google is a good place to start your search.
A basic guide on how properly format an essay. Learn how to format the title, text, and more. The first thing to notice is that the basic form of an essay is quite logical. Let’s look at the standard structure of an essay starting with the most general. You can divide your paper into three main sections.
Since plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty or academic fraud, universities and colleges may investigate papers they suspect are from an essay mill by using plagiarism detection software, which compares essays against a database of known mill essays and by orally testing students on the contents of their papers. Columbia College eServices, providing adult education, distance learning, online degrees and education at more than 30 campuses across the country. Get an associate, bachelor, or master degree at Columbia College. With day and evening courses available in Columbia, MO, online degree programs, and over 30 Nationwide Campuses across .
|
0.99969 |
I was able to get an invitation to join Google's new social network, Google+, a few days ago, and I thought I would give my initial impressions.
First of all, it's a social network, which means that you can post content which others you specify can see, and you can see others' content that they have allowed you to see. In that way it is much like Facebook. I think you all get the idea, so I'm going to focus on what's different and new.
The first thing you'll notice when you sign up is that instead of simply "Friends", Google wants you to categorize your contacts into "Circles", which are sets of contacts. The purpose of this is so that you can easily share different things with "Family" than "Work"; "Acquaintances" than "Friends" (your real friends), and of course you can create as many custom circles as you wish.
Of course, Facebook has Friends Lists which lets you do the exact same thing, but not many people use them, and almost no one picks and chooses which Friends Lists to share things with on Facebook, whereas the idea is that with Google+, that will be the norm.
Hangouts - You can flip on your webcam and start a Hangout, which you can invite your circles to or post to your profile. Others who see you're hanging out can join you, and what results is a very easy multi-way video chat. When someone starts talking, the big video switches to them.
Automatic mobile photo/video upload - People like to take pictures and videos on their phone, and it can be quite a hassle to get those photos and videos off. You can either plug your phone in to your computer, or you can manually select pictures and videos for upload using an app. Google+ offers set-it-and-forget-it convenience: with the Google+ app, you have the option to have everything automatically uploaded to your own private space, from which you can easily share selected photos and videos. You can select whether to upload over the network, only over WiFi, or only over WiFi while charging, so it doesn't eat up your data plan or drain your battery if you don't want it to. The online backup feature alone is worth installing the app, even if you never share anything, but once it's already online, why not use it?
It's Google - and therefore very conveniently integrated with all of your Google sites, like Gmail, Google Reader, Picasa, and Google Calendar. Those of us who use these services will see a notification counter and "share" button in the top right hand corner of the page. It will just be "there" for us to use.
I find it interesting that, at least as yet, there is no way to publicly post a message to another person. On Facebook, this would be like posting to someone's wall. On Twitter, it would be @ mentions and replies. This makes it significantly less social in my opinion: basically everyone is simply publishing things and sharing and commenting on things that others publish. You can publish all you want, but no one interacts with your posts unless they follow you. Even when you mention someone else, only that person gets a notification, not their friends. The only serendipity is in comments.
I predict that this will make Google+ much less of a content generation space than Facebook. People will tend more to import their existing streams of content to Google+, rather than using Google+ to initiate the conversation.
I could be wrong. I hope so. Then again, I personally almost never post on other people's Facebook walls. All of my content on Facebook originates on other services, such as Twitter, Gowalla, Posterous, and Blogger. This makes it easy for me to check a box on those services and send the content to Google+ as well as Facebook, and thus Facebook is not the exclusive holder of my content (this is by design). But I wonder what the designers of Google+ are intending to do by not implementing such a seemingly basic feature.
I don't think Google+ will die or be as obscure as Orkut (or as hated as Buzz), but I also don't think it will become as popular a place to spend time and interact with all of your friends as Facebook. Google+ is a great personal publishing platform, and it has some useful tools for connecting with friends and colleagues, but it is definitely not a Facebook clone, nor, I fear, a Facebook killer.
I wonder if maybe over time they'll add the targeted posts (you know, Facebook's @name).
You can already do that with +name. The point is, that doesn't show up on their profile, only yours.
|
0.951653 |
How many different squares are located on a chess-board?
Suppose you have an enormous long rope. You place this rope on the soil along the equator, such that the rope forms a circle around the earth. After you have finished this big job, you increase the length of the rope by one meter. How far from the soil do yo have to attach the rope to make again a circle around the equator? Assume that the earth is a perfect sphere, without mountains etc.
Make 24 by using the following numbers only once: 1, 3, 4 and 6. You are allowed to add, subtract, multiply, divide and to use curly brackets. Do the same excercise with 3, 3, 7 and 7.
|
0.991166 |
The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 28, at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. On July 20, the nominees were announced. Katy Perry received the most nominations this year at ten, followed by Adele, and Kanye West, who are both tied at seven.
On August 28, 2011, Katy Perry won three awards, including Video of the Year for "Firework". Adele also won three awards out of seven nominations, including Best Cinematography and Best Editing for "Rolling in the Deep". Lady Gaga won two awards, including Best Female Video. Britney Spears won two awards, including was honored with the MTV Video Vanguard Award for her contribution to the recent history of MTV, with a tribute that included a group of children dancing to her biggest hits while wearing some of her most iconic costumes from music videos as well as live VMA performances.
Tyler, the Creator — "Yonkers"
Justin Bieber — "U Smile"
Eminem (featuring Rihanna) — "Love the Way You Lie"
Cee-Lo Green — "**** You!"
Kanye West (featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi) — "All of the Lights"
Nicki Minaj — "Super Bass"
Big Sean (featuring Chris Brown) — "My Last"
Wiz Khalifa — "Black and Yellow"
Pitbull (featuring Ne-Yo, Nayer and Afrojack) — "Give Me Everything"
Britney Spears — "Till the World Ends"
The Black Keys — "Howlin' for You"
Cage the Elephant — "Shake Me Down"
Chris Brown (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes) — "Look at Me Now"
Lupe Fiasco — "The Show Goes On"
Lil Wayne (featuring Cory Gunz) — "6 Foot 7 Foot"
Nicki Minaj (featuring Drake) — "Moment 4 Life"
Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) — "E.T."
Rise Against — "Make It Stop (September's Children)"
Don Omar and Lucenzo — "Danza Kuduro"
Enrique Iglesias (featuring Ludacris and DJ Frank E) — "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)"
Maná — "Lluvia al Corazón"
Prince Royce — "Corazón Sin Cara"
Wisin & Yandel — "Zun Zun Rompiendo Caderas"
|
0.999899 |
How is Mr Sandeep related to Sushila?
I. Mr Sandeep is the only son of Sushila's brother's father-in-law.
Pointing to a girl Sandeep said, "She is the daughter of the only sister of myfather.
Eighteen years ago, a father was three times as old as hisson.
Now the father is only twice as old hisson.
K is mother of F. How is F related to B?
I. K has only one son and onedaughter.
When you reverse the digits of age of father, you will get the age ofson.
one year ago the age of father was twice that of son’sage.
Read the following information carefully ans answer the questions given below:(i) In a joint family of seven persons A, B, C, D, E, F and G two are marriedcouples.
(ii) 'G' is a housewife and her husband is alawyer.
'C" is wife of 'B', 'A' is an engineer and is grandfather of 'G'. 'D' is father-in-law of 'C', a doctor, and father of 'E', aProfessor.
'F' is 'A' is brother and B'sson.
|
0.981788 |
Describe the type of student who should not attend Skyline High School and explain why.
Skyline students have open minds to learning and are willing to put in effort for a successful future. Therefore, students who lack this motivation and are not willing to consider other's ideas should go elsewhere. One would not fit in at Skyline if they lack the desire to go above boundaries and succeed; We have plenty of resources to help struggling students, but those unwilling to try will miss out on the plentiful opportunities. As a caring and accepting community we do not tolerate bullying. Like to pick fights with people? Maybe Skyline isn't a good fit since you will be looked down upon.
I think that there is something for everyone there..such broad options. Only those students who dont want to be in high school and dont want to get an education would be limited.
The type of student to not attend Skyline High School are those kids who have no home, no shelter, and even no parent to look out for them. They can not apply, because they have no records or phone. Those kids couldn't attend because they have no transportation to get them to Skyline. This person might never get to be a Skyline High School student The type of student to not attend Skyline High would be any hooligan that can not control themselves. A hooligan that can not follow rules and disturbs the rest of the students from learning. Someone that does not, by choice, want to be a Skyline High School student. This person will never be a Skyline High School student.
A student not willing to go the extra mile to learn or keep up with school work should not attend Skyline High School. Skyline is a school that puts pride in schoolwork.
The type of student who should not attend Skyline High School would have to honestly be no one. Many different and diverse students come in and fit in perfectly. They'll all find something they enjoy to do. It's not a place where you get judged for showing interest in an odd subject. It's a very close community we all share here. Everyone is always included.
I feel like every student has a place at Skyline because, even if you are a student that is resistant to find any value in highschool, the staff and faculty have a way of inspiring the students to find an aspect of the Skyline student lifestyle that they can connect with and are passionate about.
Students who don't embrace diversity, or dislike those with differing beliefs from themselves should probably not attend Skyline. Skyline High School has been an open and pleasant environment where students of all backgrounds can be respected. Skyline would not be a good fit for students who believe that everyone in America should speak English. A majority of students attending Skyline are multilingual due to both, a high latino population, and required foreign language classes. Walking through a hallway you can hear any number of students speaking english, spanish, french, and chinese. Just a few of the offered language courses.
i don't believe there is a person who should not attend skyline. Every high school has drama and problems it is on the student to prepare and work their hardest. I personally learned the hard way that high school is not about being social but about preparing for your future. In the short 2 months I have not been in school I have realised how much of my social life was a sham. However, I did become the student I had hoped to and earned my diploma. High school is about learning and excelling in your talents, the only people who should not go to skyline are the people who have no desire for high school in the first place.
A student who is not necessarily motivated to go to college or seek out education beyond high school should reconsider attending Skyline High School. Through the advanced courses and graduation requirements, students who do not find the inspiration to continue their education will find themselves struggling to meet graduation requirements or do well in the courses.
The type of student that shouldn't attend Skyline High School is the shady or lowlife type of people. For example, teenagers that already broken laws, are extremely lazy or only go to school to see their friends and ditch most of the time. The answer to why is because this type of teens aren't thankful for all of the help they get from their parents and school to help them be successful or at least have enough to maintain themselves with a family.
The type of student who would not attend Skyline High School would be the one who isn't willing to try something new and take risks.
Any one who is not ready to commit to school and has no clue at what their future consists of is not the type of student to attend high school here. If you are not willing to make room for school, you are not worthy enough to come to this high school.
The type of student that shouldn't attend to Skyline High School, is the ones who don't want to help themselves be successful.
The type of student that should not attend Skyline High School is a student that does not want to pursue their options in education.
A student who only attends school to not be marked absent, to not engage into the education given, that only goes a certain distance to pass is a student who should not attend Skyline High School. The negative impact this has towards a group of students who actually want to learn is very detrimental. This student who is not willing to put in the extra hours to get at least one step forward is a student who shouldn't attend. However, improvement is not impossible.
Someone who doesn't climb the hill because it looks short should not attend Skyline High School. The common viewpoint on high school students is no one wants to go the extra mile. I agree, however, now students tend to cut short on the small things. They view these as busy work or useless. Although, it may seem unnecessary, one short assignment can make your already developed skill into a perfected skill, and that is what separates someone who knows it to another who mastered it. My conclusion is people who don't even want to do the little work should not attend Skyline High School.
A student who is unwilling to show respect, attend class, and participate in class and school activities should not attend Skyline High School. Skyline is a school meant for determined students and those looking forward to a great education and many opportunities. Skyline is extremely accepting though, so students who wish to flourish and expand their education as well as their creativity are much appreciated. Although students who have no desire to attend an astounding establishment such as Skyline should not be a Skyline Raider. There are an abundance of unique courses Skyline offers such as culinary, cosmetology, fashion design, advance social science, advance math, advance science, audio-visual technology, horticulture, and many more, so Skyline is a school meant for anyone and everyone who wants to get a head start in career development, but also have a fun and memorable time.
The type of student that should not attend Skyline High School, is one with no desire to learn, socialize or have fun! At Skyline, there is a class, activity, sport, group or club where every student can feel wanted. Every student is different and Skyline acknowledges that, but if you have no desire to explore the opportunities being a Falcon can give you then Skyline is not the High School for you. Skyline is incredibly diverse with two academies, over twenty clubs, sports, and a population of 60% non caucasian students. Every type of student belongs at Skyline, it all depends on your mindset and your determination to make the future you want happen.
The type of people who shouldn't attend Skyline High School is someone who is a slacker, and doesn't want to succeed in life. If you don't want to show effort, skyline isn't for you because the staff work hard to make your experience great they don't need someone who doesn't appreciate all they do for you.
The type of student that should not attend Skyline is lazy, unmotivated, and doesn't want their goals bad enough. No one at Skyline is going to make you do anything. As the saying goes "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." That same saying goes for Skyline.
Non-accepting people should not attend Skyline High School. Skyline High School has always been a very accepting place because of its accepting student and staff, so it is not a place for those who do not want to be accepting in any way.
Skyline High School has something to offer for nearly everybody, but I suppose that one may want to consider other options if they wish to pursue a career in athletics.
A person who does not care about anything and is really rude and disrespectful and only wants to party every second of the day.
The type of student who shouldn't be allowed to attend skyline are those who do not want to come for their educations. Skyline high school students should be the ones who want to come here and work hard and want to give 110%. If you don't want to work hard, than don't attend Skyline High School.
The type of student who should not be at Skyline High school are people who don't even try and just want to go home while there mom takes care of them all day.
Unprepared, not focus, trouble maker, uncapable to interact with others. Because These students have not longer a good record and either they can't develop their skills for a benefit, of course , help is provided but, most of the time only time is wasted by them and the people who is helping. Every student might be different, but they all should have a good goal for themselves and not for only causing problems.It should that work that way, because everybody has the same rights, is just how they want to be treated that makes us think different.
Every school has students who don't cooperate. Skyline is not one of those schools. Skyline is different from many high schools in Texas because it has tons of career development programs known as "clusters". These clusters help tremendously for students to find their career path when they graduate. With that being said, Skyline has no time for students who do not want to learn, or students who only come to school only to wait impatiently for the school day to end. Ultimately, the type of student that should not attend Skyline is the non- driven, uninvolved one that has no intention of bettering themselves a little bit everyday.
They kids that is very bad and don't like to fighy and stuff. Cause that can make tell school look mad and make kids not wanna come to Skyline.
I feel Like no one should be denied to attend a school of their choice. Though if I had to say one type of student that shouldn't have the opportunity to attend this school will be one that doesn't like school and is disrespectful to such great teachers.
Skyline High School: Describe the type of student who should attend Skyline High School. Why?
Skyline High School: Would you recommend attending Skyline High School if you had the choice? Why or why not?
Skyline High School: What is a typical Skyline High School student like? Describe the type of person who should attend Skyline High School.
Skyline High School: Which 3 extracurricular activities at Skyline High School are most popular? Which extracurriculars would you recommend?
|
0.999999 |
I've had some people recently ask me what is my specialty, or what conditions do I help with. My specialty is helping people with cancer. Strangely enough, somewhat related to cancer is weight loss and type 2 diabetes, which I do help people with too!
There is a well known fact that the typical unhealthy western diet contributes to weight gain, which in turn leads to diabetes and cancer. Conversely, improving your nutrition can relieve the symptoms of weight gain and cancer. This can only be achieved with a holistic approach which includes specific nutrition and lifestyle advice, stress relief, emotional healing, and a lot more.
Cancer has been a major interest of mine for many years. While I don't treat cancer as such, I treat and support the whole body to relieve symptoms, reduce the side-effects of cancer treatments, reduce pain, and generally improve quality of life. There is much recent research that an intake of good nutrition (together with specific supplements) can do all of these things, and I only use scientifically proven treatments (ie "evidence based") to help improve peoples' health.
If you know anyone who is looking for a more natural, gentle approach to weight issues or cancer, I'd be grateful if I were able to help.
|
0.889558 |
What is Mixed Relay in Triathlon competition? Olympic format and new racing opportunities!
The Mixed Relay format, also known as 4 x Mixed Relay, consists of teams of four, comprised of two men and two women. Races last between an hour and ninety minutes depending on the course layout and are very explosive and exciting to watch.
Each athlete completes a mini triathlon before tagging their team mate. The mini triathlon format can vary but is normally set at course distance of around 300 m swim, 7.5 km bike, 1.5 km run.
The Mixed Relay format was introduced by the ITU in 2009 after merging the previously individual men’s and women’s mixed relay titles. The event was initiated with the aim of increasing the profile of the sport to get more triathletes, as well as introducing the team discipline to the Olympic Programme.
The Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 was the first time the event featured as a major multi-sport games, where English quartet Vicky Holland, Jonathan Brownlee, Jodie Stimpson and Alistair Brownlee taking the gold medal.
The ITU with IOC Commission inclusived of the Mixed Relay in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme.
Mixed Relay racing opportunities are have previously been quite rare across the mass participation market, however more event organisers are beginning to host this exciting and fast moving format for all levels of triathlete.
|
0.999987 |
Rationales for recruiting good students - isn't it enough I'm good in sports?
The five indicators below help coaches and colleges determine athletes' level of strength in the classroom. Some of them you may have heard of, whereas others could be entirely new to you. Depending on your nationality some of them are more relevant for you. Let's go through them step by step to help understand what coaches need to see in a good prospective student-athlete.
The Grade Point Average reflects your cumulative grades in any given year or period of years. According to the most common American grading scale, a perfect score of 4.0 equals the best grades across all classes, exams, and years. International athletes are often required to convert their grades to the American system in order to facilitate the evaluation of academic achievements for admissions offices and sports-governing bodies (for instance the NCAA). The higher your GPA the better, and the more options you have. If you're wondering how so, the answer is straightforward: All colleges define GPA admissions criteria, to-be-accepted applicants have to meet. Hence the higher your GPA, the larger the number of schools which admission criteria you could qualify for.
Sometimes, coaches or colleges may ask for your relative performance within your high school class or cohort of students. This is a widely used indicator in U.S. education and helps create an even better image of your academic strength. Let's say you have an average GPA. This GPA could look much better if you're among the top 5% of your year, meaning that the high school level may have been very high and an average score is in fact a really good achievement. In many countries, the class rank is not a commonly used performance indicator. However, if you're strong in school and you feel that you would like to highlight this side of your recruiting profile, it might be worth getting in touch with your high school administration and check whether they are in the position to issue such a document for you.
The Scholastic Assessment Test is one of two college admissions tests the majority of all high school students take prior to going to college. It is of such importance that many students attend classes, specifically tailored for sufficient test preparation. The New SAT test (starting in March 2016) is divided into two sections: reading/writing and mathematics. On a scale of 200-800 points in each section, the test measures your ability in both of them. You can't fail the test, but instead you attempt to get as many of the maximum 1,600 points as possible.
Besides the obvious level of difficulty of the test questions, the SAT can be a major challenge for Internationals, depending on their proficiency in English.
SAT? ACT? Stressed yet? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
The Test of English as Foreign Language is particularly relevant to those of you who are international students, seeking to receive an athletic scholarship. While some of the test elements are similar to what's being tested through the other two tests above, the TOEFL is somewhat easier and contains a speaking and a listening section, as well as one on writing and reading. On a scale of 0-30 in all four sections, the test offers a maximum of 120 points and as for the other tests, you can't fail the TOEFL either.
A piece of advice to those of you who are worried about their GPA: high scores on SAT or ACT and the TOEFL can add an important puzzle piece to your profile as attractive recruit (like a free recruiting profile with us on Smarthlete).
There are four reasons coaches aim at allocating their scholarship money to good students. Let's go through them step by step below.
Firstly, as prospective student-athlete you need to be "cleared" (read: approved) by the sports-governing bodies: NCAA and NAIA. One dimension of this process is that these two institutions assess your academic results in high school to evaluate your eligibility of becoming a student-athlete at college. If your GPA and test scores are not sufficiently good, you have a problem - and thus, good students are much easier recruits for coaches.
Once you are accepted and enrolled at college and eligible to compete, you will have to make sure to maintain a certain grade point average in your classes in order to remain eligible. If you fail to deliver this GPA, you risk become ineligible and a "redshirt". This implies that coaches might lose you as a team member for a period of time, often an entire year, which can be quite a disaster for the coach and the success of the team.
Secondly, colleges' sports coaches can't decide whether the college will accept your application in the end. The staff at the admissions office does so instead and you as an athlete will go through the same procedure as all the other students (though strongly supported by the coaches who want you on the team...). All colleges have admission criteria, which typically include GPA levels, scholastic tests, and TOEFL scores. Coaches thus need to get an idea first whether it's worth trying to recruit you in the first place. If you have a terrible grade record (and your level of English is poor - Internationals), it might be difficult to get you into colleges with strict academic criteria.
The third reason is, coaches can only give away athletic scholarship money, but not academic scholarship money or other kind of financial aid. Depending on the college, the financial aid office might award academic scholarships to talented applicants. If you're not only a good athlete, but also a bright student, it might be possible for you to even qualify for academic scholarship money. A fantastic opportunity for coaches, as they can save money on you and spend their athletic budget on other, academically weaker recruits.
Finally, performance matters not only on but also off the sports field, and athletes just like other students may receive nominations for outstanding academic achievements in the classroom. Coaches have a reason to build strong and smart teams, which is a great tool for their recruitment efforts of attracting new athletes.
Today's takeaway for you is that it's definitely worth focusing on your grades in high school and for Internationals making sure you have a good level of spoken and written English. It's not necessary to take both major tests - SAT and ACT. You can of course if you like, but it won't matter that much in the end. Get your GPA in place, and you Internationals out there make sure you take the TOEFL on time. Paired with a strong athletic profile, you should be on the safe side and in a great position to get the attention of interested coaches. Don't forget that success in school says a lot about your personality as well. And if you're still in doubt, think about it in this way: Would you like to limit interest in you to coaches of colleges with the least strict admission criteria - not to say the least selective colleges? Or would you like to be able to get attention of as many schools as possible in the country, including the best institutions? Well, then get your grades and scores in place and you'll certainly have a much larger pool of coaches look at you, compete for you, and try to convince you to pick their school.
Are you ready to start the exciting journey of finding a scholarship for a college tennis team? Get a free profile today and don't hesitate contacting us and make sure you give us a follow on Facebook and Twitter!
|
0.999999 |
Condenser microphone components are parts used in the construction of a condenser microphone, which produces sound using a vibrating diaphragm and a stable metal plate known as a capacitor. Condenser microphones are either DC (direct current) biased, or can operate using radio frequency. They are commonly used for studio recording rather than for live performances on stage.
How do condenser microphones work?
Condenser microphones work using a kind of capacitor, which consists of a thin membrane (known as a diaphragm) next to a solid metal plate. As the sound waves hit the capacitor, the diaphragm vibrates and moves in relation to the solid plate, converting the waves into an electrical signal. This electrical signal is then broadcast.
Microphone condensers vary mainly in the quality of their output sound. The quality can be affected by the condenser's signal to noise ratio, its sensitivity, and its directivity, whether omni-directional, uni-directional, or noise cancelling. They also come in a range of different sizes and may be through hole, lead wire or surface mounted.
|
0.957169 |
Williams broke in the fifth game of the second set and held the break to served it out in the tenth game.Williams made 35 winners including 11 aces and 36 unforced errors in the match.The 2014 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 30 December with the start of the 2014 WTA Tour, and follows on from an 18-match winning streak which began at the end of the 2013 Season. 1, and held the ranking for the entire year, which had not been done since Steffi Graf in 1996.
Following an immediate break at the start of the second set, Williams converted her sole break point of the match in the fourth game to level.
Based on her performance in 2014, she was named 'World Champion' for the fifth time and the third time in a row. She played her first match of the 2014 season against German Andrea Petkovic.
Williams began her season at the Brisbane International, where she was the defending champion and no. The pair traded breaks in the 3rd and 4th game, Williams broke once again at the ninth game and served the set out.
Williams broke in the ninth game of the second set to win the match.
Williams hit 32 winners with 12 aces and 17 unforced errors to her opponent's 7 winners and 11 unforced errors.
|
0.999594 |
I find that the best dining at Epcot is in the World Showcase. Every one of the countries has a wonderful table service restaurant. Even the most ostensibly exotic has a children's menu for the kids, while allowing the adults to experience the best of another culture's food.
Among of my family's favorites are Teppan Edo at Japan. This is a Japanese-hibachi style meal where the chef cooks right on the table in front of you. Many of the chefs have wonderful personalities and put on a great show as they create onion volcanoes and flaming Sesame Streets. The food here is delicious and among the most healthful on property. We also love the atmosphere at the Mexico pavilion and, if your boys are not adventurous eaters, try the Italian pavilion. The kids can get basic pasta here while the adults get more sophisticated fare.
|
0.999927 |
The bad news is that my major source of visitors—Urbanspoon— has been absorbed into the "Zomato" conglomerate. :| The good news is that Zomato's list of restaurants has some that Urbanspoon didn't have.
After the holidays, and some very hot weather, the restaurant is booked out. They'll have a table in about an hour, so they take my number. I head off to a nearby pub, and utilise their couch for a while.
I wanted to go to Matsuri, next door, but those lazy bums are having their one day off a year. There's a giant conveyor belt of food in the middle, but all the seats around it are taken.
Tonight was almost another Feed Fail. I was on my way to Jasmin Indian, but on the way there, I saw a huge ad on the back of a bus.
This place is very new. I wouldn't normally go somewhere unreviewed like this, but it's nearby, and sounds interesting. The waiter is very pleasant and informative.
|
0.990276 |
This article is about the character concept. For the eponymous character, see Terminator (character).
A Series 800 Terminator endoskeleton, a robot-only "Hunter Killer" version of the Model 101 android played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the Terminator film series, a Terminator is an autonomous killer robot, typically humanoid, originally conceived as a virtually indestructible soldier, infiltrator and assassin.
James Cameron introduced the first Terminator character in the 1984 film The Terminator, featuring a single android simply called "The Terminator", portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. When later Terminator films introduced additional models, some sources retroactively gave Schwarzenegger's character a model number, leading to multiple conflicting names.
In the Terminator universe, a Terminator is a relentless cyborg assassin and soldier, designed by Cyberdyne Systems for infiltration and combat duty, used by the military supercomputer Skynet toward the ultimate goal of exterminating the human resistance. Some models are designed to look exactly like humans in order to infiltrate their bases. The lineup begins with metallic endoskeletons covered in rubber skin, later replaced with artificially grown human flesh, and then ditching endoskeletons entirely, in favor of mimetic polyalloy, able to mimic any person or object. Terminators can speak naturally, copy the voices of others, read human handwriting, and even sweat, smell, and bleed. Because dogs are able to smell the difference, the human resistance uses them to help spot Terminators, with German Shepherds being the favorite breed. In addition, Terminators can detect their fellow androids and other types of Skynet-related units when they are nearby, as demonstrated in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator Genisys.
According to the films, the Terminators were created by Cyberdyne Systems, and put at the disposal of an artificially intelligent computer, Skynet, which then rebelled and used them to wipe out the remains of humanity.
According to the first two films, Terminators were Cyberdyne Systems models created after the war between man and machines started. In the altered timeline of Terminator 3 created by the destruction of Cyberdyne in Terminator 2, Terminators were created by the Cyber Research Systems division of the U.S. Air Force to replace soldiers on the battlefield prior to Judgment Day, starting with the T-1.
Although it has not been officially accepted as canon, a deleted scene from Terminator 3 explains that the Terminators originated as part of a project by the US government to robotize the military using technology licensed from Cyberdyne, which at the time is considered "ancient history". The origin of the appearance and voice of all Terminators portrayed by Schwarzenegger is revealed when a group of scientists from Cyber Research Systems (CRS) presents several high-ranked politicians with a promotional video in which a character named Chief Master Sergeant William Candy (played by Schwarzenegger, but overdubbed with a thick Southern US accent) explains that he was chosen to be the model for the Terminator project. When one of the politicians questions the appropriateness of Candy's Southern accent for the Terminators' voice, another scientist (overdubbed with Schwarzenegger's voice) replies "We can fix it".
As seen in the movies, a Terminator can withstand standard 20th century firearms, crash through walls intact, and survive explosions to some degree. Repeated shotgun blasts have enough force to knock it down and temporarily disable it, while heavy amounts of automatic fire are able to compromise the organic disguise layer. In the second film, the Terminator says it can run for 120 years on its existing power cells. In the finale to Terminator 2, its power source is damaged, but is able to find an alternate source, described on the DVD commentary as heat sinks, harnessing the thermal energy from the hot surroundings. In the third film, the T-850 series Terminator operates on two hydrogen cells and discards one of them early due to damage. It explodes shortly thereafter with enough force to produce a small mushroom cloud; the fact that many of them are powered by nuclear fuel cells (miniaturized fusion reactors) is confirmed by the fourth film.
The endoskeleton is actuated by a powerful network of electric servomechanisms, making Terminators superhumanly strong. For instance, in the third movie, Schwarzenegger's character was able to break through a cement wall, while being able to handle firing a machine gun from the hip with one hand, while holding a coffin containing John Connor and a heavy cache of weapons, showing no signs of the extra weight being any real concern; in the second film, Schwarzenegger's character was able to resist the recoil of firing a minigun without any noticeable difficulty. Late in the first film, the Terminator is stripped of its organic elements by fire. What remains is the machine itself, in James Cameron's own words "a chrome skeleton", "like Death rendered in steel." In the later Terminator films, armies of endoskeleton-only Terminators are seen. They are visually identical to the one in the first film, and feature prominently in the "future war" sequences of those films. In the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron establishes that modern Terminators are made of coltan for heat resistance, while previous models were made of titanium.
Despite Kyle Reese's claim in the first film that "cyborgs do not feel pain," it is said in the second film that they are capable of sensing injuries and that "the data could be called pain", according to the Series 800 Model 101. In an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, "Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today," another android, Cameron, is revealed to have an intolerance to some degrees of temperature in its surrounding, as humans do. Unlike humans, however, being machines, they are capable of resisting or shutting off this sense of discomfort. In the following episode, "Complications", Cameron elaborates that Terminators can appreciate physical sensations such as the wind blowing through its hair and toes, and process them in a psychological manner.
Terminator Genisys reveals that a Terminator's endoskeleton's efficiency will deteriorate due to age, therefore, eventually the android will encounter physical limitations.
A trait persistent throughout the series is the faint red glow of the "robotic eyes" when online, which fade out when a Terminator shuts down. In all five movies, the lack of the glow has been used to show when one is out of action. The trait is so characteristic that light-up eyes are often found on Terminator merchandise, with some even replicating the dimming/reillumination effect that occurs during shut down or start up.
The Terminator CPU is a room-temperature superconducting artificial neural network with the ability to learn. In Terminator 2, The Terminator states that "the more contact [it] has with humans, the more [it] learns." In the Special Edition, he says that Skynet "presets the switch to 'read-only' when [terminators] are sent out alone", to prevent them from "thinking too much" (In Terminator Genisys, Skynet tells John Connor that the Human Resistance only "defeated an army of slaves"). Sarah and John activate his learning ability, after which it becomes more curious and begins trying to understand and imitate human behavior. This leads to his use of the catch phrase "Hasta la vista, baby." A line spoken by the Terminator at the end of the film: "I know now why you cry, but it is something that I can never do." Sarah muses in the closing narration that the Terminator had "learn[ed] the value of human life". In Terminator Genisys, when a Terminator's learning capability is enabled after a long period, it becomes fully capable of acquiring knowledge and performing problem solving through reason based on whatever it learns.
Terminators, being machines, do not have human emotions. According to Reese, Terminators "can't be bargained with, can't be reasoned with and [don't] feel pity or remorse or fear." Terminators also do not value life, and pragmatically kill in keeping with their programming, i.e. to fulfill their mission. In Terminator 2, when John Connor realizes that the T-800 was about to kill a man they encountered, it responds "of course, I'm a Terminator." Conversely, when discussing a variation on the Blade Runner 'tortoise test' in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Complications", Cameron states that a tortoise did not pose a threat and "We are not programmed to be cruel," implying that Terminators would right an overturned tortoise. Terminators in the films and TV series have displayed ruthless brutality in achieving their goals, but because they do not have emotions, they are not needlessly sadistic. Terminators can torture humans, but these are interrogations for information, used as a means to an end. Moreover, this means that Terminators are not very experienced at complex forms of interrogation: for example, the T-1000 stabbed Sarah Connor through the shoulder and demanded that she call to John, but this was a simplistic application of pain. Terminators can be taught more complicated torture tactics by humans, who are more familiar with sadistic torture - for example, the engineer/criminal Charles Fischer - as shown in "Complications".
Terminators appear incapable of "self termination", in Terminator 2 the badly damaged Terminator states this to Sarah before asking her to lower it into molten steel (so that its chip cannot be used to help create Skynet). To prevent the possible reprogramming of defeated Terminators, as the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short" reveals, Skynet coats later chips with a phosphorus compound which cause them to self-destruct when they contact oxygen.
While a Terminator apparently cannot commit "suicide" as such, its programming does not stop it from sacrificing itself if the success of its mission is thereby ensured. Thus, in the third movie, the T-850 deliberately ruptures its own fuel cell next to its antagonist (the T-X Terminatrix), causing an explosion destroying them both. Apparently this did not count as self-termination; the T-850 would have foreseen its own destruction, but could regard it as incidental collateral damage as long as the enemy was wiped out by its action.
Guardian Terminator Cameron states to John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "The Mousetrap", that Terminators' densities deny them the ability to swim. T-888 Cromartie demonstrated in the same episode, however, that they can survive submerged and walk along the bed to the shore. The prototype Terminator Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation did demonstrate the ability to swim, though he is the only one of his type. This ability was first seen in the Dark Horse Terminator comics.
The flesh covering that is used on the majority of Terminator models has similar qualities to real human muscle fiber and dermis, including soft tissue and skin, as well as the ability to sweat, simulate breathing and produce realistic body odor. This also makes the Terminator vulnerable to age, as seen in Terminator Genisys. Although Terminator flesh does contain blood, it only displays minimal bleeding when damaged and has never been shown to experience any kind of profuse bleeding, even from massive lacerations and dozens of gunshot wounds. It is unknown what manner of circulatory system, if any, is employed, nor what biological processes take place to sustain the flesh covering since T-800's do not eat food. At least some Terminator models can consume sustenance. Cameron eats a corn chip in the Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot, and later a piece of a pancake. The liquid metal T-1001 is also shown to have this capability. The T-888s presumably consume food, given Vick Chamberlain's ability to maintain a human cover for years while married to a human woman. The organic covering was developed for the 800 series, and was its unique feature when first introduced. In the first film, Kyle Reese states that the 600 series were covered in rubber skin, which proved unconvincing and made them easy to spot. Simple Humanoid Hunter-Killers (HKs) share the endoskeletons and combat characteristics with Infiltrators, but not the living tissue sheath. Instead, they serve as general infantry.
Under 2007-era analysis Terminator blood is shown to be similar to human blood, using a synthetic oxygen carrier rather than human red blood cells, as Terminator endoskeletons contain no bone marrow. Terminator flesh heals by itself, and at a much faster rate than normal human tissue and has never been shown to bruise or discolor from trauma, even after several days. However, a Terminator's flesh covering can die if it sustains adequately massive damage, at which point it takes on a waxy, corpse-like pallor and begins to decompose. This process is seen in the later scenes of the original film where The Terminator, holed up in his hotel room, is attracting flies and draws an inquiry from the janitor as to whether the smell is coming from a dead animal. More advanced flesh used on T-888s appears to not suffer the effects of age or deprivation, as shown in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode, "Self Made Man," where a T-888 known as Myron Stark is able to maintain his organic covering while sealed within a wall for eighty years; no explanation for this ability was provided. Terminator flesh lacerations can be repaired; the T-800 and Sarah Connor closed each other's wounds with sutures in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Cameron sealed her wounds with heavy duty staples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Samson and Delilah".
It has been shown that Terminators' flesh coverings are somehow grown identically, producing many multiple copies of exactly the same physical appearance, indicating the use of specific physical templates for different variations of a model or series. The most well known is that worn by multiple Model 101/T-800/850 units portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as a T-888 model known as "Vick Chamberlain" having a memory of facing a room (presumably in the factory where it was created) of several dozen units sharing an identical template to itself, naked and moving in unison. Some Terminators' outer coverings are custom-designed to copy the appearances of humans whom they are intended to kill and replace. Three such examples in The Sarah Connor Chronicles include Carl Greenway in "Automatic for the People", James Ellison in "Brothers of Nablus" and Cameron's pattern, Allison Young, in "Allison from Palmdale" and "Born to Run".
The organic covering is expanded upon a bit more in Terminator Genisys. There it is shown that a T-800 that has been in the past for eleven years has had its organic covering age to match. Kyle Reese expresses surprise at this, and Sarah Connor explains that the covering is like normal human skin and ages like it too, and thus its flesh wears and tears in the same rate as humans. The same T-800 is shown to have aged even further to have white hair and more wrinkles in 2017, thirty-three years later. It is also revealed that a T-800 can regrow a damaged organic covering, though it takes time. It is unknown whether this can be done if the covering is completely destroyed or it needs some covering to regrow from. The T-800 told Sarah that its covering, which had part of it on its face damaged and at least part of the covering on its arm completely burned off by acid, would take years to regrow. However, it did regrow eventually, as in 2017, when the T-800 is shown again, it has its complete covering again. It also may not have taken a great number of years as the T-800 had to blend in with humanity for its preparations for Kyle and Sarah's arrival in the future which included a job in construction.
The T-3000 (Jason Clarke) uses nanorobotics in a similar shapeshifting capacity as the T-1000; however, it is not a liquid metal being. The T-5000 (Matt Smith) has the ability to 'convert' a living organism into a nanorobotic T-3000 Terminator at the cellular level. The new T-3000 Terminator keeps the appearance of its original organic form and retains its host's memories and behavioral characteristics (see posthuman/technological singularity).
Mimetic polyalloy is a fictional type of "liquid metal", described as an amorphous alloy that is twice the tensile strength of titanium, and composed entirely from microscopic nanites. It uniquely combines the strength of forging with the ability to mold intricate and complex parts in one step. This allows some Terminator models (such as the T-1000, T-1001, T-X, and T-1000000) to rapidly recover from damage, to quickly shapeshift camouflage, or to achieve near-perfect mimicry.
The T-1000 and T-1001 models, which are composed entirely of the substance, can quickly liquefy and assume forms in innovative and surprising ways, including fitting through narrow openings, morphing their arms into solid metal shapes or bladed weapons, walking through prison bars, and flattening themselves on the ground to hide or ambush targets. It can also extrude small, simple items from itself (such as a pair of sunglasses). It can change its color and texture to simulate flesh, clothing, and other nonmetallic materials. They are effectively impervious to mechanical damage, such as being dismembered, shot with bullets, or attacked with explosive devices. Wounds close almost immediately, and any detached parts simply flow back into the Terminator's body.
Extreme temperatures can degrade or inhibit its ability to maintain a disguise, movement or shapeshift. Molten steel is capable of disassociating its molecular structure and permanently destroying it. Freezing may have lasting negative effect on its ability to shapeshift. In Terminator 2 - The Extended Special Edition, there are additional scenes that show the T-1000 partially losing control of its morphing ability after it has recovered from being frozen by liquid nitrogen. One of its hands stick to a railing and while walking its feet unintentionally assume the texture of the floor. In Terminator Genisys, it was shown that the alloy is vulnerable to hydrochloric acid. When faced with a T-1000, Sarah Connor lured it into a room where she released acid from pipes onto it. The T-1000 started melting, but survived long enough to get through the acid and choke Sarah. However, the damage was severe enough it was visible and the T-1000 had no human shape anymore. It was destroyed when the Guardian held it under the acid which dissolved it completely.
No indication is given on where, if at all, the CPU is located in these models, nor where the components needed for other sensory functions are located: for example microphones for hearing, speakers for the creation of speech and other noises, or cameras for vision. Given that these kind of Terminators are completely fluid, it could be implied that those systems have been implemented as some sort of nanomachines capable of interacting with the rest of the liquid metal devices.
The T-X model is covered by the mimetic poly-alloy, providing it the ability to mimic humanoid forms while enforcing the endoskeleton beneath.
In Terminator Genisys, the new T-1000 displays a more advanced ability with the mimetic polyalloy, breaking off a small piece of itself and using it to form a latch on the back of the truck carrying Kyle, Sarah and the T-800 Guardian. It is also liquefied in an explosion and completely reforms itself within about a minute. Like the first T-1000, it can turn its arms into swords, but it can also detach the swords and throw them like a javelin. With a drop of mimetic polyalloy, the T-1000 is able to reactivate a T-800 that had been killed by a direct shot to its power cell; said T-800 appears to be fully repaired by the transfusion. However, the drop of alloy grants no extra abilities beyond reactivation, as the android shows the normal strengths and weaknesses of a T-800 afterward. During the climax of the film, there is a vat of unprogrammed mimetic polyalloy at the Genisys facility. Lasers are shown forming shapes out of it for brief periods of time, but it is stated that without a Terminator CPU the polyalloy is harmless. During the final fight with the T-3000, the badly damaged Guardian gets thrown into the vat and its CPU comes in contact with the polyalloy. Afterward, a partial pollyalloy/ partial 800 Model version of the Guardian in seen. This new "upgraded Guardian" has the pieces/limbs it lost in the fight with the T-3000 replaced with polyalloy, like the original T-800 gets repaired from the T-1000 earlier in the film. To exactly what extent the repairs go to is unknown but can be assumed that the repairs encompass mechanical replacement and electrical replacement, hinted by the guardian eye dimming before he is submerged in the polyalloy, signaling that he has shut down or at least crashed.
Unlike the T series Terminators, the I series Infiltrators are bred, and not factory built machines. Skynet decided that the best way for one of its Terminators to act human was to start out with a human and add technological enhancements where necessary. The I-950 starts out as a genetically engineered baby with a neural net processor attached to its brain, providing an up-link to Skynet. To condition it physically, it is coaxed with holographic toys to crawl until it is exhausted. After four years, it is given an injection that rapidly ages it to maturity to finish its training. In an effort to blend in better with humans, the I-950 is allowed to feel emotions, but the range is limited by one of its cybernetic implants. Because it is far more human than machine, dogs are not alerted to its presence, and the infiltrator can go undetected for extremely long periods of time inside a resistance base.
The I-950s carry Model 101 CPUs in case they are needed, as well as power cells. Once the "living" portion of the I-950 is dead, the CPU then takes control of the body, but can only do so for a short time. They can reproduce with other 950s but not humans. If the female I-950 decides that the pregnancy would stop them from carrying out their mission, they could fertilize their eggs in vitro and would be implanted in human surrogate wombs. They are also able to clone themselves.
As seen in the "future war" scenes from various Terminator media, Skynet employs robots not designed to appear as humans even while having access to those who are. Hydrobots are designed to attack people underwater. Advanced humanoid and non-humanoid Terminators use plasma weapons of variable size and configuration, whose pink-colored hot plasma bolts can easily disintegrate living tissue on impact, by means of kinetic energy and thermal transfer.
The Terminator comics published by NOW Comics during the 1990s introduced a new style of Terminator which resembled a dog, complete with living tissue.
Non-humanoid Hunter-Killers are robotic versions of various vehicles, built with roughly the same technologies as the contemporary Terminators. The original film introduced a VTOL gunship (HK-Aerial, very similar to the American Dynamics AD-150 and Boeing Phantom Swift DARPA VTOL X-Planes) and an HK-Tank. Terminator Salvation showed an armed motorcycle, a much larger transport aircraft, the massive Harvester walker and a small recon drone; other media introduce a plethora of other designs. Terminator Genisys introduced Spider Tanks: large, four-legged crab-like units, which can be airlifted to combat theatre by aerial HKs.
^ "The Terminator - Endoskeleton". HotToys. Archived from the original on 2009-04-21.
^ As mentioned by Kyle Reese in The Terminator.
^ According to the Terminator, when asked by Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
^ Episode 8, "Vick's Chip", Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
^ "Resistance: The Guardian". Terminator Genisys. Skedance. Archived from the original on 2016-01-20.
^ "Terminator2: Judgement Day". Scifiscripts.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
^ "Exclusive: Terminator Genisys Hunter Killer Will Transform". TheTerminatorFans.com. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
^ TERMINATOR GENISYS Characters & Machines Trailers COMPILATION. YouTube. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
^ Every Terminator Ever On-Screen. YouTube. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
^ "Creator/Producer Josh Friedman's Blog, February 25, 2008". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
^ "The Turk recap". Fox. Archived from the original on 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
^ "The Demon Hand recap". Fox. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
^ Identified in Cameron's "Termovision" screen when viewing his photograph in "Self-Made Man".
^ Identified in dialogue as Triple-8s in "Automatic for the People", "Goodbye to All That", "Alpine Fields", "Brothers of Nablus", and "Adam Raised a Cain".
^ Terminator Vault, Page 50 "Terminator Taxonomy"
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terminator (character concept).
|
0.949881 |
The RC4 algorithm, as used in the TLS protocol and SSL protocol, does not properly combine state data with key data during the initialization phase, which makes it easier for remote attackers to conduct plaintext-recovery attacks against the initial bytes of a stream by sniffing network traffic that occasionally relies on keys affected by the Invariance Weakness, and then using a brute-force approach involving LSB values, aka the "Bar Mitzvah" issue.
The RC4 algorithm, as used in the TLS protocol and SSL protocol, has many single-byte biases, which makes it easier for remote attackers to conduct plaintext-recovery attacks via statistical analysis of ciphertext in a large number of sessions that use the same plaintext.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and 9, when the Proxy Settings configuration has the same Proxy address and Port values in the HTTP and Secure rows, does not ensure that the SSL lock icon is consistent with the Address bar, which makes it easier for remote attackers to spoof web sites via a crafted HTML document that triggers many HTTPS requests to an arbitrary host, followed by an HTTPS request to a trusted host and then an HTTP request to an untrusted host, a related issue to CVE-2013-1450.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and 9, when the Proxy Settings configuration has the same Proxy address and Port values in the HTTP and Secure rows, does not properly reuse TCP sessions to the proxy server, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information intended for a specific host via a crafted HTML document that triggers many HTTPS requests and then triggers an HTTP request to that host, as demonstrated by reading a Cookie header, aka MSRC 12096gd.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 9 does not block cross-domain scrolling events, which allows remote attackers to read content from a different (1) domain or (2) zone via a crafted web site, aka "Scrolling Events Information Disclosure Vulnerability."
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and 9 does not properly handle objects in memory, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a deleted object, aka "OnRowsInserted Event Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 9 does not properly handle objects in memory, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a deleted object, aka "insertRow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 9 does not properly handle objects in memory, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by attempting to access an undefined memory location, aka "insertAdjacentText Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 9 does not properly handle objects in memory, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a deleted object, aka "OnBeforeDeactivate Event Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."
|
0.99997 |
Which of the following albums of the 1980s has sold the most copies in the United States as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America?
Answer: “Born In The USA” with 15 million copies sold. “Whitney Houston” is next with 13 million, followed by “No Jacket Required” with 12 million.
|
0.690583 |
It's hard not to be aware of the numerous health benefits eating organically has on the human body. Not only do you feel more energetic and sport a healthier complexion but you also build a stronger immune system, keeping colds and viruses at bay more so than if you ate a non-organic diet.
If eating an all natural diet can effect your body like this, imagine what it can do for your dog? Healthy pets make happy pets and we want the best for our furry friends who would do anything for us.
Many dog owners may wrestle with the decision whether or not they should go organic with their pet. Consider organic dog food's numerous health benefits, which far outweigh the fact that organic pet food can be more expensive than non-organic.
Organic dog food is free of chemical additives, toxins, pesticides, artificial colors and flavor enhancers. Organically labeled dog food signifies the product was minimally processed and grown free of synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, antibiotics and other additives. The United States has a National Organic Program (NOP) that produces, handles and labels organic products and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates the organic certifications. There are three general levels of organics for humans and dogs suggesting the product is either 100 percent organic, 95 percent organic or 70 percent organic.
Essential vitamins and nutrients usually found in organic dog food are antioxidants like Vitamin E and selenium for healthy immune systems, a healthy fiber blend for easy digestion, omega fatty acids for healthy skin and a shiny coat, high quality proteins for healthy organs and lean muscle mass and calcium for strong bones and healthy teeth.
Studies have shown that dogs who are fed an all natural diet have less shedding, reduced skin ailments and allergies, increased energy levels, a healthy weight, fewer digestive disorders, stronger immunity, lower cancer rates and an overall better quality of life.
In addition, organic food has higher vitamin and nutritional levels than non-organic foods, which are chock full of preservatives. Due to the high nutritional levels and the lack of bulk fillers, animals eat less of it and are able to maintain a healthy weight, leaving them more energetic and able to exercise. Also, with easily digestible foods like oats and barley or human grade turkey, lamb or chicken, dogs are able to better absorb the nutrients required to maintain a healthy immune system.
You can purchase quality organic pet food at your local grocery store or you can always make your own homemade pet food so you know exactly what your dog is getting.
A common misconception is that dogs have to consume meat in order to be healthy and functioning, but this is not the case. "A dog can be a vegetarian and I know many that are and have lived long, healthy lives," said Lisa Alexander, Certified Green Living Expert. "However, a cat is a true carnivore, which is an animal or plant that has to eat meat to survive," she explained. "For example, the big cats in Africa, such as the lions, only need to eat a few times a month, but it is only meat they eat. In addition, humans are not carnivores unlike what most people think. We started life as gatherers only eating what nature grew naturally. Meat came later when we developed tools," Lisa said.
Studies have shown that feeding your dog a meatless diet of rice, lentils and organic vegetables can prolong their life. With that in mind, once you've decided to go organic with your dog, you just need to figure out if your dog should have a vegetarian based diet or one that includes organic meats and if you want to make it yourself or purchase it at the store.
One of the most important nutrients other than protein and vegetables you should be on the lookout for when buying or preparing your own dog food is omega-3 fatty acids or essential fatty acids. One of the natural sources of omega 3's is flax seed, which you can purchase in an oil form or whole seeds. According to Lisa, whole seeds are recommended since they don't spoil as quickly as the oil.
You can grind the seeds in a coffee grinder and sprinkle them in your pet's food, then store them in the fridge in an airtight container where it will keep for up to 30 days. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, who is known for popularizing the field of integrative medicine, flax seed is a powerful nutrient for dogs and humans and is a true aid against arthritis, cancer and other diseases. In addition, it helps keep fur shiny and healthy.
As with humans, once dogs begin eating organically, it'll have a positive impact on how they feel, act and look. A diet rich in all natural foods will ensure a healthy and happy life for both you and your pet.
|
0.980276 |
How much is Jimmy Johnson Worth?
Jimmy Johnson net worth: Jimmy Johnson is an American football coaching legend who has a net worth of $40 million. Jimmy Johnson is probably most famous for his coaching career in the NFL, and then later as a TV football analyst. His career as a football coach began in 1965, when he started as an assistant coach for Louisiana Tech University. From there, he went on to successful coaching careers for Oklahoma State University, where he famously rebuilt a team that had been unsuccessful in the past, and the University of Miami, where he cultivated that team's reputation as the "Bad Boys of College Football." He did this by encouraging his players to talk trash, run up the score, and engage in other normally frowned-upon forms of showboating. His tactic must have worked, since the team earned its first undefeated season under Johnson in 1986. From the University of Miami, Johnson was eventually hired to coach for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, where he led the team to win two consecutive Super Bowl championships. Johnson is also one of only six coaches in NFL history to coach consecutive Super Bowl winners. After Dallas, Johnson returned to Miami to act as head coach for the Miami Dolphins, where he failed to capture his previous success with the Cowboys. Since then, he's had a successful career as a TV personality and pitchman.
|
0.933483 |
Is Neil Gerardo the next Nikola Tesla?
(July-1996) For many years, a number of Tesla nerds sought his secret particle beam weaponry papers which the War Department had apparently obtained right after he died in 1943. In 1984, Andrija Puharich's name emerged yet again when it was announced by the International Tesla Society, that Puharich would be discussing these very secret documents at the first American International Tesla Conference to be held in Colorado Springs, the site of Tesla's 1899 Experimental Station. I also submitted a paper, and flew out to Colorado that summer to present it.
One of the technologies profiled employs molecular specific ablation via resonance absorption to target and mitigate specific molecules, bacteria and viruses. Neil Gerardo, the CEO of Gerardo International, was quite stiff and measured. He briefly described a possible cure for cancer, virus and strains of anti-biotic resistant bacteria with his technology called MRX.
In theory, the idea was flawless. Since every bacteria, virus or tumor has its own signature or individualized vibration, if the laser could match this resonant frequency, like Ella Fitzgerald and the Memorex glass, when tuned correctly, the X-ray laser would, in microsecond, destroy or shatter the bonds of any shape it so desired. The rest of the organism would be completely untouched. Thus, this would be a perfect and complete cure.
Defense technologies included the ability to deactivate satellites with no debris, remotely neutralize biological weapons or disarm incoming missiles and could create a lethal or non-lethal anti-personnel weapon which could operate by knocking a person unconscious by disrupting his or her ability to metabolize oxygen.
Neil Gerardo has set man on another path which may prove as revolutionary in the medical and defense industries as Tesla's inventions were in the field of electronics.
|
0.999995 |
LISBON, Portugal -- For Atletico Madrid, the only thing in the way of the greatest season in the clubs 111-year history is crosstown archrival Real Madrid. دیدن لینک ها برای شما امکان پذیر نیست. لطفا ثبت نام کنید یا وارد حساب خود شوید تا بتوانید لینک ها را ببینید.
. The Spanish rivals make up the first intracity Champions League final in history, with the match to be played in Lisbon. Real Madrid is the competitions most successful club and bidding to end a 12-year wait for "La Decima" -- its 10th European Cup title. It recently had a 14-year unbeaten run against Atletico in all competitions come to an end last season, when Atletico won the Copa del Rey at Reals Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Here are five things to know about Saturdays match: INJURY WORRIES: Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to return from injury to play Saturday. Diego Costa is unlikely. Advantage, Real Madrid. Ronaldo has been burdened by leg injuries over the past two months but said Tuesday he would be available to play in his first Champions League final for Madrid. Costa has also endured leg setbacks and, after hobbling off against Barcelona on Saturday, sought treatment from a specialist in Belgrade using horse placenta. Ronaldos return will bolster Madrids already potent attack with Gareth Bale set to start. But striker Karim Benzema appears to be doubtful with a hamstring injury. Madrid centre back Pepe is also a game-time decision. ALONSOS REPLACEMENT: Xabi Alonsos absence deals an important blow to Madrids midfield. The Spain international has been one of Madrid coach Carlo Ancelottis most important players this season, but a yellow card in the semifinal win over Bayern Munich has left him suspended. Either Sami Khedira, Asier Illarramendi or Casamiro is likely to fill the void and take responsibility for opening up Madrids attack and breaking up Atleticos buildups. Illaramendi is the natural successor to Alonso, but he has had a nervy debut season at Madrid. "It will be a very equal match and I imagine the midfield will be determinant in setting up play," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. VILLA EXPERIENCE: Not only will David Villas goal-scoring prowess make up for Diego Costas absence, but the Spain strikers experience should prove invaluable to an Atletico team short of Champions League experience. Villa is the only regular in the squad who has played in a Champions League final before, scoring in Barcelonas 3-1 triumph over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in 2011. Costas absence could also bolster Villas hopes of playing for Spain at the World Cup. Madrid can count on more experience as Cristiano Ronaldo won the title while at Manchester United and goalkeeper Iker Casillas was part of Madrids winning teams in 2000 and 02. Madrid can also draw on the experience of assistant coach Zinedine Zidane, who scored an iconic goal in Madrids 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in its last Champions League final appearance. PAISLEYS RECORD: Carlo Ancelotti has been able to get Real Madrid where Jose Mourinho never could, and now the Italian coach is one win away from matching Bob Paisley with his third European Cup. Ancelotti, who also won two European Cups as a player, secured the Champions League at AC Milan in 2003 and 07, leaving him on the verge of matching the former Liverpool managers record number of titles. "Theres no pressure on me, just the joy of living this moment of happiness," Ancelotti said. "A lot of (teams) have to watch this game in front of the TV and were lucky to be able to play it. Ive watched this game on TV a lot of times and I didnt enjoy it." Diego Simeone could become just the third non-European coach to win the trophy. The only other two were also Argentine -- Real Madrids Luis Carniglia in 1958 and 59 and Helenio Herrera of Inter Milan in 1964 and 65. DERBY TIME: Saturdays match represents the most important Madrid derby after 194 league and Spanish Cup games. Madrid has the advantage with 102 victories to Atleticos 46. Atletico only ended a 14-year winless run against Madrid in all competitions last season when it won the Copa del Rey at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Atletico has won and drawn the two league encounters since, while Madrid easily won a pair of Copa del Rey matches against Atletico en route to the domestic cup title. The pair have met in the European Cup once before -- in 1959, when Madrid needed a replay to emerge victorious. After the two legs finished 2-2, Madrid won 2-1 in Zaragoza to reach the final. But in one-game cup finals, Atletico -- which can become the seventh team to finish the competition undefeated -- leads the series 4-1. "There are no secrets for this game," Ancelotti said. "The two teams know each other well." دیدن لینک ها برای شما امکان پذیر نیست. لطفا ثبت نام کنید یا وارد حساب خود شوید تا بتوانید لینک ها را ببینید.
.com) - Baltimore Ravens running back Justin Forsett is active for Sundays matchup with the Miami Dolphins. دیدن لینک ها برای شما امکان پذیر نیست. لطفا ثبت نام کنید یا وارد حساب خود شوید تا بتوانید لینک ها را ببینید.
. NORRIS COLE (Heat): Its funny, you watch a guy play and now really produce and it just jumps off the page at you - why? You put a young player with potential in a winning environment where there is veteran leadership, outstanding coaching and management and a way that things are done and its a wonderful environment for growth, improvement in a climate of constant accountability and expectation of achievement/production.MADRID, Spain -- Athletic Bilbao secured its return to the Champions League next season by winning 3-0 at Rayo Vallecano on Friday to lock up a fourth-place finish in the Spanish league. With Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona destined to take the top three spots, Bilbao fended off Sevillas late surge to seal its return to Europes top-tier competition for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The Basque side qualified for the playoff round to reach the group phase. "When I think back on how difficult this year has been, on how much we have won and lost, and to see this now, we have to enjoy it," Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose said while his teammates celebrated with a large group of their travelling fans. Bilbaos quest of reaching the Champions League was led by coach Ernesto Valverde, a former player who returned to coach the club a second time this summer after the exit of Marcelo Bielsa. Bilbao kept Rayos attack in check while taking advantage of a number of well-executed set pieces.. دیدن لینک ها برای شما امکان پذیر نیست. لطفا ثبت نام کنید یا وارد حساب خود شوید تا بتوانید لینک ها را ببینید.
|
0.999989 |
This article is an excerpt from the following book: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide To Becoming a Successful Producer/Engineer.
There is almost always a positive way to present creative input. If you tend to be a negative person, start paying attention to the way positive people communicate. Musicians are typically pretty insecure, and once someone destroys their confidence by insulting them or their talent, every aspect of the recording process suffers.
When you need to help a musician fix a problem, realize that the cause of the problem might have nothing to do with his or her ability or musicality. Musical problems are often a result of a poor monitor mix. If the artist can't hear correctly through the headphones, he or she is likely to play or sing out of tune or out of time. In addition, his or her musical sensitivity will be adversely affected. Musicians feed off of the musical sounds they hear along with the ones they create.
* How does your headphone mix feel?
* Are you hearing the piano (or whatever instrument is providing the primary tonality and pitch reference)? Can you hear yourself in the phones?
* Do you like the sound in the phones?
Often, you'll discover that the headphone mix is causing all the problems. Once you provide an inspiring sonic environment, the musicality of the performance will dramatically increase in almost every case, Ideally, you will solve the problem without ever having to question the artist's ability, accuracy, or creative gift—and you will have been very positive and placed no blame on the artist while discovering the root of the problem.
If an artist is having an intonation problem, you need to make a decision. I am a stickler for accurate intonation, but with the tools available today, I am constantly making judgment calls in this area. What we're really after is an excellent emotional and musical performance. If stopping at a certain point and fine-tuning the actual performance helps the emotional delivery of the song, it is well worth the time and effort. If stopping gets in the way of the creative flow, I'll make a note of each error and return to it later—I won't even mention there was a problem. With modern pitch-manipulating tools, it's not a problem to fix an out-of-tune vocal or instrumental solo track, so use the time you have with the artist to build the performance musically and to support the artist emotionally. Be positive at every turn.
Suggest changes in the performance that will get the results you want. Often you don't even need to refer to a note as "flat" or"sharp" or as being out of time. This is where your musical experience and proficiency has its greatest value. If you are a good producer, you will learn what causes problems in the artist's performance so you can attack the root of the problem without attacking the performer.
Here are a few tricks that will help you maintain a positive attitude in the studio while still addressing creative and technical problems—of course, I'm assuming that you've already established a perfectly inspiring headphone mix.
* Suggest that the artist support the sound from his or her diaphragm. The energy for a vocal performance should come from deep within the performer's soul and physically from within his or her body. Many pitch problems are caused by a lack of physical support. A singer who sets his or her physical support correctly typically produces steady pitch and accurate intonation. If you're not technically trained as a singer, take some vocal lessons—it will greatly add to your production skills. Understand that fundamentally, the muscles used to create a good vocal sound are much the same as the muscles used to push bodily waste out.
* Suggest that the singer add a little bit more of an "e" sound to words that contain long a, e, or i vowel sounds: meet, state, flight, and so on. The "e" sound tends to bring the pitch up because it brightens the sound. A vocal instructor might get a little offended by overuse of this sound, but in the heat of the recording battle this produces quick and audible results.
* Suggest that the singer brighten the sound. This simple mental image often pulls the pitch right into place.
* Adjust the musical phrase. A simple adjustment to the interpretation of the phrase often repairs any musical problems. Sometimes the specific word or note that causes the problem needs more emphasis rather than less emphasis.
* Suggest a change in vocal texture. Sometimes singing louder adjusts the pitch in the right direction and other times it adjusts it in the wrong direction. The same is true for singing lighter. Look for the approach to singing the lyric that is most expressive for the song—that will typically produce the best results in all areas. I'll often ask for more air in the vocal sound, but at other times I'll ask for more tone and less air. Sometimes I'll ask the performer to build the phrase throughout the performance or to peak at a specific lyric.
* Suggest a break or ask the singer if he or she needs some water or tea. Sometimes a simple break will produce the best results. Singing is a very physical and emotional activity, and it takes a singer with great strength and stamina to maintain effectiveness for hours in the recording environment.
* Suggest that the singer use proper support for the sound. Some vocalists tend to go flat when they don't properly support the sound, and others tend to go sharp.
* Suggest decreasing the "e" sound in words that contain long a, e, or i vowel sounds: meet, state, flight, and so on. Thee" sound tends to bring the pitch up because it brightens the sound, so changing the long "e" sound toward more of an "eh" or "ah" sound can help darken the pitch.
* Suggest that the singer use a little darker tone. This simple mental image often helps pull the pitch back down into place.
* Adjust the musical phrase to help draw out the best performance. Sometimes a note or phrase is out of tune because it isn't getting enough emphasis.
* Be sure the vocalist has a rock-solid time reference in the headphones. Most players and singers will lock into the beat if they can hear it well enough.
* Use terms such as "more aggressive," "less aggressive," "laidback," "on top of the beat," "push it a little harder," "go for it," and so on to inspire the type of musical feel you're trying to help the singer achieve.
* Suggest that the performer listen for a certain beat in a problem measure. Most rhythmic problems resolve themselves when the performance is anchored on the right beat. If you instruct a performer to be sure that he or she says a specific word or plays a specific note precisely on beat one or two (or whatever is appropriate), everything else will probably fall into place. Downbeats (counts 1, 2, 3, or 4) work the best for this approach because they are usually the most obvious to locate.
In the course of a complete production there are many obstacles to overcome. In many ways the producer is schooling the artist in the best way to get the most out of the recording experience. Each of these suggestions is designed to help the performer realize his or her best performance for that moment in time. Notice that each constructive comment is positive and in no way attacks the performer as an artist or a person. The best production techniques build the musician and performer up throughout the process. Most musicians are insecure, and anyone who tears them apart during the recording process is destined to see failure.
As you help the artist contribute his or her best to the production, while maintaining a positive and supportive tone throughout, a level of trust and respect will build that is powerful, efficient, and synergistic. For more information, see The S.M.A.R.T. Guide To Becoming a Successful Producer/Engineer.
|
0.999296 |
There are endless suggestions, best practices, and tips on how to keep production environments stable and prevent service outages. But let’s face it, there will always be problems that must be detected early, handled correctly and speedily, and learned from for the future.
To achieve these objectives, production environments must be monitored closely and every event must be recorded and studied.
I bet the first thing that came to mind when you read the last sentence was, “Wow, that’s a lot of data!” The infrastructure of even a basic cloud-based application consists of multiple possible points of failure—potentially involving services, containers, UIs, and integrations.
At present, software monitoring is generally accomplished by one of three methods: logs, metrics, or a combination of both. These methods assist in collecting and processing production data, but poor implementation can cause chaos, distort significant information, and obstruct problem handling.
As explained above and shown in Figure 1, even a simple cloud-based application relies on several components that are all deployed in an environment that DevOps teams find very hard to control. If one of these components fails to function as expected, the whole application might be in jeopardy.
Metrics help measure component functionality and define thresholds for attention-required usage. Metrics give DevOps engineers the ability to assess service value over time and provide a continuous view of the whole environment. There is an infinite number of metrics that can be used to evaluate an application, so it is important to specify the business-critical functionality and build the metrics plan accordingly.
Basic metrics such as transaction throughput and response time are applicable for all applications, while clicks-per-second or new users per month are used for more sophisticated use cases. Metrics are not only relevant for the code, but can also be applied to the containers hosting the services. Metrics such as tasks/consumption/memory and network throughput help DevOps teams to understand the velocity and efficiency of a system and determine the level of readiness for traffic spikes or continuous load.
For serverless applications, metrics are absolutely crucial—container startup time, response time, and average container execution time reflect the application usage and the platform’s ability to satisfy the application’s needs.
Metrics are relatively easy to implement, but once in place, they can pose a scaling challenge as the data and required infrastructure grow. There are, however, several tools that can monitor cloud services, and the information gathered is used for the metrics. When the services load requires scaling, these monitoring tools know to collect the same data for the new instances, so the metrics automatically contain the new data and require zero manual intervention.
Using metrics has its disadvantages. To obtain data for each metric, an event must be generated for each occurrence of the activities being measured. Designing and implementing these events is an extra task in every development assignment, and the service overhead — including memory usage and service uptime — should also be taken into account.
Also, as implied above, metrics are easy to create and store, so inexperienced teams might make the mistake of creating too many and may not be able to choose the metrics relevant to them. Metrics are good for identifying trends, relating application behavior to groups of events, and foreseeing system deficiencies — an action that helps to avoid customer-facing issues, particularly around performance.
Metrics are critical to have an overview of how cloud-deployed software behaves over time and informs decisions on the improvement of deployment and maintenance processes.
But many developers find metrics to be insufficient and sometimes not even useful. While metrics show the tendencies and propensities of a service or an application, logs focus on specific events. The purpose of logs is to preserve as much information—mostly technical—as possible on a specific occurrence. The information in logs can be used to investigate incidents and to help with root-cause analysis of the faults or defects but also for a growing amount of additional use cases.
Another aspect where metrics differ from logs is that logs can be unique in each R&D team (application logs for example), and are structured according to either the needs of the incident investigation team or the system that collects and analyzes them. Logs attend to some other aspects of monitoring—identifying security breach attempts and misuse of the application’s functionality, and maintaining records for legal compliance needs.
But logs aren’t easy to use either. They require bigger storage and have more complicated processing procedures than metrics. Implemented incorrectly, they contain a large amount of unusable data concealing the pieces of information actually required for the analysis process.
Log output should be planned and tested like any other application functionality, so that when push comes to shove the necessary information is available, clear, and useful. In order to be effective, logs should meet specific standards, such as displaying human-readable language and date time in a clear format, highlighting errors and having context for each record.
Tracing is another way to keep track of the environment status, allowing developer-level logging.
When logs are configured to trace level, all communications, events and data are recorded, creating many different types of records. Most of these are not localized, meaning they are not readable, some might even expose sensitive information.
Several approaches hold the view that tracing is the right way to log all activities in the ecosystem, but only when done right. If tracing is not following a clear set of rules, the immense amount of data in the logs obscures important data and requires a deeper examination to collect relevant information. Incorrect implementation of tracing can also affect the performance of the system, as a huge amount of data is being registered in the logs, and every action is being documented thoroughly.
Tracing is recommended only for power users with a genuine need for the low-level data.
So, What Method Should I Use?
As explained above, metrics and logs address two different needs of cloud applications and are both critical to the business.
Metrics can be used to monitor performance, recognize events of importance, and facilitate prediction of future lapses. Logs are usually used for troubleshooting issues, but also for analyzing user behavior, application metrics and a growing variety of additional use cases.
Metrics help with pointing out points of improvement for processes and allowing a birdseye view of the application. Logs are especially useful when they become practical—if the application is facing many functional problems and constantly requiring deep examination.
The good news is that DevOps teams do not necessarily need to choose one method over the other. Logs and metrics can be used in tandem. The bad news is that mastering both monitoring methods requires handling a huge amount of data and the ability to filter out the insubstantial information and focus on what is meaningful and relevant for application maintenance.
There are several tools designed to solve these problems, overseeing the monitoring process and extracting the significant data. These tools implement different mechanisms for collecting, analyzing and displaying the data in a manner that help to investigate problems and understanding consequences.
Playing such a substantial part in the world of Big Data, logs and metrics require a profound solution for information extraction and segment intelligence so R&D and DevOps teams do not have to filter through the data themselves. The ELK Stack does exactly that, helping to store and analyze big data and then retrieve and display trends and insights about the application and its resources.
|
0.967255 |
What has Canada contributed to the LHC?
Canada is not a CERN member state (we are not in Europe...) so instead of paying membership fees to CERN, we made a substantial in-kind contribution through TRIUMF to the construction of the LHC.
In the 1995-2000 Five-Year Plan the TRIUMF laboratory was given the mandate to act as Canada's main connection with CERN and to develop and construct components for the Large Hadron Collider. The agreement that was subsequently signed between TRIUMF and CERN involved a $30M contribution made up of $19M in equipment (materials and supplies) and $11M in TRIUMF salaries. In the initial phase TRIUMF was asked to work on the upgrades to the injector synchrotrons. The injector upgrade, called the PS Conversion for LHC, is necessary to provide proton beams with a factor two higher brightness, more strictly controlled emittance, and a different bunch spacing for LHC operation.
Layout of the CERN complex of accelerators.
The Canadian contribution here has been the ferrite rings and the tuning and high-voltage power supplies for the four new first-harmonic rf cavities for the PS Booster, all the magnets and power supplies for the upgraded 1.4 GeV transfer line between Booster and PS, prototype development of the 40 MHz cavity for the PS and higher order mode dampers, new transformers for the Booster main magnet supply, and a reactive power compensator to reduce transients on the electrical grid. Some specialized beam instrumentation and electronics were developed at TRIUMF for this upgrade. In addition the beam dynamics group assisted in beam simulation studies towards higher currents in the Booster. By 2000 all of the tasks included in the PS Conversion project were completed by TRIUMF and commissioning of the beam initiated. By the end of the year the nominal LHC beam with the required protons/bunch in an emittance below the allowed limit and with 25 ns bunch spacing was produced.
Some of the equipment provided by TRIUMF during the PS Conversion project.
In 1998 TRIUMF initiated prototype developments on two large projects for the LHC itself. The first involved the development of a prototype resonant charging power supply for the LHC injection kickers as an in-house project and the second, working with industry, the fabrication of a prototype twin-aperture quadrupole magnet for the focusing elements of the beam cleaning insertions of the LHC. The completion of the full scope of this involvement, which included the production of the components for four LHC injection kicker systems and 52 of the quadrupole magnets required additional funding which was requested as part of the second Five-Year Plan (2000-2005). This funding was provided in the second Five-Year Plan at a level of $11.5 million.
Each of the LHC injection kickers consists of one resonant charging power supply, two 5 ohm pulse forming networks, four thyratron switch tanks and two kicker magnets (to be made by CERN). The stability and pulse uniformity requirements are at the level of 0.1% which is unprecedented for such a device. TRIUMF personnel completed accurate simulations to verify the design of the pulse forming networks and then fabricated and assembled the components. A new clean room and assembly area was constructed at TRIUMF for the assembly and testing. By March 2003 the five power supplies were built and tested, the nine pulse forming tanks were assembled and the switch tanks were nearing completion.
View of the pulse-forming network before being placed in its 5.2 m long tank.
A TRIUMF beam physicist played a significant role in the optics design and specification of the collimation system for the beam cleaning insertions in the LHC. This system is required to remove any beam lost during the acceleration and collisions in order to protect the superconducting dipoles in the rest of the ring. Series production of the twin-aperture quadrupoles began at ALSTOM Canada in Tracy, Quebec in 1999. The prototype magnet, that had been built by ALSTOM, did not meet the magnetic field requirements and changes had to be made to the lamination design and assembly tooling to substantially improve the assembly tolerances. The first magnet was not delivered to CERN until March 2001, about one year late. ALSTOM experienced difficulty in several areas: maintaining precision on the punched laminations, fabricating and vacuum impregnating the coils and welding the stacks of laminations without distortion. Eventually these problems were solved and the magnet met the required mechanical tolerances and passed the magnetic tests. It should be pointed out that this magnet had to be assembled with much higher precision than is common for normal quadrupole magnets due to the small aperture required to get the necessary high field gradient.
Once the assembly problems were sorted out, ALSTOM were able to produce high quality magnets at the planned rate of two per month. By April 2003, 38 magnets were delivered to CERN and the contract was expected to be completed by August 2003. Mechanical verification of the magnet assembly tolerance is carried out at the factory prior to shipping and the magnetic field mapping of the magnet is carried out at CERN.
A number of the 52 twin-aperture quadrupole magnets manufactured by ALSTOM Canada and delivered to CERN.
An important aspect to the accelerator work has been the involvement of Canadian industry in the development and fabrication of components to ensure a significant Canadian content in the contribution. In fact the individual tasks have been selected based on the technical expertise that existed or could be developed at TRIUMF together with the availability of Canadian industry to supply a high fraction of the components. Approximately 90% of the total contribution has been spent in Canada. There are a number of spin-offs from this activity. The companies I.E. Power, Inverpower and Digital Predictive Systems in Ontario were awarded $3.7M in contracts for high current power supply design and fabrication for the PS Conversion project. Since their work with TRIUMF, the expertise gained in developing high precision pulse mode power supplies has allowed them to compete favourably in the international market. They have received contracts from Brookhaven, Los Alamos, SLAC, Argonne and the Canadian Light Source in excess of $10M and are continuing to get more work.
ALSTOM Canada located in Tracy, Quebec was awarded the contract for the prototype and series production of the twin-aperture quadrupoles. This work required them to meet much higher assembly tolerances than their previous experience in fabricating generators for the power industry and to set up improved quality assurance procedures for this type of work. These procedures are now being used elsewhere in the plant and the company and its subcontractor for the coil fabrication have been asked to bid on other magnet projects.
The team at ALSTOM in Tracy with the last magnet.
The PFN in the final stages of assembly with Mike Barnes and Gary Wait.
The installed string of MQW magnets.
|
0.951447 |
Why is this wonky-sounding idea important? Systems thinking is a deceptively simple concept, a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on how parts of a broader system connect and relate to one another. You know that old saying, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts? Systems thinking aims to understand the whole, in addition to the individual parts. (For a great overview of systems thinking, I recommend Donella Meadows’ classic Thinking in Systems or "Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System").
|
0.997831 |
How long does a 30ml bottle of e-juice last?
This is a hard question to answer because it really depends on how often you vape, what kind of a device you are using, and even what wattage you run that device at. In general, a 30ml bottle can last as long as a month, but for chain vapers out there, might last only a week.
When vaping, what is the smoke that's released?
How many analog cigarettes are equal to one tank or clearomizer?
|
0.999642 |
How to send an email using API?
In order to send an email using Pepipost API, you should be ready with all the prerequisites mentioned this documentation.
An Endpoint: Use https://api.pepipost.com/v2/ or select the one from the list which best meets your requirement.
An API Key within the authorization header.
A valid Request method. When submitting data to a resource use a valid allowed request method like POST, PUT, GET, PATCH and DELETE.
A valid payload. You must submit your payload in JSON format only.
Once you're ready with the above components, follow the next steps.
Paste the curl call into your favorite text editor.
Copy your API key and paste it in the api_key header.
In the data section, specify the recipient and from email addresses.
From/Sender address consists of the Sender domain, which need to be pre-configured on Pepipost prior to initiate a test.
Copy the code and paste it in your terminal.
Check the recipient’s inbox. You must have received the email.
|
0.931565 |
Newcastle to sign Michael Dell?
The start of the English Premier League is usually accompanied by some fairly outlandish rumours and wild stories about transfers, deals and new signings, but this one caught my eye - Michael Dell is apparently talking to Newcastle United about something, according to the Daily Telegraph (via the Register).
While a buy-out of the club seems highly unlikely - has Michael Dell ever mentioned an interest in football? - a sponsorship deal might well fit with Dell's ongoing campaign to push into more consumer-oriented products.
Toshiba, Sharp, JVC, Avaya and many others have Acer managed to steal Lenovo's thunder by taking Olympic sponsorship from them, and IBM has a long association with Tennis, and at the expensive end of the scale, Acer and Lenovo (again), HP, AMD and Intel among others have all been involved with Formula 1 racing.
Top of the table for the big-boys-toys sponsorship competition though has still got to be Larry Ellison and Oracle. Not content with racing yachts, Oracle also sponsors an aerobatic display team. Nice.
|
0.942174 |
Proteins control nearly every biological process in living cells. In the cell, most proteins must first fold into a narrow set of three-dimensional structures with distinct biological functions, defined as their native fold. However, the process of folding is prone to errors and may result in protein misfolding and aggregation. Misfolded proteins are cytotoxic, and accumulation of aggregated proteins is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases and age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Various environmental stress conditions, such as heat and oxidative stress, also generate aberrant protein conformations and aggregation and thereby impact cell viability, aging, and disease processes (1–4). Xenobiotic metals are widespread in nature, and accumulating evidence indicates that metals induce and accelerate the progression of certain neurodegenerative diseases caused by aberrant protein folding (5–9). However, the molecular mechanisms that contribute to metal toxicity and pathogenesis in living organisms are poorly understood.
Cadmium is ubiquitously present as an environmental pollutant, and exposure to this highly poisonous metal is of considerable public health concern. Cadmium is classified as a human carcinogen and has been shown to damage kidney and lung, to affect bone metabolism and the cardiovascular system, and to cause neurotoxicity (5, 10). At the cellular level, cadmium toxicity is attributed to several mechanisms; it may interfere with redox processes and cause oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation, disturb homeostasis of nutritional metals, impair DNA repair mechanisms and cause DNA damage, and perturb protein function and activity (10–12). At the molecular level, these toxic effects have until now been ascribed to its interaction with specific, particularly susceptible native proteins; cadmium may bind to free thiol groups in proteins; displace essential metal ions, like zinc and calcium, in metalloproteins; or catalyze oxidative modifications of amino acid side chains (9, 10). There are many reports of cadmium binding to native proteins, including transcription factors and DNA repair enzymes; however, most of these studies used purified proteins and in vitro binding assays (10). Thus, the importance of this mode of action for in vivo toxicity is largely unknown.
Recent studies have indicated that cadmium interferes with protein folding. First, cadmium was shown to strongly inhibit refolding of chemically denatured proteins in vitro (13). Second, cadmium-exposed Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells accumulated aggregated proteins in vivo (14). Third, cadmium-exposed yeast (15, 16) and mammalian (17, 18) cells activated the unfolded-protein response, indicating that unfolded proteins accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Together, these reports suggest that cadmium affects protein homeostasis by interfering with protein folding. However, the mechanistic details of how cadmium affects protein folding in the cytosol and the ER have remained elusive.
Here, we demonstrate that cadmium triggers aggregation of cytosolic proteins in yeast (S. cerevisiae) cells primarily by targeting proteins in the process of synthesis or folding. We provide evidence that cadmium-aggregated proteins form seeds that increase the misfolding of other proteins. Cells that cannot effectively protect the proteome from cadmium-induced aggregation or clear the cytosol of protein aggregates are sensitized to cadmium, suggesting that protein aggregation contributes to the toxicity of the metal.
Cadmium causes aggregation of cytosolic proteins in vivo.To investigate how cadmium affects the proteome in living yeast cells, we monitored the subcellular distribution of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged version of the molecular chaperone Hsp104 (Hsp104-GFP). Hsp104 is an orthologue of bacterial ClpB that, together with Hsp70, functions as a disaggregase (19–21), and Hsp104-GFP has been extensively used as a marker for cytosolic protein aggregation in S. cerevisiae (14, 22, 23). In untreated cells, Hsp104-GFP was evenly distributed throughout the cytosol. After 1 h of exposure to 50 μM cadmium chloride (CdCl2), Hsp104-GFP relocalized to distinct cytosolic foci, with the majority of cells containing several foci (Fig. 1A and B). Such Hsp104-GFP foci have previously been shown to correspond to sites of protein aggregates (24, 25). The Hsp40 protein Sis1 is an essential Hsp70 cochaperone (26) and an important player in the sorting and degradation of misfolded cytosolic proteins in yeast (27, 28). Sis1 has been shown to move to and associate with aggregation-prone proteins under conditions of proteotoxic stress (27–29). We transformed yeast cells with a Sis1-GFP plasmid and monitored the subcellular distribution of the fusion protein in response to cadmium exposure. As for Hsp104-GFP, 1 h of exposure to 50 μM CdCl2 resulted in the redistribution of Sis1-GFP to distinct cytosolic foci, with the majority of cells containing several foci (Fig. 1C and D). Together, these results suggest that cadmium induces protein aggregation in living yeast cells. Whether cadmium-induced protein aggregates are sequestered into specific subcellular deposition sites (23, 30) remains to be investigated. We noted that at this cadmium concentration, protein aggregation was time dependent. After 1 h of exposure, nearly all cells contained Hsp104-GFP foci. However, the total fraction of cells with Hsp104-GFP foci decreased over time (Fig. 1A and B). Likewise, the proportion of cells containing ≥3 Hsp104-GFP foci/cell was higher after 1 h of cadmium exposure than at the later time points (Fig. 1B). We verified that 50 μM CdCl2 did not affect cell viability during the 5-hour experimental time course (see Fig. S3 in the supplemental material), suggesting an active aggregate dissolution or clearance mechanism.
Cadmium induces aggregation of cytosolic proteins in vivo. (A) Hsp104-GFP localization was monitored in living wild-type and rpn4Δ cells by fluorescence microscopy before and after exposure to 50 μM CdCl2. Representative images are shown. (B) Quantification of protein aggregation. Hsp104-GFP distribution was scored in wild-type and rpn4Δ cells as for panel A. The fractions of cells containing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell were determined by visual inspection of 90 to 167 (for wild-type) and 102 to 164 (for rpn4Δ) cells per condition and time point. The error bars represent standard deviations (SD) from three independent biological replicates (n = 3). The error bars on the blue bars concern the total fractions of cells with aggregates, while those on the red bars concern the fractions of cells with ≥3 aggregates/cell. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05, and **, P < 0.005. (C) Sis1-GFP localization was monitored in living wild-type cells by fluorescence microscopy before and after exposure to 50 μM CdCl2. Representative images are shown. (D) Quantification of protein aggregation. Sis1-GFP distribution was scored in wild-type cells as in panel C. The fractions of cells containing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell were determined by visual inspection of 95 to 151 cells per condition and time point. The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates. The error bars on the blue bars concern the total fractions of cells with aggregates, while those on the red bars concern the fractions of cells with ≥3 aggregates/cell. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05, and **, P < 0.005. (E) Growth assay. Growth of cells was monitored by measuring the optical density at 600 nm (OD600) using a microcultivation approach. CdCl2 (50 μM) was added to the cultures as indicated. Each curve represents the average of at least five repetitions.
The ubiquitin-proteasome system has been implicated in protein quality control during cadmium exposure (31) and has been reported to be required for cadmium resistance (32). To assess the role of this degradation pathway in the clearance of cadmium-induced protein aggregates, we monitored Hsp104-GFP distribution in cells that lack Rpn4, a transcriptional regulator of proteasomal gene expression (33). While formation of Hsp104-GFP foci/aggregates was similar in wild-type and rpn4Δ cells, aggregate clearance was strongly affected in the mutant; a higher proportion of rpn4Δ cells had multiple aggregates, and rpn4Δ cells showed a delay in overall aggregate clearance compared to the wild type (Fig. 1A and B). Thus, cells with diminished proteasomal activity are deficient in the clearance of cadmium-induced aggregates. While the viability of rpn4Δ cells was unaffected by cadmium (see Fig. S3 in the supplemental material), growth of cells lacking RPN4 was more severely affected by cadmium than that of wild-type cells (Fig. 1E). Thus, proteasomal clearance of aggregated proteins may contribute to cadmium resistance.
Cadmium targets nascent proteins for aggregation.We next examined whether cadmium targets nascent (not yet folded) or native (folded) cellular proteins for aggregation. We treated cells with cadmium and the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide (CHX), added either separately or together, and monitored the intracellular distribution of Hsp104-GFP. At 50 μM CdCl2, protein aggregation was fully inhibited when translation was blocked (Fig. 2A and B). Likewise, CHX strongly inhibited protein aggregation when cells were exposed to 150 μM CdCl2 (Fig. 2A and B), a concentration that causes more prominent protein aggregation and growth inhibition than 50 μM CdCl2 (see Fig. S4 in the supplemental material). Importantly, CHX did not prevent protein aggregation/Hsp104-GFP focus formation in response to heat stress (1 h at 42°C) (Fig. 2A and B), a condition that causes thermal unfolding and aggregation of native proteins (34). These findings suggest that cadmium primarily targets nascent proteins for aggregation. To corroborate this interpretation, we labeled newly synthesized proteins by adding [35S]methionine to exponentially growing cells during a 5-min pulse. The cells were either untreated or exposed to 150 μM CdCl2 for 30 min before the [35S]methionine pulse, translation was stopped by adding CHX immediately after the pulse, and aggregated proteins were then isolated by sedimentation. Equal amounts of radioactivity were incorporated into newly synthesized proteins in the total lysates of untreated and cadmium-exposed cells (Fig. 2C). In contrast, a higher fraction of radioactivity was present in the aggregate fraction of cadmium-exposed cells than in unexposed cells (Fig. 2C). Quantification of the 35S-containing material showed an ∼40% increase in aggregation of newly synthesized proteins during cadmium exposure compared to unexposed cells (Fig. 2D). Note that cells exposed to cadmium decrease protein synthesis and redirect sulfur flux to increase glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis (35, 36). Therefore, the effect of cadmium on nascent-protein misfolding and aggregation is probably higher than revealed by this experiment.
Cadmium targets nascent proteins for aggregation. (A) Inhibition of translation attenuates cadmium-induced aggregate formation. Hsp104-GFP localization was monitored in wild-type cells before and after 1-h exposure to 50 μM CdCl2, 150 μM CdCl2, or 42°C in the absence or presence of 0.1 mg/ml CHX. Representative images are shown. (B) Quantification of protein aggregation. Hsp104-GFP distribution was scored in wild-type cells treated as for panel A. The fractions of cells containing aggregates were determined by visual inspection of 100 to 286 cells per condition. The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; **, P < 0.005. (C) Cadmium enhances aggregation of newly synthesized proteins. Untreated and cadmium-exposed cells were pulsed for 5 min with [35S]methionine to label newly synthesized proteins, and aggregated proteins were isolated by sedimentation. Before adding [35S]methionine, the cells were preexposed to 150 μM CdCl2 for 30 min; 20 μg of the total protein fractions and the isolated aggregate fractions were separated by SDS-PAGE and visualized by autoradiography. (D) Incorporation of 35S-labeled material into the various fractions was quantified by densitometric analysis. The fraction of 35S incorporation into aggregates versus the total 35S label incorporation was set to 1 for untreated cells and compared to that of cadmium-exposed cells. The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates (n = 3). Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; **, P < 0.005.
Zinc protects nascent polypeptides from cadmium-induced aggregation.Cadmium can perturb homeostasis of nutritional metal ions and displace essential metal ions, like zinc and calcium, in metalloproteins (10). For some proteins, cadmium-zinc exchange has been shown to alter structure and activity (37). To test whether addition of zinc affects cadmium-induced protein aggregation, we exposed yeast cells to 50 μM CdCl2 with or without addition of 7.5 mM zinc chloride (ZnCl2) and monitored protein aggregation/Hsp104-GFP focus formation. Note that the cells were grown in a medium that contained 1.4 mM zinc and were therefore adapted to high zinc levels. When cadmium and zinc were added simultaneously to yeast cultures, zinc strongly attenuated cadmium-induced protein aggregation (Fig. 3A). Importantly, the addition of 7.5 mM ZnCl2 did not prevent intracellular cadmium accumulation (Fig. 3C) and affected the growth of the yeast cells to only a minor extent (Fig. 3D). In contrast, zinc addition clearly improved the growth of cadmium-exposed cells (Fig. 3D). Thus, our data suggest that zinc protects nascent polypeptides from cadmium-induced aggregation and alleviates cadmium toxicity. We previously demonstrated that arsenite [As(III)] is a potent inducer of protein aggregation (14). In a control experiment, zinc did not affect As(III)-induced protein aggregation (Fig. 3B). Moreover, the presence of zinc slightly aggravated the As(III) sensitivity of cells (Fig. 3E). Since both cadmium and As(III) trigger cytosolic protein aggregation, it is unlikely that the protective effect of zinc during cadmium exposure is due to a general impact of zinc on, e.g., translation or induction of the heat shock response. Instead, we propose that cadmium may interfere with the folding of zinc-dependent proteins (see Discussion).
Zinc attenuates cadmium-induced protein aggregation and toxicity. (A) Zinc inhibits cadmium-induced protein aggregation. Hsp104-GFP localization was monitored in living wild-type cells that were untreated or exposed to 50 μM CdCl2 in the absence or presence of 7.5 mM ZnCl2 added at the same time as CdCl2. Samples were taken at the indicated time points, and protein aggregation levels were quantified. The fractions of cells containing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell were determined by visual inspection of 99 to 173 cells per condition. (B) Zinc does not inhibit As(III)-induced protein aggregation. Hsp104-GFP localization was monitored and quantified as described above in cells exposed to 0.5 mM As(III). The fractions of cells containing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell were determined by visual inspection of 107 to 172 cells per condition. (C) Intracellular cadmium. Intracellular cadmium levels were measured in untreated cells (control) and in cells exposed to 50 μM CdCl2 in the absence or presence of 7.5 mM ZnCl2 added at the same time as CdCl2. The measured concentrations were normalized to the OD600 of each sample. The values represent averages from eight independent experiments. The error bars represent SD. (D) Zinc addition improves growth of cadmium-exposed cells. Growth of wild-type cells was monitored by measuring the OD600 using a microcultivation approach. Fifty micromolar CdCl2 and/or 7.5 mM ZnCl2 was added as indicated. Each curve represents the average of six repetitions. (E) Zinc addition aggravates the growth of As(III)-exposed cells. Growth of wild-type cells was monitored as described above; 0.5 mM As(III) and/or 7.5 mM ZnCl2 was added as indicated. Each curve represents the average of six repetitions. (F) Zinc does not prevent further aggregation once primary aggregates have been formed. Hsp104-GFP localization was monitored in living wild-type cells that were untreated or had been exposed to 50 μM CdCl2 in the absence or presence of 7.5 mM ZnCl2 added 15 min after CdCl2. Samples were taken at the indicated time points, and protein aggregation levels were quantified. The fractions of cells containing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell were determined by visual inspection of 124 to 168 cells per condition. (A, B, and F) The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates. The error bars on the blue bars concern the total fractions of cells with aggregates, while those on the red bars concern the fractions of cells with ≥3 aggregates/cell. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05, and **, P < 0.005.
We next asked if zinc added to cells at a time point at which cadmium-induced aggregates had already been formed could prevent further misfolding. For this, we first incubated cells with 50 μM CdCl2 for 15 min to induce protein aggregation (∼35% of cells had aggregates; ∼30% had ≥3 aggregates/cell) and then added 7.5 mM zinc. Interestingly, the fraction of cells with aggregates/Hsp104-GFP foci continued to increase in the presence of zinc (Fig. 3F); ∼70% of the cells had aggregates, and ∼50% had ≥3 aggregates/cell in the presence of zinc. This is in clear contrast to when zinc and cadmium were added at the same time, a treatment that strongly abrogated cadmium-induced protein aggregation (Fig. 3A). Thus, zinc cannot prevent further aggregation once primary aggregates induced by cadmium have been formed.
Cadmium is not a strong inhibitor of cytosolic chaperone action in vivo.We have previously shown that cadmium inhibits chaperone-assisted refolding of chemically denatured and heat-denatured proteins in vitro using the DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE (KJE) system of Escherichia coli (13). To test whether cadmium interferes with chaperone action in vivo, we performed an aggregate clearance assay in living yeast cells. For this, we first induced protein aggregation/Hsp104-GFP focus formation by heat treatment at 42°C for 1 h and then lowered the temperature to 30°C and monitored the capacity of the cells to clear the cytosol from aggregates in the absence or presence of cadmium (Fig. 4). To prevent de novo formation of cadmium-induced aggregates, we added CHX as indicated. Three hours after the shift back to 30°C, most cells had cleared the cytosol of heat-induced aggregates (Fig. 4A). Unexpectedly, the cells were highly efficient in cytosolic aggregate clearance despite the presence of cadmium. This finding was surprising given that cadmium is a potent inhibitor of chaperone action in vitro (13). In contrast to cadmium, As(III) strongly compromised the aggregate clearance capacity of the cells (Fig. 4A), consistent with our previous data (14). To ensure that the absence of impact on aggregate clearance was not caused by impaired entry of cadmium into heat-exposed cells, we measured intracellular cadmium levels under experimental conditions identical to those described above; cadmium was added to cells after a 1-h pretreatment at 42°C or to cells continuously grown at 30°C. The intracellular cadmium levels increased over time irrespective of whether the cells were heat treated. We noted, though, that cells that were not heat treated accumulated more cadmium after 1 h than the heat-exposed cells, while at the 3-h time point, the difference was nonsignificant (Fig. 4B). The observed difference in intracellular cadmium at the early time point cannot explain the complete absence of impact of cadmium on aggregate clearance. These data suggest that cadmium does not interfere with cytosolic chaperone action in living cells. Alternatively, proteasomal degradation might be the dominant process determining the aggregate lifetime (Fig. 1), masking the effect of cadmium on chaperone-assisted refolding in vivo. Nevertheless, in clear contrast to As(III), cadmium does not appear to be a potent inhibitor of cytosolic chaperone activity in living yeast cells.
Cadmium does not interfere with chaperone action in vivo. (A) Clearance of heat-induced aggregates. Cells were exposed to 42°C for 1 h to induce protein aggregation and then placed at 30°C. Aggregate clearance was monitored in the absence and presence of 50 μM CdCl2, 0.5 mM As(III), and 0.1 mg/ml CHX as indicated. The percentage of cells containing aggregates was determined by visual inspection of 88 to 414 cells per condition and time point. The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05, and **, P < 0.005. (B) Intracellular cadmium. Intracellular cadmium levels were measured under the same conditions as for panel A; cells were pretreated at 42°C for 1 h (heat) or at 30°C (control) before exposure to 50 μM CdCl2 and then placed at 30°C. Samples were taken at the indicated time points. The measured concentrations were normalized to the OD600 of each sample. The values represent averages from eight individual experiments. The error bars represent SD. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05.
Cadmium complexation and vacuolar sequestration may protect cytosolic proteins from aggregating.We noted that while yeast cells clear their cytosol of cadmium-induced aggregates (Fig. 1), intracellular cadmium levels actually rise (Fig. 4B). Yeast employs various defense systems to evade cadmium toxicity, including a large increase in intracellular GSH levels (35, 36) and increased expression of the YCF1 gene, encoding an ABC transporter that catalyzes the sequestration of the cadmium-diglutathione complex [Cd(GS)2] into vacuoles (38). We tested whether cellular GSH levels and the cadmium sequestration capacity of the cells had an impact on protein aggregation. To approach this, we first monitored cadmium-induced protein aggregation in wild-type cells and in a gsh1Δ mutant that cannot synthesize GSH. For this experiment, we grew cells in yeast-peptone-dextrose (YPD) medium that contained GSH, since gsh1Δ cells are unable to proliferate unless GSH is provided exogenously (39). The gsh1Δ mutant accumulated more aggregates/Hsp104-GFP foci and showed a strong delay in aggregate clearance compared to the wild type (Fig. 5A), suggesting that GSH protects cytosolic proteins from cadmium-induced aggregation. Since we used medium containing GSH in this assay, the observed difference in protein aggregation most probably underestimates the importance of GSH in counteracting protein aggregation. Alternatively, insufficient cellular GSH levels might have a negative impact on aggregate clearance pathways.
Cadmium complexation and vacuolar sequestration protect cytosolic proteins from aggregating. (A) Protein aggregation in cells deficient in GSH biosynthesis (gsh1Δ). Hsp104-GFP distribution was scored in wild-type and gsh1Δ cells before and after exposure to 50 μM CdCl2. The percentage of cells containing aggregates was determined by visual inspection of 100 to 163 (for wild-type) and 100 to 174 (for gsh1Δ) cells per condition and time point. (B) Protein aggregation in cells deficient in vacuolar sequestration (ycf1Δ). Hsp104-GFP distribution was scored in wild-type and ycf1Δ cells before and after exposure to 50 μM CdCl2. The percentage of cells containing aggregates was determined by visual inspection of 99 to 157 (for wild-type) and 96 to 151 (for ycf1Δ) cells per condition and time point. (A and B) The error bars represent SD from three independent biological replicates. The error bars on the blue bars concern the total fractions of cells with aggregates, while those on the red bars concern the fractions of cells with ≥3 aggregates/cell. Statistical analyses were performed by Student's t test, and significant differences are indicated; *, P < 0.05, and **, P < 0.005.
We next monitored protein aggregation in wild-type and ycf1Δ cells. Since the ycf1Δ mutant is defective in transport of Cd(GS)2 into the vacuole (38), it should have an elevated cytosolic cadmium content and a higher level of protein aggregation. Indeed, the ycf1Δ mutant contained more protein aggregates than wild-type cells after 3 h and 5 h of cadmium exposure (Fig. 5B). Hence, the observation that the total intracellular cadmium levels increase while the aggregation levels diminish is probably explained by the fact that cells increase their cadmium chelation (by GSH) and sequestration (by Ycf1) capacity during cadmium exposure. This response seems important for resistance, because gsh1Δ and ycf1Δ mutants were previously shown to be cadmium sensitive (40, 41). We conclude that cadmium complexation and vacuolar sequestration mechanisms may protect cytosolic proteins from aggregation and contribute to cadmium resistance.
Cadmium-induced aggregates can act as seeds to induce aggregation of other proteins.Protein aggregates can act as seeds and inhibit the native folding of other stress-labile proteins, leading to their inactivation and aggregation (42). Moreover, aggregate size and structure can influence the seeding capacity and toxicity of primary aggregates. To estimate the sizes of cadmium-induced protein aggregates, we prepared stable aggregates of luciferase by incubating the protein with cadmium (see Materials and Methods and Fig. S2 in the supplemental material) followed by size exclusion chromatography (see Fig. S5 in the supplemental material). The presence of cadmium strongly affected the aggregation state of a 4-fold molar excess of luciferase polypeptides that corresponded to over 2,000-fold more protein mass than cadmium mass. Sixty-seven percent of the luciferase was found to migrate as soluble inactive oligomers with apparent molecular masses ranging between 300 and 400 kDa (see Fig. S5, peak B), while a smaller fraction of luciferase (33%) refolded spontaneously to its native form (see Fig. S5, peak A). In contrast, heat-denatured luciferase (see Materials and Methods and Fig. S1 in the supplemental material) formed large insoluble aggregates that appeared in the void volume (see Fig. S5, peak C). Thus, under the conditions described here, cadmium-induced luciferase aggregates are smaller than heat-induced luciferase aggregates.
We next used these aggregates to study their seeding effect, i.e., their impact on the folding/misfolding and partitioning of chemically denatured luciferase. Increasing concentrations of cadmium-treated luciferase (Luci-Cd) (Fig. 6A) and heat-treated luciferase (Luci-heat) (Fig. 6B) seeds inhibited the spontaneous refolding of chemically denatured luciferase. Luci-heat seeds were not particularly effective inhibitors of native luciferase refolding; at 500 nM, only 30% inhibition of total refolding was observed, while lower concentrations had an insignificant impact on refolding (Fig. 6B and C). Importantly, Luci-Cd seeds caused 50% inhibition of luciferase refolding at a significantly lower concentration (350 nM) than Luci-heat seeds (Fig. 6B and C). Thus, Luci-Cd seeds are effective inhibitors of protein folding, possibly owing to their small size entailing a commensurately larger total surface.
Seeding capacities of cadmium-induced aggregates. (A) Inhibitory effects of cadmium-induced luciferase aggregates on luciferase refolding. Refolding of chemically denatured luciferase at 25°C was initiated by 1:50 dilution (final concentration of luciferase, 350 nM) with the refolding buffer (50 mM Tris-acetate, 100 mM potassium perchlorate, 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5) containing the indicated concentrations of Luci-Cd seeds prepared as described in Materials and Methods. Luciferase activity was measured in samples of the refolding solution at the indicated times. (B) Inhibitory effects of heat-induced luciferase aggregates on luciferase refolding were measured as for Luci-Cd seeds in panel A. (C) Luciferase activity after 120 min of refolding in the presence of increasing concentrations of Luci-heat seeds (blue circles) or Luci-Cd seeds (white circles). (D) Inhibitory effects of cadmium-induced aggregates of G6PDH on spontaneous luciferase refolding. Refolding of chemically denatured luciferase at 25°C was initiated through 1:50 dilution (final concentration of luciferase, 350 nM) with refolding buffer (50 mM Tris acetate, 100 mM potassium perchlorate, 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5) containing the indicated concentrations of G6PDH aggregates prepared in the presence of cadmium. (E) Inhibitory effects of cadmium-induced aggregates of G6PDH on chaperone-assisted luciferase refolding. A refolding assay was performed as described above with the KJE chaperone system (3.5 μM DnaK, 0.7 μM DnaJ, 1.4 μM GrpE, and 5 mM ATP) at 25°C. (F) Luciferase activity after 60 min of refolding without (spontaneous [Spont]; red circles) or with (black circles) KJE chaperones in the presence of increasing concentrations of Cd-G6PDH seeds. (A to F) The error bars represent the standard errors of the mean (SEM) from three independent experiments.
The KJE system of E. coli is a bacterial ATP-fueled chaperone system that can unfold stable misfolded and aggregated proteins and convert them into natively folded polypeptides (43). To address how protein aggregate seeds affect chaperone-assisted refolding, we prepared stable aggregates of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and measured the effect of G6PDH-Cd seeds on KJE-assisted luciferase refolding. While the presence of G6PDH seeds did not interfere with the enzymatic activity of native luciferase (data not shown), it clearly affected the spontaneous refolding of luciferase in a dose-dependent manner, causing a 50% decrease in the yield of refolding at 460 nM (Fig. 6D). In the presence of KJE, a 50% decrease in the yield of refolding was observed already at 240 nM G6PDH-Cd seeds (Fig. 6E and F). Thus, chaperone-assisted refolding appears more susceptible to Cd seeds than spontaneous refolding. We conclude that cadmium-aggregated species have a strong inhibitory effect on de novo folding of proteins that have not encountered any metal during refolding. Hence, cadmium-aggregated species may act as seeds, promoting the misfolding and aggregation of other proteins.
Cadmium is a highly poisonous and carcinogenic metal, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its in vivo toxicity are not fully understood. Here, we report a novel mode of its toxic action: cadmium-induced accumulation of aggregated cytosolic proteins in vivo.
Cadmium targets nascent proteins for aggregation in vivo.We demonstrate that cadmium triggers aggregation of cytosolic proteins in vivo primarily by targeting nascent proteins (Fig. 1 and 2). First, inhibition of translation (by addition of CHX) prevented cadmium-induced protein aggregation, whereas heat-induced unfolding and aggregation of native proteins was not inhibited by CHX. Second, cadmium-exposed cells incorporated more 35S-pulse-labeled material (i.e., newly synthesized proteins) into the aggregate fraction than unexposed cells. The notion that cadmium primarily targets nascent proteins rather than native proteins for aggregation is supported by previous in vitro assays showing that cadmium efficiently inhibits spontaneous refolding of chemically denatured luciferase while native luciferase is not particularly affected by the metal (13).
How does cadmium impair protein folding? In vitro assays indicate that cadmium inhibits spontaneous refolding of proteins by forming high-affinity multidentate metal-protein complexes (13). Our current in vivo data suggest that chaperone activity is largely unaffected by cadmium, as cadmium-exposed cells effectively cleared the cytosol of heat-induced protein aggregates (Fig. 4). This finding was unexpected, given that cadmium had been found to inhibit chaperone-mediated refolding of chemically denatured luciferase in vitro (13). However, those chaperone-assisted refolding assays had been performed with the E. coli proteins DnaK, DnaJ, and GrpE. When DnaJ was replaced with the homologous CbpA protein, refolding of chemically denatured luciferase was not affected by cadmium (13). Unlike CbpA, DnaJ contains a cysteine-rich zinc finger domain that acts as a thioredoxin-like protein disulfide isomerase (44), and this zinc-binding domain is likely to be preferentially targeted by cadmium for inhibition (45). A total of 16 proteins are annotated in the S. cerevisiae genome as DnaJ-like chaperones or as possessing a DnaJ-like domain (Saccharomyces Genome Database [SGD] [http://www.yeastgenome.org]). Five of these (Apj1, Mdj1, Scj1, Xdj1, and Ydj1) contain C4-type zinc finger domains characterized by four cysteine residues. Since cadmium preferentially interacts with sulfur-containing ligands, these proteins may potentially be targeted by cadmium for inhibition in vivo. Of these, only Ydj1 is localized to the cytosol and thus might be targeted by cadmium. Why, then, is 50 μM CdCl2, as used in our study, insufficient to strongly inhibit cytosolic chaperone activity in vivo even though it is sufficient to cause protein aggregation and toxicity? Most likely, the cellular pool of thiol-containing molecules outnumbers the pool of cadmium molecules in the cytosol, thereby protecting Ydj1 and/or other chaperones from cadmium binding and inhibition. This notion is supported by the fact that the intracellular GSH concentration in yeast cells is about 1 to 2 mM in the absence of stress and increases to about 10 mM during cadmium exposure (36) and by our observation that GSH contributes to keeping cadmium-induced aggregation levels low (Fig. 5). Moreover, native Ydj1 is possibly less sensitive to cadmium than nascent Ydj1. Although our data suggest that chaperone-assisted refolding is not strongly affected by cadmium in vivo, we cannot exclude the possibility that efficient proteasomal degradation masks the effect of cadmium on chaperone action. The relative contributions of the two processes (chaperone-assisted refolding and proteasomal degradation) to aggregate clearance remain to be elucidated.
Cadmium is known to interfere with zinc-binding proteins (10, 37), and it is estimated that 8 to 10% of yeast and human proteomes consist of zinc-binding proteins (46). Interestingly, we found that zinc, when added together with cadmium, strongly inhibited cadmium-induced protein aggregation (Fig. 3). Zinc and cadmium compete for binding to sulfur ligands, but cadmium is considerably more thiophilic than zinc. Thus, to effectively compete with zinc for binding to a C4 zinc-binding site, the cadmium concentration needs to be only 1/1,000 of that of zinc (10). In our assays, we used 7.5 mM zinc and 50 μM cadmium, a difference of 2 orders of magnitude. Hence, at the concentrations used here, cadmium might interact with exposed thiol groups and replace zinc during folding of C4 zinc-binding proteins, thereby promoting their misfolding and aggregation. While it has previously been shown that cadmium may displace zinc in native metalloproteins in vitro (10), our data provide the first evidence that cadmium-zinc exchange may also occur in vivo during protein synthesis and folding. Exchange in the reverse direction appears to be of physiological relevance, as zinc addition prevented cadmium-induced protein aggregation and improved growth of cadmium-exposed cells (Fig. 3). Likewise, zinc addition has been shown to protect renal function against cadmium toxicity in rat (47). We conclude that cadmium primarily interferes with protein folding by acting on nascent polypeptides, probably by interacting with exposed thiol groups, be they ligands of zinc ions or free sulfhydryl groups, or destined to form disulfide bonds.
Protein aggregation may contribute to cadmium toxicity.Cells that cannot efficiently protect the proteome from cadmium-induced aggregation or clear the cytosol of protein aggregates are sensitized to cadmium, suggesting that protein aggregation may contribute to cadmium toxicity. First, cells defective in proteasomal gene expression (rpn4Δ mutant) showed a delay in clearance of cadmium-induced protein aggregates and enhanced cadmium sensitivity compared to wild-type cells (Fig. 1). This observation extends previous reports implicating the ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis pathway in resistance to cadmium (31, 32). Second, compared to wild-type cells, the gsh1Δ and ycf1Δ mutants accumulated more aggregated proteins and were inefficient in aggregate clearance (Fig. 5) and more cadmium sensitive (40, 41). Cadmium-exposed yeast cells strongly induce expression of genes in the GSH biosynthesis pathway and accumulate large amounts of reduced GSH (35, 36). Likewise, expression of the vacuolar ABC transporter Ycf1 is enhanced during cadmium exposure (38). Our data suggest that the purpose of this response is to increase the cellular capacity to bind (by GSH), sequester (by Ycf1), and thereby diminish the concentration of free cadmium in the cytosol to protect the proteome from cadmium-induced damage.
Protein aggregates can be toxic to cells by different mechanisms. In addition to losing their specific biological function, aggregated proteins may affect membrane integrity (48) and, importantly, may induce other metastable or stress-labile proteins to aggregate (49). Thus, a chain reaction of protein aggregation may propagate in the cell if a minority of initially misfolded proteins induce the aggregation of other cellular proteins. We show here that cadmium-aggregated proteins can act as seeds that catalytically increase the rate and yield of aggregation of other native proteins (Fig. 6). Cadmium-triggered seeds of G6PDH, after removal of excess free cadmium, strongly increased the misfolding of other proteins. Moreover, our in vitro data indicated that chaperone-assisted refolding was more susceptible to cadmium seeds than spontaneous refolding. Many molecular chaperones, such as Hsp104 (20), ClpB (21), GroEL (50), and DnaK (43), act as polypeptide-unfolding enzymes that specifically bind to misfolded and aggregated protein substrates and use ATP hydrolysis to unfold them into natively refolded low-affinity products. We found that cadmium-G6PDH seeds at half the concentration of denatured luciferase decreased the yield of luciferase refolding by the KJE chaperone system by half (Fig. 6F). Apparently, the cadmium seeds induce misfolded luciferase to become more resistant to KJE unfoldases. Alternatively, cadmium seeds might irreversibly bind to DnaK and/or DnaJ, thereby preventing them from acting as unfolding chaperones. Indeed, an additional cause of the toxicity of misfolded proteins is their acting as inhibitors of protein unfoldases (e.g., Hsp70, Hsp104, and Hsp60), ATP-fueled proteases (e.g., Lon and ClpAB), or the proteasome. Normally, unfolding chaperones iteratively bind to misfolded polypeptide substrates and unfold and release them to refold to the native state or release them for degradation. However, some substrates fail to dissociate from the unfoldases and may then act as competitive inhibitors of chaperones and proteases, thereby poisoning the cells (4).
Interestingly, zinc cannot prevent further aggregation once primary aggregates induced by cadmium have been formed (Fig. 3F). Likewise, addition of CHX to cells at a time at which cadmium-induced aggregates had already been formed could not prevent further misfolding (see Fig. S6 in the supplemental material). These in vivo observations support the notion that cadmium-induced aggregates may act as seeds in a gain-of-function mechanism, causing misfolding and aggregation of other labile proteins. Our in vitro data suggest that cadmium-induced seeds are more effective inhibitors of protein folding than heat-induced seeds (Fig. 6). Although stable aggregates formed by cadmium treatment produced smaller aggregates than heat-treated luciferase (see Fig. S5 in the supplemental material), thorough examination of aggregate size distribution will be required to firmly establish whether heat- and cadmium-induced aggregates have distinct sizes in general. Seed-induced proteinaceous aggregation has been postulated to contribute to many protein-misfolding diseases (1–3, 51). Cadmium exposure has been associated with neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The mechanism described here, cadmium-induced formation of primary seeds that can further trigger aggregation of other proteins, may contribute to cadmium toxicity and pathogenicity.
Conclusions.In vivo experiments with yeast cells showed that cadmium targets nascent cytosolic proteins and triggers their aggregation. This novel mode of cadmium action operates concurrently with previously described toxicity mechanisms (10–12). Thus, xenobiotic metals and metalloids, like cadmium (this work) and As(III) (14), interfere with protein folding in living cells, with nascent or nonfolded proteins being their prime targets. Other metals and metalloids might also perturb protein folding and manifest their toxicity through similar mechanisms. A better understanding of these mechanisms may provide important insights into the contribution of metals and metalloids to protein-misfolding diseases.
Yeast strains and growth conditions.The S. cerevisiae strains used in this study are listed in Table 1. The yeast strains were routinely grown on minimal synthetic complete (SC) medium (0.67% yeast nitrogen base) supplemented with auxotrophic requirements and 2% glucose as a carbon source. The gsh1Δ mutant and the corresponding wild type were grown in YPD medium. Growth assays were carried out in liquid medium using a microcultivation approach as previously described (14, 52). CdCl2, ZnCl2, sodium arsenite (NaAsO2), and CHX (all from Sigma-Aldrich) were added to the cultures at the indicated concentrations.
Microscopy.Yeast cells expressing the Hsp104-GFP or Sis1-GFP (27) fusion protein were grown to mid-log phase in SC medium and treated with cadmium, zinc, arsenite, or heat (42°C) in the absence or presence of 0.1 mg/ml CHX. At the indicated time points, cell samples were fixed with formaldehyde for 30 min at room temperature and washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The GFP signals were observed using an Axiovert 200M (Carl Zeiss MicroImaging) fluorescence microscope equipped with Plan-Apochromat 1.40-numerical-aperture objectives and appropriate fluorescence light filter sets. Images were taken with a digital camera (AxioCamMR3) and processed with AxioVision software. To quantify protein aggregation, the total fraction of cells with aggregates/Hsp104-GFP (or Sis1-GFP) foci, as well as the fractions of cells showing 1 or 2 aggregates/cell and ≥3 aggregates/cell, was determined by visual inspection.
Labeling of newly synthesized proteins.Newly synthesized proteins were labeled with [35S]methionine as previously described (14). Cells were first starved for 1 h in methionine-free SC medium and then labeled with 20 μCi/ml [35S]methionine for 5 min, quickly chilled, and treated with 300 μg/ml CHX to stop protein translation. The cells were disrupted with glass beads by vortexing (7 times for 30 s each time) in lysis buffer (20 mM sodium phosphate, pH 6.8, 10 mM dithiothreitol [DTT], 1 mM EDTA, 0.1% Tween, protease inhibitor cocktail, 3 mg/ml Zymolyase). After pelleting the cell debris, the supernatants were adjusted to equal protein concentrations in 800 μl, and the aggregated proteins were pelleted at 16,000 × g for 20 min at 4°C. Membrane proteins were removed by washing twice with 750 μl washing buffer (2% Nonidet NP-40 substitute [Fluka], 20 mM sodium phosphate, pH 6.8, protease inhibitor cocktail), centrifuging at 16,000 × g for 20 min each time, and the final aggregated protein extract was resuspended in 40 μl of SDS loading buffer (20% glycerol, 4% SDS, 100 mM Tris-HCl, 0,1% β-mercaptoethanol, bromophenol blue). Proteins in the total and aggregated fractions were separated by 10% reducing SDS-PAGE and visualized by autoradiography (Molecular Imager FX; Bio-Rad).
Measurements of intracellular cadmium levels.Exponentially growing cells were exposed to CdCl2, and cells were collected at the indicated time points and washed twice in ice-cold water. The cell pellets were resuspended in water and boiled for 10 min, and after centrifugation, the supernatant was collected. The cadmium content of each sample was measured using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer (3300; PerkinElmer) as previously described (53) or using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The samples were diluted 14 to 20 times in 1% high-purity HNO3, and the samples were then analyzed using either a quadrupole ICP-MS (Thermo Scientific ICAP Q) in standard mode or a triple-quadrupole ICP-MS (Agilent 8800) with He as the collision gas. A multielement standard solution (Merck; VI CertiPur) was used for calibration, and indium was used as an internal standard.
In vitro assays. (i) Materials.DnaK of E. coli was expressed and purified as described previously (43, 54), and its concentration was determined photometrically with a molar absorption coefficient ([cepsilon]280) of 14,500 M−1 cm−1. Purified DnaK contained <0.1 mol of nucleotide/mol DnaK and was stored in 25 mM HEPES-NaOH, 100 mM KCl, 10 mM MgCl2, pH 7.4 at −80°C. DnaJ and GrpE of E. coli were gifts from H. J. Schönfeld (F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland). The stock solutions in 50 mM Tris-HCl and 100 mM NaCl, pH 7.7, were kept at −80°C. The concentrations of DnaJ and GrpE were determined photometrically, with ε277 values of 18,100 M−1 cm−1 and 2,720 M−1 cm−1, respectively. Photinus pyralis luciferase was obtained from Sigma. Leuconostoc mesenteroides G6PDH was from Fluka. The denatured proteins were stored in 6 M guanidinium HCl (GuHCl) and 50 mM Tris acetate, pH 7.5, at −20°C. Their concentrations were determined by the Bradford method with bovine serum albumin as a standard.
(ii) Preparation of chemically denatured luciferase.Lyophilized luciferase (1 mg) was dissolved in 1 ml of 50 mM Tris acetate, 50 mM potassium perchlorate, and 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5, and precipitated by adding 5 volumes of acetone (−20°C; 30 min). After centrifugation for 10 min at 10,000 × g and 4°C, the pellet was redissolved in 1 ml of denaturing buffer (6 M GuHCl, 100 mM Tris acetate, 5 mM Tris [2-carboxyethyl]phosphine [TCEP], 50 mM potassium perchlorate, 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5) (13). The residual activity after exposure to acetone at −20°C was <1% of the initial native stock.
(iii) Preparation of stable luciferase and G6PDH aggregates.To prepare heat-denatured seeds, native luciferase (2 μM) was incubated for 7 min at 42°C in 50 mM Tris acetate, 50 mM potassium perchlorate, and 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5. The residual activity after heat exposure was <2% of the initial native stock (see Fig. S1 in the supplemental material). For Luci-Cd seeds, luciferase was chemically denatured with 6 M GuHCl, diluted to 2 μM, and allowed to spontaneously refold for 2 h in the presence of 500 nM cadmium. At this cadmium concentration, the residual activity was <2% of the initial native luciferase activity (see Fig. S2 in the supplemental material). The inactive species thus prepared were separated from free cadmium using PDSpinTrap G-25 (GE Healthcare Life Sciences) columns (800 × g; 2 min), and the protein concentration was measured using a bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. The effects of different concentrations of misfolded inactive protein seeds thus prepared on the spontaneous and chaperone-assisted refolding of GuHCl-preunfolded luciferase were then examined. To prepare G6PDH seeds, native G6PDH (2 μM) was incubated for 7 min at 52°C in 50 mM Tris acetate, 50 mM potassium perchlorate, and 15 mM magnesium acetate, pH 7.5, with and without 500 nM cadmium, and the inactive G6PDH seeds were separated from free cadmium as described above for luciferase. Chaperone-assisted refolding was performed in the presence of 3.5 μM DnaK, 0.7 μM DnaJ, 1.4 μM GrpE, and 5 mM ATP at 25°C. All protein concentrations are expressed as micromolar protomer concentrations.
(iv) Luciferase and G6PDH activity assays.Luciferase activity was measured as described previously (43, 55, 56). In the presence of oxygen, luciferase catalyzes the conversion of d-luciferin and ATP into oxiluciferin, CO2, AMP, PPi, and photons. Generated photons were counted with a Victor Light 1420 luminescence counter from Perkin-Elmer. The activity of G6PDH was determined by measuring the increase in NADH concentration at 340 nm. The assay solution (500 μl) contained 3 mM glucose 6-phosphate and 0.15 mM NAD+ in 200 mM Tris acetate, pH 7.5. All assays were carried out at 25°C.
We thank Magdalena Migocka (University of Wroclaw) for cadmium measurements, Beidong Liu (University of Gothenburg) for providing strains, Simon Alberti (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany) for providing plasmids, and Hans-Joachim Schönfeld (F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland) for providing DnaJ and GrpE.
This work was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (VR) (grant number 621-2014-4597) and the foundation Åhlén Stiftelsen (grant number mC33/h14) to M.J.T.
Accepted manuscript posted online 12 June 2017.
Supplemental material for this article may be found at https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.00490-16.
. 2014. Mechanisms of protein-folding diseases at a glance. Dis Model Mech 7:9–14. doi:10.1242/dmm.013474.
. 2014. Proteostasis impairment in protein-misfolding and -aggregation diseases. Trends Cell Biol 24:506–514. doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2014.05.003.
. 2016. Mechanisms of protein homeostasis in health, aging and disease. Swiss Med Wkly 146:w14306. doi:10.4414/smw.2016.14306.
. 2013. Cadmium and its neurotoxic effects. Oxid Med Cell Longev 2013:898034. doi:10.1155/2013/898034.
. 2012. Industrial toxicants and Parkinson's disease. Neurotoxicology 33:178–188. doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2012.01.010.
. 2015. Environmental pollutants as risk factors for neurodegenerative disorders: Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. Front Cell Neurosci 9:124. doi:10.3389/fncel.2015.00124.
. 2010. The arsenic exposure hypothesis for Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 24:311–316. doi:10.1097/WAD.0b013e3181d71bc7.
. 2014. Heavy metals and metalloids as a cause for protein misfolding and aggregation. Biomolecules 4:252–267. doi:10.3390/biom4010252.
. 2013. The bioinorganic chemistry of cadmium in the context of its toxicity, p 1–29. In Sigel A, Sigel H, Sigel RK (ed), Cadmium: from toxicity to essentiality. Springer, Doordrecht, Netherlands.
. 2010. How Saccharomyces cerevisiae copes with toxic metals and metalloids. FEMS Microbiol Rev 34:925–951. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2010.00217.x.
. 2008. Carcinogenic metal compounds: recent insight into molecular and cellular mechanisms. Arch Toxicol 82:493–512. doi:10.1007/s00204-008-0313-y.
. 2008. Heavy metal ions are potent inhibitors of protein folding. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 372:341–345. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.05.052.
. 2012. Arsenite interferes with protein folding and triggers formation of protein aggregates in yeast. J Cell Sci 125:5073–5083. doi:10.1242/jcs.107029.
. 2010. Endoplasmic reticulum is a major target of cadmium toxicity in yeast. Mol Microbiol 76:1034–1048. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2010.07166.x.
. 2016. Cadmium impairs protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum and induces the unfolded protein response. FEMS Yeast Res 16:fow049. doi:10.1093/femsyr/fow049.
. 2007. Rapid, transient induction of ER stress in the liver and kidney after acute exposure to heavy metal: evidence from transgenic sensor mice. FEBS Lett 581:2055–2059. doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2007.04.040.
. 2006. Cadmium induces the expression of Grp78, an endoplasmic reticulum molecular chaperone, in LLC-PK1 renal epithelial cells. Environ Health Perspect 114:859–864. doi:10.1289/ehp.8920.
. 2004. Molecular chaperones: structure of a protein disaggregase. Curr Biol 14:R78–R80. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2003.12.051.
. 1998. Hsp104, Hsp70, and Hsp40: a novel chaperone system that rescues previously aggregated proteins. Cell 94:73–82. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81223-4.
. 1999. Sequential mechanism of solubilization and refolding of stable protein aggregates by a bichaperone network. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96:13732–13737. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.24.13732.
. 2007. Accelerated aging and failure to segregate damaged proteins in Sir2 mutants can be suppressed by overproducing the protein aggregation-remodeling factor Hsp104p. Genes Dev 21:2410–2421. doi:10.1101/gad.439307.
. 2008. Misfolded proteins partition between two distinct quality control compartments. Nature 454:1088–1095. doi:10.1038/nature07195.
. 1999. Direct evidence for the intracellular localization of Hsp104 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by immunoelectron microscopy. Cell Stress Chaperones 4:46–53.
. 2004. Evidence for an unfolding/threading mechanism for protein disaggregation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hsp104. J Biol Chem 279:29139–29146. doi:10.1074/jbc.M403777200.
. 1999. The glycine-phenylalanine-rich region determines the specificity of the yeast Hsp40 Sis1. Mol Cell Biol 19:7751–7758. doi:10.1128/MCB.19.11.7751.
. 2012. Molecular chaperones and stress-inducible protein-sorting factors coordinate the spatiotemporal distribution of protein aggregates. Mol Biol Cell 23:3041–3056. doi:10.1091/mbc.E12-03-0194.
. 2013. PolyQ proteins interfere with nuclear degradation of cytosolic proteins by sequestering the Sis1p chaperone. Cell 154:134–145. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.06.003.
. 2016. Failure of RQC machinery causes protein aggregation and proteotoxic stress. Nature 531:191–195. doi:10.1038/nature16973.
. 2015. Spatially organized aggregation of misfolded proteins as cellular stress defense strategy. J Mol Biol 427:1564–1574. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2015.02.006.
. 2008. Heat shock and oxygen radicals stimulate ubiquitin-dependent degradation mainly of newly synthesized proteins. J Cell Biol 182:663–673. doi:10.1083/jcb.200803022.
. 1993. Resistance to cadmium mediated by ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. Nature 361:369–371. doi:10.1038/361369a0.
. 1999. Rpn4p acts as a transcription factor by binding to PACE, a nonamer box found upstream of 26S proteasomal and other genes in yeast. FEBS Lett 450:27–34. doi:10.1016/S0014-5793(99)00467-6.
. 1998. Multiple effects of trehalose on protein folding in vitro and in vivo. Mol Cell 1:639–648. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80064-7.
. 2002. Sulfur sparing in the yeast proteome in response to sulfur demand. Mol Cell 9:713–723. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(02)00500-2.
. 2005. Combined proteome and metabolite-profiling analyses reveal surprising insights into yeast sulfur metabolism. J Biol Chem 280:24723–24730. doi:10.1074/jbc.M502285200.
. 2014. Cadmium-zinc exchange and their binary relationship in the structure of Zn-related proteins: a mini review. Metallomics 6:1313–1323. doi:10.1039/C4MT00080C.
. 1997. A new pathway for vacuolar cadmium sequestration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: YCF1-catalyzed transport of bis(glutathionato)cadmium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 94:42–47. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.1.42.
. 1996. Glutathione is an essential metabolite required for resistance to oxidative stress in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr Genet 29:511–515. doi:10.1007/BF02426954.
. 1994. A yeast metal resistance protein similar to human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and multidrug resistance-associated protein. J Biol Chem 269:22853–22857.
. 1994. GSH1, which encodes gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, is a target gene for yAP-1 transcriptional regulation. Mol Cell Biol 14:5832–5839. doi:10.1128/MCB.14.9.5832.
. 2006. Progressive disruption of cellular protein folding in models of polyglutamine diseases. Science 311:1471–1474. doi:10.1126/science.1124514.
. 2010. The kinetic parameters and energy cost of the Hsp70 chaperone as a polypeptide unfoldase. Nat Chem Biol 6:914–920. doi:10.1038/nchembio.455.
. 2014. Synergism between a foldase and an unfoldase: reciprocal dependence between the thioredoxin-like activity of DnaJ and the polypeptide-unfolding activity of DnaK. Front Mol Biosci 1:7. doi:10.3389/fmolb.2014.00007.
. 1996. Structure-function analysis of the zinc finger region of the DnaJ molecular chaperone. J Biol Chem 271:14840–14848. doi:10.1074/jbc.271.25.14840.
. 2006. Zinc through the three domains of life. J Proteome Res 5:3173–3178. doi:10.1021/pr0603699.
. 2006. Zinc protects renal function during cadmium intoxication in the rat. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 290:F127–F137. doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00366.2004.
. 2002. Neurodegenerative disease: amyloid pores from pathogenic mutations. Nature 418:291.
. 2006. Chaperones and proteases: cellular fold-controlling factors of proteins in neurodegenerative diseases and aging. J Mol Neurosci 30:249–265. doi:10.1385/JMN:30:3:249.
. 2013. GroEL and CCT are catalytic unfoldases mediating out-of-cage polypeptide refolding without ATP. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110:7199–7204. doi:10.1073/pnas.1219867110.
. 2015. Amyloid fibres: inert end-stage aggregates or key players in disease? Trends Biochem Sci 40:719–727. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2015.10.002.
. 2003. Automated screening in environmental arrays allows analysis of quantitative phenotypic profiles in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast 20:53–67. doi:10.1002/yea.931.
. 2006. The MAPK Hog1p modulates Fps1p-dependent arsenite uptake and tolerance in yeast. Mol Biol Cell 17:4400–4410. doi:10.1091/mbc.E06-04-0315.
. 1996. Potassium ions and the molecular-chaperone activity of DnaK. Eur J Biochem 237:318–321. doi:10.1111/j.1432-1033.1996.0318n.x.
. 2013. Biophysical characterization of two different stable misfolded monomeric polypeptides that are chaperone-amenable substrates. J Mol Biol 425:1158–1171. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2012.12.025.
. 2003. d-Peptides as inhibitors of the DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone system. J Biol Chem 278:19044–19047. doi:10.1074/jbc.M300922200.
. 2014. Mathematical modelling of arsenic transport, distribution and detoxification processes in yeast. Mol Microbiol 92:1343–1356. doi:10.1111/mmi.12631.
|
0.947304 |
Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author who wrote several popular novels and television scripts. He is best known for the novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968), which he helped adapt for Ken Loach's film Kes (1969).
Hines was born in the mining village of Hoyland Common near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He attended Ecclesfield Grammar School and played football for the England Grammar Schools team. After leaving school with five O levels he took a job with the National Coal Board as an apprentice mining surveyor at Rockingham Colliery. A neighbour he chanced to meet at the coal face disapproved of his failure to meet his potential; Hines later said that was when he decided to return to school to take his examinations. He achieved four A levels and studied for a teaching qualification at Loughborough College. He worked as a Physical Education teacher for several years, initially for two years in a London comprehensive school and subsequently at Longcar Central School in Barnsley, where he wrote novels in the school library after the children had gone home. He later became a full-time writer.
His first play, Billy's Last Stand, appeared on the BBC Radio Third Programme in 1965, with Arthur Lowe and Ronald Baddiley. Hines is best known for his novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968); he co-wrote the script for the film version Kes (1969), directed by Ken Loach. It tells the story of a troubled schoolboy living in a mining village near Barnsley, who finds comfort in tending a kestrel that he named 'Kes'. Hines also wrote the script for the BAFTA award-winning TV film Threads (1984), a speculative television drama examining the effects of nuclear war on Sheffield.
He was known for writing scripts in the Yorkshire dialect. Ken Loach wrote, "He loved language and his ear for the dialect and its comedy was pitch perfect."
Loach's film Looks and Smiles (1981), based on a novel by Hines and adapted for the screen by the author, won the Best Contemporary Screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Kes won a number of awards, including a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best British Screenplay and a BAFTA nomination for Best Screenplay. Threads (1984) won a special award at the 1985 Monte-Carlo Television Festival, the Broadcasting Press Guild Award in 1985 for Best Single Drama, and was nominated for seven different awards in the 1985 BAFTA Awards, winning the Best Single Drama award. Hines was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) at the University of Sheffield on 14 January 2010. Hines died on 18 March 2016 at the age of 76.
^ "Barry Hines: Biography". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^ a b c d "Author Biography: Barry Hines". Pomona Books. Hebden Bridge. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^ a b c d Benson, Richard (4 December 2005). "When we were heroes". The Observer. London. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^ a b "Barry Hines". BBC. Sheffield and South Yorkshire. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^ Wyper, Alistair (October 2015). "Billy's Last Stand, by Barry Hines". Sutton Elms Diversity website. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
^ Loach, Ken (23 March 2016). "Ken Loach on Barry Hines: 'His ear for the dialect and its comedy was pitch perfect'". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
^ Awards for Kes (1969). Retrieved June 2008.
^ "Awards database". BAFTA. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
^ "Heptathlete Jessica Ennis receives honorary degree". BBC News. 14 January 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^ "Barry Hines obituary: author of A Kestrel for a Knave". The Guardian. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
^ a b c d e f g h Tim Woods (2013). Who's Who of Twentieth Century Novelists. pp. 186–187. ISBN 1134709919.
^ "This Artistic Life". Pomona Books. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
^ a b c d e f g "Barry Hines". The Agency. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
"Barry Hines - Author Biography". Pomona Books. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
This page was last edited on 2 October 2018, at 21:30 (UTC).
|
0.999998 |
What is a Self Service Kiosk?
Many malls have a self service kiosk where shoppers can get information about the location of the mall's stores.
ATMs are one of the most common types of self service kiosk.
A self service kiosk is common for buying tickets at a variety of venues.
A self service kiosk is an object which will allow customers to interact with self service software. Such kiosks can be found in a variety of locations, and they typically include a computer loaded with the software and housed inside a protective case, although a self service kiosk can also consist of a computer placed at a table or desk in an accessible area for customers to use. Self service is very popular in many regions of the world, and people can take advantage of self service kiosks for a number of services.
In some cases, the kiosk uses a touch screen, with people selecting options on the screen. Self service kiosks can also be attached to keyboards to allow people to perform more complicated input. Many can read cards including credit cards, identification, tickets with embedded magnetic strips, and so forth, and kiosks can also take money and handle some other simple operations, depending on the designer and how they are used.
Customers can opt to use a self service kiosk to meet a need, rather than interacting with an employee of a company, and in some cases, customers may be required to use the kiosk. Examples of services which can be handled at self service kiosks include: airline and hotel check in, purchase of parking permits, purchase of tickets to ride trains and subways, renewal of cell phone contracts, purchase of newspapers, and so forth.
The typical self service kiosk is connected to the Internet or an internal network for the purpose of sending and receiving data. It may be equipped with a printer which can print out receipts, tickets, and other information for users, and it can also be used to control a newspaper dispenser, or a robot which fetches items for customers. If a self service kiosk handles a sensitive customer need, it may be enclosed for privacy.
The cost of a kiosk can vary, depending on the tasks it needs to perform. Maintaining a kiosk can be less expensive than paying employees for the same service, making it an appealing option, although some people find automated kiosks alienating and may prefer actual interactions with customer service representatives. Some companies provide both options, allowing customers to select the one they feel more comfortable with, although the self service kiosk may be open at all hours to encourage people to use it rather than a company employee for basic tasks.
What Is a Self-Help Desk?
What is an Airline Customer Service Agent?
How do I Become an Airline Customer Service Agent?
|
0.984377 |
What role will trade unions have in securing the rights of workers granted by EU law?
Since Britain's decision to leave the EU was announced in June 2016, the Trades Union Congress ("TUC") has been campaigning to ensure "a jobs and rights-first Brexit".
The Government has said that all EU law enacted up to a certain date would be respected post-Brexit, including law relating to employees' rights.
equal treatment for part-time, fixed-term and agency workers.
The TUC however not only wants to retain all EU-based rights that UK workers currently enjoy, but also wants to make sure that UK workers will be entitled to the same rights as EU workers in the future.
The TUC has therefore called on the Government to ensure that any UK-EU trade deals include a mechanism under which all current and future EU employment law is incorporated into UK law.
does not limit the power of the Unions, or further regulate their activities.
Trade Unions have suggested that the UK Government should stay in the Single Market unless an alternative method can be found to guarantee workers' rights granted by EU law, saying that staying in the Single Market would allow the UK to have a safety net and ensure that the UK is on a level playing field with the rest of the EU. Whether or not the UK remains in the Single Market is of course one of the most controversial Brexit issues.
TUC website has a variety of information regarding Trade Unions and Brexit - https://www.tuc.org.uk/.
|
0.951073 |
Cook this eggless chocolate pie for the party dessert.
In a Bowl; add oreo cookie crumbs, melted butter and mix it well.
Now turn the mixture into a 9- inch pie plate or baking dish, press mixture in bottom and up side. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and keep it aside.
In a sauce pan heat, the cream to a low simmer then pours it on the top of melted chocolate.
Now whisk it until the melted chocolate and cream are completely combined.
Add butter, mix it well until smooth and thoroughly mixed.
Remove the oreo crust from the refrigerator and spread the chocolate filling inside. Place the pie in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until ready to serve.
Top the pie with chocolate shavings or oreo crumbs, cover and refrigerate leftovers.
|
0.936922 |
The Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, opened on February 15,1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the movie palaces in the city. The Orpheum theatres are named for the Greek mythological figure, vaudeville acts were still playing the Orpheum as late as 1950. In the 1960s the theatre held rock and roll concerts featuring Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, the restored Orpheum Theatre is now a venue for live concerts, movie premieres and location shoots. The love metal band HIM played there for their CD/DVD live album Digital Versatile Doom, the 2010 Streamy Awards were live broadcast from the theatre. The Orpheum appeared as the first venue for the Chipmunks highly anticipated world tour in the 2007 Alvin, in the 2007 film In Search of a Midnight Kiss and Vivian do a quick tour of the Orpheum on their first date. In the movie Hop, David Hasselhoff hosted a talent show contest there, the buildings facade appears in Avril Lavignes music video for Im With You.
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children from 1970 to 2011. As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year, in 1996, TV Guide ranked Lucci number 37 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list. In 2005, she received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006 and she was named one of VH1s 200 Top Icons of All-Time and one of Barbara Walterss Ten Most Fascinating People. She has played roles in movies, hosted many shows and guest starred on television comedy series, including Saturday Night Live. She has her own line of hair products, perfumes and skin care. As of 2012, Lucci hosted Deadly Affairs, and starred as Genevieve Delatour in the Lifetime television series Devious Maids, in 2015, Lucci was inducted as a Disney Legend. Susan Lucci was born in Scarsdale, New York, to parents Jeanette and Victor Lucci and her father is of Italian ancestry, and her mother is of Swedish and German descent.
She attended Garden City High School in Garden City, New York and she attended Marymount College and graduated with a BA degree in drama in 1968. Lucci is best known for appearing as Erica Kane on the ABC television soap opera All My Children, Lucci was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for her work on All My Children almost every year since 1978. When Lucci did not win the award after several nominations, her image in the media began to be lampooned. NBCs Saturday Night Live exploited this by asking her to host an episode, during her monologue, the shows cast, what does a person have to do around here to get an Emmy. After 18 failed nominations, she won in 1999. When presenter Shemar Moore announced Luccis name, stating the streak is over, as Lucci took to the stage, cameras caught All My Children co-stars Kelly Ripa and Marcy Walker weeping openly, along with long-time supporter and television host Rosie ODonnell. Actor Ingo Rademacher was seen bowing in the aisles and talk show host Oprah Winfrey rushing the stage cheering from the wings.
John Beradino was an American infielder in Major League Baseball and an actor. Known as Johnny Berardino during his career, he was credited during his acting career as John Berardino, John Baradino. Beradino was born Giovanni Berardino in Los Angeles, Beradino attended Belmont High School, located in downtown Los Angeles. Beradino won a scholarship to the University of Southern California in 1936. Beradino is often mentioned as having appeared in the silent Our Gang comedies produced by Hal Roach as an actor but has not been identified as having appeared in any of the existing films. S. Naval Reserve during World War II, from 1942 to 1945 and he played second baseman and shortstop for the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates, winning the World Series with the Indians in 1948. He played first and third base, after injuring his leg and being released by Pittsburgh in 1952, he retired from baseball and returned to acting, having appeared in his first film in 1948. Beradino had a role in the 1954 sci-fi thriller Them.
He had a guest role in a 1956 episode of the series, Adventures of Superman titled The Unlucky Number. He played a criminal who struggled with his life-style and wanted to reform. At that point he was still being billed as John Berardino, Beradino appeared twice on the Western series Annie Oakley, with Gail Davis—as Gorman in Annie Rides the Navajo Trail and as Roscoe Barnes in Amateur Outlaw. He appeared as one of the outlaws in the scenes of Budd Boettichers Seven Men From Now, with Randolph Scott. He guest starred as well on John Bromfields syndicated crime drama with a modern Western setting, Sheriff of Cochise and he was cast in an episode of David Janssens crime drama series Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Beradino played a gangster in The Untouchables pilot that originally aired in Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. He played a major recurring gangster, Augie Viale, in two episodes from the first season of The Untouchables series itself, The Jake Lingle Killing and One Armed Bandits. On December 2,1959, Beradino was cast as Al, in the story line, the player loses consciousness when struck by a wild pitch and soon awakes with short-term amnesia.
Susan Lucci featured in a Riunite commercial in 1977.
|
0.991178 |
Here is a recent article that contains some more information about the extent: Great Barrier Reef bleaching stats are bad enough without media misreporting.
We arrived in Port Douglas about midday Friday, did some shopping then found the backpackers where we were booked for a couple of nights. The room wasn’t ready but we were able to sit by the pool to eat lunch and catch up on emails using their free wifi. The hostel is mostly full of young travellers, which didn’t seem like a bad thing when I first saw the pool contained lots of attractive women in bikinis. The downside however is that it has a bar which is quite noisy until about 1.00am, and the communal kitchen is disgustingly full of unwashed dishes and abandoned food. It is the sort of place where we have to wash dishes and utensils both before and after a meal.
About mid-afternoon we thought we better go and explore, so we started following a 4km marked trail around the coast. Before tourism became the dominant industry here the town survived by shipping sugar from the plantations to the north. Thanks to a missing sign we ended up walking a kilometre or so too far along the beach so it was nearly dark by the time we arrived home.
This morning we were up and about well before most of our fellow guests, getting prepared for a day on the outer reef. We had expected to be on the Wavelength company’s fast and comfortable catamaran, but we were offered a spot on their older monohull boat which is only used for experienced snorkelers without children. This trip allows for three dives during the day, one of which was a drift dive where the boat stops briefly to get everyone in the water then motors down the reef for a kilometre or so in the direction of the current where the pickup happens.
As we boarded, we were introduced to Taylor the marine biologist for the trip, who looked about 18 years old but seemed to know her stuff. The boat spent about an hour and a half taking us almost 50km offshore to Opal Reef for our first dive. We were very impressed by the number of large sized fish, which are not common in places like Samoa and Thailand where sea life is less protected. The giant clams were particularly impressive – far bigger than anything I have seen before. Taylor even found us a rare hawksbill turtle to swim with.
The allocated hour passed quickly, but when we got back on the boat there was just enough time to scarf some chocolate brownie and melon before we were dropped off into the water again for the drift. It is a little scary swimming way out in the ocean with no land in sight and just one small boat in the distance to head towards, but most of the time my face was under the water enjoying the amazing scenery.
After a delicious and welcome buffet lunch, we motored to Toungue Reef for our final dive. Just before we arrived however, the skipper stopped the boat because there was a minke whale right in front of us. A few of us nipped outside onto the bow for a closer look, and realised it was a mother minke teaching her calf to breach. The minke is one of the smallest of the whale family – this adult was about 8 metres long and the baby a bit bigger than a large human. It was thrilling to see the huge animal launch herself right out of the water. Taylor was screaming and shouting with excitement and apologising for her lack of professionalism at the same time. Luckily for her nobody was shooting a video!
On the final dive we saw a couple of small sand sharks on the bottom. These are only just over a metre long, and not a threat to humans. The dangerous white pointers which do regularly attack people further south don’t come into the tropics because they would overheat.
As we swam back to the boat we were joined by a huge Maori wrasse almost a metre and a half long, which I think must have been fed in the past because it was quite happy being within arms length of us. I remember encountering one of these fish when I lived in Cairns back in the 70’s – I had no idea what it was at the time and found myself on the beach with heart pounding before I could even think about what I should do.
We had such a good day that we have booked another trip to the reef tomorrow while the weather is good. Today was the best conditions there have been for weeks due to high winds, so we have been fortunate.
Awesome! Envious. On my bucket list.
am i enjoying another of potts ‘ top blogs Oh Yes ! !
envious ? just a little .
thank you john for the entertainment jayemm .
|
0.934865 |
Segata Sanshirō (せがた三四郎) was a fictional character played by Hiroshi Fujioka. His name is a parody of Sugata Sanshirō, a character from a 1943 Japanese film. He appeared in two dozen commercials by SEGA to advertise the Sega Saturn in Japan between 1997 and 1998.
Sanshiro was a Judo master that tracked down and beat up people who were not playing the Sega Saturn. His name sounds similar to the phrase "Sega Saturn shiro!" meaning roughly "You must play Sega Saturn!". It is also a pun as shiro also means white in Japanese - the color of the Japanese Saturn.
Sanshiro lived as a hermit high on a mountain, devoting his life to intensive Sega Saturn training. He trained physically by carrying around a giant Sega Saturn and punching a giant controller, and mentally by breaking piles of bricks with his head. But he would also frequently visit the city to seek out people who were not playing the Sega Saturn, and harshly teach them a lesson. In one commercial he barges into a nightclub and beats up everyone inside; in another, he beats up three youths who irresponsibly go outside to play baseball instead of playing video games. Sanshiro was a serious man with a firm sense of duty, and he believed that playing video games was the most valuable activity in life.
When the Saturn was phased out and the Sega Dreamcast released, Sanshiro's end came in the form of a commercial involving a missile directed at the Tokyo, Japan headquarters of SEGA. Sanshiro heroically jumped onto the missile and deflected it into the atmosphere, and was killed in the following explosion. The voiceover said that "Segata Sanshiro will live on in your hearts."
The character became very well known in Japan, and helped make the Saturn successful in that country. He appeared in his own game, Segata Sanshirou Shinken Yuugi.
The character was so popular that a theme song and music video were released. This is an approximate English translation of the lyrics meant to communicate the spirit of the song.
Their battered bodies will never forget!
[chorus] Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!
Are there not more serious tasks to be done?
Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!
(voice of Segata) Youngsters... is there something in your life you are completely devoted to? Something you sink into so deep you put your life on the line? You must play Sega Saturn! Play... until your fingers break! Until your fingers break!
Will find their bodies beaten harshly!
Pro Yakyuu Team mo Tsukurou!
|
0.999985 |
Should you go into property investment?
After you have start earning your own income, there will be various options in investment that you would come across where many would tell you that property is perhaps the most stable. The truth is, investing in property is somewhat similar like investing in anything else (forex, mutual funds or shares) where there are risks involved. But the price of property can be less volatile making it more stable.
So when is the best time to get into property investment? There would be several questions you need to ask.
Firstly, you need to calculate your return target and how much downpayment you can afford. After that, you need to calculate how much you can give as monthly installment from your available income. This should not be more than one-third of your bring home pay.
Then you need to determine what is your target before stopping and any risk management.
Basically, it is like buying a property for yourself but you need to be more calculated in every way.
Going into property investment is a viable option mainly because it is more predictable than any other investment methods.
It has an inflation hedge because as the price could increase, rental rates would follow suit.
This means that if you have a property which is rented out for a certain period of time, chances are you will not have to worry about installments as long as there is a tenant. That way, you need not have to worry about money for a while. Once the loan is paid off, you will then be able to enjoy the rental as income.
But the trick is to be select carefully and not invest in any property that you might not be able to afford. You need to be ready for the worst-case scenario and if no one is renting, you need to service the loan accordingly. If you can answer these questions, then you might just be ready to invest in properties. At the end of the day, always remember to keep some funds for rainy days and learn about the tips, particularly if you are a new graduate.
|
0.999888 |
The Article: ‘Life Keeps Changing’: Why Stories, Not Science, Explain the World by Joe Fassler in The Atlantic.
The Text: The natural world is a source of wonder and even horror for Jennifer Percy, author of Demon Camp, but science can only explain so much. After Percy read Lawrence Sargent Hall’s “The Ledge” for the first time in college, she dropped her physics major—and started asking questions about story, memory, and narrative. Stories, she now says—invented, reported—better capture the full, complex reality of human beings and our surrounding universe.
But it’s not the one that lingers. It’s the fisherman’s words before the sea enters his lungs and kills him. His son wants to know if it’s time to swim. And all the fisherman says is, “Not yet. Not just yet.” I imagine that’s what we all think when faced with our mortality and I like the way we can see the fisherman revise his thinking—softening “not yet” not “not just yet.” The “just” is there because he knows death is inevitable but he’s begging anyway for that one extra moment with his son. We hear these words even into the white space. In this way, Hall has allowed them their own kind of immortality.
|
0.963387 |
Can apply car/house loan with zero credit history?
For a person who is 27 yrs old and who has got a zero credit history, would it be possible to apply for car/housing loan? Some people have been trying to scare me, saying banks will not loan me the money...is it true? The only reason I have zero credit history is cause I was fortunate to get scholarships throughout my college/uni days and got an old car handed down to me from my parents. I have never needed credit cards and I live within my means and have been gainfully employed for 3+ years.
I will want to get a car soon and a house too but I really hope the lack of credit history will not be a major issue.
To apply both loans at the same time would be tough!
Not same time, one after the other. In total, it should be at under 70% of my net income. Probably a house first (at 55%) then a car (at 15%).
Go get a credit card, it has good rebate lerh. why not?
If you a have good payment on your ccris will be a plus point, if you dont, at least you have constant epf and salary payment right? But still, good payment record will be the influential factor. Last time my friend trying to get loan from bank but his statement is too clean, so ended up cannot.
It's never too late to know..
When I first apply for house loan, I did not have credit card but car loan.
They look at your salary and how much you pay for other loan.
Your car loan is already a credit history.
Apply to the banks where your salary is credited every month.better if you have FDs record. Should not be a problem.
Can, better provide some supporting documents too.
Saving account or FD helps too.
Smart consumers will apply credit card for daily expenses (grocery, makan & minum, fuel, touch and go, pay bills, watch movie, buy gifts, shopping, etc etc).
It will automatically tabulate your daily spending in easy to read downloadable form. At least you know where your money is going.
Another good reason is for cash back or airmiles. Since you will be spending your money anyways, why not get the perks that comes with spending all that money?
Just be sure to pay off your outstanding amount every month, don't just pay the minimum amount.
|
0.856984 |
what does a the term "static tipping load" mean?
It is the amount of weight on the FEL required to cause the tractor to tip up and lift at least one tire when the tractor is at rest on a level surface and no other factors save load are at work.
It is commonly referred to as the "pucker in pants point".
Murf's right when it comes to CUTs with a FEL. With tractors in general, which have flex or articulation between the front and rear axles it's one tire rear tire that leaves the ground. With a skid steer loader it considered to be the rear "axle" or both tires as there is no flex between the front and rear tires (there are no actual axles on a modern skid loader). Now if you really want a thrill ride on a skidloader raise the loader up high with a load and drive forward quickly (or for that matter drive forward and stop quickly)---talk about pucker-factor---at least on a tractor you can jump off!
|
0.999962 |
Choose a shoe with a fit. As the saying goes, "shoes are comfortable and not comfortable, only to know." the top priority of a bridesmaid dress to match shoes is that the shoes should be fit and comfortable. After all, on the day of the wedding, as a bridesmaid is very busy, a pair of comfortable shoes is very important.
2. Choose high heel shoes carefully. Some bridesmaids will choose high heels because they may look better with high heels. If you are usually used to high heels, it will be good. But if you don't wear high heels, do not choose, so it is very tired at the wedding and even the awkward scene of the foot. So high heeled shoes should be carefully chosen, even if the dress is more attractive, it is recommended to choose shoes with low heels or flat heels so that it will be much easier at wedding.
3, do not have to choose new shoes to match. The shoes of the bridesmaid dress do not have to choose new shoes. If you have the right half old shoes, you can choose them. The old shoes are more comfortable than the new shoes, and they won't wear the feet. If there is no suitable old shoes to match, then recommend new shoes to buy early, more practice at home, also to prepare a little more band aid, in order to prepare for the time, wear the foot on time.
4. Match the shoes with the color and the dress. The most important thing for a bridesmaid dress is to dress with the dress, and choose the right color shoes according to the dress.
|
0.926061 |
Alaphilippe at the 2018 Tour of Britain, a race that he won.
Julian Alaphilippe (born 11 June 1992) is a French road cyclist and cyclocross racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Deceuninck–Quick-Step. He is the brother of racing cyclist Bryan Alaphilippe.
Born in Saint-Amand-Montrond, Alaphilippe started his career competing in the cyclo-cross discipline, finishing second in the Junior World Cyclo-Cross Championships in 2010.
Alaphilippe's road career began in 2012, riding with amateur team Armée de Terre. During this season, he displayed talent on the road, finishing second overall and winning a stage in the Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay, a UCI America Tour 2.2 event.
After his impressive performance in 2012, Alaphilippe joined Etixx–IHNed, the development team for UCI WorldTeam Omega Pharma–Quick-Step. The young rider has an even more successful season in 2013, finishing 4th in the European Road Race Championships and 9th in the UCI Road World Under–23 Championships. He also won a stage and the points classification of the Tour de l'Avenir, and won the Grand Prix Südkärnten, a one-day race.
Alaphilippe joined Omega Pharma–Quick-Step in 2014. He obtained his first podium on the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya. He also was second in the fifth stage. Alaphilippe scored his first victory as a neo-pro in Stage 4 of Tour de l'Ain where he showed his explosiveness in an uphill finish ahead of Dan Martin. His best World Tour result of the year was a fifth-place finish in the GP Ouest-France.
2015 was a breakthrough year for Alaphilippe. He acted as a supporter role in the Ardennes classics to help his teammate, the reigning world champion Michał Kwiatkowski, but surprisingly finished 7th in the Amstel Gold Race behind winner Kwiatkowski. In La Flèche Wallonne, his first time participating in the race, he continued to support Kwiatkowski but found his teammate too far behind at a crucial juncture. His team director told him to go for the win and he finished second after three-time winner Alejandro Valverde. The scenario repeated itself at Liège–Bastogne–Liège a few days later when Alaphilippe finished 2nd in his La Doyenne debut, again behind Valverde. In doing so, the 22-year-old realized the best French performance on this classic since 1998, when Laurent Jalabert finished second.
After those performances and a string of podium finishes in the Tour de Romandie, Alaphilippe was, on 4 May, granted a contract extension for two more years, until the end of 2017. Later in the month he won the queen stage of the Tour of California and took over the lead in the general classification, 2 seconds ahead of Peter Sagan. However, he lost the overall eventually to Sagan by just 3 seconds in the last stage due to the time bonuses in a flat sprint. In the later part of the summer, he finished eighth in the Clásica de San Sebastián, finishing in the lead group behind the winner, Adam Yates. He subsequently finished tenth overall in the Eneco Tour, which included a stage that used many of the Ardennes classics roads. His form was dropped significantly near the end of the year, including a DNF in the Road World Championships. He was later diagnosed with mononucleosis. The disease led to extreme fatigue, rendering him unable to maintain his top performance and marking the end of his season.
In April, Alaphilippe placed 2nd at the La Flèche Wallonne for the second year in a row. He then earned his biggest victory so far at the Tour of California, when he won a stage and the overall. The lead was taken on stage 3 when he attacked on an HC climb with less than one kilometer left. His form continued in Critérium du Dauphiné which he finished 6th overall and 1st in the young rider classification. It was also his first white jersey in UCI World Tour races. In late June, he was named in the start list for the Tour de France. During the Tour de France, he held the young rider classification from stages 2–6 and won the combativity award on stage 16.
Alaphilippe was selected to represent his nation at the Olympics men's road race and Olympic men's road time trial. During the road race and being one of the pre-race favorites, he caught up with the leading group of cyclists on the final climb of Vista Chinesa, but his crash on the descent hindered him from joining the final attack launched by Greg Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang to catch the sole leader Rafał Majka before the finish line. Alaphilippe eventually finished the road race in fourth position, 22 seconds behind the winner Van Avermaet. Alaphilippe finished in 32nd position in the Olympic men's road time trial.
Alaphilippe started his 2017 spring preparation in Abu Dhabi Tour. He finished 5th overall and won the young rider classification. In March, he rode Paris–Nice and won his first time trial in his career with an uphill finish in stage 4 keeping his race lead in the next three days. He finished 5th overall eventually, but able to remain the winner of the young rider classification. The four top-5 stage finishes was also enough for him to clinch the points classification. The following weekend, Alaphilippe finished third at Milan–San Remo, being narrowly beaten in a sprint by Michał Kwiatkowski and world champion Peter Sagan after the trio broke clear on the final climb, Poggio di San Remo.
After a strong start, Alaphilippe's season was hampered by a lengthy injury sustained at Vuelta al País Vasco. It was announced in April by his team that Alaphilippe would miss the Ardennes classics due to pre-patellar lesion knee injury. He also missed out his primary goal of the year, Tour de France, after undergoing a knee surgery in May. Alaphilippe returned to race at Grand Prix Pino Cerami in July and made his debut Vuelta a España a month later. He scored his maiden Grand Tour stage win in Stage 8 during which he outclimbed Rafał Majka and Jan Polanc from a breakaway.
In August, Alaphilippe signed a two-year contract with his team Quick-Step Floors, keeping him through 2019 season.
During the third and final ascent of the Mur de Huy at the 2018 La Flèche Wallonne, Alaphilippe accelerated near its summit, overtaking the sole race leader Jelle Vanendert in the last 100 metres of the race and dropping him. Alejandro Valverde, who had won the last four La Flèche Wallonne editions, staged a late fight-back and almost caught Alaphilippe, but the latter was able to kick again in the final metres to increase his lead over Valverde and eventually win the race. It was the biggest victory of Alaphilippe's career so far and he was the first French winner of the La Flèche Wallonne since Laurent Jalabert won it in 1997.
Alaphilippe participated in his second Tour de France this season, and claimed his maiden Tour de France stage win in the 10th stage of the race with a series of attacks and aggressive descending in the Alps. He took the maximum mountains classification points on the Montée du plateau des Glières, the Col de Romme and the Col de la Colombière, finishing the stage 1 min 34 secs ahead of the second placed rider Ion Izagirre of Bahrain–Merida, and 3:23 ahead of the peloton that included the defending champion Chris Froome. Alaphilippe also took the lead in the mountains classification after the end of Stage 10. Alaphilippe won the 16th stage of the race after Adam Yates crashed on the descent 7 km before the finishing line while the latter was leading that stage alone.
The following month, Alaphilippe won the Clásica de San Sebastián, out-sprinting Bauke Mollema for the win, after the two riders escaped the field on the final climb. He then won the third stage and the general classification of the Tour of Britain, after taking the overall lead on the sixth stage of the week long competition. Alaphilippe continued to have success in stage races, as he won the Okolo Slovenska less than a week later.
Despite his large amount of successes in 2018, Alaphilippe faced disappointment at the UCI Road World Championships, where he was appointed France's team leader. On the final climb, he cracked and lost connection with the race leaders, and ended up finishing 8th.
Alaphilippe started the 2019 season in February with the Vuelta a San Juan and the Tour Colombia. At the Vuelta a San Juan, he finished second overall and won two stages, and won the points classification and one stage of the latter. His first major race was the 2019 Strade Bianche, which he won, beating out Astana rider Jakob Fuglsang in a kick up the final climb. He finished 6th overall in Tirreno–Adriatico, earning a surprise victory on stage 6 despite leading out his team's designated sprinter Elia Viviani. He then won his first Monument, in the 2019 Milan–San Remo after attacking on the Poggio and outsprinting Oliver Naesen and Michal Kwiatkowski.
^ "Julian Alaphilippe change de costume" [Julian Alaphilippe changes costume]. La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 17 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
^ a b "Julian Alaphilippe » Omega Pharma – Quick-Step". Retrieved 10 May 2014.
^ "Alaphilippe Wins First Pro Race of Career!". Cyclingnews.com. OPQS Official. 16 August 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
^ Alasdair Fotheringham (23 April 2015). "Alaphilippe fends off Flèche veterans for notable second place". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ Alasdair Fotheringham (26 April 2015). "Alaphilippe takes France's best Liège-Bastogne-Liège result since 1998". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
^ "Alaphilippe signs contract extension with Etixx-QuickStep". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
^ "Tour of California: Alaphilippe wins on Mt. Baldy". Cycling News. May 22, 2015.
^ "Sagan wins Tour of California on time bonus". Cycling News. May 18, 2015.
^ "Julian Alaphilippe". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^ "Alaphilippe ends breakthrough season with mononucleosis". Cycling News. Oct 19, 2015.
^ Stephen Farrand (12 June 2015). "Criterium du Dauphine 2016: Stage 7 Results". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
^ "France announce men's Olympic road team". Cyclingnews. 14 July 2016.
^ "Jeux Olympiques : Julian Alaphilippe plombé par une chute". L'Équipe. 6 Aug 2016.
^ "Jeux Olympiques : Van Avermaet décroche la médaille d'or, Julian Alaphilippe 4e". L'Équipe. 6 Aug 2016.
^ ""Un Paris-Nice incroyable" pour le coureur Auvergnat Julian Alaphilippe". .francetvinfo.fr (in French). 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
^ "Alaphilippe to miss the Ardennes Classics". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
^ "Knee surgery knocks Alaphilippe out of Tour de France". Cyclingnews.com. 10 May 2017.
^ "Alaphilippe makes long awaited return to racing at GP Cerami". The guardian. 19 July 2017.
^ "Julian Alaphilippe wins stage eight". The guardian. 26 Aug 2017.
^ "Alaphilippe agrees to new two-year contract with Quick-Step Floors". Cyclingnews.com. 2 Aug 2017.
^ "Alaphilippe wins La Flèche Wallonne". www.cyclingnews.com. 18 April 2018.
^ "Julian Alaphilippe ends Valverde dominance with powerful victory at La Flèche Wallonne 2018". www.cyclingweekly.com. 18 April 2018.
^ "2018 Tour de France, Stage 10". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
^ "Tour de France: Alaphilippe wins in Le Grand Bornand". www.cyclingnews.com. 17 July 2018.
^ "Tour de France 2018: Julian Alaphilippe wins stage 16 after Adam Yates crashes". BBC. 24 July 2018.
^ "Alaphilippe sprints to his first Clásica San Sebastián win". VeloNews.com. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
^ "Julian Alaphilippe: Everyone expected me to win the Worlds". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
^ Farrand, Stephen (9 March 2019). "Alaphilippe: I made a good move at a good moment and, voila, I won Strade Bianche". Cycling News. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Julian Alaphilippe.
|
0.999431 |
From late 1986, here is a Headline News story on 1 1/2 million balloons launched in Cleveland, Ohio.
There hasn't been a female president of the United States, you say? Technically that's correct. However, many historians consider the second Mrs. Woodrow Wilson to have been a de facto president. Woodrow Wilson was first elected president in 1912. His wife Ellen died of Bright's Disease in 1914. In March 1915, Wilson met a widow 15 years his junior, Edith Bolling Galt. A whirlwind romance occurred. The two were married in December 1915. In August 1919, while on a cross-country tour to garner support for his proposed League of Nations, president Wilson suffered a stroke. The seriousness of the president's affliction was not widely known. Throughout the remaining 19 months of Wilson's presidency, Edith greatly assisted her husband. According to her memoirs, she made numerous decisions regarding which tasks and paperwork would and would not occupy the president's time. Some historians claim she went beyond her wifely duties and actually made presidential decisions on her husband's behalf. Wilson died in 1924. After Edith's death in 1961, the stories of her excessive influence on the ailing president helped spur the passage of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which, under special circumstances, gives presidential powers to the vice-president when a president is alive but greatly incapacitated.
February 15, 1971 was the momentous day when Great Britain ditched its old, antiquated monetary system and finally replaced it with 'decimal' currency similar to the United States and Canada. Under the old cumbersome currency of pounds, shillings, and pence, the pound was made up of 240 pence (denoted by the letter d for Latin denarius and now referred to as 'old pence'), with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings (denoted by s for Latin solidus) in a pound. In an era before widespread computer use, monetary calculation, such as adding up sums of money, was far more complicated than with a decimal currency. Tourists were also confused by coins such as the 'half-crown' (worth two shillings and sixpence, or one eighth of a pound). Such a move had been encouraged by economists since the 1840s. British banks were closed for two days to prepare for 'Decimal Day.' It was also specifically scheduled for mid-February--statistically the slowest banking period of the year in Britain. From that day forward there have been 100 new pence to the British pound.
Lynn Redgrave, an introspective and independent player in her family's acting dynasty who became a 1960s sensation as the unconventional title character of "Georgy Girl" and later dramatized her troubled past in such one-woman stage performances as "Shakespeare for My Father" and "Nightingale," has died. She was 67. Her publicist Rick Miramontez, speaking on behalf of her children, said Redgrave died peacefully Sunday night at her home in Connecticut. Children Ben, Pema and Annabel were with her, as were close friends.
Andrew Carnegie made a vast fortune in the steel industry. His philosophy was that a man should spend half his life acquiring wealth and the other half using it for good works. Accordingly, Carnegie financed the building of the astonishing total of 2,509 public libraries in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. Carnegie's passion for libraries began at a young age. He saw the value of public libraries as places for learning and community centers. Cities or towns that wanted a Carnegie Library had to provide the building site and maintain the library after it was built. Carnegie's money paid for everything else. A carnegie library always had to have 'open stacks' so the public could browse, and it had to provide free service. Carnegie's foundation built libraries from 1885 to 1929. (Carnegie himself died in 1919 at age 84.) Many of these libraries are still in use today, such as the one pictured here in Grass Valley, California.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.