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June 15, 2011
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We live in an ever increasing digital world… sign-up for courses that will increase your understanding of that world and let you be a part of it!
Digital Media 1:
(Intro to Adobe CS5) Digital Media I is the first-year digital media course where students will create and learn using elements of text, graphics, animation, sound, video, and digital imaging to create digital computer applications to be delivered on CD-ROM, Internet or other media. These skills will prepare students for entry-level multimedia positions and will provide fundamental digital media understandings and skills beneficial for other occupational/educational endeavors.
Digital Media 2:
(Gaming and Broadcasting) Digital Media II is the second year course within digital media pathway where students will focus on developing advanced skills to plan, design, and create interactive projects using the elements of text, 2-D and 3-D graphics, animation, sound, video, digital imaging, interactive projects, etc. These skills can prepare students for entry-level positions and other occupational/educational goals.
TALK To your Counselor today! | <urn:uuid:838583da-812f-4624-9c26-2a2dbd56dc7f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wxhighschool.com/uncategorized/2011/06/15/go-digital/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.857457 | 251 | 2.828125 | 3 |
|FORECASTING TRICK SERIES:|
METEOROLOGIST JEFF HABY
This 10 part series will detail forecasting tricks that can be used to try to outforecast MOS. Outforecasting
MOS is an important skill for a forecaster. MOS stands for
Model Output Statistics and they are used
as a guide for
temperature prediction and
precipitation prediction by forecasters. Model consensus is the average of the high
temperatures, low temperatures or precipitation amount predicted by several forecast models.
PART 8: TIMING PRECIPITATION
The timing of precipitation is an important component of precipitation prediction. Not only is it
important to know how likely precipitation is, it is important to know when it is most likely
to occur. Here are several techniques to time a precipitation event:
1. If it is a line or area of storms that have already developed then put the image into
motion on radar and note how far the precipitation area moves over a given time. Using that
same rate of movement determine when the precipitation will enter the forecast area. Look at the models
to see if the forcing mechanism for the precipitation is slowing down or speeding up. Adjust
the timing using this information.
2. Determine the forecast model consensus for when the precipitation event will occur. If several models
agree while a lone model does not, odds are the lone model will be wrong.
3. Storms in a particular forecast area will tend to develop at a certain time of the day. Mountain
sea breeze convection will often occur at a similar time each day. Keep of journal of
convection occurs each day.
4. The best precipitation threat often occurs just before a front moves through. Time the frontal
passage on the models. The best precipitation threat will be around this time.
5. Time the ending of a precipitation event by noting when the back edge of a precipitation region
should enter the area and when
dynamic lifting becomes dynamic sinking on the models. | <urn:uuid:06452309-825d-47fe-bed9-bb023fe5f93d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/428/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877767 | 422 | 2.8125 | 3 |
PHILADELPHIA - In efforts to find new treatments for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have directly reprogrammed astrocytes, the most plentiful cell type in the central nervous system, into dopamine-producing neurons. PD is marked by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain. Dopamine is a brain chemical important in behavior and cognition, voluntary movement, sleep, mood, attention, and memory and learning.
“These cells are potentially useful in cell-replacement therapies for Parkinson’s or in modeling the disease in the lab,” says senior author John Gearhart, PhD, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM) at Penn. The team reports their findings in PLoS One.
“Our study is the first to demonstrate conversion of astrocytes to midbrain dopaminergic neurons, opening the door for novel reprogramming strategies to treat Parkinson’s disease,” says first author Russell C. Addis, PhD, a senior research investigator with IRM.
A Different Approach
Parkinson’s affects different areas of the brain but primarily attacks the dopamine-producing section called the substantial nigra. Cells in this region send dopamine to another region called the striatum, where it is used to regulate movement. The chemical or genetic triggers that kill dopamine neurons over time is at the heart of understanding the progressive loss of these specialized cells.
As many as one million people in the US live with PD, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Symptoms include tremors, slowness of movements, limb stiffness, and difficulties with gait and balance.
Limited success in clinical trials over the last 15 years in transplanting fetal stem cells into the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients has spurred researchers to look for new treatments. Using PET scans, investigators have been able to see that transplanted neurons grow and make connections, reducing symptoms for a time. Ethical issues about the source of embryonic stem cells; the interaction of cells with host cells; the efficiency of stems cells to reproduce, and their long-term viability and stability are all still concerns about trials using dopaminergic cell transplants to treat Parkinson’s.
In the first step towards a direct cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s, the team reprogrammed astrocytes to dopaminergic neurons using three transcription factors – ASCL1, LMX1B, and NURR1 – delivered with a lentiviral vector.
The process is efficient, with about 18 percent of cells expressing markers of dopaminergic neurons after two weeks. The next closest conversion efficiency is approximately 9 percent, which was reported in another study.
The dopamine-producing neurons derived from astrocytes showed gene expression patterns and electrophysiolgical properties of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, and released dopamine when their cell membranes were depolarized.
The Penn team is now working to see if the same reprogramming process that converts astrocytes to dopamine-producing neurons in a dish can also work within a living brain – experiments will soon be underway using gene therapy vectors to deliver the reprogramming factors directly to astrocytes in a monkey model of PD.
This project is funded, in part, under a grant with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH). The PDH specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations, or conclusions. Additional support was provided by the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Co-authors, in addition to Gearhart and Addis, are Rebecca L. Wright and Marc A. Dichter from Penn and Fu-Chun Hsu and Douglas A. Coulter, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided $814 million to benefit our community. | <urn:uuid:e5abe22f-d19b-4e62-9c60-d9278c9595b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/reprogramming-brain-cells/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923542 | 1,095 | 3.0625 | 3 |
OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In October of 1990, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was officially launched. It was a 13 year effort sponsored
by two main forces, the National Institues of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The project was a collabortation
with an international scope. Many countries, including Canada, developed human genome research programs.
A genome is all of the DNA (deoxribonucleic acid) contained in the cells of an organism. DNA is
made up of base pairs of phosphate molecules, sugar molecules and one of four nucleic bases. It's the order of these
base pairs that code for genes.
The HCG's main focus was mapping and identifying the sequences of the 20,000-25,000 genes in the human body.
The goals outlined for the Human Genome Project were:
- Identify the approximate 20,000-25,000 genes in the human body
- Sequence the approximate 3 billion base pairs of human DNA
- Store the Information
- Improve the technology for the analysis of the data
- Devote some time to the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI)
The HCG was realized as a result of the worldwide benefits that would be gained from the knowledge. The
new information about the human genome leads to a better understanding of the human body and the structure of DNA. Knowing
the location and sequence of all of the genes in the human body helps scientists to better conceive their functions.
For example, when scientists know the location of a gene that determines a specific disease, improved treatments may emerge
because of a superior insight into its processes. During the course of the project, scientists have also sequenced the genomes
of numerous organisms besides humans. Some of these include the roundworm, fruit fly and the bacterium E.Coli. Due to the
similarities between human DNA and the DNA of other organisms, knowing their genomes helps researchers to grasp gene function.
Storing the enormous volume of data from the Human Genome Project became difficult for scientists.
Technology, such as database-management systems and robotics, was utilized and improved to aid in the storing of new information
in computer databases around the world. Some of these databases, like the DNA database in Japan, were connected to the internet
in order to make the genome research accessible internationally. The technology developed specifically for the analysis and
research of the hman genome was used for the HGP and was also transferred to private ownership. As a result of this and of
grants being awarded for advanced research, the biotechnology sector was catapulted into a multi-billion dollar industry.
Many private companies conducted their own innovative studies. One company, Celera Genomics, published their own draft of
the human genome in February, 2001, at around the same time that the public collaboration released their draft.
1990: Human Genome Project began
June 2000: Working draft of the human genome completed
Feb 2001: Working draft of the entire human genome is published
April 2003: The Human Genome Project is completed ( two years prior to the
expected finish date)
Although the Human Genome Project is finished, detailed maps of chromosomes are continually being
released and research is still being conducted. There are things that remain unknown to or not understood by scientists,
such as the exact number, location and function of genes. The function is unknown for over 50% of genes. What scientists have
learned is how the genome is arranged and how the human genome compares to that of other organisms. Scientists
have furthermore discovered that the oder of the nucleic bases (A, T, G and C) are almost exactly the same in all people.
It's estimated that the average variation in the genomes of two compared people is 0.05-0.01%.
For a more detailed explanation of what was learned please click here
The cost of the Human Genome Project, including research costs, is approximated at $3 billion. About
3-5% of this went to to the study of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT POINTS
1. What is the Human Genome
The Human Genome project is a collaboration that lasted 13 years, two years earlier than expected. The focus
of the project was the mapping and sequencing of the 20,000-25,000 genes in the human genome. Scientists had originally estimated
the human genome to contain around 100,000 genes.
2. When did it take place?
Conferences to discuss the possibility of such an endeavour began in 1985. The HGP officially began
in 1990 and was finished in 2003.
3. Who took part in it?
The project was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy
(DOE). Numerous countries participated in the HGP by developing their own human genome research programs. Some of these countries
include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
4. Why was the Human Genome Project initiated?
The Human Genome Project began because the knowledge of the structure and arrangement of the human
genome would vastly improve scientists' understanding of how genes and the human body works. Many benefits would result, such
as better medical treatment. | <urn:uuid:85246f99-1957-44af-a7f3-a78bf72d92b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://kss151.tripod.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947588 | 1,107 | 3.90625 | 4 |
“Identical sequences of DNA located at completely different places on multiple plant genomes”
|April 10, 2012||Posted by News under Genomics, News, Plants|
From “Identical DNA Codes Discovered in Different Plant Species” ( ScienceDaily, Apr. 9, 2012), we learn,
“Our algorithm found identical sequences of DNA located at completely different places on multiple plant genomes,” said Dmitry Korkin, lead author and assistant professor of computer science.
The genomes of six animals (dog, chicken, human, mouse, macaque and rat) were compared to each other. Likewise, six plant species (Arabidopsis, soybean, rice, cottonwood, sorghum and grape) were compared to each other. Comparing all the genetic sequences took 4 weeks with 48 computer processors doing 1 million searches per hour for a grand total of approximately 32 billion searches.
Although the scientists found identical sequences between plant species, just as they did between animals, they suggested the sequences evolved differently.
“You would expect to see convergent evolution, but we don’t,” Conant said. “Plants and animals are both complex multi-cellular organisms that have to deal with many of the same environmental conditions, like taking in air and water and dealing with weather variations, but their genomes code for solutions to these challenges in different ways.”
Stay tuned. Thoughts? | <urn:uuid:9386894d-840b-427a-825d-01dace268599> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uncommondescent.com/genomics/identical-sequences-of-dna-located-at-completely-different-places-on-multiple-plant-genomes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965229 | 296 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Wood-burning stoves are enjoying a surge in popularity. But burning biomass releases fine dust particles that are hazardous to health. Consequently, new legal limits for particulate emissions from such stoves were introduced last March. Researchers have now developed a measuring device that determines precise levels of dust emissions.
For some years now, consumers have been making increasing use of wood as a fuel and not only on account of the rising cost of heating oil and natural gas. Comfort fireplaces have become all the rage because open fires, tiled and wood-burning stoves give a room a snug and cozy feel. But using wood for heating has one distinct disadvantage. When pellets, logs or briquettes are burnt, fine dust particles that are hazardous to health are released into the atmosphere. These particles are known to cause coughs, place stress on the cardiovascular system, and are thought to be carcinogenic. Indeed, studies by the World Health Organization have found that fine dust particles reduce average life expectancy in Germany by approximately ten months.
According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, there are now 14 million small, single-room combustion plants installed all over Germany and that figure is on the rise. Wood use by private individuals has gone up by 60 to 80 per cent since the year 2000. In 2004, emissions from domestic heating systems exceeded road traffic emissions for the first time ever. Earlier this year, in an attempt to deal with this increase in pollution, the federal government passed an amendment to the First Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act, and new pollution limits for small combustion plants which include both wood-burning stoves and wood-fired boilers came into effect at the end of March. One significant change is that these limits now apply to heating systems with a rated heat output of 4 kilowatts or more, whereas previously only systems with a rated heat output of 15 kilowatts or more were affected. As a result, the number of stoves that will have to be inspected for dust emissions will rise dramatically.
Working together with the firm Vereta, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hannover and the Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology have now developed a measuring device that determines levels of fine dust emissions at source. The project was funded by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF), and Professor Wolfgang Koch, head of department at the ITEM, explains their achievement: To date there is no validated method for measuring the dust content in flue gases. The Bosch smoke count method used with oil-fired heating systems is not appropriate, as it looks primarily at soot particles, and soot is not the principal component of emissions from wood-fired combustion. Our device makes it possible to measure particulate concentrations instead. To do this, we simply place a sampling probe developed by us in the stove flue. The probe draws off some of the flue gases, which are diluted with pre-treated air at the tip of the probe and then cooled in a conditioning unit. The conditioned flue gases are subsequently fed through two optoelectronic sensors which use different measuring techniques: the aerosol light-scattering photometry method devised by ITEM, and the aerosol photoemission method developed by Clausthal University of Technology. An algorithm combines the electrical signals from both these sensors to produce a definitive reading.
Professor Alfred Weber of Clausthal University of Technology is proud to report: We have successfully tested a prototype of the new measuring device. We conducted numerous tests on wood-burning stoves that were being run on a variety of fuels, and were able to prove a linear relationship between the calculated signal received from the device and the mass concentration that was simultaneously measured using a filtering process. This innovative technology provides heating engineers with a cost-effective tool for determining the precise concentration of particulate matter. The researchers have applied for a patent for their new measuring method, and Vereta, supplier of the electronic control technology that supports the sensor, has submitted the device for evaluation by the German Technical Inspection Association (TÜV).
Explore further: Soot from wood stoves in developing world impacts global warming more than expected | <urn:uuid:c33ea15c-276c-463a-9960-16f4bbf8c103> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://phys.org/news/2010-12-tracking-particulates.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949375 | 866 | 3.65625 | 4 |
STARDUST Launch Sequence Description
These images depict a night launch. However, the launch will actually occur during daylight hours (EST) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
STARDUST on the Launch Pad
The Boeing Delta II 7426 launch vehicle consists of three stages stacked on top of each other, plus 4 small solid-fuel rockets strapped to the outside of the first stage. Each of the four solid rocket motors is 1 meter (3.28 feet) in diameter and 13 meters (42.6 feet) long; each contains 11,765 kilograms (25,937 pounds) of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) propellant and provides an average thrust of 446,023 newtons (100,270 pounds) at sea level. The casings on the solid rocket motors are made of lightweight graphite epoxy.
Closeup of Tower
At the very top of this "stack" is the spacecraft, inside a protective metal shell. Total weight of the spacecraft, including the sample return capsule and propellant carried onboard for trajectory adjustments, is 385 kilograms (848 pounds). The main bus is 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) high, 0.66 meter (2.16 feet) wide and 0.66 meter (2.16 feet) deep, about the size of an average office desk.
STARDUST Before Launch
Liftoff will take place from Space Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida. Each stage has its own rocket motor. The first two stages use liquid rocket fuel. The third stage uses solid rocket fuel.
Launch of STARDUST
Launch occurs in three phases, consisting of liftoff and insertion into a 189-kilometer (102-mile) parking orbit; a coast of about a half hour until the vehicle position is properly aligned relative to the direction it must leave Earth; and final injection to an escape trajectory. The total time needed to complete the process is a little under an hour.
Burnout and Jettison of Solid Rock Motors
Sixty-six seconds after liftoff the 4 solid rocket "strap-ons" are discarded and fall into the ocean. Two of the four solid rocket strap-ons will be discarded first, and the remaining strap-on boosters will be jettisoned one second later, while the first stage continues to burn. At this point, the launch vehicle will be at an altitude of 21.9 km (13.5 miles) and traveling at a velocity of 3,862 km/hour (2,390 miles/hour).
STARDUST Prior to Main Engine Cutoff (MECO)
The central first stage continues to burn for about 3 minutes. The main body of the first stage is 2.4 meters (8 feet) in diameter and 26.1 meters (85.6 feet) long. It is powered by an RS-27A engine, which uses 96,160 kilograms (212,000 pounds) of RP-1 (rocket propellant 1, a highly refined kerosene) and liquid oxygen as its fuel and oxidizer.
After Main Engine Cutoff (MECO) First Stage Separation
4.4 minutes after liftoff the first stage shuts itself off (main engine cutoff) and is discarded (first stage separation). The spacecraft is now at an altitude of 114.5 km (71 miles) and traveling at a velocity of 20,096 km/hour (12,439 miles/hour). One stage down, two more to go!
Second Stage Ignition
13.5 seconds following main engine cutoff, the second stage is fired. The second stage is 2.4 meters (8 feet) in diameter and 6 meters (19.7 feet) long, and is powered by an AJ10-118K engine. The propellant is 5,900 kilograms (13,000 pounds) of Aerozine 50 (A-50), a mixture of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH), and nitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer. This engine is restartable, and will perform two separate burns during the launch.
Jettison of Fairings
The metal shell (fairings) covering the spacecraft is discarded 6.5 seconds after second stage ignition.
STARDUST Prior to Second Stage Engine Cutoff (SECO)
The second-stage burn ends 11 minutes, 22 seconds after liftoff. At this point, the vehicle will be in a low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 189 kilometers (117 miles). Depending on the actual launch date and time, the vehicle will then coast for about 10 minutes. Once the vehicle is at the correct point in its orbit, the second stage will be restarted for a brief second burn.
Firing of Spin Motors
Before the third stage's rocket is fired to get the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and on its way, it has to be "spun up" first. Small rockets are used to make the third stage spin about its long axis. Actually, the third stage will spin on turntable attached to the second stage.
Jettison of Second Stage After the third stage "spin up", the second stage is jettisoned.
Third Stage Ignition
The third and final stage of the Delta 7426 is a Thiokol Star 37 FM booster. The The spinning third stage separates from the second stage, and the the third stage motor ignites, sending the vehicle out of earth orbit. The reason we want the vehicle to spin during this burn is so it stays pointed where we need it to point. Spinning it stabilizes it, like a spinning bullet fired from a rifle. A nutation control system (a thruster on an arm mounted on the side of the third stage) will be used to maintain stability during this 88-second burn.
Third Stage Burnout
Now, the third stage, with its solid rocket fuel exhausted, and with the spacecraft attached, are on their way in orbit around the Sun.
Jettison of Third Stage
STARDUST will then separate from the Delta's third stage. Immediately after separation from the Delta's third stage, Stardust will stop its own spinning by firing its thrusters.
About 4 minutes after separation, the spacecraft's solar array will be unfolded and be pointed toward the Sun. Shortly thereafter, the 34-meter-diameter (112-foot) antenna at the Deep Space Network complex in Canberra, Australia will acquire Stardust's signal.
Ron Baalke, STARDUST Webmaster, [email protected]
Wednesday, 26-Nov-2003 12:46:43 PST | <urn:uuid:76771ebe-684e-41d2-b05d-3f1ab8459cfd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/launch2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909912 | 1,379 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Born: October 7, 1897
Died: February 25, 1975
African American religious leader
Elijah Muhammad was the leader of the Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims") during their period of greatest growth in the mid-twentieth century. He was a major promoter of independent, black-operated businesses, institutions, and religion.
Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah (or Robert) Poole on October 7, 1897, near Sandersville, Georgia. His parents were former slaves who worked as sharecroppers (farming the owner's land for a share of the crops) on a cotton plantation; his father was also a Baptist preacher. One of thirteen children, his schooling only lasted until he was nine; then Elijah had to work in the fields and on the railroad. His light skin color made him even more aware of the injustices (unfair treatments) that had been done to his ancestors. He left home at age sixteen to travel and work at odd jobs. He settled in Detroit, Michigan, in 1923, working on a car assembly line.
Poole became an early follower of W. D. Fard (c. 1877–c. 1934), the founder of the Nation of Islam, a religious faith practiced by Muslims in which Allah is the one god and Muhammad is his prophet (one who speaks through messages from a divine source). Fard appeared in Detroit in 1930, selling silk goods and telling his customers in the African American ghetto of their ancestral "homeland" across the seas. Fard proclaimed Islam the one correct religion for African Americans, denouncing Christianity as the religion of the slave masters. Soon Fard announced the opening of the Temple of Islam. It featured an unorthodox (nontraditional) form of Islam, but the movement also emphasized African American self-help and education.
Fard disappeared, as mysteriously as he had arrived, in the summer of 1934. The movement he had founded quickly developed several smaller groups. The most important was led by Poole, who had become a top leader to Fard and who had changed his name along the way to Elijah Muhammad. The movement had long had a policy of requiring members to drop their "slave" names.
Settling in Chicago, Illinois, Muhammad built what quickly became the most important center of the movement. Chicago soon featured not only a Temple of Islam, but a newspaper called Muhammad Speaks, a University of Islam, and several apartment houses, grocery stores, and restaurants—all owned by the movement. Temples were opened in other cities, and farms were purchased so that "pure" food could be made available to members. The movement was very controlled. Members had strict rules to follow regarding eating (various foods, such as pork, were forbidden), smoking and drinking (both banned), dress and appearance (conservative, neat clothing and good grooming were required), and personal
Muhammad also revised the religion of the movement. Under his system Fard was proclaimed the earthly representative of Allah, and Elijah Muhammad was his divinely appointed prophet. Muhammad also taught that black people were the original human beings and that white people had been given a temporary privilege to govern the world. That period, however, was due to end soon; the time was at hand for black people to resume their former dominant role.
In 1942 Muhammad was one of a group of militant African American leaders arrested on charges of violation of the draft laws. He was accused of sympathizing with the Japanese during World War II (1939–45; a war fought between the Axis—Germany, Japan, and Italy—and the Allies—England, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States) and of encouraging his members to resist the military draft. He had, indeed, argued that white people oppressed (forced down) all people of color, and that it made no sense for African Americans to fight those who were victims of white discrimination (an unjust treatment or judgment because of differences) as much as they themselves were. For his words and actions Muhammad spent four years, from 1942 to 1946, in a federal prison at Milan, Michigan.
Small groups of like-minded individuals occasionally withdrew from Muhammad's movement. In the early 1960s Muhammad came to be overshadowed by the charming Malcolm X (1925–1967), leader of the New York Temple. In 1964 Malcolm X founded his own movement, which moved toward a more traditional form of Islam. However, Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965.
Elijah Muhammad died on February 25, 1975. After his death the leadership of his movement passed to his son, Wallace (now Warith) Deen Muhammad, who renamed the movement the World Community of Al-Islam in the West, and then the American Muslim Mission. Warith Muhammad relaxed the strict dress code, abandoned resistance to military service, encouraged members to vote and to salute the flag, and even opened the movement to white people. In general, he made the movement much more conventionally Islamic.
Many members were disturbed at the movement's new, moderate direction. The most important of them formed a new group called the Nation of Islam, led by Louis Farrakhan (1933–). Farrakhan generally retained Elijah Muhammad's ideas and practices.
Clegg, Claude Andrew, III. An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.
Evanzz, Karl. The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. New York: Pantheon Books, 1999.
Halasa, Malu. Elijah Muhammad. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. | <urn:uuid:f33fe2f6-bf66-43fc-8b02-528f99ea6e03> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Muhammad-Elijah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985632 | 1,138 | 3.546875 | 4 |
In an earthen pit in central China, under what used to be their village’s persimmon orchard, three middle-aged women are hunched over an ancient jigsaw puzzle. Yang Rongrong, a cheerful 57-year-old with a pageboy haircut, turns over a jagged piece in her callused hands and fits it into the perfect spot. The other women laugh and murmur their approval, as if enjoying an afternoon amusement in their village near the city of Xian. What Yang and her friends are doing, in fact, is piecing together the 2,200-year-old mystery of the terra-cotta army, part of the celebrated (and still dimly understood) burial complex of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di.
It usually takes Yang and her co-workers many days to transform a heap of clay fragments into a full-size warrior, but today they are lucky, accomplishing the task in a matter of hours. “I have no special talent,” insists Yang, who has been solving such puzzles since 1974, when farmers from her village of Xiyang first unearthed pottery and a sculpted head while digging a well for their orchard. “But nearly every warrior here has passed through my hands.” Having helped reassemble an army of a thousand warriors, Yang contemplates today’s final piece: a clay head sheathed in protective plastic. Visible through the wrap are flashes of pink and red, brilliant hues that hint at the original glory of the terra-cotta warriors.
The monochrome figures that visitors to Xian’s terra-cotta army museum see today actually began as the multicolored fantasy of a ruler whose grandiose ambitions extended beyond the mortal realm. The first emperor to unify China under a single dynasty, Qin Shi Huang Di packed a lot into his earthly reign, from 221 to 210 B.C. Aside from building the first lengths of the Great Wall, the tyrannical reformer standardized the nation’s writing system, currency, and measurements, and provided the source for the English word we now use for China (Qin is pronounced Chin).
All the while, the emperor prepared for the afterlife, commanding the construction of the burial complex that covers 35 square miles. Qin’s army of clay soldiers and horses was not a somber procession but a supernatural display swathed in a riot of bold colors: red and green, purple and yellow. Sadly, most of the colors did not survive the crucible of time—or the exposure to air that comes with discovery and excavation. In earlier digs, archaeologists often watched helplessly as the warriors’ colors disintegrated in the dry Xian air. One study showed that once exposed, the lacquer underneath the paint begins to curl after 15 seconds and flake off in just four minutes—vibrant pieces of history lost in the time it takes to boil an egg.
Now a combination of serendipity and new preservation techniques is revealing the terra-cotta army’s true colors. A three-year excavation in Xian’s most famous site, known as Pit 1, has yielded more than a hundred soldiers, some still adorned with painted features, including black hair, pink faces, and black or brown eyes. The best-preserved specimens were found at the bottom of the pit, where a layer of mud created by flooding acted as a sort of 2,000-year-long spa treatment.
The last excavation in Pit 1 screeched to a halt in 1985 after a worker stole a warrior’s head and was summarily executed—a head for a head, as it were. In the long hiatus that followed, Chinese researchers worked with experts from the Bavarian State Conservation Office in Germany to develop a preservative known as PEG to help save the warriors’ colors. During the recent excavation, the moment a painted artifact was unearthed, workers sprayed any bit of exposed color with the solution, then wrapped it in plastic to keep in the protective moisture. The most colorful pieces (and the earth surrounding them) have been removed to an on-site laboratory for further treatment. To everyone’s delight, the modern techniques for preserving ancient colors seem to be working.
In a narrow trench on the north side of Pit 1, archaeologist Shen Maosheng leads me past what look like terra-cotta backpacks strewn across the reddish soil. They are, in fact, clay quivers still bristling with bronze arrows. Shen and I skirt the remnants of a freshly excavated chariot, then stop beside a plastic sheet. “Want to see a real find?” he asks.
Lifting the sheet, Shen unveils a jagged, three-foot-long shield. The wood has rotted away, but the shield’s delicate design and brilliant reds, greens, and whites are imprinted on the earth. A few steps away is an intact military drum whose leather surface has left another glorious pattern on the dirt, its crimson lines as fine as human hair. Together with the imprints of finely woven silk and linen textiles also found here, these artifacts offer clues about the artistic culture that flourished under the Qin dynasty and the vibrant palette that infused it.
With so much color and artistry imprinted on the soil—the ancient paint, alas, adheres to dirt more readily than to lacquer—Chinese preservationists are now trying to preserve the earth itself. “We are treating the earth as an artifact,” says Rong Bo, the museum’s head chemist, who helped develop a binding agent, now under patent, that holds the soil together so the color won’t be lost. The next challenge, Rong says, will be to find an acceptable method for reapplying this color to the warriors.
With less than one percent of the vast tomb complex excavated so far, it may take centuries to uncover all that remains hidden. But the pace of discovery is quickening. In 2011 the museum launched two long-term excavation projects on the flanks of the 250-foot-high central burial mound. Exploratory digs in this area a decade ago uncovered a group of terra-cotta acrobats and strong men. More extensive excavations will yield “mind-boggling discoveries,” predicts Wu Yongqi, the museum’s director.
Down in Pit 1, Yang tightens the straps that hold her reconstructed warrior together. His head, still wrapped in plastic, is beaded with moisture. His lifelike pigment has been preserved, and his body will go on display at the museum with all of the cracks and fissures he received during his 2,200 years underground.
In the early days of the Xian excavations, the fractures and imperfections of the terra-cotta warriors were plastered over. Now, reflecting the evolution of the museum’s views on historical accuracy, a new army is forming on the pit’s west end, cracks and all. In every statue Yang’s handiwork is plainly visible. “It’s nothing special,” she says with a modest smile. And with that, she and her village friends get back to work, piecing together the puzzle beneath the roots of their old persimmon trees. | <urn:uuid:9fc6c55c-c783-4d4c-a10f-95e8eb9df5df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/terra-cotta-warriors/larmer-text?source=news_terra_cotta | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946289 | 1,531 | 2.71875 | 3 |
If you are like most parents that have walked down the store aisle with your child, you understand how many sugary treats await you at the end of your shopping experience. Never before has it been more obvious of sugars deep dark secrets. But do we ever question the impact it is having on our youth? In order to keep up with marketing trends, companies have found new ways to include cartoon icons, colorful designs, and movie tie-ins. According to Nickelodeon Youth Monitor, kids spend fifty billion dollars annually on candy. The snacks, drinks, and even condiments that our children eat contain not just sugar, but also fake additives, colorings, and harmful preservatives. Sugar is bad, but more often than not, is the leading cause of most colds and flu symptoms. At the same time, with the fall season quickly upon us, it’s important to find out what we can do stop harming and start healing our children.
Although sugar is a child’s first choice for a snack, parents don’t realize the implications it is having on their health. Sugar lacks any real nutritional value. According to the 1973 Loma Linda University study, sugar directly impacts the immune response. Once sugars enter the bloodstream, Neutrophils -small white blood cells that protect us against common bacterial infections – were severely compromised. Neutrophils account for 58% of the average total white blood cell count. In addition, white blood cells have the amazing ability to kill bacteria, stave off allergic responses, recycle damaged cells, and keep foreign organisms in check. Without the proper protection and understanding of food choices, you’re body struggles to fight back.
And if that wasn’t enough, sugar even competes with vitamin C absorption – an essential nutrient for all human development. Dr. Linus Pauling, a Nobel Prize in medicine winner, uncovered the ironic twist and stressed the importance of maintaining levels in the presence of glucose. Similarly, vitamin C increases levels of interferon, an antibody with a special coating, which deters viruses from maturing. Most kids are unaware of how they feel on foods, and also the impact it has on the future of their health. It’s important to include foods high in vitamin C such as dark green leafy vegetables – specifically kale, mustard green, and garden cress. If your child is resistant to such an idea, you can try mixing in fresh herbs like thyme, parsley, oregano, and cilantro to mask the initial look and feel.
When you eliminate unhealthy sugars from the diet, your body begins to heal faster, stress levels are reduced, insulin balances out, and inflammation is reduced. When it comes to sugar, food suppliers hide it under various aliases in the labeling, so avoid barley malt, corn syrup, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, turbinado, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup. Despite the fact that sugars hide primarily in sweets, the location of where you shop with your child at the supermarket plays a dramatic role in what ends up in your cart. As a result of their popularity, over 90% of the grocery store shelves are filled with processed foods. While picking foods that are low in sugar is vital step, make sure you stick to the outside aisles where most of the healthiest food choices hangout at.
Although there is no question kids eating habits and interests are not easily swayed, we need to make sure they have healthy fuel for daily tasks including, school programs, physical activities, positive mood, and lasting energy, and more importantly, a healthy immune response. | <urn:uuid:47e01ee1-9b10-49b5-aa4e-1aac6c358569> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thesilverclouddiet.com/2012/09/cold-and-flu-prevention/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942689 | 747 | 2.9375 | 3 |
GESTAPO (abb. Geheime Staats Polizei; "Secret State Police"), the secret police of Nazi Germany, their main tool of oppression and destruction, which persecuted Germans, opponents of the regime, as well as Jews at the outset of the Nazi regime and later played a central role in carrying out the "*Final Solution"; originally the Prussian domestic intelligence, which became a quasi-Federal Bureau of Investigation, though initially with much less power. The right-wing revolution in Prussia in late 1932 brought about a sweeping purge of "left-wing and Jewish elements" in its political police and paved the way for the changes of the Nazi era. After Hitler's ascent to power, he appointed Hermann Goering as the new Prussian minister of the interior and Goering completed the purge and gave the secret police executive powers, transforming it from a shadowing and information agency into a wide executive arm to persecute enemies of the Nazi regime. The head office of the secret state police – the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt, or Gestapa – was given powers to shadow, arrest, interrogate, and intern; however, it had to struggle against the Nazi Party organizations, the SA (Storm Troops) and *SS, which also "fought" the regime's opponents, but without the supervision of traditional state bodies.
Simultaneously, with relatively few changes in the Prussian political police, the Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Heinrich *Himmler, achieved control over the Bavarian political police and established direct ties between the SS, the political police, and concentration camps. Thus Himmler snatched the secret police administration out of the hands of the state conservatives and in collaboration with the Bavarian minister of justice, Hans *Frank, and with Hitler's direct support, created an independent organization for shadowing, interrogation, arrest, imprisonment, and execution along the lines of the Nazi ideology (see SS and *SD, and *Hitler). The Bavarian political police under Reinhard *Heydrich's direction was able to evade the laws that still applied in Germany in order to influence individuals, disband political parties, and liquidate trade unions. It led campaigns through the newspapers and radio against political opponents, interrogated individual "enemies," and sent them to the central concentration camp *Dachau. The officials of the political police all remained civil servants but were simultaneously drafted into the SS and subordinated to Himmler, both through the civil service and Nazi Party. Many of the officials had never been members of the Nazi Party, as was the case of Heinrich *Mueller, an old Weimar secret police man who became Heydrich's assistant and eventually headed the Gestapo.
From the outset Heydrich's prisoners included many Jews, most of whom were intellectuals or active in left-wing parties. During 1933 the political police began shadowing and investigating Jewish organizations and Jewish community life and thus set up its own network for imprisonment and uniform repression of all the Jews of Bavaria, in the wake of the policy of isolating Jews that was part of the first stage and was followed by exerting pressure, openly and insidiously, on the Jews to emigrate.
Unification of the Political Police
From August 1933, Himmler managed to rise from his starting point in Bavaria to take over the political police of the various Laender, including Prussia. From the head office of the Prussian Gestapo in Berlin, which also became the headquarters of the SS, Himmler and Heydrich directed all the political police services in Germany. The Gestapo then became the authority that investigated, along with the SD, every aspect of life in Germany, and especially watched over the regime's "enemies of alien race." The Jews headed the list. Until the end of 1939, the Gestapo's Jewish Department was directed by Karl Haselbacher, a lawyer who was among those who drafted the first anti-Jewish laws. Until the outbreak of World War II, most of the murders in the camps were carried out on Gestapo orders under various cover-ups, such as "killed while attempting escape," but eventually these pretenses were dispensed with, especially where Jews were concerned.
As an institution in charge of shadowing, interrogating, arresting, and imprisoning "enemies of the Reich," the Gestapo became a massive authority employing thousands of government officials and SS men who together persecuted the regime's "enemies" or other opponents. Various groups in the population were turned over and left to the Gestapo's sole discretion; they were subjected to "neutralization" in camps without prior trial or forced to emigrate or face physical liquidation. From 1938 onward, the Gestapo began increasingly to deal with Jews who had previously been subject to other Nazi authorities. It had a hand in the *Kristallnacht and enforced Jewish emigration. In competitive cooperation with the SD, the Gestapo set up the Zentralstelle fuer juedische Auswanderung in annexed Austria, directed by Adolf *Eichmann and headed by Mueller. Other centers for forced emigration were set up in 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and in Germany proper to accelerate the emigration of Jews by eviction and persecution, impoverishment, and degradation. When the Gestapo and part of the SD were joined under the *RSHA of the SS in November 1939, Office IV (Gestapo) of the new main office acquired sole authority over all Jews who were not yet imprisoned in camps.
During World War II the Gestapo, along with the SD and Security Police, constituted part of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) in Poland and other occupied countries. These units dealt with the murder and internment of numerous Jews and especially with the expulsion of the inhabitants
After the invasion of Russia in 1941, the Einsatzgruppen, headed by Gestapo men and directly responsible to Heydrich and Mueller, renewed the massacres on an enormous scale. The Einsatzgruppen carried out executions of Jews in the Baltic states and in Belorussia and wiped out part of the Ukrainian Jews. Later in 1941, the decision was made to kill all the Jews of Europe in gas chambers and the Gestapo was to supervise the dispatch of the Jews to the camps specially adapted or constructed for the program of mass murder (see *Holocaust, General Survey). The Gestapo section headed by Eichmann was in charge of the dispatch of Jews to the camps, and it also directly supervised at least one camp, *Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia. The section also supplied some of the gas used in the chambers, negotiated with countries under German domination to accelerate the murder, and dealt with Jewish leaders, especially in Hungary (see *Kasztner) in an effort to smooth the process of the impending destruction of various Jewish communities (see *Judenrat). The local Gestapo offices in Germany supervised the dispatch of Jews to death trains and the confiscation of their property. The Gestapo was largely responsible for the actual implementation of the dispatch orders and could choose its victims. It especially held the fate of people of mixed parentage (Mischlinge) in its hands. It excelled in its unabated and premeditated cruelty, in its ability to delude its intended victims as to the fate that awaited them, and in the use of barbaric threats and torture to lead the victims to their death, all as part of the "Final Solution."
At the same time the Gestapo acted as the principal executive arm of the Nazi regime in all the campaigns of terror, liquidation, looting, starvation, confiscation of property, and theft of cultural treasures (see Desecration and Destruction of *Synagogues; *Poland) throughout Europe. The Gestapo also repressed the anti-Nazi partisan movement and stamped out resistance in the Western European countries. Thus the term Gestapo became an accepted synonym for horror. After the war, very few of the important members of the Gestapo were caught and brought to trial. The courts in the Federal German Republic from 1969 discussed the question of several principal contingents of the Gestapo.
G. Reitlinger, SS, Alibi of a Nation (1956); H. Hoehne, The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS (1969); K.D. Bracher, W. Saver, and W. Schulz, Die Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung (1968); S. Aronson, Reinhard Heydrich und die Fruehgeschichte von Gestapo und SD (1970); H. Krausnick et al., Anatomy of the SS State (1968); F. Zipfel, Gestapo und SD in Berlin (1961); R. Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews (1961, 19852, 20033). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Gellately, Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy (1991); E. Johnson, Nazis Terror: The Gestapo and Ordinary Germans (1999); G. Broder, Hitler's Enforcers: The Gestapo and SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution (1996); S. Aronson, The Beginnings of the Gestapo System: The Bavarian Model (1970).
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:4561348f-d864-4f26-8bbc-8ac2657fee58> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07248.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95458 | 1,953 | 3.5 | 4 |
March 15, 2005
Epstein-Barr Virus Protein Crucial
To Its Role
In Blood Cancers
(Philadelphia, PA) - Researchers at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified
a link between a critical cancer pathway and an Epstein-Barr
Virus (EBV) protein known to be expressed in a number
of EBV-associated cancers. Their findings demonstrate
a new mechanism by which EBV transforms human B cells
from the immune system into cancerous cells, which can
lead to development of B-cell lymphomas.
Erle S. Robertson, PhD, Associate Professor
of Microbiology and Director of Tumor Virology, with
Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center and
MD/PhD student Jason Knight, published
their results in the early March issue of Molecular
and Cellular Biology.
Using human cell cultures infected with the Epstein-Barr
virus, the investigators found that a specific viral
protein targets a molecule that normally regulates the
cell-cycle progression, or duplication process, of resting
B cells. In the presence of this viral protein - called
EBNA3C (for EBV nuclear antigen) - the cell cycle of
the usually quiescent human B cells gets a jump start,
which ultimately initiates uncontrolled growth.
EBV, a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the
most common human viruses, plays a role in cancers such
as lymphoproliferative diseases in transplant or AIDS
patients, Burkitt’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s
lymphoma, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and also causes
the well-known disease, infectious mononucleosis. As
many as 95 percent of adults 20 years and older have
been infected with EBV, but show no symptoms.
“Viruses that are associated with cancers typically
target the cell cycle to gain control,” says Robertson.
“However, this is the first time that laboratory
research into how EBV drives the cancer process has
directly identified a critical component of the cell
cycle for control. Now we can develop targeted therapeutics
to disrupt the function of this viral protein.”
The researchers surmise that the first use of future
therapies from these studies will be in lymphoproliferative
disease in transplant and immunocompromised patients
because this is a clear case of EBV-driven B-cell lymphoma.
The use of peptides to block the interaction between
this essential EBV protein and the specific pathway
in human B cells is currently underway. Initial studies
show that the growth of EBV-associated cancer cells
can be inhibited in tissue-culture assays. The investigators
are actively pursuing this line of investigation for
developing potential therapies.
This research was funded by the National Institutes
of Health and the Leukemia and Lymophoma Society of
America. Nikhil Sharma, a student from Cherokee High
School, New Jersey who volunteers at Penn, was also
a co-investigator in this study.
a printer friendly version of this release,
The Abramson Cancer Center of the University
of Pennsylvania was established in
1973 as a center of excellence in cancer research, patient
care, education and outreach. Today, the Abramson Cancer
Center ranks as one of the nation’s best in cancer
care, according to U.S. News & World Report, and
is one of the top five in National Cancer Institute
(NCI) funding. It is one of only 39 NCI-designated comprehensive
cancer centers in the United States. Home to one of
the largest clinical and research programs in the world,
the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
has 275 active cancer researchers and 250 Penn physicians
involved in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise
dedicated to the related missions of medical education,
biomedical research, and high-quality patient care.
PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's
first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania
Penn's School of Medicine is ranked #3 in the nation
for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in
the nation in U.S. News & World Report's most recent
ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting
1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School
of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior
education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists
and leaders of academic medicine.
Penn Health System is comprised of: its flagship
hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania,
consistently rated one of the nation’s “Honor
Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report;
Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital;
Presbyterian Medical Center; a faculty practice plan;
a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty
satellite facilities; and home health care and hospice. | <urn:uuid:4ffb87b7-d7e1-4e0b-8bf9-66ee722d02be> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar05/EBV.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90229 | 1,082 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Soy milk (also called soya milk, soybean milk, or soy juice) and sometimes referred to as soy drink/beverage is a beverage made from soybeans. A stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein, it is produced by soaking dry soybeans and grinding them with water. Soy milk contains about the same proportion of protein as cow's milk: around 3.5%; also 2% fat, 2.9% carbohydrate, and 0.5% ash. Soy milk can be made at home with traditional kitchen tools or with a soy milk machine. The coagulated protein from soy milk can be made into Tofu, just as dairy milk can be made into cheese. A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of a large number of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material. In particular, powders refer to those granular materials that have the finer grain sizes, and that therefore have a greater tendency to form clumps when flowing. Granulars refers to the coarser granular materials that do not tend to form clumps except when wet. | <urn:uuid:168ce96f-193c-4506-ae65-93a73aac077c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/ingredientsoverlay/soymilk-powder/7744 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960795 | 256 | 3.359375 | 3 |
A way of representing very large numbers in terms of stacks of exponents. For example
In general, and especially if the number at the top of the tower is fairly large, adding another exponent to the bottom of a tower will make the value of the tower much larger than will increasing the size of the bottom exponent. This leads to the (somewhat counterintuitive) result that to know which of two towers is the larger, you can look at how many exponents are in the tower and know right away which is larger.
In the case of an infinite power tower of the form
the maximum value that x can take and still cause the tower to converge to a finite value is e(1/e) = 1.444667... The minimum value of x that will produce convergence is 1/ee = 0.065988 ...
Related category SYMBOLS AND NOTATION
Home • About • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact | <urn:uuid:0791c8fa-81f3-42ed-8931-22c3eef91f8c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/power_tower.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911246 | 200 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, or Paschal Triduum is the period of three days from Holy Thursday (seen as beginning with the service of the preceding evening) to Easter Sunday. It begins with the Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper and ends with evening prayer on Sunday.
Since the 1955 reform by Pope Pius XII, the Easter Triduum, including as it does Easter Sunday, has been more clearly distinguished as a separate liturgical period. Previously, all these celebrations were advanced by more than twelve hours. The Mass of the Lord's Supper and the Easter Vigil were celebrated in the morning of Thursday and Saturday respectively, and Holy Week and Lent were seen as ending only on the approach of Easter Sunday.
After the Gloria in Excelsis Deo at the Mass of the Lord's Supper all church bells are silenced and the organ is not used. so that the period that lasted from Thursday morning to before Easter Sunday began was once, in Anglo-Saxon times, referred to as "the still days".
In the Roman Catholic Church, weddings, which were once prohibited throughout the entire season of Lent and during certain other periods as well, are prohibited during the Triduum. Lutherans still discourage weddings during the entirety of Holy Week and the Triduum.
Mass of the Lord's Supper
- During the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, all church bells may be rung; afterwards, they are silenced until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil.
- After the homily of the Mass a ritual washing of the feet is envisaged.
- The Mass concludes with a procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose..
- Eucharistic adoration is encouraged after this, but if continued after midnight should be done without outward solemnity..
- The liturgical colour for the Mass vestments and other ornaments is white.
- On Good Friday, Christians recall the Passion and crucifixion of Jesus.
- In the Roman, Lutheran, and High Anglican rites, a cross or crucifix (not necessarily the one which stands on or near the altar on other days of the year) is ceremoniously unveiled. (In pre-Vatican II services, other crucifixes were to be unveiled, without ceremony, after the Good Friday service.)
- In Roman Catholicism, the clergy traditionally begin the service prostrate in front of the altar. Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday and the communion distributed at the Celebration of the Lord's Passion is consecrated on Holy Thursday.
- Also in Roman Catholicism, images of saints are either kept or veiled until the Easter Vigil. Votive lights before these images are not lit. Crucifixes that are movable are hidden, while those that are not movable are veiled until the Easter Vigil.
- Only one cross or crucifix per church is unveiled throughout the entire Good Friday service, for the purpose of veneration by the congregation. Regardless of the size of the church or the congregation, it is not permissible to use two crucifixes for the said veneration. The faithful typically venerate the crucifix by kissing the feet of the corpus.
- Colors seen throughout the chapel or on vestments: Vary
- No color, red, or black are used in different traditions.
- Where colored hangings are removed for this day, liturgical color applies to vestments only.
- The priest wears red vestments, symbolic of the Blood of Jesus.
- A commemoration of the day that Jesus lay in his tomb.
- In the Roman Catholic Church, daytime Masses are never offered.
- There are no colors seen or used throughout the chapel or on vestments.
- Known as Black Saturday in the Philippines.
- Held after nightfall of Holy Saturday, or before dawn on Easter Sunday, in anticipation of the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
- The ceremony of darkness and light is held in silence at the beginning of the Mass.
- The paschal candle, representing Jesus's resurrection as the "return of light onto the world," is lit.
- The solemn procession to the altar with the Paschal candle is formed.
- Once everyone has processed in, the Exsultet is intoned.
- After the Exsultet, everyone is seated and listens to the 7 readings and 7 psalms, followed by the Epistle. These readings account salvation history, beginning with Creation.
- In pre- and post-Vatican II Roman Catholic practice, during the Gloria at the Mass, the organ and church bells are used in the liturgy for the first time in two days.
- If the lights of the Church have been previously left off, they are turned on as the Gloria begins
- A Solemn Alleluia is sung before the Gospel is read
- The Paschal candle is used to bless the baptismal font to be used by the Elect.
- The celebrant uses the term "Alleluia" for the first time since the beginning of Lent.
- People desiring to full initiation in the Church who have completed their training are formally initiated as members of the faith the Church through the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist).
- In current Vatican II practice, the use of lighting to signify the emergence from sin and the resurrection of Jesus vary, from the use of candles held by parishioners as well as candelabras lit throughout the church.
- Statues of Jesus, which have been veiled during Passion (usually throughout Lent), are unveiled.
- Colors seen throughout the chapel or on vestments: White, often together with gold, with yellow and white flowers often in use in many parishes.
- The date of Easter varies from year to year, but is always on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25. It occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring.
- The Easter octave allows for no other feasts to be celebrated or commemorated during it (possible exception is the Greater Litanies if Easter falls later in the year). If Easter is so early that March 25 falls in Easter week, the feast of the Annunciation is postponed to the following week.
- The Ascension is the fortieth day of Easter; which is always a Thursday. Pentecost (or Whitsun) is the fiftieth day.
- Easter Masses are held throughout the day and are similar in content to the Easter Vigil Mass. However, baptisms are not performed, and the ritual of the Paschal candle is not performed (the candle is placed next to the ambo, or podium, throughout the Easter celebration).
- The Easter season extends from the Easter Vigil through Pentecost Sunday on the Catholic and Protestant calendars, normally the fiftieth day after Easter. On the calendar used by traditional Catholics, Eastertide lasts until the end of the Octave of Pentecost, at None of the following Ember Saturday.
- The colors seen throughout the chapel or on vestments during the fifty-day Easter period are white or gold.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 19
- ↑ "Holy Week". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Holy_Week.
- ↑ "Banns of Marriage". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Banns_of_Marriage.
- ↑ Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, 44
- ↑ Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, 50
- ↑ Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, 51
- ↑ Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, 54
- ↑ Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, 56
- ↑ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346
- ↑ "Good Friday". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Good_Friday.
- ↑ Catholic City Tenbrae Retrieved on April 5, 2007 | <urn:uuid:71e3e9a5-4bd1-4ee4-a9c3-9d6ffc5327fb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://religion.wikia.com/wiki/Easter_Triduum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938859 | 1,731 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Links to the easylanguage code(s) can be found on the bottom of page 2 of this article, here.
When actively trading the financial markets, it is easy to overlook basic facts about the assets traded. For example, based on the time duration that a position is expected to remain open, does the trader know the asset’s average price range or whether it is a stock, futures or exchange-traded fund? To address this common oversight, a set of price-range statistical indicators was developed to gauge the measure of price ranges for the S&P 500 E-mini futures contract. This can be used to help make trading decisions.
“Flash crash volatility” (below) gives daily bars of the E-mini contract with an indicator measuring daily price range as a number of standard deviations from the contract’s average daily price range. Cyan coloring on the bottom indicator displays more than two standard deviations in daily price range (the day’s high-to-low value).
On May 6, 2010, the “flash crash,” we see a greater than five-standard-deviation price move. Also of interest is the indication of low volatility preceding the flash crash and then higher volatility aftershocks that appear to be the result of market nervousness immediately following the historic event. (The average price range indicator previously was highlighted in “Technical indicators: A statistical approach,” July 2010.)
Assuming price followed a normal distribution, a five-standard-deviation move has a probability of approximately 0.00003%, and if using a daily chart and 250 trading days per year, we should experience a five-standard-deviation flash crash event no more than once every 13,000 years. Obviously, financial markets cannot be modeled completely using normal distribution. Markets exhibit what are known as “fat tails,” which indicate more than normal activity far from the mean. Fat tails account for panics and over-exuberance, and different assumptions of distribution are required to model them.
Nonetheless, normal distribution works as a good first approximation (as long as extreme events are ensured against). For example, the Market Profile Value Area is defined as encompassing a 70% price movement beginning from a mode (most common) price. The 70% value represents a one-standard-deviation variation in price. Bollinger Bands are similarly based on standard deviation calculations and normal distribution. | <urn:uuid:fe9690ee-61cf-4a5e-91f0-ce494dac728f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.futuresmag.com/2012/03/01/indicator-unearths-hidden-market-insights?t=financials | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920645 | 497 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Properties of matter
(Hours / week –6)
Moduli of Elasticity- Relation between the elastic moduli-Poisson's ratio-Limiting Values of s-Torsion-Expression of torque per unit twist-Determination of rigidity modulus-Static torsion method-Work done in twisting a wire-Rigidity modulus by Torsion pendulum– Bending of beams-Uniform and Non uniform bending-Bending moment- Koenig's method for 'q' by Uniform and Non-uniform bending-Cantilever – Uniform and Non-uniform bending –Searl's method for determining q,n and s.
Streamline and turbulent flow – Poiseuille's formula for the flow of liquid through a capillary tube – correction to Poiseuille's formula – motion through highly viscous liquid – Stoke's method – Searle's viscometer – Viscosity of gases- Rankine's method.
Unit III: Hydrodynamics and Surface Tension
Surface Tension- Definition of surface energy- Excess pressure over curved surfaces- Determination of surface tension-Drop weight method-Interfacial surface tension between two liquids-Quinke's Method- Variation of surface tension with temperature- Jaeger's Method.
Newton's law of gravitation-Kepler's Law of Planetary Motion-Determination of 'G' by Poynting's method-Variation of 'g' with ultitude, depth and latitude-Escape velocity-Principle of rocket- Gravitational potential due to sphere –Compound pendulum- Kater's pendulum.
Osmosis and Diffusion
Graham's law of diffusion –Fick's law of diffusion-Experimental Determination of coefficient of diffusion-Differential equation for diffusion-Reverse osmosis Osmotic pressure-Berkley and Hartley method-Laws of osmotic pressure-Elevation of boiling point- Lowering of freezing point.
1. Brijlal and N. Subrahmanyam, Properties of matter, S. Chand & co., Ltd, New Delhi-110 055, 2005. (Units I-IV)
2. Chatterjee and Sen Gupta, A treatise on general properties of matter, New central Books agency (p) Ltd, Calcutta, 2001.(Unit V)
More articles: Avinashilingam University for Women
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Latin American forests have global importance due to their size: one fourth of the world’s total forests and one half of the tropical forests lie in the region. They provide important global and national environmental services. The forestry sector has economic potential in many countries in Latin America. But first changes must take place within the forestry sector which could be conducive to economic growth. These changes can only be achieved through the active participation of the local community, the traditional inhabitants and forest producers, for example. Traditionally, there has been a lack of consensus among different interest groups in Latin America. But recently with the democratization processes moving forward, there has been an improvement in the relations between various sectors of civil society. This will hopefully facilitate dialogue between the different groups for sustainable forestry development.
A coordinated effort needs to be made to formulate policies which can help achieve sustainable uses of forest resources. Many countries in the region possess significant forest resources which should be utilized and managed not only for their development potential, but also for the environmental benefits they generate for the entire global community.
In Latin America, the utilization of forest resources has focused mainly on the extraction of wood and non-timber forest products, with little attention to the potential income from environmental services (stabilization of climate, watershed protection, carbon sequestration, necessary to create both national and international policies and instruments that will permit key actors to capture income and the society in general to benefit from the environmental services provided by forests and recreation, among others).
The implications of the socio economic driving forces for forestry towards to 2020 are presented in this section. In general terms, the driving forces analysed for each country are: Population, trade, investment, aid, land issues and government. The main general conclusions for the region are:
• As countries get richer and more urbanized, they tend to put less pressure on land; countries in Central America will have more land pressure than the ones in South America. It is also reasonable to believe that demand for forest products will grow in South America.
• Latin America in general is highly dependant on the US for trade with the exception of MERCOSUR countries that depend on each other and the EU.
• Latin America is rapidly integrated through trade. Also, new trade associations are foreseen, but poor economies have less chance to take advantage of these agreements, particularly of the FTAA.
• Most of the economies are service-oriented. This would make us reevaluate forestry as a secondary activity and turn it into a tertiary one, producer of environmental services, especially for countries with less industrial and technical advantages. Therefore, it is important to know which forestry services are available and which is the value of these services.
• Forestry normally is faced with inefficient government administration and unsolved land issues that block the development of forestry.
The main conclusions and implications for the forestry for each country of the study are as follows:
Argentina is a service-oriented economy that had high per -capita income levels and good prospects for forestry -before the economic crisis of 2001- due to its skilled human resources, industry and infrastructure development, and development of forest plantations (0.8 million ha).
The economic crisis has deeply affected FDI and many foreign firms have gone bankrupt and caused high levels of unemployment (20%). The trade of forest products has decreased and also affected its main trade partner, Brazil.
If the current situation is not reverted, forestry will be faced with an oversized bureaucracy, lack of confidence on the legal system, uncertainty surrounding the government’s policy towards banking assets / deposits and an inefficient tax system. Since labor costs are still relatively high, they will affect efficiency, competitiveness and the unemployment level. If forestry is to grow in this difficult situation, it will have to develop projects according to the most likely government policy orientation and actions related to its debt obligations.
Belize is one of two Commonwealth countries in Latin America. It has a primary economy and high proportion of rural population. Although income levels are likely to increase according to the projections to 2020, natural disasters, such as the hurricanes Keith and Iris, have devastated the banana and citrus industries as well as the food productions systems. This may slow down economic development. Infrastructure reconstruction and diversification, rather than forestry, are the main priorities for this country and until these goals are attained, the development of the forestry sector may not be possible. Since eco-tourism is rapidly expanding, forest protection and natural resource conservation will play a greater role if present trends persist.
Belize has an open economy and the necessary legal framework to promote foreign investments. It also has strong ties with the Caribbean (CARICOM), the US, Mexico, the UK and the rest of Central American countries. Belize has average regional levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) stock but the inflows are among the lowest in the region. As for the whole region, FTAA represents an opportunity to increase trade and therefore income for this country.
Bolivia is an agriculture-based and low income economy which is not likely to improve much by 2020. It is also expected to have high levels of urbanization (74%) and a politically strong indigenous community as today.
Bolivia’s FDI stock represents 61% of its GDP. Although the scale of corruption was reduced significantly, there is a severe lack of transparency in the country’s judicial system, a large bureaucracy and lack of strong rule of law. These factors have undermined economic growth and foreign and domestic investments. The government’s foreign policy is based on trade expansion with the US (its main trade partner) and reducing coca production and drug trafficking. Successful eradication of coca will depend on how attractive it becomes to grow alternative crops, a very serious challenge for any production activity.
Forest certification promoted by the US has not increased its exports but is helping to keep low levels of deforestation. Currently, forestry is affected by conflicting uses of land with indigenous people, small peasants and colonizers. Its indigenous population has preferential access to land and receives support from internal and international NGOs and agencies. Community forest projects are the ones likely to receive funding.
Colombia is an industry-based country which is expected to increase its urban population by 2020, to 81.3%. Current high rate of urban unemployment (more than 20%) mirrors the growing number of persons displaced by guerilla and paramilitary violence which have taken rural issues to urban centers. Colombia’s main trade partner is the US, followed by Venezuela.
FDI stocks and total investment are below the regional indicator. High number of civilian kidnapping, terrorism and corruption generates a negative general security situation that distorts everyday life and seriously undermines business and investor confidence.
Forest conversion to arable lands through slash and burn and livestock grazing is trying to be avoided through peasants enterprises (Zonas de reserva campesina). However, INCORA, the government land reform agency has a shortage of tools and staff. Forest plantations through outgrower schemes (partnerships between small land owners and big companies) have begun in 1986 and represent an interesting opportunity for forestry development. Also, Colombia has high potential to take advantage of the CDM mechanism of Kyoto Protocol.
Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America. It is industry - oriented and highly dependent on the US and Argentine economy. Brazil maintains relatively low trade barriers with the MERCOSUR members but applies high ones to non-members. Brazil’s highly developed and efficient banking system, research and development, high-skilled professionals and infrastructure are the key to success of forestry in the country. Its main competitive advantages are plantations for pulp and paper industry.
High levels of urbanization (87%) and medium land pressure for agriculture is projected. The size of both domestic and external markets and their integration with other countries in the region and future integration prospects make Brazil the most promising country in Latin America for forestry development, however, unsolved land tenure issues and corruption could represent threats for the sector. As for the rest of Latin American countries, the FTAA may represent an increase in income level.
Costa Rica’s industry-based economy offers one of the Central America’s best investment climates. Regulations and practices are generally transparent and foster competition. Costa Rica is likely to have an increase in population density (but will maintain low total levels of population); an increase in its urbanization levels up to 63%; and will maintain a medium income per capita. Therefore, low pressure for land is expected for 2020.
Costa Rica has taken advantage of debt-for-nature swaps and is the regional leader of ecotourism in protected areas (50% of its forests). It receives foreign inflows for these services mainly from its main trade partner, the US. Outside the protected areas, high deforestation rates have been observed before the 1990s, however, recent financial incentives have brought an increase in the areas under plantation. These incentives have motivated indirectly the formation of small-holder forestry organizations in order to take advantage of them.
Chile has the appropriate conditions for private and foreign investment; its banking system is very competitive; opening a business is relatively easy; the investment regime is transparent; and most sectors are unrestricted to foreigners. Chile represents a forest cluster based on plantations established in the 1970s. A few internationally competitive enterprises own 80% of total plantation area of the country. Although it has a small domestic market, it is big enough to test their products.
Land pressure is not an issue as its population is expected to maintain a high-income level, low density and high urban proportion (88%) by 2020. Its industrial plantations size is ranked second in Latin America, 78% of them are Pinus. Its forest sector and production sector in general are export market - oriented. Chile exports are oriented towards the US and Japan as well as the UK and China. Imports are mainly from the US and Argentina as well as some from Brazil and China. It has the best tariff regime in the region. Economic prospects for Chile are positive as it has recently signed a free trade agreement with the EU.
Chile has a strong and developed forest industry and with expertise and qualified human resources it will improve them through its plan to develop human capital for the knowledge economy (Iniciativa Cientifica del Milenio) financed by the World Bank (1999).
Ecuador economy depends mainly on oil and dollar remittances from abroad. The oil sector is the main priority for foreign investment which is already high in the country (FDI stock represents 50% of GDP). Urban population is likely to increase up to 73%, there by resulting in low land pressure. Forest projects for oil companies’ environmental remediation plans are more likely to get funding in the future.
The customs unions with the Andean Community have expanded the market for Ecuador’s forest products. The foreseen free trade area for the end of 2003 with MERCOSUR may give Ecuador an opportunity to increase its income, not necessarily through the exports of forest products but oil. Ecuador production of forest products is directed mainly for the domestic market and is likely to remain the same in the future. As for the whole region, FTAA represents an opportunity to increase trade and therefore income for this country.
The trends and projections for land use change, population density and economic growth indexes in El Salvador indicate that land pressure will be a main issue in 2020. Therefore, the forestry sector is not likely to develop in this country as the government’s focus and main priority is likely to be on food security. The main market for its forest products will be domestic (small and low-income market). Urbanization levels are also expected to be low in comparison to other countries in the region. The rural population, as a consequence, will put more pressure on forest areas for agriculture development. Intensive land use systems may create opportunities for forestry through agroforestry and trees out of the forest as well as the greater demand for water shed protection and environmental services.
Subsistence agriculture will continue to be an important part of the economy, but this will put more pressure on its forests. However, if the CAFTA agreement with the US goes through, this would mean a boost for El Salvador’s economy, especially the maquiladora industry which in the past has lost business due to US economic downturn post September 11th. Foreign direct investment stocks are likely to remain low (15% of GDP) as well as internal investment (17% of GDP) because of the absence of sound intellectual property rights. Trade agreements within the region, specifically with Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico, as well as the rest of Central America and the Caribbean would improve El Salvador’s economic situation. The current level of ODA is 1.36% of GDP and it is likely to remain low if no other strong crisis (as civil war) is to occur.
Guatemala, a primary economy, is likely to remain a low– income country but will still be the largest economy in Central America, with a high proportion of rural population by 2020. If these factors are combined with high deforestation and medium agriculture land pressure projected for 2020, then the panorama for forest industry development is not promising. However, forest conservation projects which are currently receiving external funding initiatives, e.g. the Central American biodiversity corridor, may influence the trend of forestry for the future. Therefore, the emphasis for forestry development should be oriented towards conservation and the search of markets for forest environmental services rather than production of forest products. A major barrier to develop these markets outside the region and for FDI in general is the country’s bureaucratic complexity.
Guatemala has strong links with Central America and the US. As for the rest of the Central American countries, the CAFTA and FTAA may represent an increase in income levels or at least as means of promoting forest services as carbon sequestration and eco-tourism.
Mexico is the second largest economy in Latin America. It is service-oriented and highly dependant on the US economy. Mexican imports of forest products from the US represent 80% of total imports of forest products and exports to the US represent 96% of total forest exports. Through NAFTA, Mexico has increased tremendously its exports and imports to and from the US and Canada since 1995. However, the initial boost is likely to slow down due to the current US recession. NAFTA is Mexico’s main advantage and threat for forestry.
High levels of urbanization and relatively low land pressure for agriculture is projected. Although Mexico has a great potential for forest industry development based on, interalia, the sizes of both domestic and external market; advanced technical skills and infrastructure; land tenure is the main barrier for forest industry development in this country since the most of forest are community owned natural forests. Projects which involve community forestry with medium to small scale operations represent the future of forestry for Mexico.
Although Guyana, another Commonwealth country in Latin America, is an agriculture-based economy, it is expected to maintain a high level of rural population by 2020 and low income levels, no significant land pressure for pastures and crops is expected as its population size and population density will remain low.
Its economy is currently under pressure and climatic problems have affected the production of sugar and rice. Its banking systems remain underdeveloped and within the state-owned industries bureaucracy is extensive. The investment regime is still undeveloped and its judicial system is often slow and inefficient. Guyana presents complicated customs procedures for imports. The country is linked with the US, Canada and the UK for its exports. Imports are mainly from the US, Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago. FDI stock in the country is high as 93% of its GDP but the size of the economy is very small, one of the poorest countries in the region. The aforementioned socio-economic conditions do not represent a promising panorama for forestry development in Guyana, where agriculture is likely to be the focus of government policies rather than forestry. The FTAA could not represent significant income increase for this country as it does not have the capacity to take advantage of it.
Honduras has been a stable democracy for the past 20 years. It has taken active steps to expand tourism and manufacturing for export. The US is its main trade partner. Low income levels and a high proportion of rural population (40%) are expected for 2020 and may cause land pressure.
Honduras law makes no difference between foreign and domestic investor, however, it lacks transparency in the judicial system. Its FDI stocks are under the regional indicator (25% of GDP) but total investment is high 35% of GDP.
Honduras is rich in forest resources (40% of territory) but 46% of its territory are pastures which are suitable for forestry. It has a complicated structure of land access and suffers from land ownership concentration (53% by 4% of land owners). Claims of afro-indigenous have been recently taken into account into the newly Land Access Program (PACTA). In general, agroforestry systems in Honduras are the way forward for forestry in this country. Honduras should give priority to land tenure and infrastructure project ahead of forest products trade, debt swaps and timber pricing.
Nicaragua has a primary economy and is likely to have high pressure on land since an important part of its population will stay in the rural areas, with low income levels. Nicaragua also presents high levels of corruption that may retard further economic development. Nicaragua needs to diversify its economy into other sectors such as tourism and light manufacturing in order to attain sustainable progress. However, attracting new investment for these sectors will not be easy.
Although FDI inflows have been very low for the last decade, the current level of FDI stock is as high as 66%. Foreign companies are not investing but maintaining their current levels of investment in the country. This is does not bode well for the forestry sector, where new capital is needed. Nicaragua receives high levels of ODA (27.18% of GDP) mostly as emergency aid and aid for social sectors. If forest projects are to develop in the country, they need to direct their objectives towards these areas. As for El Salvador, CAFTA represents an opportunity to boost Nicaragua’s trade but this might not be significant for forestry as the focus of the government policies are likely to favor the agriculture sector.
Although deforestation is likely to be high in Panama, no significant pressure on forests for agriculture or livestock production is expected due to a high proportion of urban population and economic growth which are expected for 2020. The forest sector could benefit from the openness of the economy for foreign investment and also from the high levels of internal investment (30% of GDP) mainly for ecotourism development or other service -oriented forestry development in accordance to its economic structure, based on services.
Panama has strong trading links with the US and other South and Central American countries. As for the rest of Latin American countries, the FTAA may represent an increase in income level.
Currently, Paraguay’s depressed economy has also suffered from the Argentine crisis. To make matters worse, it has to increase its tariffs in order to harmonize them with the MERCORSUR Common External Tariff by 2006. By 2020, Paraguay is likely to have low income levels, but a high urban population proportion (67%) which probably will turn its economy from a primary to a secondary economy. The MERCOSUR agreement with the EU gives the group the chance to increase their trade and therefore their income. The new free trade area with the Andean Community (for 2004) also gives the chance to do so with the closest neighbors. Paraguay has a relatively low level of FDI compared with other Latin American countries; corruption is recognized as a barrier for investment. These two factors represent obstacles for the forestry sector development.
Peru is a service-oriented economy and is projected to improve its income levels by 2020. Urban population is likely to increase up to 79% and in general, low population density is expected. These factors may represent relatively low land pressure for forests and an increase in the demand of forest products. However, forestry development is not a priority for Peru, where mining and services sectors are by far more profitable and therefore favored by government policies.
Other conflicting areas for forestry in Peru are the annual increase of protected areas, bad infrastructure and unsolved land tenure issues (there is no private property for forestry). Moreover, recent long-term forest concessions are faced with an inefficient bureaucracy and corruption. Peru needs urgent modernization of its forest products industry and a transparent and efficient forest concession system. If this is not possible, forestry in Peru should opt for a service-oriented forestry and explore its chances in this area.
Peru’s forest exports represent only 1% of total exports and. It is a net exporter of forest products, the US is its main trade partner. Imports of forest products come from the ALADI/LAIA countries and the US. FDI is welcomed and encouraged in Peru, but information on necessary business establishment procedures are difficult to obtain.
Suriname, a former Dutch colony, has a large natural endowment, especially in timber and minerals (aluminum). However, it is one of the poorest countries in South America, 85% of the half million households in the country are living below the official poverty line which has caused a high fiscal deficit. Unemployment is high and the government remains the country’s largest employer. Its main trade exports partners are the US, Norway and the Netherlands, and its main import partners are the US, the Netherlands and Trinidad and Tobago.
Suriname FDI has been negative during the last 20 years. Suriname’s state-owned sector plays a considerable role in the economy and impedes private enterprise development. The regulatory regime lacks transparency. Suriname presents the worst prospect for any kind of forestry out of all the Latin America countries analysed in this document. In despite of this, progress in liberalizing the economy has attracted foreign investments in gold, oil and forestry.
Uruguay is a service-based economy which economic fortune depends mostly on the markets of its immediate neighbours and trade partners in MERCOSUR, especially Brazil and Argentina. The economy was growing steadily till1999 when Brazil devaluated the real and began to buy fewer foreign goods. Uruguay’s performance continues to decline in the shadow of Argentina’s economic crisis.
Uruguay is open to foreign investment but its level of FDI stock is medium, compared to the regional level (10%). Private property is generally secure and expropriation is unlikely. Land pressure is not an issue as its population is expected to maintain a high-income level, low density and high urban proportion (94%) towards 2020. Moreover, Uruguay is the only country where forests are expected to increase in Latin America. Together with Brazil and Peru it has the greatest potential for non-industrial plantations in the region, especially of Eucalyptus (80% of the 23% (non-industrial) of plantations in 1995). A possible barrier for forestry development is its large public sector.
Venezuela is an industry-oriented economy which depends mainly on the oil sector. Urban population is likely to increase up to 91% and in general, low density of population is expected for 2020. These factors may represent low land pressure. Forestry development is not a priority for Venezuela. It is a net importer of forest products, mainly from the US (1,9% of imports) who is also its main trading partner. The very low exports of forest products are directed towards ALADI/LAIA countries.
Although its current levels of FDI (22% of GDP) are under the regional indicator and there is high uncertainty for the private sector as a result of the current government crisis, several sectors continue to attract FDI, specifically, telecommunications, electrical generation and distribution, and oil and gas. Consequently, forestry development related to these sectors e.g. environmental remediation plans, are more likely to get funding in the future.
The free trade area of the Andean Community and MERCOSUR (end of 2003) may give Venezuela chances to increase its income through the exports of oil. As for the whole region, FTAA represents an opportunity to increase trade and therefore income for this country. However, Venezuela’s centralized authority, corrupt administration, state intervention, and populist economics will have to change it the country is to retreat from possible collapse. | <urn:uuid:957bcaaa-e3d3-48ee-b05d-8997283be838> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/j2459e/j2459e12.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956074 | 4,996 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Difference between revisions of "Jakarta"
Revision as of 05:42, 4 December 2012
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, located on the northwest of the island of Java. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre and the most populous city not only in Indonesia but in Southeast Asia as a whole.
Jakarta is administratively divided into the following named districts:
Finding places in Jakarta, especially smaller buildings not on the main arteries, tends to be difficult due to poor signage and chaotic street names. Sometimes, the same name is used for different streets in different parts of the city, and it's often difficult to find the correct street/address without the postal code/region. A sign with a street name facing you indicates the name of the street you are about to enter, not that of the cross street.
Alleys off a main road are often simply numbered, in a sequence that may not be logical, so a street address like "Jl. Mangga Besar VIII/21" means house number 21 on alley number 8 (VIII) off or near the main road of Jl. Mangga Besar.
If you don't want to waste time, ask for the descriptions/name of nearby buildings, billboards, colour of the building/fence and the postal code of the address. If you still cannot find the address, start asking people in the street, especially ojek (motorcyle taxi drivers).
Jakarta's nickname among expats is the Big Durian, and like its fruit namesake it's a shock at first sight (and smell): a sweltering, steaming, heaving mass of some 10 million people packed into a vast urban sprawl. The contrast between the obscene wealth of Indonesia's elite and the appalling poverty of the urban poor is incredible, with tinted-window Mercedes turning left at the supermall with its Gucci shop, into muddy lanes full of begging street urchins and corrugated iron shacks. The city's traffic is in perpetual gridlock, and its polluted air is matched only by the smells of burning garbage and open sewers, and safety is a concern especially at night. There are few sights to speak of and most visitors transit through Jakarta as quickly as possible.
Keep in mind that rules and regulations are very rarely enforced in all aspects of life in Jakarta. This is not to abet you to break the rules, but simply to explain why many of its citizens act so haphazardly, particularly on the road.
All that said, while initially a bit overwhelming, if you can withstand the pollution and can afford to indulge in her charms, you can discover what is also one of Asia's most exciting, most lively cities. There is plenty to do in Jakarta, from cosmopolitan shopping at the many luxurious shopping centres to one of the hippest nightlife scenes in Southeast Asia.
The port of Sunda Kelapa dates to the 12th century, when it served the Sundanese kingdom of Pajajaran near present-day Bogor. The first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese, who were given the permission by the Hindu Kingdom of Pakuan Pajajaran to erect a godown in 1522. Control was still firmly in local hands, and in 1527 the city was conquered by Prince Fatahillah, a Muslim prince from Cirebon, who changed the name to Jayakarta.
By the end of the 16th century, however, the Dutch (led by Jan Pieterszoon Coen) had pretty much taken over the port city, and the razing of a competing English fort in 1619 secured their hold on the island. Under the name Batavia, the new Dutch town became the capital of the Dutch East Indies and was known as the Queen of the East.
However, the Dutch made the mistake of attempting to replicate Holland by digging canals throughout the malarial swamps in the area, resulting in shockingly high death rates and earning the town the epithet White Man's Graveyard. In the early 1800s most canals were filled in, the town was shifted 4 km inland and the Pearl of the Orient flourished once again.
In 1740, Chinese slaves rebelled against the Dutch. The rebellion was put down harshly with the massacre of thousands of Chinese slaves. The remaining Chinese slaves were exiled to Sri Lanka.
In 1795, the Netherlands were invaded and occupied by France, and on March 17, 1798, the Batavian Republic, a satellite state of France, took over both VOC debts and assets. But on August 26, 1811, a British expedition led by Lord Minto defeated the French/Dutch troops in Jakarta, leading to a brief liberation and subsequent administration of Indonesia by the British (led by Sir Stamford Raffles of Singapore fame) in 1811-1816. In 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, Indonesia was officially handed over from the British to the Dutch government.
The name Jakarta was adopted as a short form of Jayakarta when the city was conquered by the Japanese in 1942. After the war, the Indonesian war of independence followed, with the capital briefly shifted to Yogyakarta after the Dutch attacked. The war lasted until 1949, when the Dutch accepted Indonesian independence and handed back the town, which became Indonesia's capital again.
Since independence Jakarta's population has skyrocketed, thanks to migrants coming to the city in search of wealth. The entire Jabotabek (Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi) metropolitan region (now officially Jabodetabekjur last census count (2010) was 28 million people, a figure projected to have hit 30 million already. The official name of the city is Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta Raya (DKI Jakarta), meaning "Special Capital City Region".
At the airport
The Soekarno Hatta airport has three terminals, further split up into sub-terminals, which are really just halls in the same building:
A free but unreliable shuttle bus runs between the terminals; if you're in a hurry, it's a safer bet to take a taxi, although they may ask for a rather steep Rp 50,000 for the service (not entirely unjustified, as half of this goes to paying their parking fees), however it should really be a metered ride. If you have time, though, it's not a problem to wait for the next one - just ask the airport staff where it stops and what it looks like (yellow color, normally). Also, be sure to know which terminal you will disembark from.
Visas on arrival (VOA) are available at the airport, see the main Indonesia article for the details of the rules. If possible, provide an exact payment of US$25 and ignore any requests for any additional fees. ATMs and currency exchange services are available in the baggage claim hall, and Terminal D has a left luggage service. The Visa on Arrival is payable in cash or by a credit card. The nearest ATM is past the customs area, so if you don't have cash, you will need to be escorted to the ATM and back. Although it is possible to pay for a VOA using my credit/debit card it is a slower process and may not be available at times, so cash is best. Please also remember to carry exact change as sometimes the officials may cause problems. Sometimes immigration officers may ask for a bribe to provide you with a visa. Please avoid paying this bribe as you'll have to pay another one while leaving the country. Also it is good to note that even at the airport hardly anyone speaks English here.
Be cautious of having any involvement or contact with the baggage porters, the greater majority of them are committed scamsters and they often attempt to obtain money by cheating and misleading passengers. They should be paid Rp 5,000 to carry bags but that is best avoided, seek out a trolley and deal with it yourself.
Exchange rates in the airport are not significantly worse than the centre of town and better than you will get from hotels. Bear in mind that you will need some cash and Jakarta is not a place where you can just stroll down to the nearest bank in town as it is pedestrian unfriendly. ATMs generally have limit of Rp 1-3 million per transaction; for the latter, try CIMB or bii-Maybank - in the international terminal, there are several of these on the second (departure) floor.
If you are taking a domestic flight from Soekarno Hatta, you can enjoy cheap airport lounges. There are several private lounges open to travellers on any airline that are in stiff competition with each other. For Rp 50,000, you can get a few hours in one of these lounges where you can relax on the comfy couches, eat and drink as much as you want and use the internet (either by wifi or through their computers).
For overnight transits, there are a few hotels near the airport:
Get into town
To get to the city, the easiest option is to contact your hotel to pick you up in the airport, as many hotels in Jakarta provide free airport transfers. Getting a taxi is a little more complicated:
Xtrans, ☎+62 21 5296-2255, +62 21 5296-4477. Provides reliable airport shuttle service from Soekarno Hatta airport to major hotels in Sudirman and Thamrin Street in Jakarta and Bumi Xtrans in Cihampelas Street in Bandung. Cost: US$3.30/adult and US$2.20/child. Schedule: once every hour from 5AM-10PM. Xtrans booth are available at Terminal IA, IB, IC and IIE.
If you have more time than money, frequent (15 min to 1 hr between buses, depending on route and time) DAMRI shuttle buses connect to numerous Jakartan destinations; Gambir (the most appropriate for those going to Jalan Jaksa area), Rawamangun, Blok M, Tanjung Priok, Kampung Rambutan, Pasar Minggu, Lebak Bulus and Kemayoran (Rp 20,000) as well as directly to the neighboring cities of Bekasi, Serang (Rp 30,000), Bogor and Cikarang (Rp 35,000). The bus service from the airport operates until midnight (despite what taxi touts may say to you), is reliable and comfortable. You can get the tickets in the many counters after the airport exit.
Information about train tickets from PT Kereta Api (Persero) is available on the Web, but no on-line reservation is possible. In Jakarta, you can buy your tickets in the major stations up to 30 days in advance. Except on weekends, you can generally buy a ticket just before departure. Beware of ticket touts! They will offer their wares even to people waiting in the queues in front of the ticket sales points. You should expect to pay 50-100% more if you do so, and you might find that your coach has empty seats anyway.
Jakarta has several train stations.
The current main station for long distance passengers in Jakarta is the Gambir station, located in Central Jakarta, just east of the Monas. Eksekutif (AC) and some bisnis (non-AC) class trains arrive at this station.
An airport bus service connects Soekarno-Hatta International Airport with Gambir station.
Stasiun Pasar Senen
Cheaper trains without air-conditioning generally use the Pasar Senen station located two blocks east of Gambir. Beware that the location is rife with crime, although the station itself has been spruced up recently. Anyway, these ekonomi trains are not really suggested for tourist travel: they are slow, facilities are poor, and they are overloaded.
Most trains arriving in Jakarta also stop at Jatinegara station in the eastern part of the city, giving better access to the eastern and southern parts of the city.
Jakarta Kota station is located in the old part of the city, and serves as the departure point for commuter trains and some trains to Merak. It is an interesting Art Deco style building that is currently being restored.
Passengers from other cities arrive in bus terminals such as Rawamangun (East Jakarta) Kampung Rambutan (Southeast Jakarta), Pulo Gadung (East Jakarta), Kali Deres (West Jakarta) or Lebak Bulus (South Jakarta). You'll need to speak at least functional Indonesian to manage, and the terminals are notorious for muggers and pickpockets, so observe the safety precautions under #Stay safe.
The national ferry company, PELNI, and other sealines, operate passenger services to destinations across the archipelago from Tanjung Priok port in the North of the city. Some smaller speedboats, particularly to the Thousand Islands (Pulau Seribu), depart from Ancol also on Jakarta's north shore.
Getting around Jakarta is a problem. The city layout is chaotic and totally bewildering, traffic is indisputably the worst in South-East Asia with horrendous traffic jams (macet "MAH-chet") slowing the city to a crawl during rush hours (several hours in the morning and in the evening), and the current railway system is inadequate to say the least. The construction of a monorail system, started in 2004, soon ground to a halt over political infighting. The gradually expanding Transjakarta Busway (Bus Rapid Transit) system) helps to make things easier, but this is not enough for the biggest city in the world without rail rapid transit system. The first line of Jakarta MRT is currently scheduled to open in 2016 - but the construction, as of April 2012, has not started yet, so it's likely to be delayed (if not worse).
Various areas of the city have different levels of chaos. The most well organised traffic is only at Golden Triangle (MH Thamrin, Jendral Sudirman, and H.R.Rasuna Said.) Recently, new housing complexes also have good traffic too.
Commuter services operate from 5AM (first train departing Bogor to Jakarta) to almost 10PM (last train leaving Jakarta for Bogor). Trains often run late, though. Weekend special services connect Depok and Bogor with the popular Ancol entertainment park in Jakarta.
Commuter services operate over these lines:
Station names written with CAPITALS are regular express stops. Several express trains (and semi-express trains) stop at other stations only at certain times outside the rush hours. All trains other than the expresses do not stop at Gambir station, the main station in Jakarta, so this might be a problem for those arriving from other regions and wanting to continue to other stations. The choice is to take an express train to the nearest station and continuing by other forms of transport, or taking a taxi to Juanda station, located a few hundred meters north of Gambir, close enough if you wish to walk. If coming from Jalan Jaksa area, another option is just to walk to Gondangdia (next one south of Gambir) station, it's just 5-10 minutes walk to the left from the southern end of Jaksa.
Currently (after the express service was discontinued in 2011) there are 2 types of trains left: commuter line (air conditioned, similar to ekonomi AC before) and ekonomi. Both types normally stop at all stations.
Riding the ekonomi class is not advisable: crime and sexual harassment are known to happen inside packed trains (during rush hours some people even travel on the roof, despite the obvious danger of overhead wires!). During the non-rush hours, though, economy train travel is quite an interesting experience. It is a tour of Jakarta's darker side, with peddlers offering every imaginable article (from safety pins to cell-phone starter kits), various sorts of entertainment, ranging from one-person orchestras to full-sized bands, and a chance to sample real poverty; you are riding a slum on wheels. Just remember to keep an eye on your belongings all the time, do not flash valuables if you have any, and, if you have a bag, hold it in front of you (that's what many locals also do in these trains).
The Transjakarta Busway (in Indonesian known as busway or TJ) is modern, air-conditioned and generally comfortable, although sometimes service can be spotty (they have a knack of going to the depot for service and refueling at the same time during the rush hours). The bus is often crowded during rush hours. There are ten lines operational as of late 2010.
The other four corridors will be finished before end of 2016.
The transfer points for the Transjakarta Busway lines are:
Unlike Jakarta's other buses, busway buses shuttle on fully dedicated lanes and passengers must use dedicated stations with automatic doors, usually found in the middle of large thoroughfares connected to both sides by overhead bridges. The system is remarkably user-friendly by Jakartan standards, with station announcements and an LED display inside the purpose-built vehicles. Grab onto a handle as soon as you enter the bus as they move away from the stop suddenly and quickly.
Park and Ride facilities are in Ragunan, South Jakarta, Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta and Kalideres, West Jakarta and in late 2010 the city administration was holding a tender for the construction of Park and Ride facilities in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta. That construction of that facility is planned to start in 2011.
Buses run from 5AM-10PM daily. Tickets cost a flat Rp 2,000 before 7AM, and Rp 3,500 after. Transfers between lines are free be careful not to exit the system until your journey is completed. The hub at Harmoni station is the busiest interchange. The buses can get very crowded, especially during rush hours at 7AM and 4PM, when office workers are on the move. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, a Transjakarta Application map is also available to download. As of May 2009, the application is free. For blackberry users a Transjakarta Guide for Blackberry software download is available.
It's advisable to refrain from using other buses for intracity travel; stick with taxis as they are safer. If you're feeling adventurous, as of October 2005 the flat fare for regular buses is Rp 2,000, while air conditioned buses (Mayasari or Patas AC) cost Rp 5,000. Some buses have a box at the front next to the driver where you can pay your fares, while others employ a man or a kondektur who will personally collect the fares from passengers.
Cheaper yet are mikrolet (mini-buses) and angkot (small vans) that ply the smaller streets and whose fares vary from Rp 1,500 to 2,500, but good luck figuring out the routes. You pay the fare directly to the driver after getting off.
You may need to spare one or two Rp 500 coins before boarding the bus, since there is on-board "entertainment" and other distractions. On a typical day, you may find street musicians singing unplugged versions of Indonesian and Western pop songs asking for donations at the end of the performance, and street vendors, one after another, trying to sell almost everything, from ballpoint pens and candies to boxed donuts and health goods. If you do happen to be travelling in a bus, refrain from sitting or standing at the back area of the bus as this is where muggers find their prey. Always keep an eye on your belongings and be alert at all times as pickpocketing occurs.
Note that buses do not run according to any schedule or timetable. Sometimes a bus may take a while to come,in other circumstances it is possible that two of the same bus routes may come together and these drivers will definitely drive aggressively to get more passengers. They do not stop at any particular bus stop and can stop just about anywhere they like. If you want to get off, simply say "kiri" (to the left) to the "kondektur" or just knock on the ceiling of the bus for three times (be sure that the driver hears your thumping), and the bus driver will find a place to drop you. An additional tip to alight from these buses is to use your left foot first to maintain balance and try to get down as quickly as possible as they do not fully stop the bus.
Also note that seats in these buses are built for Indonesians who are typically shorter and more slender and agile than people with a larger build such as Caucasians and Africans. Non-Indonesians might find the seats in these buses to be confining and uncomfortable.
List of bus terminals in Jakarta: Blok M (South Jakarta), Lebak Bulus (South Jakarta), Pasar Minggu (South Jakarta), Grogol, Kota, Kalideres (West Jakarta), Manggarai (South Jakarta), Pulogadung (East Jakarta), Rawamangun (East Jakarta), Kampung Melayu (East Jakarta), Kampung Rambutan (South Jakarta), Tanjung Priok (North Jakarta), Senen (Central Jakarta).
Rental cars are available, but unless you are familiar with local driving practices or lack thereof, take reputable taxis. If you're from a foreign country, it is not recommended to rent a car and drive on your own. The chaotic and no-rules traffic will certainly give you a headache. Renting a car with a driver is a much better idea.
The price of fuel in Indonesia is relatively low due to the application of subsidies by the central government. Pertamina outlets supply gasoline (bensin) (petrol) at Rp 4.500/litre, diesel fuel (solar) is also Rp 4,500/litre. Non-subsidised prices for products such as Pertamax (RON 92 Pertamax high-octane gasoline are higher at Rp 10,200/litre, RON 95 Pertamax Plus Rp 10,350 and Pertamina-Dex (diesel fuel) is around Rp 10,100. Prices at outlets operated by Shell, Mobil and Petronas are similar.
Toll roads circle the city and are faster when the traffic is good, but are very often jammed themselves. The drainage systems of major roads are poorly maintained and during the rainy season from Dec-Feb major roads may be flooded, leading to even worst traffic congestion than normal.
Finding parking places in residential areas can be difficult due to the narrow roads. Paid parking is easy to find in shopping malls, offices and the like is typically Rp 2,000/hr plus Rp 2,000 for each subsequent hour. Street parking often requires to payment of Rp 2,000 to a parking 'attendant'.
If you do decide to drive by yourself or having a driver in Jakarta, please remember that there is a 3 in 1 system implemented in some of the main thoroughfares in the morning from 7.30-10AM and in the afternoon from 4.30-7 PM, this requires a a car to have a minimum of three occupants. The routes include the whole stretch from Kota train station through Blok M via Jl. Hayam Wuruk, Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman and Jl.Sisingamangaraja; Jl. Gatot Subroto from the Senayan-JCC overpass to the intersection with Jl. HR Rasuna Said. There are intentions from the local government to change this system to an Electronic Road Pricing system beginning in the future.
The Blue Bird group ☎+62 21 79171234, (24 hr) is known for their reliability, has an efficient telephone order service and always uses their meter.
Some other large, generally reliable companies include Taxiku, Express , Dian Taksi, and newly established Taxicab. You can generally determine a good cabbie by asking "argo?" ("meter?") - if they say no or "tidak", get another taxi. Taxis parked near train/bus stations, tourist attractions, and hotels often refuse to use the meter and quote silly prices (especially from foreigners) - in this case, it's a good idea to walk away a bit, then hail a passing Blue Bird taxi.
Many of the numerous other "Tarif Lama" or Tarif Bawah" taxis are mechanically unsound and have drivers of highly questionable skill. They also often engage in determined efforts to overcharge.
The standard taxi rate (effective February 2009) for Blue Bird is Rp 6,000 flag-fall, and Rp 3,000/km after the first 2 km. Taxis marked TARIF BAWAH use the older, cheaper rate (flag-fall fare is Rp 5,000 typically), while Silver Bird is more expensive. Tipping is not necessary but rounding the meter up to the nearest Rp 1,000 is expected, so prepare some change, or else you may be rounded up to the nearest Rp 5,000.
Beware that some of the less reputable taxi operators may use a rigged meter. If using one of these less reputable taxis you may end up paying significantly more than when using one from the more reliable Blue Bird service. If you have no idea how much the taxi fare to your destination should be, it is better to stick to the companies mentioned above, as even the locals do this, or just use a Blue Bird.
Keep the doors locked and the windows closed when travelling in a taxi, as luxury items or a bag can be an attractive target when stuck in a traffic jam or traffic light. Avoid using the smaller taxi companies especially if you are alone, and try to know the vague route - the driver might well take you a roundabout route to avoid traffic, but you will know the general direction. Stating your direction clearly and confidently will usually pre-empt any temptation to take you on the long route. It is also not uncommon for taxi drivers to be recent arrivals in Jakarta - they often don't know their way around and may be relying on you to direct them - ensure that they know the way before you get in.
By rental car
Another solution for getting around in Jakarta is to rent a car. However for most visitors it is best to use a local driver rather than self drive.
Griya Mobil Kita Rent Car: Apartemen Taman Rasuna #1506H Kawasan Epicentrum Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Jakarta Selatan 12960 Telp: 021-71386345 website: sewa mobil jakarta
The Jakartan equivalent to Thailand's tuk-tuk is the bajaj (pronounced "bahdge-eye"), orange mutant scooters souped up in India into tricycles that carry passengers in a small cabin at the back.
They're a popular way to get around town since they can weave through Jakarta's interminable traffic jams much like motorbikes can. Although slow, boneshaking (suspension is not a feature in a bajaj), hot (locals joke about the "natural A/C") and the quick way to breathing in more exhaust fumes than you ever thought possible, riding around in these little motor-bugs can really grow on you.
There are no set prices, but a short hop of a few city blocks shouldn't cost much more than Rp 5,000. Be sure to agree to (read: haggle) a price before you set off. Bajaj drivers are happy to overcharge visitors, and can often ask double or even more of what you would pay by meter in air-conditioned Blue Bird taxi (obviously, the normal price should be less than even for a cheaper variety of taxi). Locals who regularly use the bajaj know what a typical fare should be and are happy to tell you. Also, since bajaj aren't allowed on some of the larger roads in Jakarta, your route may well take you through the bewildering warren of backstreets. Try to keep an eye on what direction you're going, because some unscrupulous bajaj drivers see nothing wrong with taking the "scenic" route and then charging you double or triple the price.
If you're poking around narrow back streets, or just in such a hurry that you're willing to lose a limb or more to get there, then Jakarta's motorcycle taxis (ojek) might be the ticket for you. Jakarta's ojek services consist of guys with bikes lounging around street corners, who usually shuttle short distances down alleys and roads but will also do longer trips for a price. Agree on the fare before you set off. And insist on a helmet, and wear it properly. No need to make it more insanely dangerous than it already is. The ojek drivers will insist you're safe with them and that they'll drive carefully, but this has little to do with reality. What locals normally pay to them is Rp 5,000 for a short ride and Rp 7,000 to 10,000 for a longer (roughly more than kilometer or 15 minutes walk) one. Foreigners are likely to be asked for more, but generally ojek drivers will accept the proper fare if you insist on it, unless they see you really need to use their service, such as if you're in a hurry but there's a huge traffic jam so using a taxi or bus will be too slow.
In November 2011, Ojek with argometer is called Taxijek has launched in Jakarta and is provided with company's driver identity card, a helmet for passengers, disposable shower caps to wear underneath and an extra raincoat. The fee is cheaper than the non-argometer ojeks make drivers of non-argometer ojeks jealous, moreover the Taxijek can enter the gate of elite housing complexes to pick up passengers due to Taxijek have special driver identity cards. The first flag start at Rp 4,000 ($0.44) and Rp 1,000 ($0.11) for another each kilometer. Call (021)94440739 or visit www.taxijek.com for more information.
Janis Air Transport ☎+62 21 8350024. If you're in a hurry and seriously loaded, charter a helicopter.
As a rule, walking around the centre of Jakarta is neither fun nor practical. With the exception of a few posher areas, sidewalks are crowded with pushcart vendors, drivers disregard pedestrians and crossing streets can be suicidal. On many busy streets there are no pedestrian crossings, so it's best to latch onto a local and follow them as they weave their way through the endless flow of cars. Muggings do occur, especially on overhead bridges, and can happen even in the daytime. If you use pedestrian bridges, watch out for wonky steps and holes, and motorcycles and bicycles that often use the bridge illegally.
Casual work in Jakarta is difficult to come by and Indonesian bureaucracy does not readily facilitate foreigners undertaking employment in Indonesia. As in the rest of Asia, teaching English is the best option, although salaries are poor (US$700-3000/month is typical, although accommodation may be provided) and the government only allows citizens of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA to work as teachers. Formal work visas, residency permits and registration with several government offices is necessary. Formal approval from the Department of Manpower and and the provision of documentation and guarantees from an employing sponsor is required to engage in any form of employment in Jakarta or elsewhere in Indonesia. Business visas are available for the purposes of conducting business related activities in Jakarta or elsewhere in Indonesia, this class of visa has strict conditions and requires a local business to sponsor the applicant. A business visa does not permit the holder to undertake any form of employment.
If you're stopping in Jakarta, consider buying an extra suitcase, because there's lots of good shopping to be done.
Jakarta has a vast range of food available at hundreds of eating complexes located all over the huge city. In addition to selections from all over the country, you can also find excellent Chinese, Japanese, and many other international foods thanks to the cosmopolitan population. Longer-term visitors will wish to dig up a copy of "Jakarta Good Food Guide" (JGFG) or "Jakarta Java Kini". The JGFG, as its affectionately known to Jakartans, is now in its 3rd edition, with the latest version published in 2009 and covering over 600 restaurants and casual eateries in the city. The JGFG has now also been made into an iPod touch & iPhone application, so you can download all 600 reviews and have them in the palm of your hand for whenever you're craving a bite of some good local food.
You can find Jakartan versions of many dishes, often tagged with the label betawi (Indonesian for "Batavian").
Your stomach may need an adjustment period to the local food due to many spices locals used in their cooking. Standard price on this guide: The price for one main course, white rice ("nasi putih") and one soft drink, including 21% tax and service charge.
The food courts of Jakarta's shopping malls are a great way of sampling Indonesian and other food in hygienic and air-conditioned comfort.
Mal Kelapa Gading
Most budget restaurants have delivery service or you can call Pesan Delivery service , ☎ +62 21 7278 7070. You can order take away foods from most budget restaurants. Some traditional Indonesian cuisine may be too hot and spicy for many foreign tourists.At some restaurants you can ask for food without chilli: "Tidak pakai cabe" or "Tidak Pedas". Standard price is Rp 15,000-50,000.
Mid to Upper-scale restaurants are plentiful and prices range from Rp 30,000-100,000 for entrees.
The best gourmet splurges in Jakarta are the opulent buffet spreads in the 5 star hotels such as the Marriott, Hotel Mulia, Ritz-Carlton and Shangri-La, which offer amazing value by international standards. Standard price: Rp 150,000-300,000 per person
Jakarta may be the capital of the world's largest Islamic country, but it has underground life of its own. If you're the clubbing type, its nightlife is arguably among the best in Asia. From the upscale X-Lounge to the seediest discos like Stadium, Jakarta caters to all kinds of clubbers, but bring a friend if you decide to brave the seedier joints (though they tend to have the best DJs). Fans of live music, on the other hand, are largely out of luck if they go to budget bars, at least unless they're into Indonesian pop.
When out and about, note that Jakarta has a fairly high number of prostitutes, known in local parlance as ayam (lit. "chicken"), so much so that much of the female clientele of some respectable bars (operated by five-star hotels, etc) is on the take.
A nightlife district popular among expats is Blok M in South Jakarta, or more specifically the single lane of Jl. Palatehan 1 just north of the bus terminal, packed with pubs and bars geared squarely towards single male Western visitors. While lacking the bikini-clad go-go dancers of Patpong, the meat market atmosphere is much the same with poor country girls turned pro. Blok M is now easily accessible as the southern terminus of BRT Line 1. For a more off-the-beaten track experience, head a few blocks south to Jl. Melawai 6 (opposite Plaza Blok M), Jakarta's de-facto Little Japan with lots of Japanese restaurants, bars and (what else?) karaoke joints.
To hang out where Indonesia's young, rich and beautiful do, head to Plaza Indonesia's EX annex, packed full of trendy clubs and bars including Jakarta's Hard Rock Cafe. Plaza Senayan's Arcadia annex attempts to duplicate the concept, but with more of an emphasis on fine dining. The Kemang area in southern Jakarta is popular with expats and locals alike. It has numerous places to eat, drink and dance.
The Kota area in northern Jakarta is the oldest part of town with numerous colonial buildings still dominating the area. It is also considered to be the seediest part of town after midnight. Most karaoke bars and 'health' clubs there are in fact brothels who mostly cater to local Jakartans. Even regular discos such as Stadium and Crown have special areas designated for prostitutes. Other notable establishments in this area are Malioboro and Club 36 which should not be missed. This part of town has a large ethnic Chinese population who also dominate the clubbing scene there.
The bulk of the clubbing scene is spread throughout Jakarta however, most usually found in office buildings or hotels. A help of an experienced local with finding these places is recommended. Do note that nightlife in Jakarta tends to be pricey for local standards.
In general, dress codes are strictly enforced in Jakarta: no shorts, no slippers. During the month of Ramadhan, all nightlife ends at midnight and some operations close for the entire month.
Please see the individual Jakarta district articles for accommodation listings
The travel agencies at Jakarta's airport can have surprisingly good rates for mid-range and above hotels. Star ratings are reserved for midrange and better hotels, while budget places have "Melati" rankings from 1-3 (best). Tax and service charge of 21% are usually added to the bill.
Budget, Hotels with standard room rate below US$25/night. Backpacker hostels (losmen) can be found around Jalan Jaksa, which is close to the Gambir station, rooms starting from Rp 30,000/night.
Mid-range, Hotels with standard room rate of from US$26-100/night.
Splurge, Jakarta has more than its fair share of luxury hotels, and after the prolonged post-crash hangover new ones are now going up again. Many remain good value by world prices, but opulent lobbies do not always correspond to the same quality in the room. The standard room rate on splurge hotels are more than US$100/night.
For stay over 2,5-3 weeks, monthly rental rooms (called kost) and apartments are a good alternative to budget and mid-range hotels, respectively. Fully-furnished rooms (with TV, A/C, large bed, hot shower, kitchen outside) can be rented for Rp 1.5-4 million/month. In most cases, rental fee already includes electricity and water usage, often there are additional services included like laundry, Internet access, breakfast, etc. There are cheaper rooms as well (starting from Rp 500,000-700,000), but those are usually small, without window, and the furniture includes just bed or even nothing. Also, some cheaper places are exclusively for either men or women (no opposite sex tenants or visitors allowed); many others allow couples to stay together only if they're legally married.
For apartments (one or more rooms + private kitchen + often balcony), prices are from Rp 3-4 million and up. Cheaper rates can be obtained in some places which are oriented to the long-term rental (3, 6 months or 1 year minimum); however, there may be same limitations as for cheaper rooms.
A good choice of kost and apartments available in Jakarta can be found here: (Indonesian language only).
Wartel telephone shops are ubiquitous on the streets of Jakarta.
If you see a public telephone, lift the receiver and check the number in the display near the keypad. If the number is not 000, don't insert coins, because the phone is broken. They usually are, but are very cheap (just $0.01/min) when they do work.
If you have your own laptop you may be able to access networks at many of the capital's malls. Ask at the information desk for access codes. Free hotspots are also available on most McDonald restaurants and StarBucks Cafes. Several hotels also provide a free wifi hotspot in their lobby.
Internet cafes are available in many parts of the city with a price of Rp 4,000-5,000. However, most of them only have dial-up capabilities. Most of the internet cafes can be found around universities, residential areas, and in most shopping malls. However, the internet connection speed can be better in the internet cafes found at malls.
If you are keen on using the internet for long hours, try to get the "happy hour" deals provided by internet cafes near universities or residential areas. They provide 6 hr of surfing on the internet for Rp 12,000, but only available at midnight-6AM.
Jakarta City Government Tourism Office , Jl. Kuningan Barat No. 2, ☎ +62 21-5205455 ([email protected]).
Jakarta City Digital Map and Travel Guide , Wisma 77 Lantai 5 Jalan Letjen S. Parman Jakarta Barat. ☎ +62 21 5369 0808 .
Tap water in Jakarta is not drinkable. Always drink bottled water. If buying bottled water from a street vendor always check the 'tamper proof' seal is intact.
Remember to check the water you bathe in and only brush your teeth with drinkable water.
During the rainy season (December, January, and February), lower parts of Jakarta (mostly those to the north) are often flooded.
There is a law against smoking at public places in Jakarta, and the smoker can (in theory) be fined up to US$5,000. You may see the signs threatening a fine (denda) of Rp 50 million or 6 months jail for smoking, although that law seems not to be enforced, as locals still smoke everywhere on the street and even in local buses, as anywhere in Indonesia. It's generally prohibited to smoke, however, inside shops, offices, and air-conditioned buildings generally. If in doubt, you can ask locals: Boleh merokok?
The high-profile terrorist bomb blasts at the JW Marriott in 2003, the Australian Embassy in 2004 and the JW Marriott (again) and the Ritz-Carlton in 2009 mean that security in Jakarta tends to be heavy, with car trunk checks, metal detectors and bag searches at most major buildings. Statistically, though, you are far more likely to be killed in the traffic.
Theft and robbery are real problems. Even these appear to have improved in recent years, but still take care. Violence is low, and most criminal acts are done by stealth or intimidation rather than lethal force. It is rare for even serious injuries to occur during these situations, although there are exceptions.
If the theft is done by stealth, often simple catching the thief in the act will cause him to run away. For intimidation such as robberies, simply giving them an object of value will usually satisfy the thief, who will leave without further ado. Most Indonesians are also very protective of their neighbors and friends; in many neighborhoods, a thief caught by the local residents will be punished "traditionally" before being taken to police. Indonesians rarely ignore pleas for help ("Tolong!").
Be on your guard in crowded places such as markets, because pickpockets often steal wallets and cellular phones. Keep a close eye on your valuables and choose your transportation options carefully, especially at night. Business travellers need to keep a close eye on laptops, which have been known to disappear even from within office buildings. For all-night party excursions, it may be wise to keep your cab waiting; the extra cost is cheap and it's worth it for the security. Lock your car doors and windows, and show no cellular phones or wallets on the dashboard. Organised criminals sometimes operate on the streets (especially at traffic lights) without fearing crowds.
Anyer resort beach 160 km west of Jakarta. Driving time: up to 4 hours.
Bandung some 140 km southeast of Jakarta, full of universities and famous for both its food and its fashion markets. Driving time: 2-2.5 hours (through Cipularang toll road). X-Trans shuttle transport depart hourly from several location for Rp 80,000.
Bogor cooler climes and a beautiful botanical garden an hour away. Several great golf courses are located in Bogor. Sentul A1 Race Circuit is located in Citeurerup, Bogor. Express train takes a bit over an hour, economy a little longer. (Waiting and train cancellations are the bigger issue.) Driving time: up to 2 hours. On weekends, the trip may take up to 3 hours by road, and the trains can be crowded.
Puncak — cooler climes and beautiful view of tea plantations. Up to 2.5 hours by tollway.
Ujung Kulon National Park — a beautiful national park, southwest of Jakarta. Driving time: up to 5 hours.
Taman Safari Wildlife Recreational Park — Jalan Raya Puncak 601, Cisarua, Bogor. 70 km south of Jakarta. Drive time 2.5 hours from Jakarta (outside rush hours) and about 20 km past Bogor. Impressive drive-through zoo with lions, tigers, hippos, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, as well as plenty of other animals in well-kept large enclosures. There are also some amusement park attractions for children, a water park, a baby zoo, as well as conventional zoo exhibitions including penguins, snakes, kangaroos and Komodo dragons. This is a very well maintained zoo and a much better visit than other zoos found in the region. Admission is around Rp 100,000/person. When visiting with children reserve a full day. For adults 3 hours is enough to see the most interesting animals.WikiPedia:Jakarta Dmoz:Asia/Indonesia/Provinces/Jakarta/ World66:asia/southeastasia/indonesia/java/jakarta | <urn:uuid:a99bb800-8461-447e-8489-4284c2825b3b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wikitravel.org/wiki/en/index.php?title=Jakarta&curid=4575&diff=1962976&oldid=1962975 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94733 | 9,738 | 2.609375 | 3 |
City in the district of Jabal, Persia, situated on the Zendarud. The Jews pretend to have founded Ispahan, saying that it was built by the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar transported thither after he had taken Jerusalem. This tradition is related not only by Moses of Chorene (iii., ch. xxxv.), but also by the Arabic geographers Ibn al-Faḳih (p. 261), Al-Iṣṭakhri (p. 198), Ibn Ḥauḳal (p. 261), Al-Muḳaddasi (p. 388), Yaḳut (i. 295, iv. 1045), and Abu al-Fida (p. 411), and by historians, e.g., Ibn Khaldun (ed. Bulak, ii. 114). It is related that the Jews took with them earth and water from Jerusalem; that wherever they went they weighed the earth and the water of the place. Arrived at Ispahan, they encamped at a place which in Hebrew means "Encamp!" and there they found that the earth and the water weighed the same as those they had brought with them from Jerusalem.
This colony was founded a mile or two east of Jayy, and was called "Al-Yahudiyyah"; the name "Jayy" being changed to "Shahristan" (= "the city"). Al-Yahudiyyah grew in importance and became the modern Ispahan; being twice as large as Shahristan (Al-Iṣṭakhri). Al-Muḳaddasi speaks in high terms of its merchants; and Manṣur ibn Badhan is reported to have said that the origin of all the rich merchant families of Ispahan would be found to be some idolater or Jew. The founding of the Jewish colony may have occurred in the third century under Sapor II.
Under Perozes (457-484) the Jewish community of Ispahan was accused of having killed and flayed two magi, and that monarch put to death half of the Jews of that city. He also had the Jewish children brought up in the temple of Horwom as fire-worshipers. About the middle of the tenth century the Buyyid king Rukn al-Daulah united the two towns of Jayy and Al-Yahudiyyah and resumed the ancient name of Ispahan.Persecution.
During the first centuries after their establishment at Ispahan the Jews prospered greatly. Benjamin of Tudela (12th cent.) found in Ispahan about 15,000 Jews. Sar Shalom, rabbi of that city and of all other towns of the Persian empire, was promoted to that dignity by the prince of the captivity, who resided at Bagdad. Afterward the Jews suffered great violence at the hands of the viziers, especially under the Sufi dynasty, whose kings made Ispahan their residence. The Jews were the first upon whom the Moslems vented their ire. They were in constant terror, as the slightest incident served the vizier as a pretext to compel them either to embrace Islam or to leave the country. Chardin, who resided for some time at the court of Shah Abbas II., describes the misery in which the Jews of Ispahan lived. They were obliged to wear a special mark on their dress, to distinguish them from the believers. Their caps had to be of a different color from the Moslems'; and they were not allowed to wear cloth stockings. The Jews had at Ispahan one principal synagogue and several small ones. Chardin says that ShahAbbas I. gave 400 francs to every Jewish male convert to Islam and 300 francs to every female convert. Shah Abbas II. repeated these offers. Babai (see Hamadan) describes at great length the persecutions which the Jews of Ispahan suffered under Shah Abbas I. and his successors; while Arakel of Tabriz, the Armenian historian, devotes a whole chapter to the persecutions under Shah Abbas II. Both Babai and Arakel narrate the tortures which the grand vizier Mohammed Bey inflicted upon the Jews.
Babai ascribes these persecutions to the theft of a costly poniard belonging to Shah Abbas II., which was stolen by his gardener and sold to two Jews. The thief was caught, and he identified the two Jews who had bought the jewels that had been removed from the weapon. The Jews strenuously denied their guilt; but Shah Abbas, being certain that they lied, ordered a general massacre of the Jews of the city. His vizier advised Shah Abbas to force the Jews to embrace Islam instead of killing them; the suggestion was adopted, and the vizier was authorized to use all possible means to secure this result.
Not succeeding by force, the vizier had recourse to stratagem: he endeavored to secure converts from Judaism by presents of money and other valuables. The first-convert was Obadiah, the chief of the community, who was followed by several of the elders and by a great number of the poor, who were thus helped out of their pecuniary difficulties. During the civil wars at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Jews of Ispahan were the first to suffer at the hands of the conquerors. But no persecution equaled that which they suffered under Fatḥ Ali Shah (1798-1834). The Illiats (the Persian nomads) made constant irruptions into the Jewish quarter, violated the women, massacred the men, pillaged the houses, and broke to pieces what they could not carry away. After Fatḥ Ali Shah's death new riots broke out, in which about thirty Jews were killed and many more were wounded. Among the victims were Abba Nasi, the richest Jew in the community; Mulley Agha Baba, chief rabbi of Ispahan; and a Jewess named Kiskia. Further persecutions occurred under Naṣr al-Din Shah.
Benjamin II. found at Ispahan in 1850 about four hundred Jewish families, three synagogues, and eight rabbis or ḥakamim. He also made there the acquaintance of the vizier Ishmael, a Jewish convert to Islam, whose Hebrew name was Jekuthiel, and who, a poor workman's son, rose to high rank.
Babai records that the principal synagogue of Ispahan was called "Serah bat Asher." When the other synagogues of Ispahan were set on fire by Mirza Mas'udi under Shah Abbas II., Serah bat Asher escaped. This synagogue is still held in great veneration. The Jews make pilgrimages to it from all parts of the Persian empire; for there is a tradition that Serah, the daughter of Asher, was buried there. According to Confino, there are now in Ispahan about 6,500 Jews.
It was here that the false prophet Abu 'Isa or Mohammed ibn 'Isa al-Ispahani was born, from whom arose the Judæo-Persian sect Al-Ispahaniyyah, who are also called "Al-'Isawiyyah" or "'Isawites" (Biruni, p. 15; Shahrastani, transl. Haarbrucker, i. 254; Schreiner, in "Monatsschrift," xxxiv. 140; idem, in "R. E. J." xii. 259). It is curious to note that the Mohammedans believed that Antichrist would arise in this city, probably because of its large Jewish population (Ibn al-Faḳih, p. 268; Al-Muḳaddasi, p. 399; "Z. D. M. G." xlii. 596).
- Arakel, Livres d' Histoire, ch. xxxiv. (French transl. from the Armenian by Brosset);
- Babai, Diwan, (Hebrew MSS. No. 1356, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris);
- Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire de la Perse, s.v. Ispahan;
- Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary, ed. Asher, i. 82;
- Chardin, Voyage en Perse, ed. Amsterdam, 1711, vi.;
- Edrisi (French transl. by Jaubert, ii. 167);
- Confino, Revue des Ecoles de l'Alliance Israélite, No. 3, p. 183;
- No. 5, p. 339;
- Seligsohn, in R. E. J. xliv. 87-103, 244-259;
- Graetz, Hist. i. 591, 629; iii. 124, 434;
- Benjamin II., Mass'e Yisrael, pp. 85-86. | <urn:uuid:ff4c3dc8-e919-4f98-a45e-86a77c091aca> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8266-ispahan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962695 | 1,894 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Junk food diet 'linked to asthma'
Eating junk food could increase the severity of asthma and eczema in youngsters, research suggests.
Consuming more than three portions of fast food a week has been been linked with severe asthma in children and teenagers.
The findings, from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, have prompted the authors to suggest a fast food diet may be contributing to the rise in the conditions.
Teenagers have a 39% increased risk of severe asthma if they eat more than three helpings of burgers, chips and pizza each week – while children have 27% increased risk, researchers said.
And children and teens who consume three or more portions of fast food have an increased risk of severe eczema and severe rhinitis – a condition characterised by a runny or blocked nose and itchy and watery eyes, according to the study published in the respiratory journal Thorax.
The researchers said that if the link was proved to be causal, it would have major implications on public health.
They examined data concerning 319,000 13- and 14-year-olds from 51 countries and 181,000 six- and seven-year-olds from 31 different countries.
The teenagers and parents of the six- and seven-year-olds were quizzed on symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema and throatier weekly diet.
Researchers also found that eating fruit could have a protective effect on the youngsters.
Consuming three or more portions a week was linked to a reduction in symptom severity of between 11% and 14% among teens and children, respectively.
The authors wrote: “If the association between fast foods and the symptom prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema is causal, then the findings have major public health significance owing to the rising consumption of fast foods globally.”
They added: “Our results suggest that fast food consumption may be contributing to the increasing prevalence of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in adolescents and children.”
Malayka Rahman, research analysis and communications officer at Asthma UK, said: “This research adds to previous studies that suggest a person’s diet can contribute to their risk of developing asthma, and indicates the benefit of further research to determine the effects that particular food groups can have on the chances of developing asthma or the impact it may have on severity.
“Evidence suggests that the vitamins and antioxidants found in fresh fruit and vegetables have a beneficial effect on asthma. Therefore Asthma UK advises people with asthma to eat a healthy, balanced diet including five portions of fruit or vegetables every day, fish more than twice a week, and pulses more than once a week.” | <urn:uuid:cd411a31-e3b4-4a67-b205-717e40c8a93b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/junk-food-diet-linked-to-asthma-581112.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955258 | 573 | 2.59375 | 3 |
MAKING SINGLE COPIES FOR TEACHING AND SCHOLARLY RESEARCH
For class preparation or scholarly research, you may make a single copy of portions of any of the following copyrighted materials:
- A chapter from a book;
- An article from a periodical or newspaper;
- A short story, essay or short poem;
- A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper.
MAKING MULTIPLE COPIES FOR USE IN THE CLASSROOM
When making multiple copies of materials for classroom use, you should:
- Not produce more than one copy of the materials per student enrolled in the course.
- Not charge students more than the actual cost of reproduction.
- Not make copies to create, replace or substitute for anthologies, compilations, collective works, or textbooks without obtaining permission. Contact the College Bookstore to arrange for a coursepack to be made.
- Not handout the same photocopied materials from one semester to the next without obtaining permission.
- Include a copyright notice (such as, "Material may be covered by copyright. See your instructor for more information.") on the first page of the photocopied material.
- Follow the guidelines to meet the tests of brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative effect, as described below.
Accepted examples of photocopied materials include:
- A complete article, story or essay of less than 2,500 words.
- An excerpt from a book of not more than 1,000 words or 10% of the text, whichever is less, but in any case a minimum of 500 words.
- A complete poem if less than 250 words printed on not more than two pages.
- An excerpt of not more than 250 words of a longer poem.
- One chart, diagram, graph, drawing, cartoon or picture from a single book or periodical issue.
- Excerpt from sheet music if not a performable unit and if no more than 10% of the complete work.
The decision to use a work and its scheduled use must be so close in time that you lack adequate time to expect permission to be obtained. Thus, you cannot re-use materials that meet only the test of spontaneity.
Making multiple photocopies should not pose a potentially adverse effect on the marketplace. You should:
- Copy materials to be used in only one course in the College. You should not photocopy materials for one course and also use them in another course.
- Copy no more than one short story, poem, article, essay or two excerpts from the same author, with the exception of material from current news periodicals or newspapers. (See Spontaneity guidelines)
- Copy no more than three excerpts from the same book or periodical during a single semester, with the exception of material from current news periodicals or newpapers. (See Spontaneity guidelines.)
- Not make multiple copies of materials more than nine(9) instances for one course during a semester.
Material posted to the Internet (e.g., to a web site) has the same protection as any other material. Putting a work on the Internet does not imply that the material is public domain or that it may be freely used. Material produced after 1978 may be still be protected by copyright even if it does not carry the © or any other kind of copyright notice.
HOW TO GET PERMISSION
This checklist may help you make a judgment about whether the use you're considering is fair use:
Step-by-step guide to getting permission to reproduce copyrighted material:
If you have any questions about copyright as you prepare for your fall classes, you can contact Doug Anderson, Linda Roesch, or Kevin Leitner.
|Individual||Contact Information||Primary Expertise|
|Douglas Anderson||[email protected], X4758||library reserves|
|Linda Roesch||[email protected], X4758||online courses and instruction|
|Chuck [email protected], X4677||coursepacks|
All College faculty members who willfully disregard copyright law accept all responsibility and assume all liability for their actions.
Please contact Douglas Anderson if you have comments: | <urn:uuid:f125766f-8559-45a1-b1e4-6bff4c1fa553> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://library.marietta.edu/services/faculty/copyright_tips.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.833848 | 901 | 3.5 | 4 |
Students Take SURF Research to Boston for International Competition
Over the summer, we highlighted several undergraduates and their summer research at Caltech. Some were Techers; others hailed from schools across the country. Most participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program, a unique opportunity for undergraduates to spend 10 weeks over the summer doing original research with Caltech faculty. This is the final profile of our summer research series.
Their summer research is about to take a group of Caltech undergrads SURFing across the country for a global competition. The students, gold medal winners in last month's International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) regional contest, are headed to MIT this weekend for the world championship jamboree.
The annual iGEM competition, which began in 2003, is an undergraduate synthetic-biology competition that challenges students to build biological systems and operate them in living cells. The Caltech team, which includes four Techers and one student from California State University, Los Angeles, spent the summer working on the bioremediation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in water as part of the SURF program. EDCs mimic or block hormones, such as estrogen, and cause adverse effects, such as development and reproductive disorders, in humans and other animals. Bioremediation uses microorganisms that eat toxic compounds and convert them into water and harmless gasses.
In the lab of Richard Murray, Everhart Professor of 
Control & Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering, the students worked with graduate co-mentors to create a bioremediation system in Escherichia coli that could degrade at least one EDC.
"We envisioned E. coli expressing a degradation protein, growing in a biofilm on some substrate packed in a column, and then being able to flow EDC-contaminated water through the column and have decontaminated effluent at the other end," says Amanda Shelton, a Caltech sophomore on the team.
First, the team pinpointed a gene called DDT dehydrochlorinase—which can degrade the pesticide DDT—in fruit flies.
"When we optimized this gene for expression in E. coli, we found that it retained its functionality, which is exciting because that means this new tool can be used by synthetic biologists in a simple model organism," says team member Nikki Thadani, a senior bioengineering student.
Next, in the lab of Frances Arnold, Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry, they were able to identify some enzymes that can initiate the degradation of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used primarily to make plastics. The group also gathered biological samples from the highly polluted Los Angeles River.
"We found that organisms cultured from the L.A. River could grow in the presence of endocrine disruptors as the only carbon source, indicating that these organisms can possibly degrade endocrine disruptors," says Thadani. "If we can conclusively show that the organisms in these cultures are degrading endocrine disruptors, then we can try and isolate the genes that allow them to do this."
Although the research was carried out over the summer, the planning process started last fall after the completion of the 2010 iGEM competition. The group met regularly throughout the school year to brainstorm ideas with Murray and the graduate mentors.
"Since we chose our projects and mentors, we genuinely cared about our work and were proud to complete it," says Puikei Cheng, now a sophomore at Caltech. "SURF provides a good introduction to any field of interest, even if someone has no background in lab techniques or scientific research."
In fact, at the start of the project, four of the five team members were freshmen doing research for the first time.
"It was really exciting and rewarding to see our hard work win us a gold medal at the iGEM regionals and a trip to the international conference in Boston," says Cheng. "We're hoping to see what interesting projects iGEM teams around the world have done over the summer. We're keeping our eyes open for good ideas for next year."
The iGEM World Championship Jamboree will be held November 5–7 at MIT. For more information on the team's research, visit their iGEM wiki. | <urn:uuid:02b5c608-c867-4429-8200-91140808369f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.caltech.edu/content/students-take-surf-research-boston-international-competition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952162 | 904 | 2.78125 | 3 |
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---++ SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic RAM SDRAM has become ubiquitous for relatively fast, inexpensive read/write memory (RAM). The SDRAM interface was created/adopted/popularized by Intel with the Pentium<sup>TM</sup> class processors. Its number one distinguishing feature is that it pipelines commands (_e.g._ read/write operations) using a state machine. Thus the processor has a state machine in its SDRAM controller logic and the SDRAM has its internal state machine. In order to have _both_ state machines in lock-step operation, the SDRAM has configuration registers that need to be initialized by the processor using special configuration cycles. The resulting start up code that initializes the SDRAM registers looks pretty odd and entirely mysterious. %X% If the SDRAM initialization is not done _exactly_ as required by the SDRAM's data sheet, the processor's data sheet, and taking into account bus speeds, _etc._, the processor's memory controller and the SDRAM state machines will get out of sync. The result is unreliable memory operations, particularly burst reads and writes. Note that simple and even moderately complex memory read and write operations will appear to work, but when the processor starts using the pipelining heavily (typically due to lots of cache read and write activity and DMA activity), the two will lose synchronization and cause memory read/write errors.
Revision r1.1 - 27 Aug 2004 - 20:29 -
Copyright © 2002-2016 by | <urn:uuid:48a9575e-23fc-41d1-9feb-866f6aedfc7b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/DULG/SDRAM?raw=on | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.856992 | 340 | 3 | 3 |
In the 1860s, Gregor Mendel developed a particulate theory of inheritance based on his experiments with garden peas. Today, we call the hereditary units genes.
1. By breeding garden peas, Mendel demonstrated that parents pass on to their offspring discrete genes that retain their identity generation after generation.
2. Mendel's success is attributed to his quantitative approach and his choice of organism. He worked with seven pea characters, each of which occurred in two distinct, alternative forms, His peas were true-breeding, and he was able to control mating.
3. By producing hybrid offspring and allowing them to self-pollinate, Mendel arrived at the principle of segregation. The hybrids (F1) exhibited the dominant trait. In the next generation (F2), 75% of offspring had the dominant trait and 25% had the recessive trait, for a 3:1 ratio.
4. To account for these results, Mendel postulated that genes have alternative forms (now called alleles) and that each organism inherits one allele for each gene from each parent. These separate (segregate) from each other during gamete formation (meiosis), so that a sperm or an egg carries only one allele per character. After fertilization, if the two alleles of the pair are different, one (the dominant allele) is fully expressed in the offspring and the other (the recessive allele) is completely masked (Mendel's principle of dominance) Today we know that the genes are in chromosomes. We use the term locus to refer to the site a gene occupies in the chromosome. Alleles occupy corresponding loci on homologous chromosomes.
5. Homozygous individuals have two identical alleles for a given character and are true-breeding. Heterozygous individuals have two different alleles for a given character.
6. The genotype of an organism showing a dominant trait can be determined by breeding it to a recessive homozygote in a testcross. For example, researchers usually test cross the progeny from an F1 generation (Aa or AA) with a homozygous recessive individual (aa).
7. The principle of segregation operates according to the rules of probability. According to the rule of multiplication, the probability of a compound event is equal to the product of the separate probabilities of the independent single events. The rule of addition states that the probability of an event that can occur in two or more independent ways is the sum of the separate probabilities.
8. Mendel proposed the principle of independent assortment based on dihybrid crosses between plants contrasting in two or more characters, such as flower color and seed shape. Alleles for each character segregate into gametes independently of alleles for other characters. F1 progeny are all heterozygous (AaBa), and F2 progeny will exhibit a 9,3,3,1 genotype pattern) | <urn:uuid:0d9a6471-c4ee-4e5e-85ce-61a587b2ec31> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://home.earthlink.net/~dayvdanls/mendels_model_notes.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946711 | 600 | 3.75 | 4 |
Gerrard Hall, like South Building, took over a decade to construct, and there were some difficulties with its design. Gerrard was the University's new chapel, built by Captain William Nichols, the first professional architect hired by the University, and the one who remodeled the old capitol in Raleigh. Much like Old East and Old West, it was a stout building, approximately 2,880 square feet, but much grander in appearance when finished. Gerrard Hall was funded by the sale of the Grammar School and by a bequest of land given by Major Charles Gerrard. A veteran of the Revolutionary War, Gerrard was a member of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. In 1797, he bequeathed 13,942 acres of land in Tennessee to the University. Part of this gift was a 2,560-acre tract of land near Nashville, given to him as a reward for his military service.
The cornerstone for Gerrard Hall was laid in 1822, and construction began the following year. In 1827, the Building Committee discontinued the work due to lack of funds. For five years the new chapel remained unfinished. In 1832, University Trustees looked to the Nashville land as a source of revenue. However, that tract of land was willed to the University under the condition that it remain University property in perpetuity. With the help of lawyers William Gaston and George E. Badger, President Joseph Caldwell successfully broke the will. According to Kemp Plummer Battle, the land was sold for $6,400—$2,000 of which went to finishing Gerrard Hall (Battle 1974, 1:350). By 1835, funds were in hand to complete the building, and in 1837, Gerrard was opened in time for Commencement.
President Joseph Caldwell decided that the new building should be placed directly west of South Building and that it should face south. In fact, he reasoned that all new buildings should be placed to the south, because the University would rapidly run out of room if it continued to expand north towards the village of Chapel Hill. When Captain Nichols unveiled the plans for Gerrard Hall, he had added a large portico to Gerrard's south face, and thus the entrance to the University was on the south side of campus. It was completed to much acclaim. However, main roads to the south were never built, perhaps because of opposition of merchants on Franklin Street who were concerned that a road to the south would take away their business. Thus, until the portico was torn down in 1901, Gerrard Hall faced the "wrong way."
In 1847, Gerrard was remodeled to prepare for the visit of United States President James K. Polk, a University alumnus, who would be attending Commencement. The gallery pillars were strengthened and new pews and seats added. In 1871, the University closed and did not reopen until 1875. During this time Gerrard Hall sustained some damage, and repairs were made the year the University reopened. Interestingly, Gerrard never received a tin roof in the 1840s, as the other buildings had. The committee assessing the damage reported on 9 April 1874 that Gerrard still had its original roof and that it was in need of "immediate attention" (Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Records).
Works Consulted: Alcott, John V., The Campus at Chapel Hill: Two Hundred Years of Architecture, Chapel Hill, NC: The Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1986; Battle, Kemp P., History of the University of North Carolina, Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, 1974; Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Records, 1789-1932 #40001, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Henderson, Archibald, The Campus of the First State University, Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1949; Powell, William S., ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, c1979-1996. | <urn:uuid:0847ab36-f000-463e-b660-85c4622d8233> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://docsouth.unc.edu/global/getBio.html?type=place&id=name0000418&name=Gerrard%20Hall | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977603 | 821 | 2.625 | 3 |
Teeth are used for cutting and chewing food. They start the digestive process which gives us the energy we need to live.
In the adult human mouth there are four different types of teeth. They are:
Eight chisel shaped incisors used for cutting food
Four pointed canines used for stabbing food
Eight premolars with a bumpy surface, used for chewing food
12 molars with a bumpy surface, used for chewing food | <urn:uuid:200bd3da-04fa-4531-bdd3-6a49e8f86c2b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_3830000/newsid_3830800/3830847.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934762 | 91 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The three numbers used to describe soil amendments or nutrients in fertilizer are N, P, K, indicating nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium respectively. Nitrogen encourages the growth of stems and leaves. Potassium promotes flowering and fruiting. Phosphorus is believed to be essential to plant growth, but its use is controversial among some environmentalists.
Benefits to Plants
Phosphorus is found in every living plant cell. It helps in photosynthesis, the transformation of starches and sugars into useful nutrients and moving nutrients within a plant. It is also thought to aid in the transfer of genetic properties from one generation of plants to the next. Plants need phosphorus during periods of rapid growth, especially annuals that grow and die in one year. Plants that grow in cold weather and lettuces and other plants with shallow roots need extra phosphorus. Legumes have high phosphorus requirements. Trees, shrubs and vines, especially those grown in warm climates, need less phosphorus.
Most phosphorus used in fertilizer comes from rock deposits formed from the fossil remains of ancient marine life. China, Brazil, India, Russia and the United States have the most phosphorus resources. Electric furnaces process the pure, expensive rock phosphate used by the chemical and food industries. Acids are used to extract gypsum and the phosphorus used in dry fertilizers. Neither process affects the availability of phosphorus to plants. Inorganic phosphorus comes in the form of phosphates, the form needed by growing plants.
Compost, animal manures and sewage are all sources of phosphorus. This phosphorus is as useful to plants as that obtained from mineral sources. About 45 percent to 70 percent of phosphorus in manure is inorganic. Organic phosphorus decomposes easily in the soil. The temperature of the soil, its pH or acidity and its moisture all affect the rate of decomposition. About 60 percent to 80 percent of the total phosphorus in animal manure is available to crops in the first year. Organic sources such as bone meal provide lesser amounts of phosphorus available to plants.
Water-soluble phosphorus is the percentage of phosphate, or phosphoric acid, in a fertilizer that will dissolve in water. The phosphate that will not dissolve in water is placed in a solution of ammonium citrate. The percentage that then dissolves is said to be citrate-soluble phosphorus. This is a percentage of the total phosphate in the fertilizer. The sum of phosphate that will dissolve in both water and ammonium citrate is the percentage available to plants. This is the amount of phosphorus listed on a fertilizer label. The amount that will dissolve in water is usually greater than that which will dissolve in ammonium citrate.
Dry vs Wet
Phosphorus comes in both dry and liquid forms. Soil already contains water so the phosphorus in liquid fertilizer is no more available to plants than phosphorus in dry fertilizer.
Orthophosphate vs Polyphosphate
Phosphorus in fertilizers ordinarily comes in the orthophosphate form that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry calls phosphoric acid. If water is removed from phosphoric acid, it becomes a polyphosphate, the form of phosphorus contained in liquid fertilizers sold as ammonium polyphosphate. This form of fertilizer makes possible different blends and is easier for dealers to handle. Once in the soil, water and enzymes convert it to phosphoric acid that plants can use.
Phosphorus carried by rain water and other runoff constitutes a possible environmental hazard. The state of Maine prohibits the sale of fertilizers containing phosphorus on the grounds that phosphorus in runoff feeds green algae in lakes. Fertilizer with phosphorus may be used in Maine only if a soil test attests that it is necessary, or when it is used to establish new lawn or turf or for reseeding or over-seeding an existing lawn or turf. The state of Maine has posted a list of 26 peer-reviewed scholarly articles backing its decision to control the use of phosphorus as fertilizers. | <urn:uuid:bda8b342-b35e-4d7a-9142-9e5012738da9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/88179-phosphorus-fertilizer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926668 | 802 | 3.84375 | 4 |
A Ninth Grade Unit on Human Embryology, by Frank Caparulo
Guide Entry to 80.05.03:
The unit takes you from sperm and egg development through conception to birth. The unit begins with a very short history of the science of human embryology, including several of the early theories. Then you are given a short review with diagrams of the human reproductive systems. Section three is the central theme; it begins with the three stages of prenatal development, the development of the senses, it covers birth defects, genetic and the influence of the following on prenatal development: nutrition, drugs, smoking and alcohol. The unit includes pertinent references for both teacher and student and a list of related A.V. materials.
(Recommended for Human Physiology, Biology, and Sex Education for 9th through 12th grade level.)
Embryology Human Biology General Human Reproduction | <urn:uuid:537c2dbd-7e71-438a-8d99-117ebec5c6dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1980/5/80.05.03.x.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923433 | 178 | 3.484375 | 3 |
While gamers are off writhing in front of Kinects to control virtual objects on the screens in front of them, scientists are using the same tech for almost the same thing. They're also flailing in front of sensors, but it's not Dance Central 3; they're manipulating real-life microscopic objects with a set of laser tweezers.
David McGloin and his team at University of Dundee in Scotland are specialists when it comes to laser tweezer operation, also called "optical manipulation" if you want to get fancy. The tech's been around since the 70s, and so has the problem of controlling it well. Some of the previously proposed solutions involved computer mice, and later iPads, but now McGloin and company are trying out the Kinect.
The team has been testing the tech by moving silicon microspheres around a few micrometers at the time, and the results have been promising. Despite the intuitive interface, there are some hurdles. Kinect isn't known for being particularly accurate, and it's not great for moving the particles specific, measured distances. Mostly, the technique shows a lot of potential as a teaching tool, introducing students to the concept of laser-tweezers and allowing them to see first-hand the way microscopic objects act and interact on such a small scale. At the very least it should be useful for a Kinect version of Operation. [Technology Review] | <urn:uuid:424b087b-3c97-477a-8154-fcfa6378ca20> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gizmodo.com/5957731/scientists-can-use-kinect-to-pick-up-microscopic-balls-with-laser-tweezers?tag=lasers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973778 | 288 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Find verification or corroboration of Deloria's claim that Gold Rush miners advocated organized killings of Indians. Bring copies of the articles, or newspaper clippings to class.
Fill in the Blanks
Have students create a crossword puzzle using key words from Chapters 1-4. Make copies of the crossword puzzles created by students and distribute them to the rest of the class.
Go to the library and check out several CD's of Indian music. Listen and choose a style that you like best to share with the class. If the Indian music has any singing, try to find the meaning of the song and the translation of the lyrics to share during your presentation.
Create a collage from magazine articles, newspaper clippings or other media that represents your interpretation of nature and Indian spirituality.
Find information and photos to present a power point...
This section contains 856 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:06f6c3af-09a8-4c5d-92c7-eb1e1be3a3dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/god-is-red/funactivities.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90588 | 192 | 3.734375 | 4 |
The Friday before Easter is the most solemn day for Christians - it is the day on which Jesus Christ died on the cross. This day is known as Good Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday or Black Friday. As such, Good Friday is a day of mourning, and all the ceremonies and rituals of the day are centered on the feeling of sorrow, at the pain and humiliation that Jesus underwent for the cause of goodness and humanity. The message of Good Friday is that the dictum of "an eye for an eye" cannot work. The way to conquer evil is through good. Similarly, violence can be overcome only by non-violence and hatred by love.
Good Friday is devoted to fasting and prayer, as a way of following the example of Jesus, who stressed the role of prayer in the struggle to conquer evil. The service consists of prayers and readings from the Bible. In many churches, a piece of wood in the shape of the cross is kept. People pray before the cross and kiss it. Jesus is believed to have died on the Cross at three in the afternoon. Therefore, the traditional service lasts for three hours from noon. Some churches concentrate less on prayers, and instead, encourage people to become involved in charitable deeds.
In some churches, mourners wear black and enact the Passion of Christ - scenes of Christ's crucifixion and burial. Many churches cover the cross and the altar with mourning black, and do not light any candles. At other churches, candles are lit, but they are extinguished one by one, with the last one being put out at the moment denoting Jesus' death. The church bells are not rung on Good Friday. Catholic churches follow the tradition of the Stations of the Cross. People pass before paintings depicting the important scenes of the last hours of Jesus' life, reciting prayers and singing hymns. | <urn:uuid:7ae87908-9d67-4cb4-b3fd-2661c76a543c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://festivals.iloveindia.com/good-friday/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963089 | 374 | 3.078125 | 3 |
These materials regarding child abuse and neglect are free of charge and available by completing the PUBLICATIONS ORDER FORM. Some materials also are available for downloading.
Reporting Child Abuse - It's Everyone's Responsibility People not only need to know why they should report suspected cases of child abuse - they also need to know how. This booklet helps everyone recognize the signs of different types of abuse, guides them in making a report, and explains what happens after the report. Also discusses mandated reporters and abuse prevention. English and Spanish. (Download not available.)
Child Abuse Doesn't Report Itself (Poster) This 11" x 17" poster gives the number to report child abuse in New Jersey and is printed double-sided with English and Spanish. Download English/Spanish.
We Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse This thorough and sensitive explanation of childhood sexual abuse sends the message that everyone can help protect children from abuse. Provides a clear explanation of what constitutes sexual abuse, explains that there is no one single "profile" of an abuser, tells why abuse happens, lists signs of abuse, and more. English and Spanish. (Download not available.)
Toll-free Hotlines/Helplines This flyer is a quick reference for toll-free hotlines and helplines for families. Printed double-sided with English and Spanish. Download English/Spanish.
Reporting Child Abuse in NJ This reference sheet gives information about reporting child abuse including where to call, questions that will be asked and your legal obligation to report. Download English/Spanish.
Physical & Behavioral Indicators of Child Abuse This reference sheet gives physical and behavioral indicators of physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment. Download English/Spanish.
Teacher's Desk Reference on Child Abuse and Neglect This brochure gives school personnel information on how to report child abuse, including legal obligations, common signs of abuse, and what happens after the report. Download English.
Your Body Belongs to You! This engaging Coloring & Activities Book uses fresh, fun pictures and puzzles to deliver the empowering message to elementary-school-age children that their bodies are special. Also advises readers on how to protect themselves from unwelcome contact and to alert an adult if they’ve been victimized. English and Spanish. (Download not available.) | <urn:uuid:6ea32e50-b123-4387-8835-d006801fb127> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nj.gov/dcf/news/publications/abuse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908116 | 461 | 2.625 | 3 |
Order of BattleEdit
The Atmorans were among the first organized human settlers on Tamriel and had been emigrating from Atmora for many years prior. They called the land Mereth, in recognition of the vast number of Mer that lived there, and befriended the local Snow Elves. They built the great city of Saarthal, the first major Atmoran settlement in Skyrim as well as the first city of Men in the continent of Tamriel.
Sack of SaarthalEdit
One night, an invading force of Snow Elves descended upon Saarthal and slaughtered the inhabitants. The city itself was burned to the ground. These events became known as the Night of Tears.
Originally, it was believed that the Snow Elves' motive was to exterminate the Atmorans as they realized the rate at which the human settlers' population was growing. If left unchecked, these settlers would become a great threat to Elvish civilization on Tamriel. Another theory, proposed by Imperial scholars, is that the Snow Elves' motives for attacking Saarthal was that they feared that the Atmorans' culture would surpass their own, and thus sought to drive the Men from their lands.
Some reports suggest that the initial attack on Saarthal was very focused, and did not appear to correlate to any locations that were established as points of defense or importance. Not only did the elves know the apparent layout of the city, but that their assault was based on a specific directive and perhaps a singular goal . It has been speculated that when Saarthal was originally built, the Atmorans found a source of great power located underneath its foundations, and attempted to keep it buried. The Mer learned of this and coveted the object for themselves.
A Nordic-Breton myth known as, The Seven Fights of the Aldudagga, states that the Daedric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon, was responsible for the destruction of Saarthal. It is told that the Snow Elves had already hated the Atmorans, but Dagon gave the Elves grim dreams (most likely involving the Atmorans) that heightened their hatred of the Atmorans to the point in which they sacked Saarthal. Though the myth is rather eccentric and can't really be taken as entirely legitimate, there could be some truth to it.[OOG 1]
Ysgramor and his sons, Yngol and Ylgar, survived and fled back to Atmora, but would later return with an army known as the Five Hundred Companions to reclaim Saarthal and lead a reprisal campaign against the Snow Elves. The ruined city was successfully retaken, and eventually rebuilt.
Ysgramor and his army hunted the Snow Elves and other Mer alike, ending the dominion of Mer over Skyrim and making possible the rise of Men on Tamriel, establishing the First Empire. Any remaining Snow Elves were brutally bound and burnt alive, or chained and enslaved. These series of events gained the name of The Return, and led to a lasting distrust and prejudice between Men and Mer. | <urn:uuid:26bb5867-d903-4584-b4a8-5be996a27672> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Night_of_Tears | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98166 | 629 | 2.515625 | 3 |
On this day in 1864, Union General George Thomas attacks Joseph Johnston’s Confederates near Dalton, Georgia, as the Yankees probe Johnston’s defenses in search of a weakness. Thomas found the position too strong and ceased the offensive the next day, but the Yankees learned a lesson they would apply during the Atlanta campaign that summer.
General Ulysses S. Grant, the overall commander of Union troops in the West, drove the Confederates out of Tennessee at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in November 1863. The Army of Tennessee, then commanded by General Braxton Bragg, fell back to northern Georgia, where Bragg was replaced by Johnston. The defensive-minded Johnston arranged his force along the imposing Rocky Face Ridge near Dalton.
Grant sent part of his army under General William T. Sherman to Mississippi for a campaign against Meridian, a major supply center. This forced Johnston to send part of his army to reinforce Leonidas Polk, who was defending Meridian against Sherman. When Grant became aware of this transfer, he sent Thomas to probe Johnston’s defenses in hopes of finding a weak spot among the depleted Confederates. The Yankees enjoyed initial success but soon found that Johnston’s troops were strong. The reinforcements sent towards Mississippi were no longer needed after Polk abandoned Meridian, so they returned to Johnston’s army. Now, Thomas was outnumbered and was forced to retreat after February 25.
Casualties were light. Thomas suffered fewer than 300 men killed, wounded, or captured, while Johnston lost around 140 troops. The Union generals did learn a valuable lesson, however; a direct attack against Rocky Face Ridge was foolish. Three months later, Sherman, in command after Grant was promoted to commander of all forces, sent part of his army further south to another gap that was undefended by the Confederates. The intelligence garnered from the Battle of Dalton helped pave the way for a Union victory that summer. | <urn:uuid:bd939c8d-6480-4459-bd82-c71b9f8ef62c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-dalton-georgia-begins | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975842 | 394 | 4.15625 | 4 |
James Scott Skinner (1843-1927) was a famous Scottish fiddler and composer who played with a definitive classical style that influenced contemporary and subsequent Scottish fiddlers and their music for over a century. In addition, Skinner was quick to use the technology of the post-Victorian era and had recorded more than 30 tunes by February, 1910, on the new medium of the cylinder recording. He was a consummate showman, and had the technique to back it up, though his once-great reputation is somewhat diminished nowadays in part due to accusations of his being pompous and ego-centric (a perception unfortunately not helped by his own memoirs).
Skinner recounted his childhood as harsh and somewhat deprived, driven by the death of his father when he was a baby and his mother’s subsequent unhappy remarriage.
His mother apparently was a strict woman who brooked no childish disobedience, and reinforced her beliefs with the rod. He was similarly ill-treated by a schoolmaster when he came of school age. James’ brother Sandy, older and an accomplished musician, began to teach him fiddle and cello when he was six years old, but he again was remembered as a harsh taskmaster who also could mete out “humiliating punishment.” The youngster was, by all accounts, a gifted and precocious child who, one can imagine, took to music as an escape and a salve to battered self-esteem. At the age of 8 he was accompanying a famous Deeside fiddler and composer, Peter Milne, who became a mentor and whom Skinner said was “practically a father to me.” Milne earned a meager living giving lessons, playing gigs, and later busking on the Firth ferry, and Skinner recalled: “It was nothing unusual for Peter and me to trudge eight or ten weary miles on a slushy wet night in order to fulfill a barn engagement". One night he came home so exhausted he collapsed in the doorway with his cello. He had been too tired to lift the latch, but fell dead asleep instead, remaining there until he was found by his mother several hours later.
At puberty, Skinner was performing with other children in an orchestra called Dr. Mark’s Little Men, which traveled the British Isles. This enterprise lasted until he was in his late teens—they even played before Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace in 1858—by which time Skinner had acquired the ability to read music and a trained classical technique plus valuable experience at concertizing and how to promote one’s music for gain. Soon after, Skinner began to study with a dancing master named William Scott, and incorporated this admired individual’s name into his own, thus becoming James Scott Skinner. This was followed by a brief foray into blackface minstrelsy (under the name ‘Mr. Grace Egerton’) before he found employment at Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of Queen Victoria, teaching the tenantry to dance. It was around this time that he finally found firm musical setting with the publication of his first collections for the fiddle, Twelve New Strathspeys (1865), followed by Thirty New Strathspeys and Reels (1868). He also forwarded his personal life by marrying a dancer he met at Balmoral, Jane Stuart, and father a daughter, Jeanie, and a son, Manson.
Skinner made his living in much the same way his first mentor, Peter Milne, did: by teaching and performing whenever he could, although he was rather more successful at engaging the gentry to be his patrons. His performing repertoire consisted of classical pieces, traditional Scottish music and his own compositions, and, after more than a decade of work, he “had the patronage of all the big private families in Ross-Shire, Inverness-shire, Elginshire and Bannffshire.” He was earning steady money, and making a comfortable living when tragedy struck. In 1885 his wife Jane was admitted to the Elgin Lunatic Asylum, diagnosed with “excitement,” never to be released (she died in 1899). Skinner tried to keep up payments to her, but had his own financial troubles as a result of the dissolution of the household, and Jane died a pauper. Soon after Jane’s hospitalization Skinner’s brother Sandy died, although his widow, Madame de Lenglee, then joined Skinner’s household as governess and dance teacher.
Aberdeen became his home as he worked to pull his life back together. During a tour of America in 1893, however, he appeared to have an epiphany of sorts and declared to all that he would give up trying to make a living teaching dancing, and would concentrate solely on a career as a solo violinist. He also adopted the kilt as his stage dress, committing himself to an identity as a Scot and to Scottish music. Skinner had kept up with composition and publication, releasing The Miller O'Hirn Collection (1881), The Beauties of the Ballroom (1882), The Elgin Collection (1884), The Logie Collection (1888) and The Scottish Violinist (1900). All except the latter were prior to his American epiphany, indicating that his determination was not all that newfound—he had been playing and composing Scottish music all along—and may have had more to do with aging knees for dancing and opportunities for self-promotion and marketing that became clear to him while he was in America.
After the turn of the century Skinner’s career peaked. He married for a second time, a union that lasted ten years before his wife moved on her own to Rhodesia. His most famous collection, The Harp and Claymore, was published in 1904, and he found his cylinder recordings (made in 1905 and 1910) lucrative for a time. His fame allowed him to tour repeatedly until he was quite elderly. In 1925, at the age of 82, he played at the Royal Albert Hall and then went on a second tour of America. Unfortunately, the tour was not successful, and the fiddler died in his home in Aberdeen soon after, in 1927. | <urn:uuid:a70570a1-0ca8-493e-b927-51435b65a0a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/jsskinner | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990159 | 1,276 | 2.75 | 3 |
Inspections are an important element of NRC's oversight of its licensees. NRC conducts inspections to ensure that licensees meet NRC's regulatory requirements. When licensees meet these requirements, we know that they are most likely conducting safe operations that protect the public and the environment from any undue nuclear risk.
NRC conducts inspections of licensed nuclear power plants, fuel cycle facilities, and radioactive materials activities and operations. Inspectors follow guidance in the NRC Inspection Manual, which contains objectives and procedures to use for each type of inspection. If an inspection shows that a licensee is not safely conducting an activity or safely operating a facility, we inform the licensee of any problems that we find and ensure that they are addressed. We continue to inspect that activity or facility until the problems are corrected.
NRC's regional offices in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Atlanta, Georgia; Lisle, Illinois; and Arlington, Texas, carry out the NRC's inspection program. In addition to region-based inspectors, the NRC stations inspectors, called "resident inspectors," at each of the nation's operating nuclear plants and fuel cycle facilities to carry out the inspection program on a day-to-day basis.
The NRC has a comprehensive program of inspections for commercial nuclear power plants. Generally, inspectors verify that the organizational structure, operator qualifications, design, maintenance, fuel handling, and environmental and radiation protection programs are adequate and comply with NRC safety requirements.
The NRC conducts about 1,000 inspections of nuclear material licensees a year. These inspections cover areas such as training of personnel who use materials, radiation protection programs, radiation patient dose records, and security of nuclear materials.
Details of safety oversight, including inspection, are discussed on the following pages:
Nuclear Reactors Oversight
Nuclear Materials Oversight
Radioactive Waste Oversight | <urn:uuid:3eae5dd0-6bf6-45f5-9986-cbcbc74db262> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/safety-oversight.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925432 | 372 | 3.0625 | 3 |
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi
India's Supreme Court has ordered 300 monkeys captured from the streets of Delhi to be transferred to forests in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Hundreds of monkeys have been captured recently
Thousands of monkeys roam the capital, mostly around government offices, and are considered a public nuisance.
They have terrorised bureaucrats and in one instance even ripped up top secret defence documents.
But the monkeys are viewed as sacred by India's Hindus, who often feed them, encouraging them to remain.
Delhi's large population of stray monkeys has been a long-standing problem.
They are also a public menace in many residential neighbourhoods, where they snatch food from unsuspecting people, including children.
The fact that most Hindus view the monkeys as sacred has made it even harder for the authorities to get rid of the animals.
Now the Supreme Court has ordered that some 300 monkeys captured by animal handlers be freed in the forests of central India as part of an effort to rehabilitate them.
But already there are some who are opposing the move, saying the monkeys may find it difficult to adjust to life in the wild after having been raised in an urban environment. | <urn:uuid:2fc5b7fa-9419-4d0e-b11e-045ff80a715f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6040268.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96932 | 243 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Essential Guide: Application-aware networking
A comprehensive collection of articles, videos and more, hand-picked by our editors
Many IT organizations have deployed application delivery controller technology in an effort to improve application...
performance. Application delivery controllers (ADCs) improve application performance by sitting in front of a server farm and delivering service requests to the members of the server farm based on criteria such as the load that each server is currently processing.
Application delivery controller technology and virtualization
Increasingly, ADCs are playing a role in server virtualization. One of the primary benefits of server virtualization technology is agility. Once a server has been virtualized, it is possible to dynamically provision virtual machines (VMs) and to dynamically move VMs among physical servers, both within a given data center and between disparate data centers without service interruption. Unfortunately, while it is possible to move a VM between physical servers in a matter of seconds or minutes, it can take days to move or reconfigure the supporting infrastructure.
IT organizations will not realize the full value of server virtualization until all of the components of the infrastructure that support a VM can be moved or reconfigured to support the VM once it is moved. Then, the process takes no more than a few minutes. That will mean virtualizing ADCs and using them in the delivery of applications from virtual servers.
Read more about the role of application delivery controller technology in virtualization.
Application delivery controllers and advanced functionality
An ADC can also accelerate the performance of applications delivered over the wide area network (WAN) by implementing optimization techniques such as compression and reverse caching. The basic role of compression is to reduce the amount of traffic transmitted over the WAN. With reverse caching, new user requests for static or dynamic Web objects can often be delivered from a cache in the ADC rather than having to be regenerated by the servers.
Read more about application delivery and the WAN.
Another way that an ADC improves application performance is by performing computationally intensive tasks -- such as SSL or TCP processing -- by freeing up server resources.
In addition to that basic set of functions, some ADCs perform advanced functionality such as scripting, which allows the IT organization to directly classify and modify the traffic of any IP-based application. Other advanced functionalities that some ADCs provide include application response time monitoring and security functionality such as application layer firewalls.
Application delivery controller technology selection considerations
When selecting an ADC, IT organizations need to evaluate how well it provides the functionality described above and how well it performs in the environment in which it will be deployed. In addition, IT organizations often have to balance goals that are in conflict. For example, IT organizations must ensure that the ADC can provide all of the functionality that is currently needed at the lowest possible cost.
IT organizations also need to ensure that the application delivery controller technology will provide the performance that is currently needed even when a feature such as security is enabled. IT shops also have to take into account anticipated future demands in order to ensure that the ADCs that they acquire today don’t quickly become obsolete, either because they don’t offer the functionality that the organization will need in the future or they can’t provide the additional performance that will be required.
Read about virtual application delivery controller technology in the second part of this series. | <urn:uuid:35121130-15d8-424d-8187-1d9fd1583723> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Application-delivery-controller-technology-plays-many-roles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937237 | 678 | 2.71875 | 3 |
|The Amber Time Machine|
|Written by||David Attenborough|
|Narrated by||David Attenborough|
|Country of origin||United Kingdom|
|Preceded by||Life on Air|
|Related shows||Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages|
The Amber Time Machine is a BBC documentary written and presented by David Attenborough. It was first transmitted in 2004 and later became part of the Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages collection of seven documentaries.
The documentary shows Attenborough searching for the identities of preserved creatures inside a piece of Baltic amber that was given to him by his adoptive sister when he was twelve years old. It then shows how a group of scientists can reconstruct an entire twenty million year old ecosystem through pieces of Dominican amber. Examples include a tadpole preserved in amber after falling from a Bromeliad.
Attenborough then discusses the scientific feasibility of DNA being preserved in amber, and the science behind the 1993 hit techno-thriller Jurassic Park, in which his elder brother Richard Attenborough starred as John Hammond. Several attempts were tried, with DNA eventually being recovered from a weevil that was several million years older than Tyrannosaurus rex. Attenborough reasons that a few old, rare pieces of amber may contain DNA.
- From DVD
|This article about a scientific documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia. A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. | <urn:uuid:293a709b-d8b3-4bb8-a869-291654798445> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/The_Amber_Time_Machine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921818 | 323 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Legislation that would have made Hanford’s B Reactor part of a national park recognizing the development of nuclear weapons failed to pass on a vote Thursday in the U.S. House.
Congressman Doc Hastings says the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act is not dead and could pass before the end of the year on another vote. It would include Manhattan Project sites in Los Alamos, N.M., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The Tri-City Herald reports that Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio spoke against the bill in debate Wednesday, calling the proposed park a celebration of nuclear weapons.
The B Reactor was the world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor and created plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II.
The Senate has yet to consider a companion bill. | <urn:uuid:5bab9375-e8d9-434d-add8-3d0f3b7eceab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.opb.org/news/article/hanford-nuclear-park-bill-fails-in-us-senate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941495 | 172 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Creative Learning Factory at the Ohio Historical Society are seeking Community College Instructors and K-12 teachers to participate in a NEH Landmarks in American History workshop on the War of 1812 in the Great Lakes and Western Territories.
Participants will have the opportunity to visit prominent sites from the war and explore diverse aspects of the conflict with renowned scholars like Alan Taylor, Andrew Cayton, David Skaggs, Gregory Dowd, Jim Bradford, Susan Sleeper-Smith, and others. Faculty will lead the group through the various social, political, cultural, military, and economic components of the war from its origins through its aftermath. Topics will include the nature of the military and naval conflict, the role of Native Americans, the degree to which the conflict should be seen as a Civil War, as well as the war’s broader political and social dimensions. We will tour several prominent historical sites in this key borderlands region, including Fort Meigs, Perry’s Victory and International Peace Monument, and the River Raisin Battlefield.
The workshop is timed for the bicentennial of the conflict and is designed to help provide resources and knowledge for Community College or K-12 school teachers who teach this period of United States history. The broader perspective that we will take would also make it suitable for those who teach social studies, western civilization, world or Atlantic history, or history-related fields like anthropology, American studies, war and peace studies, or Native American studies.
These workshops will be offered July 22-27, 2012 and August 5-10, 2012 in Toledo, Ohio, a city in the heart of the war’s narrative. There is no fee to participate in this program and all participants will receive a $1,200 stipend to help defray travel and lodging expenses. If you teach at a Community College go to www.1812landmarkscollege.org for more information and to learn how to learn how to participate. Applications are due March 1st!
If you teach K-12 students, go to www.1812landmarksteacher.org for more information and to learn how to participate. Applications are due March 1st!
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Drawing groundwater from near a stream can suck that stream dry. In turn, using all the water in streams and rivers lessens their ability to replenish the aquifers beneath them. Yet California and Arizona -- the two states water experts say are facing the most severe water crises -- continue to count and regulate groundwater and surface water as if they were entirely separate.Read More »
Tag Archives: Water ResourcesFeed Subscription
If you want to glimpse the future of a city or state, all you need to do is look at how it’s managing its water supply.Read More »
House Speaker Andy Tobin said water legislation is at the top of Arizona’s priority list for next year, but a solution to the state’s impending water crisis is as elusive as ever.Read More »
With state finances on the sunny side, cities and towns hope to convince lawmakers to relieve some of the budget pressures on local governments.
And it appears legislators are listening.
The 100th anniversary of Salt River Project’s Theodore Roosevelt Dam this month put the exclamation point on how important effective water management is to life in the Valley of the Sun.Read More »
The Department of Mines and Minerals, a state agency that's been around since the 1930s, will shut down for good Friday due to a lack of funding, its director said.Read More »
Department of Water Resources Director Herb Guenther has been given his walking papers, and Assistant Director Sandra Fabritz-Whitney of Water Management Division has been named as acting department director.Read More »
A vote on settling the Navajo Nation's water rights in the lower Colorado River basin will have to wait for another day. The Tribal Council on Wednesday tabled a bill that would have given the tribe 31,000 acre-feet of water a year from the Colorado River, the unappropriated surface flows from the Little Colorado River and nearly unlimited access to two aquifers beneath the reservation.Read More » | <urn:uuid:94528cfa-c050-4f44-aff6-2bdde6a2d28b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/tag/water-resources/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944647 | 405 | 2.5625 | 3 |
This book is an investigation of the ways in which the cinema participated in the visual constructions of the Mexican Revolution and the processes that shaped and contributed to the dissemination of these constructions on film since the 1930s in Mexico and internationally. It highlights the convergence between film and other visual media, including photography, painting, and graphic arts, to explain the significance of visual technologies in the twentieth century and their mediating role in the forging of the collective memories of a nation.
The basic framework of the narrative is the widespread uprising against the regime of President Porfirio Díaz that began in 1910 and the protracted struggle for power that involved the various political and military forces that initially rallied around Francisco I. Madero. While the Mexican people are the protagonists, the narrative singles out such legendary figures as Madero, Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata rather than the countless anonymous men and women—peasants, workers, and Indians—who participated in the revolution. Its subject matter involves popular insurrections and mass mobilizations; anti-insurgency and pacification operations led by government and revolutionary troops under the command of such disparate leaders as Pascual Orozco, Victoriano Huerta, Venustiano Carranza, and Alvaro Obregón; and peace treaties signed between warring factions but never enforced. The battles that produced one million dead in a total population of fifteen million, the insecurity in rural areas, and the loss of property that displaced entire populations within Mexico and across the border into the United States give a social dimension to the revolutionary scenario. The implementation of revolutionary principles, hampered by the opposing agendas of a peasantry fighting for land, a middle class bent on participating in the political process, and a bourgeoisie determined to preserve past privileges, and the ultimate victory of the last two sectors, furnish this narrative with a political, mostly mystifying but sometimes critical perspective.
As the Mexican historian Enrique Florescano has written, the revolution exceeds events and personalities. In his words, "It is not just a series of historical acts that took place between 1910 and 1917, or between 1910 and 1920, or between 1910 and 1940; it is also the collection of projections, symbols, evocations, images and myths that its participants, interpreters, and heirs forged and continue to construct around this event" (quoted in Mraz, 1997a, 93). Florescano's statement provides the critical framework for this book. It suggests the need to include visual production in the study of historical representations and cultural stereotypes and to examine the mass-mediated features and multiple uses of the imagery of the revolution. The story of the Mexican Revolution that emerged is particularly complex because it transpired on an international, as well as national, field of mass production of modernity. This overdetermined set of conditions means that I am looking at the issues of cultural exchange, translation, appropriation, and commodification, which enables me to negotiate the tensions between the cross-cultural and transnational dimensions of the imagery and its nationalist projections within the modernist and contemporary historiography of Mexico.
My objective is to map the ways in which the meanings surrounding the revolution have been historicized by films that themselves participated in a wider visual field. I draw attention to the formative and ongoing impact of the imagery produced during the revolution. The modes of representation and spectatorship generated by this imagery were invested with a wide range of meanings regarding how the revolution was experienced by those who participated and recorded it. This imagery constitutes the visual vernacular of Mexican modernity. It articulates a modernist awareness of the role of images in documenting the dynamics of social and cultural change, constructing a collective imaginary out of multiple identities and experiences. How this awareness was preserved and reconstructed is best exemplified in Memories of a Mexican (Carmen Toscano de Moreno Sánchez, 1950) and Epics of the Mexican Revolution (Gustavo Carrera, 1963), compilation documentaries consisting primarily of footage shot and collected by Mexico's prominent film pioneers, Salvador Toscano and Jesús H. Abitía, respectively. Media awareness extended across the border into the United States by means of the photographs and weekly newsreels that supplemented journalistic dispatches from the war front, as well as the nascent picture postcard business. As the Mexican film historian Aurelio de los Reyes notes, "Between 1911 and 1920 over 80 American cameramen working either freelance or for various film companies covered the Mexican revolution from the viewpoints of different groups" (2001a, 36). Concurrently public interest and profit drove the production of fiction films in which narratives of bravery and betrayal predominate and democratic values inevitably triumph over brutality. Incidents of violence set in picturesque "Mexico"—California as a stand-in for actual locations—pit American characters against Mexican insurrectos who look and behave like the "greaser" bandits of the pulp fiction that emerged in the wake of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1847. The above-mentioned films, as well as And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself and The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa, corroborate to what extent the allure of this history has not subsided.
In the postrevolutionary period the vernacular constructed during the protracted military and political struggle was reintegrated with historical forms of visualizing Mexican culture and identity to consolidate an official state discourse and project a renewed nationalist and modernist image of Mexico at home and abroad. Initially the revolution vanished from the screens. Embargoes of films considered denigrating to Mexico's image and fears of losing a profitable market south of the border forced Hollywood to abandon the theme. At home, war fatigue and official concerns that films dealing with the conflict would reinforce negative views of the country led national producers in the 1920s to opt for a folkloric and sanitized representation. "Although actuality films that focused on the conflict disappeared prematurely," the British visual culture scholar Andrea Noble writes, "this did not, and indeed within the terms of reference that governed the post-revolutionary state's legitimacy, could not spell the disappearance of the revolution from the nation's (audio) visual imaginary altogether" (2005, 53; original emphasis). The theme returned in the early years of the sound period, first implicitly in the Soviet filmmaker Sergei M. Eisenstein's unfinished project, Que Viva Mexico! (1930-1931, 1979), and later in three features directed by the Mexican Fernando de Fuentes, El prisionero trece (The Prisoner 13) and El compadre Mendoza (Compadre Mendoza), both from 1933, and ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! (Let's Go with Pancho Villa!), released in 1935. Whereas the distinctive trait of this trilogy was its critical approach, the majority of national and foreign films represented the revolution as a "spectacular 'folk-show'" (De la Mora, 2006, 143). El tesoro de Pancho Villa (The Treasure of Pancho Villa) (Arcady Boytler, Mexico, 1935), La Adelita (Guillermo Hernández Gómez, Mexico, 1937), and Viva Villa! (Jack Conway, U.S., 1933) are examples.
The genre was briefly revitalized during what is commonly known as the golden age of Mexican cinema. Melodrama, star power, and patriotic sentiment coalesced in the films of Emilio "El Indio" Fernández. Starting with Flor silvestre (Wildflower) (1943)—and thanks to the artful cinematography of Gabriel Figueroa—the revolutionary scenario was the catalyst for a modernist reconfiguration of the visual archive. Since didacticism, rather than history, was the impulse behind the director's work and mediocre imitations undermined the aesthetic inventiveness of the cinematographer's style, the genre reverted to picturesque stereotypes. Films such as Pancho Villa vuelve (Pancho Villa Returns) (Miguel Contrera Torres, 1949) and Vino el remolino y nos alevantó (The Whirlwind Came and Swept Us Away) (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1949) cashed in on the popularity of the legendary leader and the corridos (ballads) recounting the heroic deeds and tragic deaths of chieftains and common soldiers. Yet a few other films made during this decade managed, in imperfect and sometimes surprising ways, to reflect on the revolution as a disruptive and contradictory event. Notable are the literary adaptations Los de abajo (The Underdogs) (Chano Urueta, 1939), Rosenda (Julio Bracho, 1948), and La negra Angustias (Matilde Landeta, 1949).
Regardless of their literary and generic affiliations, commercial and political agendas, and countries of origin, these films exemplify the enduring allure of the revolution as a scenario and its diverse actors as catalysts for heroic tales of conflict, betrayal, justice, and redemption. More significantly, these films are symptomatic of the multiple ways in which the visual archive of the revolution has been appropriated, translated, and reconfigured internationally, as well as nationally, since the 1930s. Seen from this perspective, the cinematic uses of Mexico by foreign directors in the 1950s and 1960s are the result of a series of conversations across cultures that were initiated by Eisenstein's unfinished project and expanded in the next decade across a range of production practices, genres, and nationalities. The primary agent of these conversations is Figueroa, a cinematographer who managed to negotiate the avant-garde inclinations of modernism and the industrial imperatives of mainstream filmmaking. Formed in the international context of cinema, yet ideally positioned as a Mexican, he was best suited as an interlocutor for that dialogue. At the conclusion of this study, I return to the ramifications of the genealogy of that dialogue as it reinforces certain aspects of the transnational dynamics of the archive.
The formative role that autochthonous and foreign elements have played in the construction and consolidation of the imagery of the Mexican Revolution is acknowledged in this book's emphasis on the cultural mediation and translation process characteristic of modernism and globalization. Since the visual construction of the revolution was taken up by both Mexican and international agents, this book takes a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and comparative approach to highlight the uses to which this vast visual archive has been put. My close analysis of selected films reads Mexican iconic images and visual themes with and against their international counterparts. Of necessity, it also takes into account structural conditions of production and reception. Yet if these films and their mass media counterparts of the period produced the image repertoire of a new event, their rhetoric was anything but altogether new. In fact, it often played on existing nationalist images or alternatively on folkloric motifs designed for export. I argue, then, that the transformation of traditional images into nationalist icons in the postrevolutionary period is evidence that Mexican modernism, rather than an absolute break, involves a cultural and discursive rearrangement of the already existing visual signifiers of nation, identity, and modernity.
What makes this book different is my critical and analytical approach. The detailed study of individual films aims to overcome the limitations of reductive treatments of historical cinema. As I argue, historicity is shaped by the interrelation of aesthetic and discursive elements rather than exclusively by textual narrative. By reexamining the cultural, political, and social factors that have enabled and mediated the circulation of iconic images and visual themes, I wish to encourage alternative readings. Moreover, I incorporate spectatorship into my inquiry into the historicity of film—spectatorship understood here as enabling complex, dynamic, and open-ended interactions between audiences and spectacle and cultural identity and the images and realities shown on the screen. The production of viewing positions (gender, class, and ethnicity) is as important to visual construction as mass-mediated technologies of vision to the making of the subject of modernity. In Mexico, spectatorship and image making are irrevocably tied to mexicanidad—a powerful trope designating at once a search for authenticity and a fashioning of an identity capable of accommodating the multiple, even conflicting features that make up the national imaginary. From this perspective, this book sheds light on the unstable and diverse meanings and responses elicited by iconic images and visual themes instead of reducing Mexican films to reified and totalizing reproductions of postrevolutionary discourse and foreign films to demeaning or at best patronizing representations of the other. Finally, I believe that the value of this book is its potential to intervene in current discussions on modernity, which have largely rested on European conditions and models. By reading a cataclysmic twentieth-century event against the growth of an unprecedented mass-mediated modernity, I hope to contribute to a more inclusive understanding of "other" modernities.
Questions arising from how the Mexican Revolution was visualized are examined in the early chapters, with particular emphasis on the documentary image as a record of public history and as an archival artifact to be reconstructed and appropriated. Chapter 1 deals with Mexican materials filmed in the period 1910-1917 and the challenges compilation films pose to the historicity of documentary images. It discusses Epics of the Mexican Revolution and Memories of a Mexican, whose intent, as the titles indicate, is commemorative. While these films present a photogenic version of national history and revolutionary mythology, they also offer a unique chronicle of the revolution. Their remarkable imagery is a testimony to the social violence and political chaos and their producers' and actors' awareness of being agents in the recording of actions at once newsworthy and explanatory of a historical process. Of the numerous Mexican cameramen who documented the revolution, Abitía was the only one who worked in both film and photography. Images referring to the same events integrate the observer in an organic manner, with the filmmaker-photographer determining the camera's point of view, the participant as actor or internal audience, and the viewing public as historical agent. The broad chronological scope of the footage in Memories of a Mexican reveals how events, places, and personalities were organized into a compelling story whose power derives from a compulsion to turn the newsworthy instant into a memorable visual archive of Mexico's modern history.
The archival value of U.S.-produced period images is discussed in Chapter 2. Massively reproduced and marketed as news items and novelties, film stills, press photographs, and postcards have since become an obligatory source for fiction films on the revolution. What the contract signed in January 1914 between Villa and the Mutual Film Company has come to mean is the subject of And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself and The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa, both of which engage with the visual themes generated by the contract by using the extant archive and current historiography to tell the story of the now-lost film, The Life of General Villa. The American film reconstructs anecdotes of the deal, replicates early silent film practices, and points to historical models of spectatorship linking vision and identity. Even if the meanings of the deal are relocated, at the end, into current concerns on media politics and war reporting, what emerges is a multilayered representation of Villa as a mass-mediated construct.
The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa is an experimental work about the Mexican film and video maker's quest for the missing film. It investigates mainly U.S. visual materials on Villa found in European and North American archives, including those that reconfigured him as the archetypal Mexican bandit after the Columbus raid in 1916. It explores the story of The Vengeance of Pancho Villa, a film using different footage assembled in the 1920s by the Mexican American itinerant exhibitors Félix and Edmundo Padilla from El Paso, Texas. Characters and events are represented as cultural and social projections, their agencies unstable and contingent on the material frailty of the archive. What is more, reassemblages of extant footage point to the film's strategies of reclamation aimed at reimagining Villa's subjectivity and cinematic identity as a Mexican hero.
Awareness of the power of visual media discussed in Chapters 1 and 2 extends to feature films produced in the 1930s. Yet the vast visual archive generated by the fascination with Villa reveals how the American public continued to view Mexico through the prism of a long-standing history of prejudice. By making light of the revolutionary leader's transformation into a subject of his own history, feature films during this period turned him into a commodity deprived of social agency and burdened by mythology. Whether constructed during his lifetime, with Villa as an active agent, or retrospectively by numerous others, legend is key to Villa's enduring mythology and his representations on film abroad and at home. The combined power of and inconsistencies within the legend are discussed in Chapter 3. Viva Villa! and ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! were produced one decade after Villa's assassination in 1923.
In both, the aesthetic and discursive resources of cinema are used to mediate the visual themes that turned Villa into a cinematic hero. Depictions of brutality, heroism, and victimization point to the affective and perceptual disparities of the responses elicited by Villa in both countries. Shifts between epic spectacle, comedy, and melodrama in Viva Villa! reinforce these disparities and reveal Hollywood's inability to overcome historical attitudes. Conversely, affective and perceptual disparities shape the critical scrutiny of the themes of bravery and loyalty in the Villa legend in ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! This film draws attention to the mediated features of the revolutionary leader's cinematographic and historical persona. It capitalizes on the public familiarity with charrería culture and performance (the historical hacienda traditions and values that were integrated into the nationalist tableau of identity in the 1920s) to counter the reified representations of male bravery and sacrifice promoted by postrevolutionary discourse. Thus it took almost three decades for the demystifying and antiheroic perspective of the film to be fully appreciated.
Chapter 4 considers the complex and diverse ways in which images of Mexico and the revolution were constructed and negotiated in the postrevolutionary period, by Mexicans and foreigners alike. Desastre en Oaxaca (Disaster in Oaxaca), a short documentary filmed and edited by Eisenstein in January 1930, exemplifies his goal of turning his impressions as a traveler into an investigation of the country's contrasting realities and histories. The extant footage, production stills, photographs, and drawings relative to what is known as the "Maguey" episode of Que Viva Mexico! are indicative of Eisenstein's engagement with the political and artistic practices of the Mexican vanguard. Hence I consider the influence of Anita Brenner's book Idols behind Altars and indigenismo on the visual reconfiguration of the Indian in the nationalist narrative. Affinities with the visual practices and culture of the time—those that can be gleaned from the artist Isabel Villaseñor's participation and the representation of the hacienda and the charro—demonstrate the assimilation on the director's part of vernacular forms and his critical perspective on the national reconciliation rhetoric promoted by the state respectively.
Chapter 5 charts the convergences between the cinematic revival of the revolutionary theme and the nation-building agenda of the Mexican state. Though only a handful of the films produced during the golden age of Mexican cinema avoided the totalizing tendencies of official historiography, they played a fundamental role in integrating the visual archive of the revolution into popular culture. The aethetic and narrative protocols of fictional filmmaking were used to reconfigure character types, landscapes, and episodes. Far from being homogenous, these fictional representations reveal both the aesthetic wealth of iconic images and visual themes and the incongruities of their overdetermined meanings. Abandoned Women may be the most overlooked of the Fernández-Figueroa films produced in the 1940s. Yet it is a complex and idiosyncratic work that expands the historicity and iconography of revolutionary melodrama. With the city as a backdrop to visualize the precarious place of women in the modernist scenario, the film makes the most of star identification and melodrama to represent the tension between social reality and discourse. If famed actors Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz are turned into gendered models and icons of Mexico’s renewed nationalism, their identities are unstable and contingent on the dual protocols of degradation and redemption in melodrama. Moreover, the urban setting and the presence of the prostitute-mother in Abandoned Women anticipate the decline of the revolutionary genre.
Chapter 6 addresses the relationship between spectacle and overdetermined visual icons. As the golden age was coming to a close, films dealing with the revolution aligned the representation of this momentous event and the agents who participated in it with the state's promotion of history as patrimony and the marketing of culture and identity as commodity. Historicity in La escondida (The Hidden One) (Roberto Galvadón, Mexico, 1956) is anchored in the affective power of modes of visualizing Mexico as at once picturesque and modern. Authenticity is repackaged by means of visual citations and pictorial embellishments that transform the revolution into a canvas of desire and abjection. The performance of nationalism and glamour of María Félix sustains the fetishism of spectacle. The tendency is to think about the use of Mexico and the revolution in The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) as a mere backdrop for an allegory on war and violence. Yet the film's powerful effect comes from its historicizing investment in the dynamics of looking and seeing and its reinscription of the Mexican subject into the mythological world of the western. As I argue, the vision of the revolution is closer to the fatalistic and tragic imagery of Orozco's lithographs and murals than to the heroic and utopian monumentality of the murals of Rivera and Siqueiros.
Chapter 7 deals with historicity in experimental films. The minimalist aesthetic and innovative use of sound in Reed: Insurgent Mexico (Paul Leduc, Mexico, 1971) demystifies the revolution, blending documentary and fictional elements in a manner that is consistent with the aesthetic and political strategies of the Cuban and New Latin American cinemas. War and death are deglamorized; desolation and loss resignify actions and landscapes. The film validates the American radical journalist John Reed's participation as a witness and narrator of the revolution and reclaims the stories, subjectivities, and sentiments concealed behind official history. Not only is Reed "Mexicanized" through actor Claudio Obregón’s accent and performance; his subjectivity and agency are fused with the Mexican protagonists. Tina in Mexico (Brenda Longfellow, 2001) revisualizes the work and life of the Italian-born American photographer Tina Modotti. Archival footage, dramatic reenactments, and stylized citations are used to peel away the numerous layers of context inscribed in her photographs. The film reveals a subjectivity deeply affected by Mexico that responds to national myths and becomes its subject. To demonstrate how her identity merged with Mexico, the film reinscribes her into the history of Mexico City as an avant-garde center in the 1920s where the aesthetics of modernism converged with the politics of modernity.
In the conclusion I summarize the main themes and modes of representing Mexico and historicizing the revolution. I focus on the various ways in which the cinema has circulated the visual archive to document, celebrate, mythologize, and reinterpret anecdotes and characters. The deployment of period images of the revolution goes hand in hand with a reconversion of visual themes and motifs associated with picturesque modes of representing Mexico that originated in Mexico and abroad. This strategy is consistent at once with the nationalist agenda of the postrevolutionary state and the cultural politics of modernism and manifests itself through multiple mediations. As a result, the meanings that emerge from the use of the visual archive of the revolution in the films are unstable, always open to negotiation, reinterpretation, and revision. | <urn:uuid:a4dd3ffa-d09b-4bca-8ef2-e977e2c61160> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/piccon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935631 | 4,971 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Armitage, J.J., Henstock, T.J., Minshull, T.A. and Hopper, J.R.
Lithospheric controls on melt production during continental breakup at slow rates of extension: Application to the North Atlantic.
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 10, . (doi:10.1029/2009GC002404).
Rifted margins form from extension and breakup of the continental
lithosphere. If this extension is coeval with a region of hotter lithosphere,
then it is generally assumed that a volcanic margin would follow. Here
we present the results of numerical simulations of rift margin evolution by
extending continental lithosphere above a thermal anomaly. We find that unless
the lithosphere is thinned prior to the arrival of the thermal anomaly
or half spreading rates are more than ? 50mmyr?1, the lithosphere acts
as a lid to the hot material. The thermal anomaly cools significantly by conduction
before having an effect on decompression melt production. If the lithosphere
is thinned by the formation of extensional basins then the thermal
anomaly advects into the thinned region and leads to enhanced decompression
melting. In the North Atlantic a series of extensional basins off the coast
of northwest Europe and Greenland provide the required thinning. This observation
suggests that volcanic margins that show slow rates of extension,
only occur where there is the combination of a thermal anomaly and previous
regional thinning of the lithosphere.
Actions (login required) | <urn:uuid:42e8dff2-91ef-487f-b0be-0937148f3862> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/66801/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.843731 | 336 | 2.53125 | 3 |
[It is my comprehension that, originally when people could not ‘travel’ to their respective polling stations, they sent their ‘electors’ to place their vote for them. If that is true, is it necessary today? I think not.]
Voters in each state and the District of Columbia cast ballots selecting electors pledged to presidential and vice presidential candidates. In nearly all states, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis to the candidate who wins the most votes in that state. Although no elector is required by federal law to honor a pledge, in the overwhelming majority of cases each elector votes as pledged. The 12th Amendment provides for each elector to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. It also specifies how a President and Vice President are elected.
Electors in these States are bound by State Law or by pledges to cast their vote for a specific candidate:
ALASKA – Party Pledge / State Law – § 15.30.040; 15.30.070
CALIFORNIA – State Law – § 6906
COLORADO – State Law – § 1-4-304
CONNECTICUT – State Law – § 9-175
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – DC Pledge / DC Law – § 1-1312(g)
FLORIDA – Party Pledge / State Law – § 103.021(1)
HAWAII – State Law – §§ 14-26 to 14-28
MAINE – State Law – § 805
MARYLAND – State Law – § 20-4
MASSACHUSETTS – Party Pledge / State Law – Ch. 53, § 8, Supp.
MICHIGAN – State Law – §168.47 (Violation cancels vote and Elector is replaced.)
MISSISSIPPI – Party Pledge / State Law – §23-15-785(3)
MONTANA – State Law – § 13-25-104
NEBRASKA – State Law – § 32-714
NEVADA – State Law – § 298.050
NEW MEXICO – State Law – § 1-15-5 to 1-15-9 (Violation is a fourth degree felony.)
NORTH CAROLINA – State Law – § 163-212 (Violation cancels vote; elector is replaced and is subject to $500 fine.)
OHIO – State Law – § 3505.40
OKLAHOMA – State Pledge / State Law – 26, §§ 10-102; 10-109 (Violation of oath is a misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $1000.)
OREGON – State Pledge / State Law – § 248.355
SOUTH CAROLINA – State Pledge / State Law – § 7-19-80 (Replacement and criminal sanctions for violation.)
VERMONT – State Law – title 17, § 2732
* VIRGINIA – State Law – § 24.1-162 (Virginia statute may be advisory – “Shall be expected” to vote for nominees.)
WASHINGTON – Party Pledge / State Law – §§ 29.71.020, 29.71.040, Supp. ($1000 fine.)
WISCONSIN – State Law – § 7.75
WYOMING – State Law – §§ 22-19-106; 22-19-108
Electors in these States are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:
Certificates should begin arriving at NARA shortly after the general election held on November 6, 2012. The Archives makes a record of the Certificates of Ascertainment it receives and transmits them to the OFR’s Legal Affairs and Policy Staff by special delivery. The OFR logs in a record of the Certificates and checks them for facial legal sufficiency. If there are any problems with a Certificate, an OFR attorney calls the contact person in the State to advise them of the defect. The OFR makes copies of the Certificates of Ascertainment available for public inspection and secures the originals.
The United States Constitution and Federal law do not prescribe the method of appointment other than requiring that electors must be appointed on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (November 6, 2012).
6, 2012—Election Day:
The voters in each State choose electors to serve in the Electoral College. As soon as election results are final, the States prepare seven original "Certificates of Ascertainment" of the electors chosen, and send one original along with two certified copies to the Archivist of the United States at the Office of the Federal Register.
17, 2012—Meeting of Electors:
The electors in each State meet to select the President and Vice President of the United States. The Electors record their votes on six “Certificates of Vote,” which are paired with the six remaining original “Certificates of Ascertainment.” The electors sign, seal and certify the packages of electoral votes and immediately send them to the Federal and State officials listed in these instructions.
26, 2012—Deadline for Receipt of Electoral Votes:
The President of the Senate, the Archivist of the United States, and other designated Federal and State officials must have the electoral votes in hand.
6, 2013—Counting Electoral Votes in Congress:
The Congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes (unless Congress passes a law to change the date). | <urn:uuid:a86e1eff-09e7-4cce-925f-3369bc4690d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nesaranews.blogspot.com/2012/11/who-are-electors-in-your-state.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911558 | 1,149 | 2.640625 | 3 |
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Help Protect Support of Federal Spending on Rare Diseases like Duchenne
Dear [Decision Maker],
As Congress debates the looming implementation of sequestration, we are writing as patients and families impacted by Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy to urge that you protect vital biomedical research, public health and medical innovation programs from these devastating across-the-board cuts. A muscle wasting condition and the most common form of Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne affects about one of every 3,500 boys, with about 20,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide each year. It is the most common lethal genetic childhood disorder and primarily affects boys because the Duchenne gene is found on the X chromosome. Patients today are generally wheelchair bound by their teenage years, and most patients live only until their late 20s.Thankfully, as a direct result of biomedical and public health programs supported by Congress over the past decade hope is on the horizon. Today about 20 potential Duchenne therapies and treatments are in various stages of the clinical trial pipeline, with additional potential therapies in earlier stages of development. Not too long ago, the Duchenne pipeline was virtually empty, but increased support for Duchenne research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has enabled significant advancements in science that have been translated into these potential treatments. Also today, the life expectancy for the average patient with Duchenne is nearly 10 years longer than it was just a decade ago. This success was brought about largely by the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to standardize care and better educate clinicians and family members about these care standards.Under the terms of the sequester, funding for these vital biomedical research and public health programs would be drastically reduced, limiting our ability to achieve additional breakthroughs for those people affected by Duchenne and other serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions. In addition to biomedical research and public health initiatives, the terms of the sequester would reduce resources of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to thoroughly and expeditiously review new drug applications. The prospect of a situation whereby a promising potential therapy spends significantly more time undergoing review and evaluation because the agency lacks adequate staff resources is particularly disconcerting to the Duchenne community.
Sincerely,[Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State ZIP]
Our family-centered approach is at the heart of everything we do. Learn more. | <urn:uuid:f4a889e4-9032-4516-b554-237bdfd125b6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://secure2.convio.net/ppmd/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=169 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931933 | 557 | 2.828125 | 3 |
With the space shuttle program over and private companies launching their own spaceships, it’s clear that nongovernment organizations are making a stir in America’s space race.
Now the private sector is getting into the space telescope business, too. The first official entrant into this arena wants humanity to locate and avoid asteroids, helping us dodge the fate of the dinosaurs.
The nonprofit B612 Foundation announced Thursday plans to raise money to build an infrared space telescope that would go around the sun, with an orbit similar to that of Venus. It would be about 170 million miles from Earth at its farthest.
The goal: Find and track asteroids with enough accuracy to see if they would collide with Earth in the next century or so. It’s looking for about half a million uncharted asteroids. The plan is to launch in 2017 and operate for 5½ years.
“What we’re really talking is affecting human evolution, by reshaping the solar system ever so slightly,” Rusty Schweickart, chairman emeritus of B612 and an astronaut with NASA’s Apollo 9 mission, told reporters at an advance press event Wednesday at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. “We’re literally beginning to affect and change the solar system to enhance human survival. That’s the capability of which this is a central part.”
Sounds cool, but it’s still in the fund-raising stage. Representatives from B612 declined to discuss the details of the funding situation for the space telescope mission, called Sentinel, but told reporters they were looking to raise a few hundred million dollars.
The announcement joins a wave of privately funded space milestones. Just last month, the company SpaceX launched a successful mission to the International Space Station, making it the first private company to do so. Also in May, Virgin Galactic got clearance from U.S. regulators to test its suborbital tourism craft SpaceShipTwo. And several other companies also are working on spacecraft.
Sentinel would locate and map asteroids, including determining their size. Ground-based telescopes would follow up, making further analyses about composition and other details. Specifically, the telescope would aim to find 90% of asteroids bigger than 140 meters (about 460 feet).
The organization is working with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which also collaborated with the teams that developed the Spitzer and Kepler telescopes.
The data from the mission will be made available to the scientific community, B612 representatives said, and the organization will not try to monetize the data. B612 said it has not asked for funding from NASA.
The B612 Foundation, which sounds like a vitamin but actually pays homage to the home asteroid in the novella “The Little Prince,” started 11 years.
“We all came together because asteroids were being found, but no one knew anything about what happens if they had our address on it,” Schweickart said.
Today, scientists are aware of three ways to deflect an asteroid, said Ed Lu, chairman and CEO of the B612 Foundation.
One is kinetic impact, or running into it with a spacecraft. Another is a nuclear standoff. The third, called a “gravity tractor,” would involve sending a spacecraft to hover near an asteroid and throw it off course through the force of gravity. In practice, a gravity tractor would probably be used in combination with a kinetic impact, Lu said.
In the first month of operation, Sentinel would have found more asteroids than have been found in all of human history by other telescopes combined, Schweickart said.
“That will be the seminal moment in human history, which goes from civilization that is subject to the threat - all civilizations that live in planetary systems have this threat - to ones that have graduated and passed the test that says: You can now protect your home planet," Lu said.
Lu, also a former NASA astronaut, added, “We are finally at the point where we are capable of passing the test. The question is, will we?”
Whether the money will be raised also remains to be seen. | <urn:uuid:567023d6-adca-43ca-99da-aebd5c0fe6fb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/29/telescope-aims-to-head-off-asteriods-impact-on-earth/?iid=article_sidebar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00047-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957438 | 847 | 2.59375 | 3 |
| Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database (IPCD)
| What's New?|
|BTS added data for transit rail stations and intercity bus stations to the IPCD in October 2012. This completed the initial data collection for all of the IPCD passenger transportation modes. The data is now accessible in two different ways:|
|The Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database (IPCD) is a nationwide data table of passenger transportation terminals, with data on the availability of connections among the various scheduled public transportation modes at each facility.
In addition to geographic data for each terminal, the data elements describe the availability of intercity, commuter and transit rail; scheduled air service; intercity and transit bus; and intercity and transit ferry services. Transit bus service locations are not specifically included in the database.
The transit bus network involves stops at nearly every street corner in some cities, and there would be little benefit to listing every street corner in the IPCD. However, the status of transit bus as a connecting mode is included for each facility in the database.|
|Intermodal connections, the links that allow passengers to switch from one mode to another to complete a trip, have been an important element of federal transportation policy since passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA).
ISTEA marked a major change in federal transportation policy. Instead of considering the needs of each mode individually, ISTEA sought to encourage the development of intermodal connections, stating that "The National Intermodal Transportation System shall consist of all forms of transportation in a unified, interconnected manner."
Since then, the U.S. Department of Transportation has encouraged the development of intermodal connectivity. Interconnecting the modes would give both shippers and travelers transportation alternatives that unconnected, parallel systems do not offer. Also, with interconnectivity, the system would function more efficiently because each mode would be relied on for the transportation that it could most effectively provide.|
There is a general consensus that the U.S. passenger transportation system has become more intermodally linked since the passage of ISTEA, but the degree of that connectivity has never been measured. The Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database (IPCD) was developed to provide a baseline connectivity measurement against which to measure future progress.
The most precise measurement of passenger transportation system connectivity would be to measure how many trips are actually made using multiple public transportation modes. While it might be possible to capture these data for some services, at the majority of connecting terminals passengers simply make a connection themselves from one mode to the other, and the existence of an intermodal trip is not recorded.
Without actual intermodal travel data, the most reasonably measured proxy for determining the intermodal capacity of the system is to focus on how many terminals offer links between modes.
Since 2007 the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the United States (U.S.) Department of Transportation (DOT) has been collecting that data. With the completion of transit rail and intercity bus stations, the IPCD has now been completed for the scheduled passenger transportation network.
|The IPCD data covers the following types of passenger transportation terminals:
- Scheduled Airline Service Airports.
- Intercity bus stations (includes stations served by regular scheduled intercity bus service such as Greyhound and Trailways, code sharing buses such as "Amtrak Thruway" feeder buses, supplemental buses that provide additional frequencies along rail routes, and airport bus services from locations that are outside of the airport Metropolitan Area.
- Intercity and transit ferry terminals.
- Light rail transit stations.
- Heavy rail transit stations.
- Passenger rail stations on the national rail network serving both commuter rail and intercity rail services.
| Data Sources|
|The IPCD utilizes data from several DOT databases and also from many public information and data sources. For the geographic coordinates of terminals that were not available in DOT data sources, BTS used various mapping websites that contained satellite or aerial imaging. Facilities were located from the images and the latitude and longitude calculated.|
To ensure that all locations with service were included in the IPCD, in addition to available databases BTS used the websites of rail, bus, air and ferry operators; local and regional transit agencies; state departments of transportation; and various sites that aggregate public transportation information. BTS also used printed public materials such as timetables, maps, and brochures issued "
by various public transportation providers, and facility databases provided by Greyhound, Amtrak, and the Alaska Railroad. In some cases, personal communication was used to clarify questions about the various terminal facilities.
| Data Collection|
|The IPCD data for the 7.000+ terminals has been collected on an ongoing basis, rather than as of a specific date. Since the passenger transportation system changes on a daily basis, information concerning any specific facility may have changed since the data in a particular IPCD record was last collected. Updates to the IPCD data may lag behind the actual changes that have occurred,
but the impact of those changes does not invalidate the overall picture that the data presents, nor make it invalid for giving a system snapshot for analyzing long-term progress toward increased connectivity. Users of the database should be aware that changes at specific terminals may have occurred since the data was last collected. Each record has a field entitled Date_Updated that tells the last date on which data for that particular record was changed.|
| Accessing the Data|
|BTS provides access to the IPCD data either through use of the IPCD Query tool or through download of the entire base. The Query Tool allows users to create multi-variable cross-tabulations on mode, terminal type, state, metropolitan area and several other variables. Users with a need to customize and manipulate the data for various purposes may choose to download these files instead of using the interactive query tool.|
A query tool user guide is available at the query tool site. | <urn:uuid:3e1fc472-5bf8-4798-8a93-c6b8cc38494d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.transtats.bts.gov/IPCD.aspx?DB_ID=640&DB_Name=Intermodal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937073 | 1,249 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Today is the "Pi DAY". We have dedicated special dates to celebrate various reasons. And March 14 (or in numbers 3-14) is the day dedicated to celebrate the mathematical constant "Pi". The representation of this date consists the first three digits of the mathematical constant "Pi". Thus it is selected as the "Pi" day. It is a day celebrated by mathematics lovers and probably a day hated by maths haters.
|Pi Day Google Doodle|
There are sites specially designed to celebrate this day such as http://www.piday.org/. And it contains useful information about the constant "Pi". Alternatively another day is celebrated as the "Pi" approximation day which fall on July 22nd (22/7) which represents the widely used approximation value of "Pi". | <urn:uuid:ed7f8061-c285-4d64-a1cf-c101a9025ee4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://shashindrasri.blogspot.com/2013/03/pi-day.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957837 | 159 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The villages of Send and Ripley in Surrey, England were combined in one parish from the time of the Domesday Book until 1933. (Source:A Vision of Britain through Time). Send was always the dominant village, but Ripley's church shows construction of circa 1160 and supporting feet of fines and ecclesiastical records mention the village at the time. Send and Ripley (or Send with Ripley) was an ancient ecclesiastical parish and a civil one from 1866 until 1933. The two villages continued to be one parish ecclesiastically until 1978.
Since 1974 Send has been a village and civil parish in the Guildford District or Borough in Surrey. Prior to that, both as Send and Ripley and indepently as Send, it had been part of the Guildford Rural District and the Woking Hundred.
Send is buffered by Metropolitan Green Belt from other villages and towns except for the Grove Heath neighbourhood of Ripley. A rural band of the village adjoins the River Wey including Cartbridge and Send Marsh — this land has been drained and the river tamed by sluices, the Broadmead Cut and the Wey Navigation, adjoining. A further hamlet in the parish is Burntcommon.
Brickfields were developed in the south of Send by the 1870s, running until at least 1911.
Ripley has existed since Norman times. The earliest official record such as a Patent Roll, revealing its manor's existence is in 1279. Growth in ambition of the local nobility coupled with a large enough population led to the first place of worship being built at Ripley, to become a chapelry (village with a chapel so financially dependent on another village), also to St Mary the Virgin, in approximately the year 1160.
NOTE: The two Wikipedia articles supply different facts on two points: In the Send article it is reported that the parishes were separated in 1878; in the Ripley article they separated in 1938 (and A Vision of Britain through Time states 1933). Secondly, the Send article infers that both the church at Send and the chapelry at Ripley were dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, while the Ripley article states that the chapel there was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. (GENUKI confirms the Ripley description.)
Lieutenant-General William Evelyn (1723-1783), Colonel of the 29th Foot in the British Army and Member of Parliament for Helston (1767–74) and a son of Sir John Evelyn of Wotton, established his home at Send Grove, Church Lane, and he laid out the grounds.
On his death, in 1783, it was bought by Admiral Sir Francis William Drake, Governor of Newfoundland (1750–1752), second in command to Rodney in his victory of 1782 over De Grasse in the Battle of the Saintes (American War of Independence). As Rear-Admiral, Francis William Drake flew his flag on HMS Victory (Nelson's flagship) from 26 September 1780 to 29 December 1780.
Surrey Research Tips
Administrative boundaries of the county of Surrey (Surrey History Centre. The centre has a website with a number of useful indexes--titheholders in various parishes, deaths at the county gaol, etc.)
The website GENUKI provides a very comprehensive list of reference sources for the County of Surrey. It includes: | <urn:uuid:eee8464b-5fff-4436-b0a0-8098216e6e8b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Send%2C_Surrey%2C_England | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966432 | 701 | 2.875 | 3 |
PDF (Accepted Manuscript)
- Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
|Google Scholar:||Look up in Google Scholar|
A linguistically based authoring tool has been used to write e-assessment questions requiring short free-text answers of up to about 20 words in length (typically a single sentence). The answer matching is sophisticated and students are provided with instantaneous targeted feedback on incorrect and incomplete responses. They are able to use this feedback in reattempting the question. Seventy-five questions of this type have been offered to students on an entry-level interdisciplinary science module and they have been well received. Students have been observed attempting the questions and have been seen to respond in differing ways to both the questions themselves and the feedback provided. The answer matching has been demonstrated to be of similar or greater accuracy than specialist human markers.
The software described is all either open source or commercially available, but the purpose of this paper is not to advertise these products but rather to encourage reflection on e-assessment's potential to support student learning.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Copyright Holders:||2008 Sally Jordan|
|Academic Unit/Department:||Science > Physical Sciences
|Interdisciplinary Research Centre:||eSTEeM|
|Depositing User:||Sally Jordan|
|Date Deposited:||11 Nov 2010 10:36|
|Last Modified:||23 Feb 2016 21:30|
|Share this page:|
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These details should be considered as only a guide to the number of downloads performed manually. Algorithmic methods have been applied in an attempt to remove automated downloads from the displayed statistics but no guarantee can be made as to the accuracy of the figures. | <urn:uuid:dd5f2d03-25d6-4184-ba12-e03201d3c3aa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://oro.open.ac.uk/24611/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890681 | 383 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Background Sources for Washington
From Ancestry.com Wiki
This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
- Andrews, Mildred Tanner. Washington Women as Path Breakers. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishers, 1989. Narrative and archival photographs portray the contributions made by women in Washington.
- Brewster, David, and David M. Buerge, eds. Washingtonians: A Biographical Portrait of the State. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1991. A celebration of the legendary and ordinary men and women who helped shape the first 100 years of Washington's history.
- Ficken, Robert E., and Charles P. LeWarne. Washington: A Centennial History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988. A colorful and comprehensive account of the beginnings and potential of the state, and of the people who made it what it is today.
- LeWarne, Charles P. Washington State. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. Intended for high school classroom use.
- Pelz, Ruth. The Washington Story: A History of Our State. Rev. ed. Seattle: Seattle Public Schools, 1993. A general textbook used in the public school systems.
- Ruby, Robert H., and John A. Browne. A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. In a convenient alphabetical format, it describes the histories and cultures of the various Native American groups.
- White, Sid, ed. Peoples of Washington, Perspectives on Cultural Diversity. Pullman: Washington State University, 1989. Commemoration and reflection on the rich ethnic legacy Washington has inherited. | <urn:uuid:a7d3e876-028e-4b08-b361-fc920d20de35> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ancestry.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Background_Sources_for_Washington | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00051-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.824793 | 362 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Wednesday January 14 2009
Is there a ghost in your morning roast?
“Too much coffee can make you hallucinate and sense dead people,” says the Daily Express. This bizarre claim is based on research into 219 students who answered questionnaires on caffeine intake, hallucinations and feelings of persecution. Various other news sources have reported the study, including the Daily Mail, which says that “drinking cup after cup of coffee dramatically increases the risk of hallucinating”.
The study itself was investigating a theory that caffeine might heighten the body’s response to a hormone released during times of stress. Researchers found that caffeine intake was linked to both stress and being prone to hallucinating. When results were adjusted to discount stress levels, caffeine intake alone predicted tendencies towards hallucination.
However, this is preliminary research only, and as the authors state, the effect was only weak. Also, the questionnaire assessed the students' "predisposition to hallucinations", rather than their prior experiences of having actual hallucinations. The study’s limitations also mean that it cannot prove that caffeine causes increased susceptibility to hallucinations. Therefore it should not be a cause for alarm in people who drink coffee or other beverages containing caffeine.
It should be noted that the research paper contained no specific claims about the supernatural.
Where did the story come from?
Simon Jones and Charles Fernyhough of the Department of Psychology, Durham University carried out this research. No sources of funding were reported. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Personality and Individual Differences.
What kind of scientific study was this?
This was a cross-sectional study designed to investigate the theory that the release of cortisol in response to stress factors (or stressors) plays a role in psychotic experiences. By extension, an individual’s propensity towards psychosis may be expected to be linked to their cortisol response.
Caffeine is believed to heighten the cortisol response to any given stressor. This investigation aimed to see whether, at a controlled stress level, caffeine intake was related to hallucinations and ideas of persecution. Previous studies investigating caffeine and psychotic experiences have produced mixed findings.
A total of 214 students (70% female; average age 20 years) were recruited, and filled in questionnaires on caffeine use. All respondents remained anonymous and only age, sex and weight of the participants was known. Smokers were excluded.
The questionnaire on caffeine intake used a tool known as the Durham Caffeine Inventory, which presents caffeinated food and drinks and asks respondents to rate their typical intake over the past year on a 12-point scale from none to 8 or more times per day. Set values of caffeine content were determined for each item, either from the FSA or sourced from the manufacturers.
The questionnaire also contained questions using the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale, which is a 16-item tool designed to measure predisposition to hallucinations on a 5-point scale from "certainly doesn’t apply to me" to "certainly does apply".
Persecutory ideas were assessed using the Persecutory Ideation 10-item Questionnaire (responses from "very untrue" to "very true"). Stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress 30-item Questionnaire, which looked at several aspects of stress, tension and worry over the past year (responses "almost never" to "usually").
Researchers then looked at the relationship between the level of hallucinations, feelings of persecution, stress reported, and caffeine consumption per kilogram of bodyweight.
What were the results of the study?
Across participants, average daily caffeine intake was 141mg/day. This level was comparable to that in previous student studies, and represents about four cola drinks, three cups of strong tea or instant coffee, or one cup of brewed coffee per day.
Higher levels of caffeine intake were found to be associated with higher perceived stress levels and a higher hallucinatory score. But they were not linked to persecutory score (although hallucinatory and persecutory scores were positively correlated with each other). On further statistical analysis, the researchers found that stress predicts proneness to hallucination and persecutory ideas.
After controlling for age, sex, weight and stress, and then looking at the effect of caffeine, the researchers found that caffeine still predicted proneness to hallucinations but not persecutory ideas.
What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results?
The researchers conclude that their analyses found that caffeine intake was positively related to stress levels, and that caffeine intake was also related to hallucination propensity but not persecutory ideas. The researchers say the observed relationship between caffeine intake and proneness to hallucinations was weak.
They also state that the study is not causal, i.e. it cannot prove that greater proneness to hallucinations comes from an increased caffeine intake, only that the two factors are linked.
What does the NHS Knowledge Service make of this study?
As the authors say, their study lends support to their hypothesis that when stress levels are controlled for, caffeine intake is positively related to levels of psychosis-like experience.
This is a preliminary study only, and has several limitations:
- The authors state in their report that “the effect was found to be weak and specific to hallucination-proneness and not persecutory ideation”.
- For every milligram increase in daily caffeine intake per kilogram of bodyweight (equivalent to an extra 1.5 cups of instant coffee for an 11-stone person), there was only an increase of 0.18 on the hallucination score (this score can range from 0 to 64, with a higher score indicating greater level of hallucinations). It is unclear how an increase this small would affect an individual’s experiences.
- It is important to note that the scale used measured “hallucination proneness” rather than strictly “hallucinations”, and it includes assessment of what most people might consider “normal” experiences. For example, one of the areas assessed includes having vivid daydreams, which might not be generally considered to be abnormal.
- In cross-sectional studies, it is not possible to determine cause and effect, i.e. whether increased caffeine caused increased hallucinations or stress, or whether increased levels of caffeine consumption came as a result of hallucinations or stress.
- This was a small, selected sample of university students, which cannot be assumed to be representative of the population as a whole. In addition, as the participants are likely to have been mostly healthy, one cannot assume that the results apply to people who have been diagnosed with psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.
- All responses were self-reported, and participants were asked to give broad responses to caffeine, stress levels, and psychotic experiences over the past year. It is likely that this would lead to a considerable degree of recall and reporting bias, and very variable responses between participants. As the authors acknowledge, their self-report measure scale of caffeine was not validated.
- All participants were anonymous and, with smoking being the only criteria for exclusion, there are a number of unassessed factors that may have affected the results, e.g. medications being taken, diagnosis of depression, anxiety or psychosis, family history, etc.
- The reasons behind these findings are unclear as this study did not directly examine the theory that hallucinations and other psychosis-like experiences are related to cortisol release in response to stress.
- The study report that was analysed here did not express its results in terms of increased risk of hallucinations per cup of coffee. It is unclear where the figures quoted in the newspaper have come from.
The vast majority of the UK population drinks coffee and other caffeinated drinks without experiencing any hallucinations and should not be overly concerned by these findings.
Anyone who has a psychotic episode should always consult a doctor, rather than assume it is caused by caffeine. | <urn:uuid:9e5d2857-31a1-421e-a193-67d1d65be3a6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/01January/Pages/Coffeeandghosts.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962414 | 1,604 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Gays constitute one of America`s largest, yet least-known and least-tolerated minority groups. In ``After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s`` (Doubleday), social scientists Hunter Madsen and Marshall Kirk explore the problem and offer solutions.
Q-Wasn`t the gay-pride movement supposed to bring gays into the mainstream?
A-The original purpose was twofold. The first was self-affirmation. Gays needed to value their contribution to society and to value themselves as individuals. This led to a lot of gay-pride marches that encouraged all manner of diversity. The second was to create tolerance in the mainstream. That has been subordinated. But we believe that integrating gays into the straight world is central. We believe it`s time gays had their full civil rights, and the only way that is going to happen is by making the straight world realize that except for what they do in bed, gays are not any different.
Q-What mistakes has the gay movement made?
A-The leadership has been committed to celebrating flamboyant stereotypes at the cost of increased understanding with straights. They have something of a separationist attitude: ``We`ll live our lives the way we want, and they can like it or lump it.`` They should have been thinking of practical and positive ways to build bridges.
Q-Why do some people hate gays?
A-Most strong hatred of gays begins in childhood. It`s passed on from parents and the culture to the child who picks up a great number of small, often subtle clues that something called homosexuality is bad.
Q-Why are violence and prejudice directed toward gays at an all-time high?
A-Because it has a new focus, AIDS. The extreme prejudice Americans feel toward gays now has an argument to hang its emotions on, which is that AIDS proves God`s revulsion toward homosexuality.
Q-How can these destructive attitudes be changed?
A-There are several ways. One involves public education-a nationwide media campaign in which images and messages that undercut gay stereotypes are shown. The second involves exposure. As gays come out of the closet in increasing numbers, family, friends and acquaintances will learn to understand, love, respect and appreciate them. Nothing is more effective than this. The third involves housecleaning on the part of gays. We aren`t against sex, but we do suggest that gays might be happier if they focused on long-term relationships rather than continue to experiment with anonymous sex. | <urn:uuid:1fc167ba-b8be-4020-823d-5d4c1bfad2c7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-07-23/features/8902190779_1_gay-pride-gays-hunter-madsen | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00129-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961904 | 532 | 2.921875 | 3 |
The current paper looks at how well normal pigmentation (skin, hair, and eye color) is predicted from known genotypes. The sample consists of individuals from the University of Arizona.
From the paper:
The three most frequent SNPs found in the range from the highest R2 model to the first inflection of the graph were used to construct an MLR model for each trait. These models accounted for significant variation in each of the four measured traits: scalp-hair total melanin (76.3%), natural log of the ratio of eumelanin-to-pheomelanin (43.2%), skin reflectance (45.7%), and eye color (74.8%) (Table 3).Obviously two caveats should be raised:
(i) that the associations are dependent on the sample. It is not clear how the percentage of variation explained would be altered in a population of different ethnic origins -not represented in the UoA.
(ii) that the associations may be mediated by other genetic factors, not yet discovered.
With respect to (ii), pigmentation appears to be a "success story" of genome-wide association studies, as a relatively small number of SNPs accounts for such a high level of variation (about 3/4 for the best traits). However, the missing 1/4 should also make us cautious when we attempt to infer the pigmentation of a sample, in either a forensic or an archaeological context.
Journal of Forensic Science doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01317.x
Predicting Phenotype from Genotype: Normal Pigmentation
Robert K. Valenzuela et al.
Genetic information in forensic studies is largely limited to CODIS data and the ability to match samples and assign them to an individual. However, there are circumstances, in which a given DNA sample does not match anyone in the CODIS database, and no other information about the donor is available. In this study, we determined 75 SNPs in 24 genes (previously implicated in human or animal pigmentation studies) for the analysis of single- and multi-locus associations with hair, skin, and eye color in 789 individuals of various ethnic backgrounds. Using multiple linear regression modeling, five SNPs in five genes were found to account for large proportions of pigmentation variation in hair, skin, and eyes in our across-population analyses. Thus, these models may be of predictive value to determine an individual’s pigmentation type from a forensic sample, independent of ethnic origin. | <urn:uuid:ef5f0d8c-0682-4777-a59d-e39b92fc0b99> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/03/predicting-phenotype-from-genotype.html?showComment=1267660023387 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919002 | 528 | 2.578125 | 3 |
As I travel around speaking, the vast majority of the questions I get have to do with the intersection of science and faith. Has science made miracles impossible? Is there any scientific proof for God? Is faith in God a blind leap in the dark? What about evolution? How old is the earth?
Some people see no compatibility between science and faith. For example, last September, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss wrote an article in The New Yorker titled “All Scientists Should Be Militant Atheists.” In the article, Krauss writes, “This commitment to open questioning is deeply tied to the fact that science is an atheistic enterprise.” He goes on to say, “It’s ironic, really, that so many people are fixated on the relationship between science and religion: basically, there isn’t one.... It’s inevitable that it [science] draws people away from religion.”
It is no surprise that many people view science as a gosptacle. They don’t think you can believe in science and rationally believe in God. In part two of my Answering Gosptacles series, I take this challenge head-on. I demonstrate how a biblical understanding of faith is compatible with science. In fact, there are a number of places where modern scientific evidence points towards a Creator and Designer of the universe. Therefore, science should strengthen your faith rather than destroy it.
You can watch the entire presentation here.
If you missed part one of my Answering Gosptacles series, then click here.
Here’s a challenge from a website called Truth Saves:
Yes, life is complex but that does not mean it had a conscious designer. A snow flake is complex and it does not require a conscious designer.
I’ve heard people mention snowflakes as evidence of undesigned complexity before, so it’s worth discussing this one. What’s the difference between the kind of complexity in a snowflake and the kind ID proponents cite in their arguments? Make your case in the comments below, and then we’ll hear Tim’s answer to this question on Thursday.
Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.
An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.
Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.
As I’ve explained before, as much as people say they deny the fact that life begins at conception, there really is no scientific controversy over when human life begins; the controversy is over when human life is valuable. Unfortunately, when people use the word “life” in this context to mean only what they consider to be valuable human life, they quietly smuggle this crucial distinction out of their claim via the misuse of language, thereby covering up the claim they’re really making—that is, the claim that some human life isn’t valuable.
I’m convinced there are many people who don’t realize they’re doing this—better to convince yourself there really is no human life at conception than to recognize it and then have to justify killing that human life. I don’t think people want to admit the distasteful truth to themselves that they’re dividing human beings into two groups: those whose lives we respect and those we don’t (a move that has never ended well for human rights—see here, here, and here for more on this). This article at least blows the smoke away from the issue.
In truth, though, the article is bad news. Listen to how they intend to use this information:
Researchers from Northwestern University, in Chicago, noticed that some of the eggs burn brighter than others, showing that they are more likely to produce a healthy baby.
The discovery could help fertility doctors pick the best fertilised eggs to transfer during in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
In other words, they’re planning to use this knowledge to aid in their eugenics (see here and here for more on the eugenics of our day)—creating many new human lives (as the science editor above affirms) and then implanting those that display the brightest light while disposing of the rest.
Michael Egnor has a fascinating post on neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield’s evidence-based conversion from materialism to dualism:
Penfield began his career as a materialist, convinced that the mind was wholly a product of the brain. He finished his career as an emphatic dualist.
During surgery, Penfield observed that patients had a variable but limited response to brain stimulation. Sometimes the stimulation would cause a seizure or evoke a sensation, a perception, movement of muscles, a memory, or even a vivid emotion. Yet Penfield noticed that brain stimulation never evoked abstract thought….
Penfield noted that intellectual function – abstract thought – could only be switched off by brain stimulation or a seizure, but it could never be switched on in like manner. The brain was necessary for abstract thought, normally, but it was not sufficient for it. Abstract thought was something other than merely a process of the brain….
Furthermore, Penfield noted that patients were always aware that the sensation, memory, etc., evoked by brain stimulation was done to them, but not by them. Penfield found that patients retained a “third person” perspective on mental events evoked by brain stimulation. There was always a “mind” that was independent of cortical stimulation.
It’s worth reading the rest of the post to see the relevant quotes from Penfield himself.
Tonight’s the night! Join me right here, on Google+, or on YouTube at 6:30 p.m. (PT) to see the live video feed of “Shattering the Icons of Evolution.” I’ll be talking about how to recognize and respond to the different categories that arguments for macroevolution fall into: exaggerated extrapolations, egregious errors, and equivocal evidence.
(Don’t worry if you can’t watch it live. After tonight, you’ll be able to watch the video here anytime.)
Mark April 25th on your calendar—we’ll be streaming a live event with Tim Barnett on “Shattering the Icons of Evolution.” You can view it on Google+, YouTube, or right here on the blog at 6:30 p.m. (PT):
After assessing numerous arguments for macroevolution, Tim Barnett has found that each falls into one of three categories: exaggerated extrapolations, egregious errors, and equivocal evidence. Once you have determined which category the evidence belongs to, you will be in a better position to respond accordingly.
We’ll be posting a video of the live feed on the blog on the 25th, and it will be available for viewing anytime after that evening.
In this short video from Ligonier, Stephen Meyer demonstrates not only some evidence for a beginning of the universe, but also how a scientist’s worldview and biases can direct and constrain his findings, distorting what he considers to be “scientific”—sometimes without his even realizing it. Even a scientist as great as Einstein.
Of course, one may easily say, “Christian scientists will have the same problem!” That’s fair. This is why you must always consider carefully whether a scientist is making a fair interpretation of the evidence at hand—i.e., that the evidence actually points to his conclusion—and that one of his interpretive principles isn’t to rule out a particular conclusion that falls outside his worldview, prior to and regardless of the evidence (as Einstein did).
Atheists will often assert that evolution is not random. (In fact, I was having this conversation just last night!) This is true if we’re talking about the natural selection part of the process, but natural selection can only select from what already exists. It’s the mutations that must provide the new genetic information, and mutations do not occur according to what is needed for an organism to survive; they can only cause the being to survive (and thus be selected) after they happen to occur. Stephen Meyer explains:
Yes, of course, natural selection is a “nonrandom” process as Dawkins correctly insists. Rates of reproductive success correlate to the traits that organisms possess. Those with fitness advantages will, all other things being equal, out-reproduce those lacking those advantages. Got it. Understood.
Yet, clearly, there is more to the evolutionary mechanism than just natural selection. Instead, the standard neo-Darwinian evolutionary mechanism comprises (1) natural selection and/or (2) genetic drift acting on (3) adaptively random genetic variations and mutations (of various kinds). Moreover, as conceived from Darwin to the present, natural selection “selects” or acts to preserve those random variations that confer a fitness (or functional) advantage upon the organisms that possess them. It, further, “selects” only after such functionally advantageous variations (or mutations) have arisen. How could it do otherwise? Selection does not cause novel variations; rather, it sifts what is delivered to it by the random changes (e.g., mutations) that do cause variations. Such has been neo-Darwinian orthodoxy for many decades.
All this means that as a mechanism for the production of novel genetic information, natural selection does nothing to help generate functional DNA base (or amino acid) sequences. Rather it can only preserve such sequences (if they confer a functional advantage) once they have originated. In other words, adaptive advantage only accrues after the generation of new functional genes and proteins — after the fact, that is, of some (presumably) successful random mutational search. It follows that even if natural selection (considered separately from mutation) constitutes a non-random process, the evolutionary mechanism as a whole depends precisely upon an ineliminable element of randomness, namely, various postulated or observed mutational processes. (Nor is any of the above particularly controversial within evolutionary biology....)
Read the rest of the post, and see here for more on why the creation of all life through a random development of meaningful genetic information is, as Meyer said, “overwhelmingly more likely to be false than true.” | <urn:uuid:0abc34c9-6ee8-4815-bd03-ca0b33de1424> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://str.typepad.com/weblog/science/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94524 | 2,203 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Nutrition and Physical Activity Are Key to Good Health
Surviving a bout with cancer can change how you see the world. Almost 14 million cancer survivors know this first-hand, and virtually every one of these individuals wants to do whatever he or she can to avoid going through the experience again.
You probably already know that eating well and staying active can promote overall health and a sense of well-being. But did you know that making those same changes may also help keep your cancer from returning?
Scientific study of the nutritional needs of cancer survivors is still in a very early stage, and there are no guarantees. But when AICR’s experts reviewed the available science on diet and survivorship, they concluded that following a few simple strategies that help prevent cancer may also help guard against its return.
- Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.
- Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.
- Avoid sugary drinks. Limit consumption of energy-dense foods (particularly processed foods high in added sugar, or low in fiber, or high in fat).
- Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes such as beans.
- Limit consumption of red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.
In addition to adopting a healthy eating plan, growing evidence shows that incorporating regular physical activity into your daily routine can benefit most cancer survivors. Becoming more physically active can make you feel more energetic, and also offer long-term benefits such as bone and muscle strength, and improved circulation and mood.
Talk to your doctor about beginning a physical activity program, and when you get the go-ahead, start off by doing easy movements for short periods of time each day. If you can, get started under the guidance of a physical therapist or certified fitness trainer.
For more information on the importance of nutrition and survivorship, download our brochure, Nutrition and the Cancer Survivor. And to learn more about why becoming physically active is essential to your healthy recovery and survival, download a copy of Surviving Cancer with Physical Activity.
Published on 06/03/2013 | <urn:uuid:416d49a0-4e03-469a-a3ea-943d3eefbf54> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.aicr.org/health-at-work/009-spring-2013/nutrition-and-physical.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952196 | 439 | 2.875 | 3 |
St Paul Cathedral Survives
During the opening years of World War II Britain was all that was left against Hitler’s military Juggernaut. France had already surrendered and continental Europe was under Germany’s control. Hitler, through a massive bombing campaign, hoped to either knock the UK out of the war or destroy its air force in preparation for invasion. Starting in 1940, until Hitler withdrew his planes in preparation of the invasion of the USSR in 1941, the bombing campaign, nicknamed the Blitz by the British, was a regular aerial bombardment of British Urban areas. One of the greatest raids took place on December 29, 1940 when a Daily Mail reporter snapped what at the time was called the “War’s greatest picture.”
St Paul’s Cathedral
One of the most iconic buildings in London St Paul’s Cathedral was seen as vital to the morale of the British public and the government had sent out a call for volunteers to form a quick response fire crew. Drawing on members of the Royal Institute of British Architects the group was a who’s who of intellectuals, well-known architects, famous artists and the most distinguished historians of the day. They slept on site in shifts in the Cathedral’s crypt and would keep watch on the roof top during bombing runs searching for incendiary bomb strikes. Armed with only tin hats, and basic fire-fighting equipment they laid in wait for any bombs that might strike the mighty structure.
Before the December 29th raid there were a number of close calls including a bomb strike on October 10, 1940 and another the next year on April 17, 1941. The closest the cathedral came to complete destruction was on September 12, 1940 when a one-ton land mine landed next to St Paul’s. It burrowed down about twenty-seven feet and had to be painstakingly dug out by a team led by Robert Davies of the Canadian Army Engineers. After three days they were able to carefully lift the bomb out of its hole and detonate in safely in the countryside. The bomb left a 100ft wide crater and if it had detonated where it landed the bomb would have completely destroyed the cathedral.
All bomb hits to the building were covered up by the government. After the war a Blitz survivor who was six at the time remembers being carried into the damaged Cathedral on her fire-warden father’s shoulders. “Take a look and remember”, he told her. “You will never, ever hear about this again.”
Taking the picture
The Germans had a different take on the picture with the January 23, 1941 edition of the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung showing the picture along with a story about how London was burning and the end of the war was in sight.
The night raid of December 29th was London’s 114th night of the Blitz and the first bombs started falling at 18:15 GMT. Bombs seemed to concentrate near the famed St Paul’s Cathedral. Churchill became so alarmed by the threat of damage to the building that he ordered “all fire-fighting resources be directed at St Paul’s. The cathedral must be saved, he said damage to the fabric would sap the morale of the country.” That night there was actually a close call when an incendiary bomb struck the lead shell of the dome and then fell out into the Stone Gallery but the quick response crew was able to extinguish its flames before they were able to ignite the dome timbers.
On that same night a Daily Mail photographer, Herbert Mason, perched on the roof of the Daily mail on Tudor Street was able to take the famous picture as the cathedral was illuminated by searchlights. The image was published two days later, on December 31. The paper then took the unusual step of publishing the photographer’s account of how he took the image:
I focused at intervals as the great dome loomed up through the smoke. Glares of many fires and sweeping clouds of smoke kept hiding the shape. Then a wind sprang up. Suddenly, the shining cross, dome and towers stood out like a symbol in the inferno. The scene was unbelievable. In that moment or two I released my shutter. | <urn:uuid:e1747238-a5e4-4c54-9df7-086b470f8c08> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.famouspictures.org/st-paul-cathedral-survives/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980511 | 857 | 3.671875 | 4 |
25 May 2011—German scientists have set a world record for optical communications, transmitting 26 trillion bits of data per second—enough to download 700 DVDs in an instant—using just a single laser.
The work, which was published online Monday in Nature Photonics, should reduce the power consumption of communications systems and could lead the way toward the next standard for optical data transmission, says Juerg Leuthold, a professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, who led the work. "Twenty-six terabits is a lot of information," he says. However, other optics experts point out that multiple-laser systems still have the edge.
The Karlsruhe researchers built upon a common approach used to increase data rates in wireless communications, called orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). Compared with other schemes used in optical communication, OFDM has the potential to make efficient use of the available spectrum and be tolerant to the dispersion of light in the optical fiber. The technique starts by encoding data onto carrier waves whose frequencies overlap quite a bit, then combining those waves to create a new waveform. For example, the process can combine four bits of data onto a single wave. Previous optical OFDM schemes used multiple lasers to produce the four overlapping wavelengths. "Now, instead of having four transmitters, you have one transmitter," Leuthold explains. The adding and extracting of the waves is done through a mathematical process called the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and its inverse.
At the receiver, the new waveform can be broken down into its components, and the data can be decoded. But at such high data rates, there’s a problem. "This is so awfully fast that there is no electronic receiver that could detect it," Leuthold says. To solve this issue, the team created an optical FFT device instead of an electronic one. A simple interferometer breaks the light signal into separate beams, then recombines them out of phase with one another. The difference in the original carrier waves causes the beams to combine to form a stronger signal in one spot or cancel each other out in another spot, creating a string of bits that mirror the bits that were originally encoded. "The light interferes and performs the mathematical operation," says Leuthold.
The team transmitted their data over 50 kilometers of fiber. Leuthold says they didn’t have the equipment to test longer distances, but he’s hoping to do so in the future. (More advanced equipment should also improve the technique’s efficiency, he adds.) The farther a signal can travel in a network, the less need there is for expensive equipment to boost it.
Using multiple lasers, other groups have sent even more data down a single optical fiber and have done so for greater distances. NEC Laboratories, of Princeton, N.J., for instance, presented a paper at the annual Optical Fiber Communication Conference in March showing a rate of 101.7 terabits per second, also using OFDM. But that scheme required 370 lasers, each transmitting at 294 gigabits per second. Ting Wang, a researcher at NEC, says Leuthold’s work is well done and quite significant. But he argues that his own multilaser approach has better spectral efficiency, meaning the total number of useful bits is higher and may in the long run be more practical. "We have a much higher capacity and efficiency," Wang says.
NEC researchers performed a trial with telecom carrier Verizon earlier this year in which they were able to reach rates of 1 Tb/s over 3560 km of fiber. Communications equipment makers are pushing toward the so-called terabit Ethernet and hope to be transmitting at such speeds by the middle of the decade. Much of today’s equipment works at 10 or 40 Gb/s, and IEEE ratified a 100 Gb/s standard last year.
Colja Schubert, head of the high-speed transmission group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, in Berlin, says the Karlsruhe system is "remarkable." But while this is certainly the highest data capacity with a single laser to date, other technologies have shown higher overall capacities over long distances and higher spectral efficiency. Very dense wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), which uses many closely spaced (but not overlapping) different wavelengths of light, is also a candidate for the terabit Ethernet, Schubert says. Comparing Leuthold’s single-laser approach "to very dense WDM [so-called Nyquist-WDM], there is no significant advantage or disadvantage in terms of the spectral efficiency, and therefore no increase in total capacity can be expected," Schubert says. "Optical OFDM might have advantages in terms of practical implementation, but this is currently under research." | <urn:uuid:229d8f23-df92-40bd-8f19-f9c9bda0b083> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/optoelectronics/fastest-singlelaser-transmission | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942306 | 1,004 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Because of the small axial tilt of Mercury's pole of rotation, several of the craters in this south polar image are shrouded in permanent shadow. Earth-based radar observations have found that these craters also host radar-bright material that is likely water ice. In the furthest southern portion of this image, the rim of the large crater Chao Meng-Fu rises from the darkness.
Date acquired: September 07, 2011
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington | <urn:uuid:9fe2f401-2952-4226-a224-5f51a1e95320> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/messenger_orbit_image201302025_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925953 | 105 | 3.375 | 3 |
Preschool isn't for all children or all families. Weigh the pros and cons of preschool carefully when deciding whether it's right for your little one.
The benefits of preschool are numerous and include advantages for you, the parent. Even part-time programs provide you with an opportunity to get things done that otherwise would be challenging with a toddler alongside -- from running errands to working on a career. Simply having time to yourself is also important for your own sanity, whether you use it to see friends, exercise or take a nap.
Of course, this type of schooling foremost benefits the child. Kids get to repeat activities, interact with many different materials and objects, and observe other children taking on challenging tasks. As mentioned earlier, preschool powerfully shapes the foundation for a child's academic learning.
In what specific ways can you expect preschool to influence your child for the better or worse?
That really depends on your child's ethnicity and socioeconomic status, according to a report released by the University of California, Berkeley, called "The Influence of Preschool Centers on Children's Development Nationwide: How Much Is Too Much?" The report finds that on average, the earlier you enroll your child, the slower his or her social development will be; however, he or she will display stronger pre-reading and math skills if enrolled at two or three years old.
But those are just averages. Hispanic toddlers with basic English proficiency appear to benefit from preschool the most in regard to cognitive development. The experience has no detrimental effect on their social development. African American children also benefit when it comes to language and pre-reading skills, but preschool doesn't seem to improve their cognitive abilities regarding math concepts.
There are also downsides to preschool. Missing your child when he or she is away, bearing the financial burden of private school and having less control over your child's diet are some drawbacks. Also, being around so many other kids -- and all the objects they're handling throughout the day -- makes your child more susceptible to getting sick.
The Berkeley report also states that white, middle-class children suffer in regard to sharing, cooperation and engagement of tasks if they attend preschool for six or more hours per day. In fact, children from high-income families -- regardless of ethnicity -- who experience long hours in preschool suffer most strongly emotionally and socially.
Singing and story time might sound like fun and games, but go to the next page to discover what they have to do with your child's cognitive and academic development. | <urn:uuid:591d81f3-9210-4443-8c91-c4938a617577> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://people.howstuffworks.com/preschool2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961438 | 505 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The idea for Assassins first planted itself in Stephen
Sondheim's mind when he was serving on a panel at Stuart Ostrow's
Musical Theater Lab and read a play by a young playwright named
Charles Gilbert. Gilbert had submitted a script about a fictional
presidential assassin, and although Sondheim found the play itself
problematic, he was fascinated by the peripheral material Gilbert
had compiled--letters and anecdotes from actual assassins. Several
years later, after obtaining permission from Gilbert, Sondheim
decided to tackle the project along with John Weidman, a lyricist
whom he had previously collaborated with on Pacific
Originally, Sondheim and Weidman intended to explore the lives of assassins throughout history beginning with Brutus and Julius Caesar, but they soon realized this was far too broad a topic and decided to limit themselves to assassins who had attempted to kill the President of the United States. As the project developed, their task soon became clear--to dramatize the unpopular thesis that the most notorious killers in our culture are as much a product of that culture as the famous leaders they attempt to murder.
As the musical opens, a crowd is gathering at a carnival shooting
gallery which features a revolving wheel on which various Presidents
are depicted. Attempting to entice customers towards his stand,
the proprietor of this little shooting gallery shouts out loudly,
"C'mere and kill a President!" From this nightmarish
beginning, the play goes on to examine the lives of various men
and women who have committed--or attempted to commit--the ultimate
crime. Sondheim and Weidman show little regard for historical
accuracy, freely mixing characters from different periods in
a kaleidoscopic, hallucinatory revue. From Samuel Byck who hijacked
a plane and tried to kill Nixon by crashing into the White House
to Charles Manson groupie Squeaky Fromme to the infamous John
Wilkes Booth--each presidential assassin is made to confront
the fact that his or her act of meaningless violence failed to
bring about the desired results. For these lost souls, Sondheim
composes "Another National Anthem," the nightmarish
underside of the American dream.
The musical comes into sharp focus as we are transported to
the Texas School Book Depository, November 22, 1963, where Lee
Harvey Oswald, lonely and distraught, prepares to take his own
life. That is, until Booth and the other assassins arrive and
attempt to transform him into their avenging angel. Oswald, they
believe, is their savior. He can justify their actions and secure
for them all a place in history. Kennedy's assassination will
be a watershed event--a crucial test against which all other
acts of political violence will be measured. They feel this final
act, if successful, will somehow legitimize their senseless lives.
As the play builds to a climax, the assassins chant:
- We admire you...
- We're your family...
- You are the future...
- We're depending on you...
- Make us proud...
- All you have to do is squeeze your little finger.
- Squeeze your little finger...
- You can change the wor--
- (Oswald Fires.)
Assassins premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons
on December 18, 1990 with a cast that included Victor Garber
(Booth), Terrence Mann (Czolgosz), Jonathan Hadary (Guiteau),
Lee Wilkof (Byck), Annie Golden (Fromm), Debra Monk (Moore),
Patrick Cassidy (Balladeer), Greg Germann (Hinckley), and Jace
Alexander (Oswald). The play opened to a sold-out run of 73 performances,
but in spite of Sondheim's reputation, the musical did not transfer
to a larger house. The United States was on the verge of the
Persian-Gulf War, and the country was in a state of patriotic
fervor. Audiences were not ready for the message Sondheim and
Weidman were delivering. In fact, it was not until the passions
of war cooled and the soundtrack was realeased on compact disc
that Assassins truly began to be receive the critical
acclaim that it deserves. | <urn:uuid:76998b55-5455-4548-87b4-c06ea7aec188> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm80.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947639 | 908 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that go to and from the brain. It is enclosed in and protected by the bony vertebral column. The main function of the spinal cord is transmission of neural inputs between the periphery and the brain.
Spinal cord segments[change | change source]
Humans have 31 left-right pairs of spinal nerves, each roughly corresponding to a segment of the vertebral column. The spinal nerve emerges from the spinal column through an opening between adjacent vertebrae. Outside the vertebral column, the nerve divides into branches.
The nerves for incoming sensory information are bundled separately from nerves for outgoing motor instructions for muscles. The system serves the autonomic nervous system as well as the motor activities which we control consciously.
Additional images[change | change source]
Other websites[change | change source]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spinal cord|
- Spinal Cord Histology - A multitude of great Images from the University of Cincinnati
- Spinal Cord Medical Notes - Online medical notes on the Spinal Cord
- eMedicine: Spinal Cord, Topographical and Functional Anatomy
- WebMD. May 17, 2005. Spina Bifida - Topic Overview Information about Spina Bifida in fetuses and throughout adulthood. WebMD children's health. Retrieved March 19, 2007. | <urn:uuid:7ba37db3-4415-46cb-8330-a79353a2a003> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_cord | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878252 | 278 | 3.625 | 4 |
From the first sightings of land in the West Indies through the end of the eighteenth century, there was a constant demand for maps of the newfound lands on the western Atlantic. Until the early decades of the nineteenth century, most maps were the products of English and Continental (Dutch, German and French) cartographers and engravers, who often based their maps on explorer’s reports and mariner’s charts. Beyond their use for navigation, commerce and military affairs, maps had other functions. They recorded the progress of the European settlement of North America. They documented the borders between the colonies. And they provided a relatively inexpensive means of household decoration.
Newspaper advertisements for the colonial period indicate that maps were available in single sheets or bound in atlases or occasionally in magazines. Before the eighteenth century, private ownership of maps and charts implied a learned and accomplished status that was usually limited to men of wealth and power involved in trade, government or education. After 1700, there was greater economic diversity in map ownership. Maps can be found in the inventories and personal papers of colonial American mariners, millwrights, tradesmen, merchants, plantation owners, clergy, government officials, military officers and tradesmen.
The map collection at Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens focuses on printed maps of the new world, with a special emphasis on maps depicting the Carolinas from the period of discovery to the Revolutionary War. This group includes examples of the work of some of the most important British and Continental cartographers and engravers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There are maps by William Janszoon Blaeu and Nicolas Sanson of Amsterdam, Jean Baptiste Homann of Nuremberg, and John Senex, Herman Moll, J. or T. Hinton, Thomas Jefferys, John Collet, Thomas Kitchin and Henry Mouzon of London. A second, smaller group of maps records changes in county boundaries in the State of North Carolina from the late eighteenth century to the Civil War. The collection also contains a number of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century surveys and topographical maps of New Bern and Craven County.
Catalog entries include both a short title reference and the full title including any dedication. Size is given in inches for paper, plate and image (measured from the outer edge of the neat line); measurements are always taken along the left edge and bottom of the print. Insets are treated in the same manner as the primary image. Significant features are noted in the description. Biographical information on the cartographer or engraver is included when possible.
Maps and Charts in the Digital Collection (Chronological Order):
|Maps of New Bern and Craven County||Maps of North Carolina|
|Maps of North America||Maps of the West Indies|
|Maps of Europe||Maps of Asia|
|Maps of the World|
Book descriptions by Victor T. Jones, Jr. Currency and Map narratives written by Nancy Richards of Tryon Palace.
Last updated on June 9, 2015. | <urn:uuid:754a7750-bae8-4edd-bd86-f19e39879cb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://newbern.cpclib.org/digital/maps.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929907 | 623 | 3.609375 | 4 |
noun (plural same or frogfishes)
An anglerfish that typically lives on the seabed, where its warty skin and colour provide camouflage.
- Families Antennariidae (numerous species, including Antennaria hispidus of the Indo-Pacific), and Brachionichthyidae (four Australian species).
- When a fish is within striking distance, the frogfish jumps forward, opening its large mouth and engulfing its prey.
- So it's possible for a dark brown frogfish with a hairy body to be the very same species as a white frogfish with almost smooth skin.
- Their big attractions are frogfish, ghost pipefish and a shoal of batfish.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: frog|fish
Definition of frogfish in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:8f9c74c8-99e2-4233-9c15-1ba8234f3f4f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/frogfish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906158 | 199 | 3 | 3 |
The Institute for Water wants you to value the H₂0 you use
Consider, just this once, that droplet of water forming on the lip of your kitchen faucet. Its story is likely richer than yours, and infinitely longer: It dates back at least 4.5 billion years to when the Earth was formed. It came from outer space, where the molecules that make water possible were formed in the Orion Complex, part of the Milky Way. And during its earthly existence, that one seemingly inconsequential drop has gotten around—embedding itself in clouds, drifting through oceans, alighting on flower petals, and sloshing around in the bladders of brachiosauruses—before making itself of service to you (or, more likely, before coursing its way down your sink's drain).
If you've heard one story about a drop of water, you've heard them all. Unlike the sun's rays, new water isn't being created every day. Every drop of it has been here since the Earth began—and no more. It is the epitome of recycling, going through nature's eternal washing machine with a regularity that allows it to sustain all life.
But water is not infinite. While it covers 70 percent of the Earth, making its supply seem inexhaustible, water adds up to far less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the planet's mass. Only 2.5 percent of the world's water is fresh—the kind we drink and use for flushing our toilets or greening our fields. Water makes life possible, and if humans don't manage it properly, there may not be enough clean, potable H₂0 to sustain our growing numbers. With the emergence of climate change (and the disruptive geographic changes in water distribution that come with it), more development in once-poor countries, and a new generation of harmful contaminants, the outlook for water is cloudy as hell.
So, back to that faucet: Does that drop look any different to you now?
Persuading people in the rich West that water is worth viewing through a new set of admiring eyes is one of the goals of a new venture, formed last year to tackle what is becoming a global water crisis. The Johns Hopkins University Institute for Water aims to discover the best ways to manage water at the local and regional level so that its supply will be less in question. That's the best it, or any other entity, can do. The golden age—or more appropriately, the crystal clear age—of water is over. Gone are the times when people in the developed world could turn a spigot and expect clean, fresh water to pour out, seemingly forever.
Water Institute scientists, many with research backgrounds in poor countries where water resources have always been uncertain, hope to figure out ways to recycle water that is, er, less than pure so that it is once again drinkable, or at least suitable for farming and other activities. Johns Hopkins researchers from a variety of disciplines will also explore methods for improving sanitation situations that, in many areas, have led to outbreaks of deadly disease.
While the institute's leaders may not offer eons-spanning history lessons, they do want people to think about what water means to them.
"We take water for granted," says Kellogg Schwab, director of the institute, which will be backed with up to $100 million from "Rising to the Challenge," the university's ongoing capital campaign. "In Baltimore, we pay about $50 a month for water and wastewater, and we think nothing of paying over $100 for our cable or cellphone bill. It's all too easy to overlook something as cheap as water. We have to figure out a structure where we value water and sanitation and all the infrastructure improvements we'll need to make to continue getting them," adds Schwab, who is also a professor of environmental health sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and of environmental engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering.
Lest Americans believe they are immune to water shortages or contamination, they should think again. California is choked by the worst drought in 50 years. Atlanta went through its own dusty spell in 2008, and the Southwest exists amid a perpetual shortfall. Entire water purification systems were wiped out for weeks at a time in recent years by Gulf Coast hurricanes. But if you want a glimpse of the depths of the world's water future, look Down Under. Australia, among developed nations the canary in the coal mine for climate change, is ramping up its saltwater-conversion plants and wastewater-recycling efforts as it has lost much of its water capacity to drought. (The Aussies' name for that continent's changing environment: The Big Dry.)
"Sometime in the next 10 or 20 years, we might be seeing the effects of widespread water shortages" across the United States, says Edward Bouwer, a professor of environmental engineering at the Whiting School, and a member of the Water Institute. "People will be astounded, but they'll adapt too." The notion of recycling household wastewater so it reappears out of their tap may make them feel queasy—scientists call such a reaction "the yuck factor"—but people can and do change.
The question that Schwab and Bouwer pose is: How? How do Water Institute researchers get people to see water as finite, and how do they best convey that a host of innovations can save them from disease, deprivation, and the worst thirst imaginable?
The answer, they believe, is predicated upon one emerging idea: Technology alone will not solve the world's water problems. Schwab is effusive in explaining that for scientists to be successful in reaching people around the world and helping them maintain water resources and stay safe from sanitary woes, the Water Institute must become a universitywide, multidisciplinary outfit that attacks the issue from a variety of angles.
"For the challenges of the 21st century, engineering and public health approaches might form the nucleus of what we'll do, but they're not enough," he says. "What we've come to realize is that human behavior is key to making water solutions sustainable." To do that, the institute will encourage relationships between businesses and nonprofit groups, researchers and local communities. It will inform policymakers about how laws and regulations can help solve water problems. So, anthropologists and sociologists from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences will be called upon to offer advice on how people in certain regions are likely to respond to droughts and floods. Microbiologists from the Bloomberg School will study how waterborne illnesses proliferate, while other researchers at the school will attempt to find the best ways to notify people in far-flung lands about water storage safety. Schwab plans to encourage academics at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies to provide advice to foreign governments on water-friendly policies, while physician-scientists at the School of Medicine will investigate the best ways to provide water after natural disasters. And so on, and so on.
"The possibilities for collaboration are endless," Schwab says. "We're trying to include all 10 Hopkins schools or divisions." Even the Peabody Conservatory could get involved, he muses, with songs and tones informing people about the status of water quality and safety in their local areas via hand-held devices, such as cellphones.
If Schwab's approach works, millions of people across the dozens of countries where Johns Hopkins researchers work will enjoy, perhaps for the first time, sustainable water and sanitation. To get there, solutions need to be crafted to work at the local level—all water issues are local—and then scaled up. That means applying something other than the Western-world systems that engineers typically design to handle the needs of millions.
"It's best to start at the village level," says Bouwer. "If you have any kind of regional treatment system, you need it to be simple, energy efficient, and to use existing forces, like gravity, to help move the water around." If engineers were to devise a more complex system and there's no one in an area who has the skills to manage it, that technology might become useless once it breaks down, he adds. The idea is to find elegant solutions that can work in small areas, even within single homes.
"We talk a lot about creating 'leapfrog technology,'" adds William Ball, also a professor of environmental engineering and a Water Institute member. The idea, he says, is to eliminate steps engineers have traditionally used to connect clean water to people. "We're trying to do the opposite of what we've done in the past, which has often involved sending water to the bottom of the hill to treat it. It costs a lot of money and energy to move water around. So, we're trying to jump past that idea and see if we can cheaply get water closer to home so people can use it."
Researchers connected with the Water Institute already study a panoply of issues. With the support of institute money and the research grants it can help draw, each has ideas for broadening their investigations to reach more people. But they admit that the range of issues the institute faces is overwhelming, and not exactly overlapping. For example, while some engineers, public health researchers, and other scientists are investigating how nanoparticles, remnants of pharmaceutical drugs, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (such as bisphenol A), and other micropollutants affect water quality in the United States, people in developing nations are, as usual, suffering more from large, ongoing water-related problems than the rest of the world. "We're looking for parts per billion of nanotubes while there are hundreds of millions of people who have no water to drink," says Ball.
The numbers are indeed confounding: Worldwide, one in three people lacks access to basic sanitation, of which water is a major component. Some world health groups contend that as many as 5,000 children die daily from intestinal diseases, including cholera and dysentery, because of it. Other deadly disorders with a connection to unsafe water, such as dengue and malaria, take a huge toll as well. Experts say that delivering clean water to people on one end, and then finding ways to sanitize water once it has been used, will dampen the effects of such developing-world diseases, as will better management of irrigation systems.
Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by a lack of water or sanitation. At an international water summit held last October in Hungary, Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary general, named water sanitation as one of three areas critical to sustainable global development.
Meanwhile, one in six people in poorer nations—more than 1 billion total—lacks access to clean drinking water. It takes others, mostly women or children, one to four hours on average to trek for water each day in many regions of Asia and Africa. During many human disasters, refugee camps are often placed far from water, forcing migrants and other displaced people to traverse long distances or beg for it.
The institute's reach—from the smallest microparticles to the ongoing macrodisaster surrounding human water needs—is ambitious. But there are signs that the institute might be originating at the right place and at the right time, Ball and others say. For one thing, the supply of safe drinking water has been made available to more people in the last 20 years, an indication that new technologies and programs can make a dent in the world's water inequities. For another, global groups, including the World Health Organization, are making water and sanitation top health priorities as the risks of climate change and breakneck development bring the problems of water purity and scarcity into higher relief.
What's more, science has already done a fair bit of "leapfrogging" regarding water, especially in the last 100 years or so. Prior to that, clean water and sanitation were part of an uneasy dialectic. From the Romans up till 1850, societies merely worried about delivering enough water via aqueducts and pipe systems. Often, as was the case in Baltimore, once the nation's typhoid capital, drinking water supplies shared space with de facto sewers, breeding disease.
Once germ theory was discovered, water system leaders tried to keep potable water entirely separate from wastewater. Johns Hopkins scientists and others found ways to eliminate the germs in drinking water, perhaps one reason why mortality rates in the United States fell by 40 percent from 1900 to 1940. For the past century, developed nations have made it a priority to treat wastewater as well, building sewage plants and devising new methods for sending effluent to waterways without polluting them.
Abel Wolman, A&S 1913, Engr 1915, pioneered a standardized system for water chlorination in Baltimore nearly 100 years ago, a process that has been emulated in several other cities. His son, M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman, A&S '49, a longtime Johns Hopkins engineering professor, was an expert on water flow, creating the Wolman Pebble Count, a method for determining how sedimentation in waterways can influence currents and flooding. (Leaders of the Water Institute originally considered calling it "The Wolman Initiative" but eventually dropped the idea.)
During the middle of the last century, engineering professors and students at Johns Hopkins conducted the first quantitative, longitudinal study of the Chesapeake Bay. And the university's immersion in water has been augmented by connections the Bloomberg School has maintained for decades in poor regions worldwide wracked by disease and drought. Such links, Schwab and others hope, will continue to bolster the institute's ability to work in many water-stressed parts of the world. "We are at a critical point with water," says Ball. "A lot of our success will be measured by how well we learn to reuse it."
The future of water won't look anything like the cheap and plentiful era we've enjoyed for the past century. The pressures of a booming global population and a changing environment will force us to be more ingenious. The new Johns Hopkins initiative has stirred some hope among researchers that there will be more opportunities for them to get there. Institute-affiliated scientists are gearing up investigations to learn how a changing environment will skew age-old patterns of rainfall and evaporation. Some, like Ball, have written grant proposals to study how farmers react to climate change. Because farmers typically adapt very quickly to climatic or economic forces, they could serve as a bellwether for how people behave in a new, warmer world.
Other researchers are already working to learn how much water each part of the world holds and then projecting whether it will have enough to sustain future populations.
Benjamin Zaitchik, an assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences, scours and compiles the best information on the ongoing water challenges of the Nile region, where most of the river's water originates in the highlands of Ethiopia. That country has never developed its water resources— until now. Ethiopia is building a hydroelectric dam slated to open in 2017. It will be massive and transformative enough that it will immediately account for 7 percent of that country's gross domestic product. Perhaps more importantly, the lake that the project will create will hold much more of the water seeping down from the highlands into the Blue Nile, water that may be in dispute because of treaties Egypt and Sudan have maintained for decades regarding the flow of the Nile. Such a scenario involves a thicket's worth of environmental, health, and political thorns—ones that the institute's leaders hope it can one day encompass. For now, Zaitchik is content to determine how "climate resilient" the region, which is home to more than 400 million people, will be in the coming decades. Water availability is key.
The countries of the region won't readily share information, and few weather stations monitor the highlands. So, Zaitchik mines satellite data to estimate how much water is evaporating from irrigated fields and reservoirs, how much groundwater the region may hold, and how quickly water sources may be winding down.
"It's incredibly complex terrain," Zaitchik says. "There's a remarkable amount of variability. We've looked at data from the past 30 years, and then compared it with models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." The goal, he says, is to help Nile nations plan for a variety of scenarios—each of which brings its own water resource challenges. The one found in the largest number of models involves a few wet decades, followed by an inevitable aridness. "After 2050, rainfall will decrease and we'll see it become hotter there, which will mean more evaporation," says Zaitchik. Besides aiding Zaitchik in making such crucial projections, the Water Institute will aim to link together other Johns Hopkins scientists working to improve Ethiopia's water quality, just one of many signs that the institute can develop some meaningful synergies, Zaitchik says. Already, it has connected him to David Sack, a professor of epidemiology and infectious disease at the Bloomberg School, whom Zaitchik calls "a living legend in the world of cholera."
The two have started work on a project to create a system that can predict where cholera will mostly likely strike, even before a first case is identified. "The institute will be great for helping us run workshops here, educate people around the world about water issues, and for us to do more research," says Zaitchik. "It's coming together at an important time."
Other researchers say the institute can help them in more prosaic, though no less important, ways. Maria Elena Figueroa, SPH '97 (PhD), hopes that the institute can support research like hers to deepen understanding of human behavior in order to help people in far-flung areas affected by a lack of water and unsafe sanitary conditions. Figueroa, director of research and evaluation for the Bloomberg School's Center for Communication Programs, has spent years working in Guatemala, India, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and elsewhere to achieve what has become one of the institute's overarching goals: changing how humans act when dealing with water issues. CCP has researched how best to improve water, hygiene, and sanitation programs in developing nations, and how to make those programs sustainable at the local level. "A key goal of our research is to find out how people think and feel about water," Figueroa says. "Do they think water treatment is a good idea? Do they have some misconceptions or concerns about water treatment methods that need to be dealt with?"
In Indonesia, for example, most people boil their water for drinking, as they have done for generations. That includes areas where the national government provides chlorinated water. Boiling it eliminates chlorine that protects the water from pathogens—a problem when people then don't store it safely. Much of it can become infected.
"We had to get the word out to people, to explain to them that boiling isn't the only way to make water safe," Figueroa says. "We also worked to increase their understanding of how water can get recontaminated," often from a lack of soap for hand-washing, as well as open defecation. "Our work influenced the development of a new water policy in Indonesia," she adds.
The institute will afford the center more opportunities for social and behavioral research in developing nations, where a lack of sanitation continues to place a burden on too many people in needy areas, she adds. "You have to reach into the spaces where people and water come together. As the institute grows, we'll be able to make stronger connections between behavior and technology, and work with communities and offer them more solutions that fit their contexts and needs."
Others at the university say that some solutions should start as early as possible—even as soon as the day each human is born, especially in the thousands of small villages worldwide where an infant's first sip, often given as part of a ritual to connect the child to its place in the world, is of contaminated water.
Lori Edwards, SPH '89, '12 (DrPH), an instructor in the School of Nursing, says that years of working in Central America and Haiti have taught her how crucial water is. "Being in places where clean water is limited was an epiphany for me," she says. "Seeing what dehydration in children looks like in remote areas of Guatemala or isolated mountain villages in Mexico was a shocker."
The Water Institute will, Edwards hopes, bring together the right people at Johns Hopkins to make her dream of a project, which she calls Baby's First Sip, come to life. The idea came from Peace Corps nursing students Edwards has taught and worked with at the School of Nursing. "They know intimately well the challenges of clean water and sanitation and are thirsty for more knowledge about them," she says. Edwards would like to develop a baby bottle with a filter—something that could be disseminated in places where sanitation and changing community behavior are ongoing challenges. With millions of people dying annually from water-related diseases, most of them children, a bottle that successfully weeds out microbes could have a profound impact in developing countries, Edwards says.
"The idea is great, but we don't have the money or bioengineering know-how yet to get it done," she adds. "We need to bring in engineers and others from Hopkins and elsewhere to put together technology that could work in the field. We'd also have to work closely with the local culture to create a system people will adopt."
Such a device, she says, would make sure that babies in even the most remote, poverty-stricken areas have safe water—water that is good from the first drop. | <urn:uuid:49cd342b-b81f-4649-b176-aad78a7676ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2014/summer/water-institute | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963364 | 4,475 | 3.3125 | 3 |
10 Interesting Blues Music Facts
Blues music facts allow you to learn about the history and development about one of the popular music genres. Blues is very popular nowadays even though the popularity cannot beat pop, rock or alternative music. People consider blues as a romantic music. If you like to know more about this music genre, look at the following post below:
Blues Music Facts 1: development of the genre
Blues is a unique genre. It was created by the combination of African and western culture in Southern United States.
Blues Music Facts 2: the early blue musicians
Some notable blue musicians in the early time include Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and Bukka White.
Blues Music Facts 3: musical instruments
In the early development of blues music, there were some musical elements used by the musicians. Some of them include banjo and piano.
Blues Music Facts 4: melody and harmony
Let’s learn about the harmony and melody of blues music. Many blues musicians use the harmony combination of the first, fourth and fifth chords when they like to create fantastic blues songs. To produce the wonderful melody, the blue musicians often use the seventh, fifth and flattened third notes. This style can be seen in various types of traditional blues songs.
Blues Music Facts 5: banjo
Banjo is one of the main musical instruments that the blues musician used in the early days. In 1900s, other musical elements such as guitar and piano were added to make the blues rich and fun.
Blues Music Facts 6: improvisation
Improvisations have been made in this modern day. Blues are not traditional any more. People will use the modern musical instruments such as drums, bass, and harmony to make the blues music unique. Therefore, you can find that many sub genres were generated from blues.
Blues Music Facts 7: Blues-rock
One of the fascinating blue genres that you can learn is blues-rock. This music is the combination of blues and rock. This type of music is used to entertain the young teenagers who love with rock.
Blues Music Facts 8: sub genres
There are many other sub genres that people can enjoy from blues. You can see that the blues is combined with R&B, hip hop, pop, and rock and roll. If you like to carry a new look on the music, combine blues with heavy metal or alternative genres.
Blues Music Facts 9: Rhythm in Blues
Another characteristic that you need to learn from blues is the rhythm. It is usually created from the 48 beat and 12-bar repetitive patterns.
Blues Music Facts 10: lyrics
Some blues songs usually are created based on the stories about poverty, lost relationship, violence, racism, death, love and many more.
If you want to know more about blues, you can hear blues songs. You will know that this genre is very beautiful and wonderful to listen. Do you want to give opinion on facts about blues music? | <urn:uuid:be961031-39f5-4348-9e63-7f877064c2b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.myinterestingfacts.com/blues-music-facts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939665 | 609 | 2.953125 | 3 |
In this 2010 Ted-Ed Talk Lesson, educator Dr. William Li discusses the concept of angiogenesis, the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body and how certain foods can be used in the anti-angiogenesis process, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed diseases like cancer.
The body’s ability to balance angiogenesis, when it’s working properly, prevents blood vessels from feeding cancers. And this turns out to be one of our most important defense mechanisms against cancer. In fact if you block angiogenesis and prevent blood vessels from ever reaching cancer cells, tumors simply can’t grow up…could the answer to cancer be preventing angiogenesis? Beating cancer at its own game…but I began asking what could we be adding to our diet that’s naturally anti-angiogenic, that could boost the body’s defense system and beat back those blood blood vessels that are feeding cancers. In other words, can we eat to starve cancer? | <urn:uuid:fdd201f8-5f9f-4724-adc2-5c7120f10ee1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://laughingsquid.com/exploring-anti-angiogenesis-using-food-to-starve-cancer-and-fight-obesity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897606 | 208 | 2.84375 | 3 |
type is an anticipation of Christ. Thus, Samson, who sacrificed his life for God's people, partially anticipates Christ, who repeats the action, endowing it with a deeper, more complete, more spiritual significance. Similarly, the scapegoat and the animals sacrificed in the Temple at Jerusalem, both of which atoned for man's sins, and Aaron, God's priest, are types. As Thomas Hartwell Horne explains in An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the text which was standard reading for British divinity students:
A type, in its primary and literal meaning, simply denotes a rough draught, or less accurate model, from which a more perfect image is made; but, in the sacred or theological sense of the term, a type may be defined to be a symbol of something future and distant, or an example prepared and evidently designed by God to prefigure that future thing. What is thus prefigured is called the antitype.
Horne further explains that the Bible contains three kinds of types: the historical, the legal, and the prophetical. Historical types, such as those provided by Moses, Samson, David. and Melchizedek, "are the characters, actions, and fortunes of some eminent persons recorded in the Old Testament, so ordered by Divine Providence as to be exact prefigurations of the characters, actions. and fortunes of future persons who should arise under the Gospel dispensation" (2.529). For example, as Newman explains in "Moses the Type of Christ," this first great prophet of the Jews prefigured Christ as redeemer, prophet, and intercessor for guilty man.
Newman begins this sermon by asserting that "The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ." He next emphasizes the authority and authenticity of Moses" status as a type by pointing out that "no prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled. "The Lord thy God," says Moses, 'shall raise unto thee a Prophet like unto me:" that was Christ" (Sermons, 7.118). Then, having thus identified and authenticated a divinely instituted parallel, Newman proceeds to examine "in what respects Moses resembled Christ" (Sermons, 7.118). First, however, he makes the commonplace assertion, which was accepted by all typologists, that the history of the Jews recorded in the Old Testament was intended to serve as an anticipatory image of later eras, so "if we survey the general history of the Israelites, we shall find that it is a picture of man's history, as the dispensation of the Gospel displays it to us, and that in it Moses takes the place of Christ" (Sermons, 7.118). To begin with, Moses prefigures Christ the redeemer, for he rescued the Israelites, the particular children of God, from Egyptian slavery and led them to the promised land. Newman says:
How clearly this prefigures to us the condition of the Christian Church! We are by nature in a strange country; God was our first Father, and His Presence our dwelling-place: but we were cast out of Paradise for sinning, and are in a dreary land, a valley of darkness and the shadow of death. We are born in this spiritual Egypt, the land of strangers . . . [and] by nature slaves we are, slaves to the Devil. He is our hard task-master, as Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites. (Sermons, 7.119)
Fortunately for the Israelites, God sent Moses, armed with His power, to lead them forth from slavery. "And who is it that has done this for us Christians? Who but the Eternal Son of God, our Lord and Saviour, whose name in consequence we bear" (Sermons, 7.120). Christ leads us out of the slavery of sin, guides us through apparently insurmountable difficulties, and, at last, brings us to the true Promised Land. "Christ, then, is a second Moses, and greater than he, inasmuch as Christ leads from hell to heaven, as Moses led the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan" (Sermons, 7.121-2).
The second function of Moses as a type is to prefigure Christ as prophet and giver of the New Law of grace. "Christ reveals to us the will of God, as Moses to the Israelites. He is our Prophet, as well as our Redeemer" (Sermons, 7.12). As Newman points out, no other Old Testament prophet "was so favored as Moses," since "before Christ came, Moses alone saw God face to face; all prophets after him but heard His voice or saw Him in vision" (Sermons, 7.12). Moses returned from the mount with the Ten Commandments and the Levitical law of sacrifices by which men could make atonement for breaking them; Christ, who incomparably surpasses His type, brings the New Law of salvation.
The "third point of resemblance between Moses and Christ" was that both interceded on behalf of their people in order to save them from a deserved punishment for sinning. "Moses was the great intercessor when the Israelites sinned" (Sermons, 7.127), for after the Jews had corrupted themselves with worshipping idols while Moses was on the mount receiving the tablets of the law, God would have cut them off from the Promised Land had not Moses interposed himself. Moses first begged God to delay His punishment and he then told his wayward people, "Ye have sinned a great sin; but now I will go unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin" (Exodus 32:30). According to Newman, "Here Moses, as is obvious, shadows out the true Mediator between God and man, who is ever at the right hand of God making intercession for us; but the parallel is closer still than appears at first sight" (Sermons, 7.128), since when Moses interceded on behalf of the Jews, he offered to sacrifice his own portion of blessedness in order to save theirs. "The exchange was accepted. He was excluded, dying in sight, not in enjoyment of Canaan, while the people went in under Joshua. This was a figure of Him that was to come" (Sermons, 7.128) .
Having thus emphasized that the historical Moses closely prefigures Christ as redeemer, prophet, and intercessor, Newman next proceeds to show how far short Moses none the less falls of his divine antitype. Since the purpose of typological exegesis of the Bible was always in part to demonstrate the way all sacred history centers upon Christ, the interpreter necessarily pointed out the many ways in which some person or thing in the Old Testament anticipated Christ or His Church. But once the interpreter had demonstrated that God had graciously provided anticipations of Christ in His dealings with those who lived in Old Testament times, he frequently went on to emphasize the essential incompleteness of such types and their essential inadequacy to save man. Newman, for example, points out that Moses "was not taken instead of Israel, except in figure" (Sermons, 7.129), and that, in spite of the prophet's willingness to sacrifice himself, the sinners died of the plague and only their children entered Canaan. In other words, the historical Moses was adequate as a means of suggesting man's universal need for intercession, but he was inadequate as an intercessor: Moses, who possessed his own historical reality, can function only as a symbol of Christ; he cannot be the reality of Christ.
Furthermore, argues Newman, Moses, whose nature falls far below that of Christ, actually 'suffered for his own sins" and not for the sins of his people. "True, he was shut out from Canaan. But why" Not in spite of his having "done nothing amiss," as the Divine Sufferer on the cross" (Sermons, 7.129), but because he disobeyed God's instructions during the desert wanderings and struck the rock a second time. It is important for the Christian to perceive "how apparently slight a fault it was for which Moses suffered; for this shows us the infinite difference between the best of a sinful race and Him who was sinless, — the least taint of human corruption having in t an unspeakable evil" (Sermons, 7.129). In other words, the history of Moses can lead the Christian to his savior in two ways: first, perceiving the significant resemblances of Moses to Christ enables the believer to see the essential human need for a redeemer, lawgiver, and intercessor; second, perceiving the differences between type and antitype enables him to see how much greater Christ is than Moses. Essentially Moses, like all other types, functions as an elaborate trope that permits man to begin to understand something otherwise too great for his comprehension by first providing a historical analogy to make that truth accessible and then emphasizing that the true reality vastly surpasses its historical image.
The second major branch of prefigurative symbolism is that provided by what Horne calls the "Legal types, or those contained in the Mosaic law" of ritual observance. According to Horne, who offers the standard explanation of these legal types, the entire ritual law "was typical of the Messiah and the Gospel blessings . . . and this point has been . . . clearly established by the great apostle of the Gentiles in his Epistle to the Hebrews" (2.528) . All interpreters of the Bible therefore follow St. Paul in holding that the legal types prefigured Christ by conveying the fundamental idea that only the sacrifice of innocent blood could atone for man's sinning against God.
Thus, the entire constitution, and offerings of the Levitical priesthood, typically prefigured Christ the great high priest (Heb. v. vii. viii.); and especially the ceremonies observed on the great day of atonement. (Lev.. xvi. with Heb.. ix. throughout, and x. 1-2) So, the Passover and the paschal lamb typified the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Exod.. xii. 3 et seq. with John xix. 36 and I Cor. v. 7). (2.528)
These legal types (which were also known as ritual, ceremonial, and Levitical types) provided a particularly popular occasion for the exercise of this form of scriptural interpretation. At first glance, the Book of Leviticus, which contains detailed instructions for rituals which even the Jews had not practiced for almost two millennia, hardly seemed relevant to Christians. Typology, however, demonstrated that these arcane rituals of an alien religion in fact contain continual glimpses of Christian truth, and in so doing it also demonstrated that the eye of faith could transform even the most apparently barren ground into fields lush with gospel flowers.
But since scriptural interpretation always implicitly follows the rule "seek and ye shall find," each Church party caught sight of its own gospel flower. For example, the Evangelicals within and without the Church of England, who stressed the primacy of Christ's atonement, urged that the believer meditate upon this central event in human history until it came imaginatively alive and the believer attained an "experimental" knowledge of Christ; by imaginatively experiencing Christ's sufferings, one could move toward a heartfelt conversion and then intensify one's faith. Evangelical Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians thus read the Levitical types as divinely intended prefigurations of Christ's passion and death. According to the extraordinarily popular Bible commentary of Thomas Scott, the burnt-offerings mentioned in Leviticus 1:3 "especially typified Christ, in the intenseness of his sufferings, both of body and soul, when he gave himself a sacrifice for our sins . . . and they likewise shewed forth the perfection of zeal and love, with which he voluntarily went through his inexpressible sufferings." One may remark in passing that precisely such an Evangelical conception of the Levitical types informs William Holman Hunt's The Scapegoat (1856), which stands as a powerful meditative image of suffering innocence [Follow for discussion and illustration of Hunt's painting].
In contrast to the Evangelicals who placed their chief emphasis upon the individual believer's personal relation to Christ and thereby downgraded the Church as an institution, members of the High Church party stressed the centrality of the sacraments and the Church hierarchy. Consequently, Keble, Newman, and their followers interpreted the legal types as prefiguring both the priesthood and the sacrament of Holy Communion w which it administers. For example, in "The Gospel Feast," Newman explains how the legal types provide part of a chain or series of types reaching from patriarchal times into Christ's life to prefigure Holy communion.
Not in the miracle of the loaves only, though in that especially, but in all parts of Scripture, in history, and in precept, and in promise, and in prophecy, is it given to see the Gospel Feast typified and prefigured and that immortal and never-failing Supper in the visible presence of the Lamb which will follow upon it at the end. (Sermons, 7.162)
According to Newman, then, the ceremonial types of the Passover ritual, animal sacrifice, and first-fruits — like the historical types of manna and Melchizedek's bread and wine — all prefigure "that banquet which is to last for ever and ever" (Sermons, 8.178).
John Keble's "Our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving" similarly shows how a chain of linked types leads to fulfillment in the sacrament of Communion. Using a slightly different set of types from Newman's, Keble traces this gospel antitype of sacrifice through its various prefigurations in the firstlings of Abel's flock, the encounter of Abram and Melchizedek, and the sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He then shows how the Levitical burnt-, free-will-, and sin-offerings, which were in part sacrifices of praise, were types of Holy Communion. Rightly understood, these three types show the Christian that his Church, like that of Moses, has its means of commemoration and praise. Indeed, since the believers under the Old Covenant had such opportunity, the Christian must also have 'sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving: and what was that Sacrifice? Chiefly, and before all else, it was the Holy Eucharist, the Bread and Wine first, and then the Lord's Body and Blood, offered up on the Christian altar by the priest in the Name of Jesus Christ, for this among other great purposes: that it may be a solemn and perfect acknowledgment of the Great God, and what He has done for us" (Sermons, 2.343).
In "The Priesthood of all Christians, and the Sacrifices they should offer," Keble provides an example of the second High Church interpretation of the ceremonial types, which is as prefiguring Christ-the-priest. According to him, Christ "is the only true Priest, of Whom all other priests, whatsoever their time and order, whether they followed Aaron or Melchizedek, whether they came before or after their Lord, are nothing more than shadows and types. He is a High Priest for ever, and therefore His people and members, in their measure and degree, are priests also" (Sermons, 2.319). Since each Christian is a priest, he must, concludes Keble, have something to sacrifice to the Lord, just as had priests of the OId Law. But since "we are spiritual, i.e. Christian priests, we must bring spiritual, i.e., Christian Sacrifices: not carnal sacrifices, such as were those of the Jews, appointed for a time, as figures and shadows, until Christ the True Sacrifice should come: but spiritual, Christian, Gospel sacrifices: such as these we must have, every one of us, Spiritual, Christian, Gospel, priests (Sermons, 2.320). This High Churchman's emphasis upon the priesthood of every believer, like his heated rhetoric, makes him sound much like an Evangelical. For example, he seems to be making exactly the same point as does Ruskin, writing during his early Evangelical phase, when the author of Modern Painters argued that no Christian priesthood exists separate from that composed of all believers. According to Ruskin:
the whole function of Priesthood was, on Christmas morning, at once and for ever gathered into His Person who was born at Bethlehem; and thenceforward, all who are united with Him, and who with Him make sacrifices of themselves; that is to say, all members of the Invisible Church become, at the instant of their conversion, Priests; and are so called in 1 Peter ii. 5, and Rev. i. 6, and xx. 6, where, observe, there is no possibility of limiting the expression to the Clergy, the conditions of Priesthood being simply having been loved by Christ, and washed in His blood. ("Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds," l851; 12.537)
Having possibly suggested that he holds an extreme Protestant position which necessarily downgrades the Church hierarchy, Keble wastes no time in reassuring his High Anglican congregation that he means nothing of the sort. In fact, he begins his explanation by wondering how., St. Peter could have affirmed that all Christians constitute a priesthood 'seeing that there are priests according to our Lord's own law, to whom, through His Apostles, He said, Do this offer the Holy Communion, "in remembrance of Me" (Sermons, 2.320) . He quickly resolves this problem by pointing out that just as the ancient Jews were all 'so far priests to the God of Israel, yet this hindered not but that Aaron's sons had a special commission: so it remains true that the Apostles of our Lord and those who act by authority from them are the only Priests by office in the Church of Christ, yet is each Christian in some sense appointed to somewhat of a priestly work" (Sermons, 2.3~1). As Keble next explains, each Christian turns out to perform "somewhat of a priestly work" only in so far as he or she receives the sacrament of Communion from a true Priest, or, as Keble puts it, "there is no doubt that the chief thing, in which Christian people shew themselves priests, is devoutly joining in the Sacrifice of our Lord's Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist" (Sermons, 2.32).
Granted, Keble had to resolve problems created by a long tradition of contradictory texts, but his use of "in some sense" and "somewhat of a priestly work" encourages one to sympathize with Ruskin's attacks on the High Church party's "bold refusals to read plain English" and "its elaborate adjustments of tight bandages over the eyes, as wholesome preparation for a walk among tracks and pitfalls." Interestingly enough, when attacking "Puseyism," Ruskin singles out for condemnation Keble's attempt in an anonymously published poem to defend his conception of Christian priesthood by referring to sacrifices of the Old Law. Ruskin savagely attacks "that dangerous compound of halting poetry with hollow Divinity, called the Lyra Apostolica," and scornfully rejects Keble's "suggested parallel between the Christian and Levitical Churches" in his poem "Korah, Dathan, and Abiram." 10 On Keble's threat that there are "Judgment Fires, For high-voiced Korahs in their day," this "high-voiced" Evangelical comments, "There are indeed such fires. But when Moses said, "a Prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you, like unto me," did he mean the writer who signs himself in the Lyra Apostolica? The office of the Lawgiver and Priest is now for ever gathered into One Mediator between God and man; and THEY are guilty of the sin of Korah who blasphemously would associate themselves in His Mediatorship." Making the usual Low Church point that High Churchmen tried to arrogate Christ's office to themselves, Ruskin thus dismisses Keble's position — and his reading of the legal types as well.
In contrast to the way in which both Evangelicals and High Anglicans read the legal types as precise prefigurations of identifiable events and rituals, Broad Churchmen, who rarely employed orthodox typology, found these types to be general symbols of basic religious ideas. Thus, F. W. Robertson (18-53), the popular workingman's preacher at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, from 1847 until his death, argued that the "Jewish sacrifices" had their origin in a combination of "two feelings: one human, one divine or inspired." The true feeling, says Robertson, is that we must surrender something to God, whereas the human, more primitive, feeling adds to it the mistaken notion that "this sacrifice pleases God because of the loss or pain which it inflicts." The "ancient spiritually-minded Jews," such as David, had an accurate and even Christian perception of the real meaning of sacrifice.... Men like David felt what lay beneath all sacrifice as its ground and meaning was surrender to God's will-that a man's best is himself- and to sacrifice this is the true sacrifice. By degrees they came to see that the sacrifice was but a form — typical; and that it might be superseded.
The sacrifice of Christ, which superseded the Levitical sacrifices, "satisfied" God, not because "it was pain, but . . . because for the first time He saw human nature a copy of the Divine nature -- the will of Man the Son perfectly coincident with the will of God the Father" ("Notes on Psalm Ll, (1851), Sermons Preached at Brighton (N. Y., nd), pp. 297-98.). Robertson interprets something in the Old Testament conventionally taken to be a type, he uses the vocabulary of typological exegesis, and he clearly accepts the theory of progressive revelation which is implicit in typology. None the less, when Robertson writes "typical," he means "symbolical" and not "typological." He examines these ancient Jewish ceremonies only to show the presence in them of universal spiritual principles, and he does not discover them to be divinely instituted signs of specific events or things. Like many Broad Churchmen, he employs terms figuratively that many among his listeners usually understand literally, and he does so for a variety of reasons: his audience expects to hear discussions of Christianity in such terms and will listen more sympathetically when it does; his audience — particularly the more orthodox — will believe he is more traditional than he in fact is; and his audience by these means can gradually be led to perceive the true "spiritualized" meaning of older words and ideas. Robertson, in other words, grows out of the long tradition of typological interpretation, but he is no typologist.
The third branch of typology is composed of the "PROPHETICAL TYPES [which] are those, by which the divinely inspired prophets prefigured or signified things either present or future, by means of external symbols. Of this description is the prophet Isaiah's going naked (that is, without his prophetic garment) and barefoot (Isa. xx. 2.), to prefigure the fatal destruction of the Egyptians and Ethiopians Perhaps the most important of all prophetic types was that which appears in Genesis 3: 15 when God tells the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel." As Henry Melvill, the great Evangelical Anglican preacher, points out in his sermon "The First Prophecy," God's words in Eden provide man with a summation of human history; and
Whether or no the prophecy were intelligible to Adam and Eve, unto ourselves it is a wonderful passage, spreading itself over the whole of time, and giving outlines of the history of this world from the beginning to the final consummation. It is nothing less than a delineation of an unwearied conflict of which this earth shall be the theatre, and which shall issue, though not without partial disaster to man, in the complete discomfiture of Satan and his associates. [Sermons , ed. C. P. M'llvaine, 2 vols. (N. Y. , 1851), I, 10-11.]
Other, non-Evangelical preachers agree that this first prophetic type shadows forth a fundamental battle of good and evil, thus providing believers with a view of the central law of human history. F. W. Robertson, the Broad Churchman, agrees that "it is the law which governs the conflict with evil. It can only be crushed by suffering from it.... The Son of man who puts His naked foot on the serpent's head, crushes it: the fang goes into His heel" ("Caiaphas's View of Vicarious Sacrifice" (1848), Sermons Preached at Brighton , p. 117. See also pp. 497, 596).
In addition to shadowing forth an essential principle of human life in this world, this type also announces coming salvation and the means by which it will be purchased. Since the final clause of God's pronouncement, that the serpent shall bruise the heel of the woman's seed, was conventionally taken to prefigure the Crucifixion, this first prophecy was commonly understood to contain the entire so-called "Gospel scheme" for man's redemption. As John Charles Ryle, the Evangelical Bishop of Liverpool, argued in one of his many tracts, "one golden chain runs through" the entire Bible:
no salvation excepting by Jesus Christ. The bruising of the serpent's head, foretold in the day of the fall, — the clothing of our first parents with skins, — the sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, -- the passover, and all the particulars of the Jewish law, -- the high-priest, — the altar, — the daily offering of the lamb, — the holy of holies entered only by blood, -- the scapegoat . . . all preach with one voice, salvation only by Jesus Christ. ["Evangelical Religion"Knots Untied, p. 40.]
Similarly, the High Anglican Keble combines historical and prophetic types when he urges upon his listeners that Christ, "the true Seed of the woman, God the son, . . . would, in His own good time, bruise the head of the tempting and corrupting serpent. He, the true David, would cast down the true Goliath, would take from him all his armour wherein he trusted" ("The Deadly Peace of the Unawakened Conscience," Sermons, 3.195). In one of his Short Sermons for Family Reading , John William Burgon, Fellow of Oriel and Vicar of what had been Newman's church, makes the same point as does Keble when he holds that "our savior therefore slew Satan with his own weapon; — by tasting of Death destroyed the author of Death; — even by dying, bruised, if he did not cut off, the Tempter's head. . . Yes, you are requested to note the prominence given to what befel the head of the giant [Goliath].... for indeed it is full of Gospel meaning.... What does all this signify but that the true David should hereafter "bruise the serpent's head," and then ascend on high, leading captivity captive" ("David and Goliath: Part I" Ninety-One Short Sermons for Family Reading: Following the Course of the Christian Seasons: Second Series, 2 vols. [Oxford, 1867], 519.). The way in which both High and Low Churchmen link this prophetic type with other prefigurations of Christ reveals that for them it points directly to His presence at the center of human history.
Furthermore, as all Church parties agree, this type also speaks directly to the individual believer. Melvill makes this usual point in "The First Prophecy" when he holds that "according to the fair laws of interpretation . . . the prophecy must be fulfilled in more than one individual," and while the seed of the woman is chiefly Christ Himself, this prophetical type necessarily has additional antitypes or fulfillments. Taking Eve as a type of the Church, Melvill points out that this divine institution may be considered from "three points of view" -- "first, as represented by the head, which is Christ; secondly, collectively as a body; thirdly, as resolved into its separate members" (Sermons, I, 13). In setting forth the many ways the individual believer can become an imitatio Christi by suffering in the battle against Satan, Victorian preachers pointed to those party doctrines they wished to enforce Thus, Keble, who advocates fasting as a High Church practice, argues that Adam and Eve 'sinned by eating, He [Christ] overcame sin by fasting, — They began to yield to the serpent by longing after the forbidden tree, He began to bruise the serpent's head by abstaining from food itself lawful and innocent" ("On Fasting," Sermons, 3.42). Hence the true believer must continue the bruising by appropriate fasting. Charles Clayton, the Cambridge Evangelical, makes a point characteristic of his party, which urged the major importance of preaching the Gospel, when he claimed that "This word, "testifying" of "the blood" of Jesus, is now preached everywhere, fully and constantly; and wherever this is done, believers find Satan bruised beneath their feet" ("Satan Falling from Heaven," Sermons (Preached in Cambridge) [London, 1859], p. 197.). In contrast to these precise fulfillment's in party doctrine, the Broad Churchman Robertson, we recall, finds instead a general rule of life — namely, that one must suffer in contending with evil, for only in that way can it be conquered.
Last modified 4 April 2015 | <urn:uuid:7f0b21e0-6c5e-4558-b64f-f366348187e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/type/ch1b.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960181 | 6,328 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Once oppressed, most Sami now live modern lifestyles, and few still herd reindeer. But many wore their traditional brightly colored costumes as they performed chant-like joik songs and recited poems of their ancient culture at events across northern Scandinavia and Finland.
Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon greeted Sami school children in northern Norway urging them to be proud of their heritage and to remember their nomadic ancestors, who wandered freely through the northern wilderness until country borders were established.
"I think it's important that we are known for where we come from and what our cultural roots are," Haakon said in Kirkenes, 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) northeast of Oslo, near the Russian border.
In Helsinki, a few dozen protesters gathered outside Finnish Parliament to protest delays in laws granting Sami land rights and to demand more Sami language teaching.
Raila Pirinen, a native Sami speaker, who uses the language daily in social media, said she came to show support for the disappearing language that once was banned by regional officials.
There are more than 10 different Sami languages or dialects, with many not understanding each other.
"I think that now, Sami young people and couples and parents .
Nearby, visitors to an indigenous Sami market were served bowls of hot reindeer soup during an afternoon snowstorm as Samis sang traditional songs, some displaying their reindeer lassoing skills.
The reindeer herding tribes—formerly known as Lapps—settled in the region 9,000 years ago and now number about 80,000. Up to 50,000 Sami live in Norway, 20,000 in Sweden and 8,000 in Finland. In addition, an estimated 2,000 live in Russia.
Many Sami areas today have semiautonomous status with regional parliaments, after Norway created the first Sami Council in 1964 which became the Norwegian Sami Parliament in 1989. Sweden and Finland followed suit in 1993 and 1996.
Wednesday's celebrations come nearly 100 years after the Sami met at their first national congress of about 100 herders in Trondheim, Norway. | <urn:uuid:7251d000-4c09-4945-b007-3acd57e16054> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_22531643/northern-indigenous-herders-fete-national-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9715 | 445 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Carrot F1 'Purple
'Purple Haze' is the only imperator-shaped purple carrot. Purple is a very trendy color
and gourmet chefs are always looking for a new vegetable color. 'Purple Haze' has a purple
exterior and orange interior. Circles of cut 'Purple Haze' carrots have two distinct
colors: a halo of purple with a bright orange center. The best appearance of 'Purple Haze'
will be raw in salads or cole slaw. When cooked in water, the purple color will fade. When
carrots are cooked quickly, as in a stir-fry, the purple color will remain. Best of all,
'Purple Haze' tastes great. It has a sweet flavor no matter what color.
'Purple Haze' is easy to grow from seed. Sow seed in prepared soil as early as possible.
Place seed 1/2 inch deep and cover with soil. The garden soil should be rich, loose,
deeply worked with excellent drainage to grow 12-inch long, straight carrots. Expect
germination in 14-21 days. Thin seedlings to be 2 inches apart. The purple pigment is
influenced by soil temperature and drainage. The strongest purple color will occur when
plants are grown at 59-68°F. For gardeners with heavy clay soil, growing 'Purple Haze'
carrots in patio containers is a snap. Use the same growing directions as soil, but water
more frequently, since the soil in containers has a tendency to dry out more rapidly.
AAS WINNER DATA
Genus species: Daucus carota L.
Common name: Carrot
Fruit size: 12 inches long, 2-inch shoulder; 7 oz.
Color: Purple exterior, orange interior
Plant type: Upright
Width: 16 inches
Garden spacing: 2 inches apart
Unique qualities: Color, sweeter than other purple carrots
Length of time from sowing seed to harvest: 70 days
Closest comparison(s) on market: F1 'Cheyenne,' F1 'Bolero' ('Beta Sweet'
seed was not available for use as comparison)
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Back to Home | <urn:uuid:7e19110a-c566-4576-893e-b9e3272c57c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/4dmg/Whats/Amerslct/purpcarr.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.875244 | 486 | 2.640625 | 3 |
I find that terminology confusing, too. But one image that has helped me is to visualize an accordian fold. The upper body is one pleat, a fold at the hips so that from the hip to the knee is another pleat, then knee to heel is the third pleat. In jumping, the lower leg stays move still, but there are times when it might change, and even in posting you are not only changing the hip angle by opening that "fold", you are also openning the fold of the knee, too.
Accordian closer, accordian further apart. That openning of the fold at the hip joint can happen by EITHER you straightening your upper body to a more vertical stature, OR you bringing your knee more directly underneath you , and thus your heel further back (in the saddle). Both motions open the angle of that "fold".
Last edited by tinyliny; 03-21-2011 at 02:22 AM. | <urn:uuid:c8f1b885-8a66-4cae-a6e5-ff2c35f09d23> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.horseforum.com/jumping/slight-confusion-81551/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949254 | 198 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Primitive furniture, also commonly called early American country furniture, refers to handmade tables, desks, dressers, and chairs from before the era of mass production. These pieces often feature interesting carpentry techniques, such as dovetail and mortise-and-tenon joints.
Most of this furniture, made between the mid-1700s and early 1800s, was built by farmers, who were able to supplement their incomes during the dormant months making practically anything their farm or community could need—coffins, axe handles, repaired rails or chair seats, window sashes, etc. When asked, they would also produce their own versions of city furnishings.
That said, country dwellers tended to be decades behind the trends in the big cities, and were much more conservative in their taste. Their furnishings were generally made from local woods like pine or birch instead of fancy imported varieties like mahogany or rosewood, and their finished pieces tended to be painted instead of polished.
Everything in the house, from the furniture to boxes and tools—sometimes even pine floors and staircases—would be painted in the popular style. Some artisans used stenciling to create elaborate, symbolic designs on their wood furnishings, while others employed sponges or crumbled paper to give their pieces a patterned effect.
One common painting style is known as “graining.” A piece would be painted one color, like red, and then allowed to dry. Then another coat of paint, say in black, would be added, and before it dried, run over with a comb, to give the illusion of the fine wood grain of an exotic wood.
This painted style is particularly prevalent in the free-standing cupboards, wardrobes, and blanket chests of German communities in Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as in the Piedmont back-country villages of North and South Carolina.
In contrast, the strictly religious Shakers in New York, New England, and Kentucky made spare, elegant, streamlined tables, chests, and cupboards. Most of these pieces were made ...
Windsor chairs, made from lathe-turned wooden spindles, have been consistently among the most popular primitive furniture designs, as have bentwood chairs, which are sometimes made into Windsor styles as well.
Around 1830, hand-made furniture fell out of favor, thanks to affordable, mass-produced furniture in popular ornate Victorian styles. The Arts and Craft Movement, epitomized by Gustav Stickley’s Mission-style furniture, briefly revived public taste for handmade furniture—but it wasn’t long before these styles were mass-produced, too.
In the 20th century, a few important modern artisans have maintained and built upon these handmade traditions. Craftsmen like George Nakashima seemed to take the word “primitive” literally—the rough, barked edges of his tables, for example, are often left unfinished. Sam Maloof, on the other hand, built upon the Shaker tradition by introducing curves and gentle undulations where straight lines had been. | <urn:uuid:7585894d-d890-4a7f-a47d-493a154ce307> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.collectorsweekly.com/furniture/primitive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973175 | 634 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Doctor insights on:
Medical Conditions Cause Itchy Skin
Itchy Skin: Itchy skin can be a result of medications. It can also be do to excessive dryness in you house in the winter time. This is known as winter itch eczema. Soaps and laundry detergents can also be responsible. Use a body cleanser like cetaphil and use all free & clear for you laundry. No fabric softeners! if it doesn't get better, do see a dermatoloigist. ...Read more
Itchy rash: The most common cause is dty skin. Moisterize after bath or shower when skin is still slightly moist. This will help maintain the moisture in the skin. Less common could be thyroid disease or blood disorder so see your doctor if the condition continues. ...Read more
What causes darkening itchy skin. Seems like it started a year ago after vacation in miami. Hair also thinning and dry. Any suggestions?
Darkening of skin: Yes virginia sun exposure in southery climes can darken and dry out skin. A major endocrine problem affecting the skin and hair is adrenal insufficiency. The best established change in skin color with hypothyroidism is a yellowing of the skin from a build up of carotene. Hyperthyroidism does not change skin coloration. ...Read moreSee 1 more doctor answer
Allergy,infection: Causes include scabies, a mite infection, a reaction to a medication, a reaction to laundry detergent, fabric softener, new clothing. In addition it could be sign of eczema where rash is not yet apparent. If significant and not improved with otc cream see dermatologist or primary care physician. ...Read more
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- Talk to a dermatologist online | <urn:uuid:75ae2edd-66ee-4712-bd94-065031f63c70> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.healthtap.com/topics/medical-conditions-cause-itchy-skin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89238 | 476 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Despite less winter rain than usual, the open spaces on the hillsides in the Gardens at Heather Farm are greening -- thanks to the spring annuals we cultivate and the ever-present weeds intermingling with those annuals, as if we had planted them, too.
In defense of weeds, I try to remember the many attributes they add to the landscape, but their story has become hazy with the passage of time, our disconnection from the natural world and our love of orderly gardens. Still, weeds can tell us many things about our garden soil, water flow, nutrients and fertility.
And we mustn't forget that they were the first vegetables, home medicines and dyes. Some are abrasive enough for cleaning pewter, others sturdy enough for arrow shafts. Their flowers provide nectar for bees and other pollinators, which are beginning to emerge as we celebrate the spring equinox.
One of the many welcome weeds here in the gardens is Tragopogon porrifolius, commonly known as salsify, purple goatsbeard or vegetable oyster. It is a biennial herb and a member of the Asteraceae, or daisy, family. The genus Tragopogon is derived from the Greek words tragos, meaning "goat," and pogon, meaning "beard" (which refers to the feathery hairs when the plant is in seed). The species name porrifolius refers to the leeklike leaves, while the common name salsify comes from the old Latin solsequium (sol meaning sun and sequens meaning following, since the flower is heliotropic).
Salsify's waxy straplike leaves are poking up through the bed of leaves on the hillside. Before long, its distinct lavender-magenta flowers will brighten the landscape; eventually its seeds, resembling those of a dandelion, will be lifted by the breeze and float around the garden. This seeding process is one reason salsify is quite prolific.
Native to southern Europe, salsify is cultivated worldwide for its creamy white roots, which can be cooked or used as a relish. The flavor is said to resemble that of oysters. The root can be baked, stewed or used in soup.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal, an encyclopedia of remedies published by Nicholas Culpeper in 1653, says the salsify root should be stewed to treat gall problems and jaundice.
I have not tried eating salsify, but I thin it from the gardens here so it does not take over, leaving little patches intermittently to help support our pollinators, birds and bees.
The Gardens at Heather Farm will present a free class on beneficial insects and plants as well as Integrated Pest Management, sponsored by the city of Walnut Creek's Clean Water Program. It takes place March 23, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Patrice Hanlon, garden manager at Walnut Creek's Gardens at Heather Farm, writes twice monthly about plants that thrive in the Bay Area. | <urn:uuid:00d9611a-bace-4b0d-ae67-a153985ba5b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mercurynews.com/home-garden/ci_22840534/patrice-hanlon-salsify-weed-benefits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9559 | 637 | 2.625 | 3 |
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Nikola Kezic, an expert on the behavior of honeybees, sat quietly together with a group of young researchers on a recent day in a large net tent filled with the buzzing insects on a grass field lined with acacia trees. The professor at Zagreb University outlined the idea for the experiment: Bees have a perfect sense of smell that can quickly detect the scent of the explosives. They are being trained to identify their food with the scent of TNT.
"Our basic conclusion is that the bees can clearly detect this target, and we are very satisfied," said Kezic, who leads a part of a larger multimillion-euro program, called "Tiramisu," sponsored by the EU to detect land mines on the continent.
Several feeding points were set up on the ground around the tent, but only a few have TNT particles in them. The method of training the bees by authenticating the scent of explosives with the food they eat appears to work: bees gather mainly at the pots containing a sugar solution mixed with TNT, and not the ones that have a different smell.
Kezic said the feeding points containing the TNT traces offer "a sugar solution as a reward, so they can find the food in the middle."
Originally posted by buster2010
Why can't we leave insects out of our wars? Humans should be responsible for cleaning up the mess we created. Besides with the way bees are dying off we should leave them alone. | <urn:uuid:96852d37-43dd-4e42-a8d4-f3230e06ca4d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread948293/pg1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960362 | 348 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Don’t be an oxymoron. Know your literary terms.
Over 200 literary terms, Shmooped to perfection.
Meta means about, so metafiction is fiction that is about fiction. In other words, fiction that thinks, and even talks, about itself. It's kind of self-conscious.
So if the story you're reading is about, well, writing stories, that's metafiction. If the book you're reading acknowledges itself as a book, that's metafiction. If the author jumps into the action and says, "Look at me! I'm the author! Watch me write!" that's metafiction.
Check out our analysis of metafiction in the short stories of J.D. Salinger for more. | <urn:uuid:f9d94da9-4928-4f3f-a264-5c3e23c2fe44> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/literature-glossary/metafiction.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950714 | 159 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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|Asian Straight-tusked Elephant - Palaeoloxodon namadicus|
|Tweet Topic Started: Dec 23 2012, 10:30 PM (2,289 Views)|
|Taipan||Dec 23 2012, 10:30 PM Post #1|
Asian Straight-tusked Elephant - Palaeoloxodon namadicus
Species: Palaeoloxodon namadicus
Palaeoloxodon namadicus was a species of 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) prehistoric elephant that ranged throughout Pleistocene Asia, from India (where it was first discovered) to Japan, where the indigenous Neolithic cultures hunted that particular subspecies for food. It is a descendant of the Straight-tusked Elephant.
Some authorities regard it to be a subspecies of Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the Straight-tusked Elephant, due to extreme similarities of the tusks.
Extinct elephant 'survived late' in North China
By Michelle Warwicker
Reporter, BBC Nature
19 December 2012 Last updated at 11:30
Palaeoloxodon was believed to have died out around 10,000 years ago
Wild elephants living in North China 3,000 years ago belonged to the extinct genus Palaeoloxodon, scientists say.
They had previously been identified as Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant that still inhabits southern China.
The findings suggest that Palaeoloxodon survived a further 7,000 years than was thought.
The team from China examined fossilised elephant teeth and ancient elephant-shaped bronzes for the study.
The research, published in Quaternary International was carried out by a group of scientists from Shaanxi Normal University and Northwest University in Xi'an and The Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing.
No wild elephants live in North China today, but historical documents indicate that they roamed freely 3,000 years ago.
For decades experts believed that the ancient elephants were E. maximus - a species adapted to a tropical climate and that is still found in China's southerly Yunnan province.
"They thought North China was controlled by tropical climate at that time," explained Ji Li, from Shaanxi Normal University, who collaborated on the study with colleagues professor Yongjian Hou, professor Yongxiang Li and Jie Zhang.
But later research into China's climate history indicates that 3,000 years ago most parts of North China were still controlled by the warm temperate climate zone, and not the subtropic zone.
This discovery would mean that "the air temperature of North China 3,000 years ago was still not high enough for Elephas to live," said Mr Li.
"The species of the elephants is not only a problem of zoology, but also a problem about global climate change," he added.
Palaeoloxodon was thought to have disappeared from its last stronghold in China just before the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, around 10,000 years ago.
To investigate whether these mammals continued to live beyond the Pleistocene epoch and into the Holocene (the current geological epoch), the team re-examined fossilised elephant teeth discovered in Holocene layers of rock in North China during the 1900s.
Palaeoloxodon's thick tusks reached 3-4m in length
Earlier scientists had identified these fossils as remains of E. maximus. But Mr Li's team concluded the molars and tusks were more like those of the straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon:
"The tusks of Palaeoloxodon are thicker, stronger and longer than [those of] E. maximus", he explained, whereas E. maximus's tusks are "more incurvate".
The team also examined dozens of ancient elephant-shaped bronze wares from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties (around 4,100-2,300 years ago) after Mr Li noticed the trunks on the ornaments didn't resemble those of E. maximus.
Elephants can either have one or two of "fingers" on the tip of their trunk, used for grasping objects.
The 33 elephant bronzes exhumed from different sites in North China all depicted elephants with two "fingers" on their trunks, while E. maximus (Asian elephant) has just one "finger".
Whether Palaeoloxodon had one or two fingers on its trunk is not known. "However, on the trunk of E. maximus, there cannot be two fingers," writes Mr Li in the study.
The age of these elephant-shaped bronzes supports the researchers' theory that Palaeoloxodon did not become extinct until thousands of years later than thought.
Their findings correlate with other recent paleontological discoveries that further large mammal species, thought to have died out at the end of the Pleistocene, actually lasted in to the Holocene.
These include the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and the aurochs (Bos primigenius).
Such discoveries suggest that the extinction period of many Pleistocene land mammals may have lasted longer than was previously thought.
|Ausar||Dec 29 2012, 11:52 AM Post #2|
Deathless Decepticon since '12
|What finally killed of the last Palaeoloxodon?|
|1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)|
|« Previous Topic · Extinct Animals · Next Topic »| | <urn:uuid:0aba0be4-03da-46e6-b68c-fd3209cd0112> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9789751/1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935045 | 1,296 | 3 | 3 |
STEPHEN (1097?-1154), king of England, was the third son of Stephen Henry, count of Blois and Chartres, and, through
his mother Adela, a grandson of William the Conqueror. Born some time before 1101, he was still a boy when he was taken into favour by his uncle, Henry I. of England. From Henry he received the honour of knighthood and the county of Mortain. In 1118 he severed his connexion with Blois and Chartres, renouncing his hereditary claims in favour of his elder brother Theobald. But he acquired the county of Boulogne by marrying Matilda (c. 1103-1152), the heiress of Count Eustace III. and a niece of Henry's first wife. The old king arranged this match after the untimely loss of his son, William Atheling, in the tragedy of the White Ship; until 1125 Stephen was regarded as the probable heir to the English throne. But the return of the widowed empress Matilda (q.v.) to her father's court changed the situation. Henry compelled Stephen and the rest of his barons to acknowledge the empress as their future ruler (1126). Seven years later these oaths were renewed; and in addition the ultimate claims of Matilda's infant son, Henry of Anjou, were recognized (1133). But the death of Henry I. found the empress absent from England. Stephen seized the opportunity. He hurried across the Channel and began to canvass for supporters, arguing that his oaths to Matilda were taken under coercion, and that she, as the daughter of a professed nun, was illegitimate. He was raised to the throne by the Londoners, the official baronage and the clergy; his most influential supporters were the old justiciar, Robert, bishop of Salisbury, and his own brother Henry, bishop of Winchester. Innocent II, was induced by Bishop Henry to ratify the election, and Stephen thus cleared himself from the stain of perjury. Two charters of liberties, issued in rapid succession, confirmed the King's alliance with the Church and earned the good will of the nation. But his supporters traded upon his notorious facility and the unstable nature of his power. Extortionate concessions were demanded by the great barons, and particularly by Earl Robert of Gloucester, the half-brother of the empress. The clergy insisted that neither their goods nor their persons should be subject to secular jurisdiction. Stephen endeavoured to free himself from the control of such interested supporters by creating a mercenary army and a royalist party. This led at once to a rupture between himself and Earl Robert (1138), which was the signal for sporadic rebellions. Soon afterwards the king attacked the bishops of Salisbury, Ely and Lincoln-a powerful family clique who stood at the head of the official baronage - and, not content with seizing their castles, subjected them to personal outrage and detention. The result was that the clergy, headed by his brother, the bishop of Winchester, declared against him (1139). In the midst of these difficulties he had left the western marches at the mercy of the Welsh, and the defence of the northern shires against David of Scotland had devolved upon the barons of Yorkshire. Stephen was thoroughly discredited when the empress at length appeared in England (Sept. 30, 1139). Through a misplaced sense of chivalry he declined to take an opportunity of seizing her person. She was therefore able to join her halfbrother at Gloucester, to obtain recognition in the western and south-western shires, and to contest the royal title for eight years. Stephen's initial errors were aggravated by bad generalship. He showed remarkable energy in hurrying from one centre of rebellion to another; but he never ventured to attack the headquarters of the empress. In 1141 he was surprised and captured while besieging Lincoln Castle. The empress in consequence reigned for six months as "Lady (Domina) of the English"; save for her faults of temper the cause of Stephen would never have been retrieved. But, later in the year, his supporters were able to procure his release in exchange for the earl of Gloucester. After an obstinate siege he expelled Matilda from Oxford (Dec. 1142) and compelled her to fall back upon the west. The next five years witnessed anarchy such as England had never before experienced. England north of the Ribble and the Tyne had passed into the hands of David of Scotland and his son, Prince Henry; Ranulf earl of Chester was constructing an independent principality; on the west the raids of the Angevin party, in the east and midlands the
excesses of such rebels as Geoffrey de Mandeville, earl of Essex, turned considerable districts into wildernesses. Meanwhile Geoffrey of Anjou, the husband of the empress, completed the conquest of Normandy (1144). In 1147 the situation improved for Stephen; Robert of Gloucester, the ablest of the Angevin partisans, died, and the empress left England in despair. But her son soon appeared in England to renew the struggle (1149) and conciliate new supporters. Soon after his return to Normandy Henry was invested by his father with the duchy (1150). He succeeded to Anjou in 1151; next year he acquired the duchy of Aquitaine by marriage. Stephen struggled hard to secure the succession for Eustace, his elder son. But he had quarrelled with Rome respecting a vacancy in the see of York; the pope forbade the English bishops to consecrate Eustace (1151) ; and there was a general unwillingness to prolong the civil war. Worn out by incessant conflicts, the king bowed to the inevitable when Henry next appeared in England (1153). Negotiations were opened; and Stephen's last hesitations disappeared when Eustace was carried off by a sudden illness. Late in 1153 the king acknowledged Henry as his heir, only stipulating that the earldom of Surrey and his private estates should be guaranteed to his surviving son, William. The king and the duke agreed to co-operate for the repression of anarchy; but Stephen died before this work was more than begun (Oct. 1154).
On his great seal Stephen is represented as tall and robust, bearded, and of an open countenance. He was frank and generous; his occasional acts of duplicity were planned reluctantly and never carried to their logical conclusion. High spirited and proud of his dignity, he lived to repent, without being able to undo, the ruinous concessions by which he had conciliated supporters. In warfare he showed courage, but little generalship; as a statesman he failed in his dealings with the Church, which he alternately humoured and thwarted. He was a generous patron of religious foundations; and some pleasing anecdotes suggest that his personal character deserves more commendation than his record as a king.
See the Gesta Stephani, Richard of Hexham, AElred of Rievaux' Relatio de Standardo, and the chronicle of Robert de Torigni, all in R. Howlett's Chronicles of the Reins of Stephen, &c. (4 vols., London, 1884-1889) ; Orderic Vitalis's Historia ecclesiastica, ed. Le Prevost (5 vols., Paris, 1838-1855) ; William of Malmesbury's Historia novella, ed. W. Stubbs (London, 1889); John of Worcester's Continuation of Florence, ed. J H. Weaver (Oxford, 19o8) ; the Peterborough Chronicle, ed. C. Plummer (1892-1899). Of modern works see Miss K. Norgate's England under the Angevin Kings, vol. i. (London, 1887) ; O. Rossler's Kaiserin Mathilde (Berlin, 1897) ; D H. Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville (London, 1892) ; H. W. C. Davis's "The Anarchy of Stephen's Reign" in Eng. Hist. Review for 1903. (H. W. C. D.) | <urn:uuid:bf9aae4a-b6e2-495e-8b56-bd88a5fa2641> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.humanitiesweb.org/spa/rai/ID/1747 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978337 | 1,700 | 3.359375 | 3 |
What Is A Neuropsychologist?
Neuropsychological evaluation at UW Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin, is recommended for individuals who display difficulties or changes in thinking, memory, speech, personality, or other behaviors which are significant enough to interfere with their daily living or development.
What is a neuropsychologist?
A neuropsychologist is an individual with a PhD or PsyD who received general training in psychology as well as specific training in neuropsychology. The training and clinical focus of a neuropsychologist is unlike the doctors you typically see for medical or psychological concerns.
A neuropsychologist is interested in the brain's cognitive functions, such as attention, language, and memory. This is different from a clinical psychologist, who mainly focuses on behaviors and emotions and therapy for related concerns. Neuropsychologists also differ from medical doctors because they do not prescribe medications or perform surgery.
During your appointment, you will be interviewed by the neuropsychologist and a psychometrist will administer a number of tasks for you to do. The neuropsychologist will interpret the results in the context of your medical history, providing information about your abilities in different areas of cognitive functioning. A summary will be sent that is likely to be helpful to the doctor who referred you. | <urn:uuid:2513582b-333a-4b17-a46b-3b64726e7ffa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uwhealth.org/neurology/what-is-a-neuropsychologist/12769 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948377 | 257 | 2.625 | 3 |
[UPDATED] In his 1941 State of the Union address, a year before Pearl Harbor and the entry of the US into World War II, President Roosevelt presented the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech and express, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom from fear. They expressed a worldview diametrically opposed to the fascism and tyranny that wasascendantat the time and described a world the US might soon need to fight for.
The US has again decided to join a global fight, this time to protect the internet, and it is seeking models upon which to build its policy. Hillary Clinton has used the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights in this context. In a 2011 speech at the Hague she said:
In two days…we’ll celebrate Human Rights Day, which is the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…. as people increasingly turn to the internet to conduct important aspects of their lives, we have to make sure that human rights are as respected online as offline.
TheUniversal Declaration of Human Rights is a valuable resource for policy, but it is not tremendously actionable. The declaration includes 30 articles, some of which include two or three sub-sections. Which rights are most important in the online space? Which do not apply? Which should be defended as US policy priorities? Which should be considered secondary? These are real and difficult policy questions for the US State Department.
What is needed is a shorter list of critical needs that are specific to the internet. The Four Freedoms provides a good template for this. The State Department is in a way already leaning in this direction. They have an office of Internet Freedom programs, not Internet Rights programs. “Net freedom” is a byword for proponents anddetractorsof the US’s global internet policy.
Below is a list of the characteristics of the internet which are critical to the exercise of citizenship. They are freedoms that the world’s citizens need if they are to use the internet to assert their rights and interests:
- Freedom of Access
- Freedom of Information and Expression
- Freedom of
- Freedom from Fear
Freedom of Access
This is the first freedom of the internet, without which none of the other freedoms can be exercised.
Though sometimes access to the internet is explicitly denied to citizens, as in North Korea, throttling bandwidth,inflatingcosts, and creatingclosed national intranetsare more subtle ways to prevent mass access to the global internet and to make that access less useful.
After the 2009 elections, the Iranian government employed throttling to make the Internet slower and less useful for media sharing by apportioning less bandwidth to its ISPs. According to Reporters Without Borders, access to the international internet costs$5 to $7 in Cuba, while the average monthly salary is just $20. Both Cuba and North Korea have also created national intranets, which allow a select few to get online, but not to access the global internet.
Freedom of Information and Expression
Information must be able to flow freely to and from every citizen.
Citizens need accurate information before they can make decisions and take action in their own best interest. In the age of social media, citizens can also gather and share their own information and opinions with their fellow citizens and use the internet to give calls to action. A citizen’s passiveaccess to information is not sufficient. The freedom to produce and broadcast information and opinion, todebate it, and to give calls to action as a result of deliberation, are also critical to a functioning democracy.
Regimes that censor speech – at point of expression, point of search, or point of access – all contravene this right. China’s weibo microblog services prevent members from posting politically sensitive words. When it first entered China, Google was famous for censoring its search results (for example, of Tiananmen Square). Many nations,particularlyin the Persian Gulf, block web pages, which means that even when the correct web address is entered in the browser, the site is not displayed.
Freedom of Collective Action
The offline freedom tocollectively express, promote, and defend common interests must also be recognized online.
In the 1990’s it was presumed that the main function of computers and the internet would be as a source of information. Though the term “information society” was coined in the 1930’s, its popularity spiked in the 1980’s and 90’s(see graph at left). The term “information superhighway” emerged and gained popularity at the same time. As late as 2003, the eminent political scientist Bruce Bimber titled his book on technology in the evolution of political power Information and American Democracy.
Yet we don’t use these terms anymore. Use of the term “information society” peaked in 2000 (see graph above) and fell thereafter. What happened? Social media happened. The internet was longer a place exclusively for information, but also for socializing, relationships, and connections.
There is even evidence that freedom of collective action is more important to citizenship that freedom of information. The mass emergence of digital activism followed closely upon the emergence of social media, not the emergence of personal computers or the internet. According to our Global Digital Activism Data Set, grassroots digital political action existed at a low variablerate through 2005, then increased exponentially from 2006 onwards. In the data wet, which spans1,255 case studies from 144 countries, the information effects of the Internet, which one would expect to emerge in the mid-nineties, are not pronounced. During the mid-to-late 90’s, when public internet access first emerged, there are few digital activism cases. Interestingly, mass growth in digital activism also does notcoincideclosely with the emergence of blogging in the early 2000’s, which is primarily a form of peer information and opinion-sharing. What it does cooincide with is the emergence of social networks: in September of 2006, Facebook became accessible to anyone over 13 with a valid email address.
Contravening freedom of online assembly means preventing people from accessing or freely using social platforms, such as social networks (Tunisia blocked Facebook in 2008, it is currently blocked in China) or other platforms thatfacilitateonline collective action and aggregation of effort, such as e-petition sites, wikis, online message boards and forums, and listservs.
Freedom from Fear
Citizens need to be able to use the internet for political purposes without fear of reprisal.
In his 1941 speech, Roosevelt defined the freedom from fear as a state of the world where “no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” Political action online is still liable to result in the physical aggression of the state, not aimed against another nation, but at the state’s own citizens.
Repressive governments not only censor information and expression and block access to social tools, they also watch the online activities of their citizens. Because of surveillance, unwanted online political activity is likely to result in both online and offline reprisals. Online reprisals include DDoS attacks on an activist’s website by state-sponsored (or simply patriotic) hackers. Offline reprisals are much more scary, and can result in short-term detention, longterm imprisonment, intimidation, and torture. (Global Voices Advocacy tracks these abuses.)
A citizens can have access to the full range of online platforms, at low price and high speed, but if she feels that her actions may get her in trouble with the government, fear may prevent her from acting or even speaking in favor of her political interests. Such a situation is inimical to a functioning democracy.
image: Norman Rockwell | <urn:uuid:47f31615-51ea-4715-8fed-a102ce8e5a68> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.meta-activism.org/2012/06/the-four-freedoms-of-the-internet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939625 | 1,606 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The passing of Neil Armstrong marks the passing of an era, which was the comment made by my colleague David Beaver when I forwarded the email announcing Armstrong’s death to him.
Neil Armstrong lived at a time when human beings in general, and Americans in particular, dreamed big dreams, embraced grand visions, and realized what seemed to be impossible goals—like landing a man on the moon and returning him to Earth within a decade.
We did things then, as President John F. Kennedy said, “not because they were easy, but because they were hard.”
Armstrong was exactly right when he stepped onto the moon and called it “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” The step was physical, the leap conceptual, and all of us took it with him. Our tax dollars paid for the mission, thousands of our fellow citizens worked on the project, and because of television technology, we traveled to the moon with Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, the crew of Apollo 11.
We were there when he became the first of what will eventually be many people to walk on the moon. At that moment, humans became, or had the potential to become, a multi-planet species.
From the perspective of the Overview Effect, that moment was also a milestone. Not only did Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon but they also stood on its surface and snapped the first pictures of the Earth ever taken from that point of view.
These early “Earthrise” photos once again proved what astronaut Joe Allen said when I interviewed him for The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution:
With all the arguments, pro and con, for going to the moon, no one suggested that we should do it to look at the Earth. But that may in fact be the most important reason.
“Earthrise” is a special case of the Overview Effect. It calls to mind the Copernican Perspective, which is the realization not only that the Earth is a whole in which everything is interconnected but that it is also part of another whole, the solar system.
Many people are now recounting their stories of meetings with Neil Armstrong, as our colleague Dan Curry has done so ably on this website. Allow me, then, to describe my only meeting with the Apollo 11 commander.
It took place at MIT, where a meeting of the president’s National Commission on Space was being held in the mid-1980s. I was invited to the meeting by George Field, who was then at the Harvard/Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and a member of the commission. I later worked on the commission’s report with Professor Field.
During a lunch break, I found myself in the elevator with none other than Neil Armstrong, who was also a commissioner. The conversation was brief, and as I recall, I introduced myself and told him I was writing a book about the astronauts and their experiences in space, something I called “the Overview Effect.”
He said something along the lines of “Many of them will have difficulty describing it.” He didn’t volunteer anything further and it was clear that asking him for an interview at that time was inappropriate.
Later, I did write him with a request for an interview, and he refused me in a nice and thoughtful note, which was not a surprise, given his typical reticence around such inquiries. I was, however, surprised and pleased that he took the opportunity in his note to say a few kind words about my work in support of the commission.
Many commentators have noted Neil Armstrong’s reluctance to discuss his experiences in orbit or on the moon. Those of us who are fascinated with what the astronauts did have taken the opposite tack, and we are constantly talking, writing, and blogging about it. There are times, however, when a respectful silence in the face of awesome mysteries says more than a thousand words. By being quiet, perhaps Armstrong was giving us the “space,” in more ways than one, to discover our own meaning in his exploits.
In the end, of course, it was as much what they did as what they said that made the Apollo astronauts heroes, in the truest sense of the word. As sad as we are at the passing of Neil Armstrong, perhaps we can take comfort in the words he spoke from the moon to an expectant Earth:
The Eagle has landed. | <urn:uuid:6d753456-fc56-4df3-9d78-7060151f22c2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.overviewinstitute.org/featured-articles/49-one-small-step-one-giant-leap-the-passing-of-neil-armstrong | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986804 | 919 | 3.015625 | 3 |
New nuclear power plants ("Generation III+") are likely to be evolutions of current designs ("Generation II"). It is therefore expected that much may be learnt about the performance of new plants by studying current ones. In this context, an NEA scoping group studied the issues around best available techniques (BAT) for the abatement of radiological discharges from new nuclear power plant designs.
The group found that whilst much discharge data is available, for various reasons it is difficult to draw useful lessons from this data. Therefore the scoping group suggested forming an expert group to analyse available data in this area. The collation and subsequent analysis of discharge data will form a first phase of work for the expert group on best available techniques (EGBAT).
The expert group's work will enter a second phase with the organisation of a workshop, provisionally scheduled for early 2009, during which key stakeholders will discuss the expert group's findings. The stakeholders concerned include designers, vendors and operators of nuclear power plants as well as public body representatives. If appropriate, the expert group's research and the workshop conclusions could form the basis of a set of guidelines on the best available techniques for the abatement of discharges from new nuclear power plants.
Last reviewed: 22 January 2010 | <urn:uuid:070ccece-2f59-41cd-abf3-3daaaa6c6c7a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oecd-nea.org/rp/egbat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924438 | 258 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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This represents a course delivering Electrostatics, Magnetism, DC Circuits, Light and some problems.This could be a useful resource to the right person - probably an adult wanting to learn about ...
Osborne Reynolds (1841 - 1911) early work was on magnetism and electricity but he soon concentrated on hydraulics and hydrodynamics.
From Berkeley University. Descriptive plates of various physics demonstrations in mechanics, heat, electricity, magnetism optics, astronomy.
Maxwell's equations represent one of the most elegant and concise ways to state the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism. From them one can develop most of the working relationships in the field.
This site gives details of a series of demonstrations, giving details of the set-up used and the safety hazards
A set of introductory physics textbooks that can be downloaded free covering Newtonian Physics, Conservation Laws, Vibrations and Waves, Optics, Electricity and Magnetism, Modern physics and general ...
Physics problems and solutions (Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Thermodynamics)
This site uses text graphics and sound to explain motion, sound and waves, light and energy, electricity and magnetism. It explains ideas using analogies, jokes and pretend conversations with famous ...
Andre Marie Ampere's (1775 - 1836) theory of the electrodynamic force became fundamental for developments in electricity and magnetism.
An exploration of the earth's magnetic field and the links between magnetic anomalies and the geology of the San Francisco Bay area.
Showing 21 - 30 of 36 | <urn:uuid:89434415-8256-416f-8e40-c1f013e97bf5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.physics.org/explore-results-all.asp?q=magnetism&age=0&knowledge=0¤tpage=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889574 | 418 | 2.859375 | 3 |
An increasing percentage of the population has been getting smart about the dangers of drinking cola and other kinds of soda pop, and they’re abandoning it in droves. So as an alternative to soda, individuals are choosing boxed and bottled tea as a primary substitute beverage. This is no surprise because tea has a list of health benefits that can’t be ignored. But unless you know which teas to choose, you may be simply trading evils and consuming toxic fluoride.
For those of you who haven’t really read about fluoride before, Fluoride is a toxic industrial waste chemical put into many communities municipal water supplies. While most of Europe rejects water fluoridation and many communities in the U.S. choose to end fluoridation due to activism, most communities still choose to fluoridate their water despite the known health dangers this toxin can have on the human body.
All tea plants have an affinity for fluoride, so indiscriminate consumption of tea can lead to soaring levels of fluoride in the body, especially if it’s brewed it with fluoridated water. The result can be dental fluorosis, a badly damaging discoloration and mottling of tooth enamel.
This is one of the first signs of over-exposure to fluoride, and it can lead to skeletal fluorosis, a painful and debilitating bone disease that rivals the damage done by to the skeleton by drinking highly acidic cola drinks over time. And like cola’s dissolving of bone, skeletal fluorosis comes on insidiously, and can be mistaken for several other bone and joint diseases.
Susceptibility to fluorosis varies throughout the population, and whether it manifests or not depends on the dose and duration of fluoride intake. Heavy tea drinkers and those with kidney impairment are the most likely to come up with this disease.
Tea drinking can cause “lose cartilage (a form of collagen), that cushy connective tissue between bones, discs in the spine, in the elbows, and hips — basically all those places that hurt,” says Doctor of Naturopathy Donna Voetee, also known as Granny Good Food, a more seasoned version of the Food Babe. “In fact, your ‘arthritis’ may not be arthritis at all, but merely an overindulgence in the brown brew.” She notes that tea drinking may be behind much of the parabolic rise in hypothyroidism too.
Adding to this list, natural health advocate Dr. Joseph Mercola says fluoride increases lead absorption and tumor and cancer growth, and causes genetic damage, muscle disorders, and cell death. It has been implicated in dementia and bone cancer as well.
There’s no doubt that tea has a high level of fluoride, but the polyphenols in the best teas are able to mitigate some of this. Polyphenols are powerful anti-oxidants that have given tea the reputation of a healer through its ability to counteract oxidative stress in the body. Experts have reported that one of the ways fluoride causes damage to cells is through oxidative stress. This means the high antioxidant status of top quality teas can stop some of the impact of fluoride.
Are You Drinking Tea with Lower Levels of Fluoride?
The teas that produce the highest levels of fluoride are those that contain the lowest antioxidant levels. The reason is that antioxidant level is lowest in teas made with old leaves, and this is also when fluoride level is highest. Conversely, antioxidant level is highest in teas made with young leaves, and this is also when fluoride level is lowest. This makes the fluoride level of a tea its indicator of quality.
If you are interested in reducing exposure to fluoride and the harm that may come with it, choose white tea, the tea that is made from young leaves. This does not mean you can avoid fluoride in tea by drinking white tea, only that your fluoride exposure may be less than with other types of tea.
Black tea is made from the oldest leaves and the widely researched green tea also has a high content of fluoride. White tea confers almost all of the same health benefits as are found in green tea, and it has a milder, more pleasant flavor. | <urn:uuid:3a5ef0ce-321e-46ea-b03a-5adb719fbbf9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://naturalsociety.com/is-your-tea-loaded-with-toxic-fluoride/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958915 | 861 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Our Readers Ask . . .
Is Jesus the Archangel Michael?
▪ Put simply, the answer is yes. The custom of being called by more than one name is common in many cultures. The same situation occurs with names in the Bible. For example, the patriarch Jacob is also named Israel. (Genesis 35:10) The apostle Peter is named in five different ways
The Bible contains five references to the mighty spirit creature Michael. Three occurrences are in the book of Daniel. At Daniel 10:13, 21, we read that a dispatched angel is rescued by Michael, who is called “one of the foremost princes” and “the prince of you people.” Next, at Daniel 12:1, we learn that in the time of the end, “Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people.”
A further mention of Michael occurs at Revelation 12:7, which describes “Michael and his angels” as fighting a vital war that results in the ousting of Satan the Devil and his wicked angels from heaven.
Notice that in each of the above-mentioned cases, Michael is portrayed as a warrior angel battling for and protecting God’s people, even confronting Jehovah’s greatest enemy, Satan.
Jude verse 9 calls Michael “the archangel.” The prefix “arch” means “principal” or “chief,” and the word “archangel” is never used in the plural form in the Bible. The only other verse in which an archangel is mentioned is at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, where Paul describes the resurrected Jesus, saying: “The Lord [Jesus] himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet.” So Jesus Christ himself is here identified as the archangel, or chief angel.
In view of the foregoing, what can we conclude? Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel. Both names
It is important to note that the human birth of Jesus was not the beginning of his life. Before Jesus was born, Mary was visited by an angel who told her that she would conceive a child by means of holy spirit and that she should name the child Jesus. (Luke 1:31) During his ministry, Jesus often spoke of his prehuman existence.
So Michael the archangel is Jesus in his prehuman existence. After his resurrection and return to heaven, Jesus resumed his service as Michael, the chief angel, “to the glory of God the Father.” | <urn:uuid:369755df-729e-470a-b8e2-3b4b8b6b2821> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2010250 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969519 | 547 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Charles Clark Stevenson (1826-1890) – Nevada Governor
Charles C. Stevenson was born in Ontario County, New York on February 20, 1826. His education was limited and attained in the public schools of Canada and Michigan.
In 1859, he joined a group that was headed west to Pike’s Peak, but decided to continue on to Nevada where he was one of the first to arrive on the Comstock. When he arrived in Ophir (later Virginia City), there was only a tent and a brushwood saloon.
Stevenson found moderate success in the silver mines, and also worked as a farmer and a miller. He also became part-owner of the Cooper and Stevenson quartz mill and later in life struck gold.
He first entered politics as a member of the Nevada State Senate, a position he won election to in 1866, 1868, and 1872. He was a delegate to the 1872 and 1884 Republican National Conventions, and served as chairman of the 1885 Nevada Silver Convention. He also served as a member of the University of Nevada Board of Regents from 1875 to 1887, and was a state commissioner representing Nevada at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The early success of the University of Nevada is often credited to Stevenson’s efforts as Governor and as a Regent.
Stevenson next secured the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and was elected Nevada’s fifth governor by a popular vote in 1886. During his tenure, the Stewart Indian School was created, the University of Nevada was restructured, railroad construction was advanced, and programs were established that supported the livestock and farming industries. Stevenson is credited with introducing top-graded Jersey cattle to Nevada at his own expense.
During his tenure as Governor his brother, Edward Stevenson, served as the Governor of the Idaho Territory. Edward died from a opium overdose while being treated for back pain.
On September 21, 1890 Governor Charles C. Stevenson died of typhoid fever at his home in Carson City, becoming the first Nevada governor to die in office. His sons from a first marriage, Edward and Lou, challenged Stevenson’s will. Both had been bequeathed $1,000 with and an additional $500 for their children. The judge ruled against them and in favor of their stepmother who had been named executor of the estate. She died two years later and is also buried at Mountain View.
The succession of the new Governor after his death was a bit unusual. Lieutenant Governor H.C. Davis died about a year before Stevenson. Frank Bell, the warden of the state penitentiary, was appointed as acting Lieutenant Governor. Upon Stevenson’s death he assumed the office of Governor.
[Much of this information is extracted from Hubert Howe Bancroft’s “History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming: 1540-1888,” the Reno Daily Gazette and the website of the State of Nevada]
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Libraries bring you the world. Did you know there are more than 117,000 libraries in the United States? In addition to public libraries in almost every community, there are thousands of libraries in schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, law firms, businesses, the armed forces and more! Because libraries offer free access to all, they bring opportunity to all. And the greatest resources in each of these libraries are the librarians and library workers. Almost 400,000 people make libraries work for you every day. You’ll find the right answer @ your library! | <urn:uuid:90579dc3-2e6c-4229-8044-8da0c2ce39c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.ocps.net/lc/southeast/eth/mediacenter/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939529 | 115 | 2.515625 | 3 |
El Ahijado De La Muerte (1946) Mexican Lobby Card - A nice merging of separate dramatic illustrations in yellow and black makes this Mexican lobby card for El Ahijado De La Muerte eye-catching, capturing the...
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Bog Bodies - Ghoulish Evidence of Ancient Rituals
The fellow above is "Red Franz," named for his lovely, preserved hair. Peat cutters discovered him in Germany more than a hundred years ago, and he lived between 200 AD and 400 AD. I found the photo on the website of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. But it was on Archaeology.org that I learned how he died:
Museum curators only detected the actual cause of Franz’s death, when, after decades of being displayed on his back, they turned him over onto his abdomen and saw evidence of a deep gash in his throat, still visible in the remaining soft tissue of the back of his neck and shoulders.
An article in the Independent describes him as a murder victim -- he was so well-preserved that locals called the police when they first found him, thinking he was recently killed. But some bodies found in bogs in northern Europe may have been victims of human sacrifice. How often this really happened is a controversy. But I will be digging into the subject. | <urn:uuid:a5eab611-2e61-448f-aadb-42251aa0ec23> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://paulbibeau.blogspot.com/2010/09/bog-bodies-ghoulish-evidence-of-ancient.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980125 | 278 | 2.796875 | 3 |
From 11:00PM PDT on Friday, July 1 until 5:00AM PDT on Saturday, July 2, the Shmoop engineering elves will be making tweaks and improvements to the site. That means Shmoop will be unavailable for use during that time. Thanks for your patience!
After their shack collapses, the Mathabane family moves to another, even worse, shack.
Here, Mama weans George by smearing hot pepper on her breasts. The family celebrates with friends, killing and roasting a white chicken and brewing beer.
Papa begins to teach George traditional ways of life.
Papa, a Venda, believed strongly that one day the whites would disappear from South Africa and they would return to their old way of living. So even though the family lived a thoroughly modern life, he ruled them through tribal law, insisting that they follow the rituals.
Though Mark participated, it was because he feared his father. He didn't believe the rituals worked.
One day, he deliberately broke one of the laws – he spoke while eating. Papa whips him viciously.
The next day, Mark tells Mama that he hates Papa and will kill him someday.
Mama tells him to shut up, and adds that he will grow up to be just like his father someday.
Mark declares that he won't be like his dad. He insists that Papa should stop doing his rituals, because they don't live with the tribes in the rural areas.
Mama tells him to have patience. Someday, he will understand the importance of his heritage and of keeping the rituals alive.
But Mark continues to hate it. Outside of the home, Mark begins to speak more than just Venda –he speaks Zulu, Sotho, and Tsonga. But then Papa hears about it. After telling Mark he should only speak Venda, he beats him again. | <urn:uuid:a6dbebba-22d7-4fef-9198-ebb36b69a1f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/kaffir-boy/chapter-5-summary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981687 | 386 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Issue: BCMJ, Vol. 55,
page(s) 243 BC Centre for Disease Control
Mel Krajden, MD, FRCPC
, Julio S.G. Montaner, MD
Hepatitis C (HCV) antiviral treatments can now cure 65% to 75% of infections, but existing treatments are poorly tolerated. In 3 to 5 years well-tolerated combination antivirals will cure greater than 90% of infections. However, despite many calls for coordinated prevention, care, and treatment, the approach to HCV has been ad hoc. Given the potential for near universal HCV curability and the human and societal costs of untreated HCV, a strategic and proactive public health response is required to eradicate HCV-related morbidity and mortality in a cost-effective manner.
An estimated 243000 Canadians have chronic HCV, including 80 000 British Columbians. Most infections in Canada relate to current or past injection drug use (IDU), high-risk sexual practices, receipt of unscreened blood products prior to the 1990s, or immigration from countries where HCV is endemic and unsterile injections are a common source of infection.
Aboriginal people and individuals who have been incarcerated are also disproportionately affected. Of those infected with chronic HCV, 15% to 25% will develop cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, or require a liver transplant, all of which have high human and economic costs.
HCV infections in North America affect two main groups. The first includes aging baby boomers (those born between 1945 and 1965), most of whom were infected decades ago. Most are unlikely to transmit infection because they no longer engage in high-risk activities, but they are at risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. As most infections (75%) are asymptomatic, many baby boomers with HCV remain unaware that they have been infected. For baby boomers, a proactive HCV strategy should include both risk-based and one-time testing followed by engagement in care and treatment that has been proven to reduce HCV-related morbidity and mortality.
The second major group affected by HCV includes individuals who engage in ongoing high-risk activities (i.e., injection drug use). They frequently suffer from multiple comorbid conditions including addictions, mental health, and social vulnerabilities, and are also at risk of HIV co-infection, which accelerates HCV disease progression.[2-4] Stigma and discrimination adversely impact diagnosis and access to care for these patients.
From a public health perspective, this group is an important priority because they represent the core transmitters of incident HCV infections. A proactive response includes testing, engagement in comprehensive care (harm reduction, addiction and mental health support), and the strategic use of “treatment as prevention” to avoid ongoing HCV transmission.
Within the next 3 to 5 years virtually all HCV infections will be curable with markedly safer and easier-to-tolerate oral regimens. However, unless we adopt proven public health strategies to actively identify those infected, engage them in care and treatment, and provide comprehensive follow-up and support, the individual and public health benefits of these curative therapies will fail to materialize. In order to stem the HCV epidemic in BC we need to unite the voices of affected communities, health professionals, and political leaders, and transform knowledge into action.
—Mel Krajden, MD
PHSA Laboratories, BC Centre for Disease Control
—Julio S.G. Montaner, MD
BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
This article is the opinion of the BC Centre for Disease Control and has not been peer reviewed by the BCMJ Editorial Board. | <urn:uuid:86887b5f-5b20-4166-b710-81a922d172a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bcmj.org/bc-centre-disease-control/curability-hepatitis-c-implications-public-health-response | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940298 | 774 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The use of artificial recharge to store surplus surface water underground can be expected to increase as growing populations demand more water, and as the number of good dam sites still available for construction becomes fewer. For example, artificial recharge may be used to store treated sewage effluent and excess stormwater runoff for later use. Groundwater recharge may also be used to mitigate or control saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers. However, in order to accomplish the uses without deleterious environmental consequences, the optimum combination of treatment methodologies before recharge and after recovery from the aquifer must be identified. It will also be necessary to consider the sustainability of soil-aquifer treatment and health effects of water reuse when using treated wastewater as the recharge medium.
The main purpose of artificial aquifer recharge technology is to store excess water for later use, while improving water quality (decreasing the salinity level) by recharging the aquifer with better water. There are several artificial recharge techniques in use in Latin America and the Caribbean, including infiltration basins and canals, water traps, cutwaters, surface runoff drainage wells, septic-tank-effluent disposal wells, and diversion of excess flows from irrigation canals into sinkholes.
· Infiltration Basins and Canals
This technology has been used extensively in the San Juan River basin of Argentina, where two artificial recharge experiments have been conducted. The first experiment consisted of the construction of infiltration basins, 200 m by 90 m and 1.2m deep. These basins were combined with 9.30 ha of infiltration canals in the second experiment. This system was used to recharge the 10 hm3 aquifer in the Valley of Tulum. The system of canals was found to be more efficient than the infiltration basins because the high circulation velocities in the canals precluded the settling of fine material and resulted in higher infiltration rates.
· Water Traps
Water traps are used to increase infiltration in streambeds. The traps are earthen dams of variable height, usually 1 m to 3 m, that are constructed of locally available materials. They are normally perpendicular to river banks, depending on the characteristics of the stream system. Water traps are designed to operate during rainfalls of up to a l-in-50-year frequency. They are typically constructed along a 1 km stretch of river, at intervals of 70 m to 100 m. Their storage capacities fluctuate between 250 and 400 m3. They have an estimated life span of 20 to 25 years, given proper maintenance.
This technology can be used in areas where there are no rivers and creeks, such as in the Paraguayan Chaco. Cutwaters are excavations of variable dimensions, used as reservoirs, built in low-lying areas. Their primary objective is the harvesting of surface waters. Those to be used for artificial recharge are built on top of permeable strata; those for surface water storage are built on impermeable substrates.
· Drainage Wells
The limestone and coral rock formations that comprise the principal aquifer in Barbados consist of very pure calcium carbonate. Drainage wells, or "suckwells", are used to dispose of drainage waters (see Figure 13). The depth of the drainage wells is determined by the well digger and is based on reaching an adequate fissure or "suck" in the rock. They range in area from 16 ft2 to 36 ft2, and are either square or circular in shape. They are provided with guard walls of concrete or coral stone above the ground surface and drainage ports or underground pipes or culverts to conduct runoff into the wells.
Figure 13: Suckwell Construction.
Source: Government of Barbados, Stanley Associates Eng. Ltd., and Consulting Engineers Partnership Ltd. Barbados Water Resources Study, Vol. 3: Water Resources and Geohydrology, 1978.
· Septic Tanks and Effluent Disposal Wells
Another source of artificial groundwater recharge is effluents from septic tanks, using soakaways. The Barbados Water Resources Study of 1978 estimated that about half of the 128 million I/day water used for domestic consumption, or approximately 64 million I/day, is returned to the groundwater as septic tank effluent. The soakaways used for this purpose are very similar to suckwells in design and construction, except that they are used in conjunction with septic tanks and are always covered.
· Sinkhole Injection of Excess Surface Flows
In Jamaica, excess surface runoff is treated and discharged into sinkholes in karstic limestone aquifers. These aquifers are commonly associated with seawater intrusion and are highly saline. The recharged water is monitored through a series of monitoring and production wells. Monitoring is carried out to measure changes in groundwater levels and water quality (salinity levels).
Extent of Use
Artificial recharge has been widely used in several Latin American countries and the Caribbean. It may be expected to be utilized more frequently as demand for water increases and as surface water resources are fully committed.
In Argentina, a system of canals and infiltration basins has been used in the provinces of San Juan, Mendoza, and Santa Fe with relative success. Water traps have also been used in Mendoza. This is an effective technology for use in arid and semi-arid regions.
Cutwaters have been used in the Paraguayan Chaco, where rainwater is the main source of aquifer recharge. This technology is normally used for recharge of surficial aquifers, and its application is limited by the hydrogeologic conditions. In Barbados, suckwells are extensively used for recharge, except in areas on the east coast which lack the necessary coral formations and where the exposed oceanic soil (consisting of a mixture of clay, marl, silt, and sand) has a low permeability. There are probably more than 10 000 suckwells, mostly on private lands or estates. They are at elevations of 20 ft above sea level or higher, and usually are well maintained.
The technology in Jamaica of using sinkholes as injection points is applicable where karstification of a limestone aquifer has taken place. Artificial recharge is suitable for areas upgradient of an aquifer where there is significant water for recharge purposes and land area available for treatment of the runoff before recharge. Treatment consists primarily of settling suspended solids. It is best used in areas where pumping is not needed to move the water to the sinkholes.
Operation and Maintenance
Infiltration basins and canals require minimal maintenance, consisting mostly of avoiding excessive sedimentation in the basins and canals and preventing erosion of canal banks. A bulldozer is often used in the infiltration basins to remove accumulated sediments and to rehabilitate the system.
Water traps require maintenance during the first few years of operation, until the natural vegetation grows again in the area. Intense rainfalls may damage or destroy the traps, and they will have to be rebuilt.
Maintenance of cutwaters is similar to that required in infiltration basins. Runoff from areas with unpaved streets can carry large loads of sediment, which may be deposited in cutwaters and will need to be removed during dry periods.
Road drainage is also a source of water for suckwells in Barbados. These roadside wells are built and maintained by the government. Other suckwells, on residential and plantation lands, are maintained by the landowners. Maintenance is labor-intensive and generally involves the removal of silt, which accumulates at die bottom of the well and may plug the "suck", rendering it useless. Repairs to the guard walls, covers, and iron grilles are also needed. Unfortunately, owing to increased labor costs and declines in profitability at most sites, many of these wells have fallen into a state of disrepair and have been either plugged, stuffed up, or overgrown with trees. Some of these wells have been contaminated by garbage dumped into them.
In sinkhole injection, operations are simple. The canal attendant, who normally resides nearby, visits the site twice a day to read the Parshall flumes, collect water samples, and open or close sluice gates. The earth canals need to be kept clear to ensure maximum delivery of water. The settling basin has to be cleaned of accumulated sediment and vegetative growths once every four to five months. Vandalism, resulting in damage to sluice gates, sinkholes, and monitor wells, is also a problem in the maintenance of the system.
Level of Involvement
In Argentina, most of the experimental use of this technology has been done by the government in both the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza.
In Paraguay, the government, in conjunction with international organizations, has been conducting experiments to quantify the recharge provided by different recharge systems. In general, the implementation and maintenance of these technologies in urban areas have been carried out by municipal governments, but in rural areas by (he private sector.
Both the private sector and the Government of Barbados have been involved in the successful implementation of artificial recharge schemes. The private sector, primarily represented by the sugar industry, has encouraged the development of this technology and provided land, manpower, and water. The government, represented by the Water Authority, has provided technical expertise and financing.
In Jamaica, there is a cadre of well-diggers who can be contracted by the government, plantation owners, and other landowners to both dig and maintain drainage wells. An ongoing educational program informs landowners of the need to maintain wells on a regular basis, the potential for groundwater recharge from the wells, and the need to monitor contamination of the groundwater.
The estimated cost of infiltration of surface water in Argentina, using basins and canals, is $0.20/m3. The basins and canals used in the 1977 experiment in the San Juan River basin incurred a capital cost of $31 300. The comparable cost of water traps in Argentina has been estimated at between $133 and $167. The capital cost of a 5 700 m3 cutwater, equipped with a 14 m extraction well, is estimated at $6 325. The operation and maintenance cost is estimated at $248 per year. The production costs are estimated to be about $0.30/m3 for the first five years of operation, $0.17/m3 for the next five years (five to ten years of operation), and $0.15/m3 for the following five years (ten to fifteen years of operation).
In Jamaica, the initial capital cost of the sinkhole injection system is estimated at less than $15 000. This cost is primarily related to the construction of the inflow settling basin and channels conveying the runoff water to the sinkholes. Maintenance costs are low, less than $5 000 for the 18-month project (or under $3 500/year).
Effectiveness of the Technology
In Argentina, sites near the San Juan and Mendoza rivers recharged the underlying groundwater aquifer at the rate of 60 l/sec/ha during a three-month period.
Water traps have been successfully used for more than 25 years in Argentina. They have been very useful in reducing sedimentation and risk of flooding.
Cutwaters proved a significant source of water to communities during the droughts of 1993 and 1994 in the Paraguayan Chaco. Recovery of 75% of the infiltrated water has been reported in that region.
Even though groundwater recharge is not the principal intended use of drainage wells, it is a major indirect beneficiary. Infiltration rates in coral rock in Barbados have been estimated at between 6.0 and 6.5 cm/hr and are known to be highest where solution openings (or "sucks") occur.
In Jamaica, total recharge over 18 months amounted to 4 million m3. Two groundwater mounds were detected downgradient of sinkholes. One mound indicated an increase of 4.1 m in water levels, while at the other the increase was 6.7m. Divergent radial flows developed from both of these mounds. Once recharge ceased, the mounds gradually disappeared over a two-month period. Chloride concentrations in some wells in Jamaica have decreased from 2 300 mg/l to 1 700 mg/l and in others from 170 mg/l to 25 mg/l before reaching an equilibrium at 50 mg/l. In general, most wells influenced by artificial recharge have shown declines in salinity levels.
In areas where groundwater is an important component of the water supply, and rainfall variability does not allow for a sufficient level of aquifer recharge by natural means, these technologies provide for the artificial enhancement of the natural recharge. Storage of surface runoff in underground aquifers in arid and semi-arid areas has the advantage of minimizing evaporative losses. However, use of these technologies requires an appropriate geological structure. In areas underlain by igneous rock, the natural fracture lines can be expanded by injection of water under pressure and infusion of a sand slurry into the gaps thus created. Given the cost of this latter measure, however, use of natural limestone or sandstone formations, such as are common in the Caribbean islands, is preferred and most cost-effective.
· The technology is appropriate and generally well understood by both the technicians and the general population.
· Very few special tools are needed to dig drainage wells.
· Because of the structural integrity of the coral rock formations, few additional materials are required (concrete, softstone or coral rock blocks, metal rods) to construct the wells.
· Groundwater recharge stores water during the wet season for use in the dry season, when demand is highest.
· Aquifer water can be improved by recharging with high quality injected water.
· Recharge can significantly increase the sustainable yield of an aquifer.
· Recharge methods are environmentally attractive, particularly in arid regions.
· Most aquifer recharge systems are easy to operate.
· In many river basins, control of surface water runoff to provide aquifer recharge reduces sedimentation problems.
· Recharge with less-saline surface waters or treated effluents improves the quality of saline aquifers, facilitating the use of the water for agriculture and livestock.
· In the absence of financial incentives, laws, or other regulations to encourage landowners to maintain drainage wells adequately, the wells may fall into disrepair and ultimately become sources of groundwater contamination.
· There is a potential for contamination of the groundwater from injected surface water runoff, especially from agricultural fields and roads surfaces. In most cases, the surface water runoff is not pre-treated before injection.
· Recharge can degrade the aquifer unless quality control of the injected water is adequate.
· Unless significant volumes can be injected into an aquifer, groundwater recharge may not be economically feasible.
· The hydrogeology of an aquifer should be investigated and understood before any future full-scale recharge project is implemented. In karstic terrain, dye tracer studies can assist in acquiring this knowledge.
· During the construction of water traps, disturbances of soil and vegetation cover may cause environmental damage to the project area.
Artificial groundwater recharge is generally well accepted by communities in areas where it is used.
Further Development of the Technology
Potential improvements in artificial recharge technologies include:
· Improvements in the design of pre-injection silt chambers, grease traps, and oil interceptors to reduce the amount of contaminants entering drainage wells.
· Improvements in the design of injection wells to eliminate the use of "sucks".
· Evaluation of groundwater contamination potentials from various sources of artificial recharge, and the adoption of techniques to reduce the associated impacts or risks.
· Improvements in the design of water traps to increase groundwater recharge efficiency.
· A better understanding of the causes and consequences of bacterial and viral contamination of aquifer systems, and the means of minimizing and mitigating such risks.
B. J. Mwansa, Project Manager, Barbados Water Resources Management & Water Loss Studies, "Invermark," Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados. Tel. (809)430-9373. Fax (809)430-9374.
Basil P. Fernandez, Hydrogeologist and Managing Director, Water Resources Authority, Hope Gardens, Post Office Box 91, Kingston 7, Jamaica. Tel. (809)927-1878. Fax (809)977-0179.
Alberto I. J. Vich, Coordinador, Programa de Investigación y Desarrollo Manejo Ecológico del Piedemonte, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, Unidad Ecología y Manejo de Cuencas Hídricos, Casilla de Correo N° 330,5500 Mendoza, Argentina. Tel. (64-61)28-7029. Fax (64-61)28-7029/28-7370. E-mail: [email protected]
Eduardo Torres, Profesional Principal, Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Aridas (IADIZA), Casilla de Correo 507, 5500 Provincia de Mendoza, Argentina. Fax (54-61)28-7995.
Daniel O. Caoria, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Departamento de Hidráulica, Fundación Agua, Desarrollo y Ambiente, Mendoza 769 (Sur), 5400 San Juan, Argentina. Tel. (54-64)22-2427/22-4558. Fax (54-64)21-4421.
Eugenio Godoy Valdovinos, Comisión Nacional de Desarrollo Regional Integrado del Chaco Paraguayo, Dirección de Recursos Hídricos, Casilla de Correo 984/273, Filadelfia, Paraguay. Tel. (595-91)275. Fax (595-91)493.
Valeria Mendoza, Investigadora, Centro de Economía, Legislación y Administración del Agua y del Ambiente (INCYTH/CELAA), Belgrano 210 (Oeste), 5500 Mendoza, Argentina. Tel (54-61)28-7921/28-5416. Fax (54-61)28-5416.
Everardo Rocha Porto, EMBRAPA-CPATSA, BR-428 km 52, Zona Rural, Caixa Postal 23, 56300-000, Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brasil. Tel. (55-81) 862-1711. Fax (55-81) 862-1744, E-mail: [email protected].
Eduardo Torres, Investigador, Instituto argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Aridas (IADIZA), Bajada del Cerro de la Gloria s/n, Parque General San Martín, Casilla de Correo 507, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina. Tel (54-61)28-7995. Fax (54-61)28-7995. E-mail: [email protected].
Adrián Vargas Araníbar, Investigador, Centro Regional Andino (INCYTH/CRA), Belgrano 210, Ciudad, Casilla de Correo 6, 5500 Mendoza Argentina. Tel. (54-61)28-6998/28-8005. Fax (54-61)28-8251. E-mail: [email protected].
Alberto I. J. Vich, Responsable Unidad Ecología y Manejo de Cuencas Hídricas, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, Bajo del Cerro de la Gloria s/n, Parque General San Martín, Casilla de Correo 330, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina. Tel. (54-61)28-7029/21-6317/28-5416. Fax (54-61)28-7370/28-7029. E-mail: [email protected].
Bender, H. 1993a. Consideraciones sobre el Monitoreo de Instalaciones para el Enriquecimiento Artificial del Agua Subterranea en el Chaco Central. Filadelfia, Paraguay, Cooperación Hidrogeólogica Paraguayo-Alemana (DRH/BGR). (Informe Técnico No. 2)
----. 1993b. El Impacto de Recarga Indirecta en Planicies Semi-áridas y Aridas. Filadelfia, Paraguay, Instituto Federal de Geociencias y Recursos Naturales (DRH/BGR) de Alemania. (Unpublished)
----. 1994. One Year of Monitoring Artificial Recharge in Filadelfia. Observations and Considerations. Filadelfia, Paraguay, Cooperación Hidrogeólogica Paraguayo-Alemana (DRH/BGR). (Unpublished)
Coria, Jofre D. 1970a. Información Básica para el Desarrollo del Modelo Matemático en Valle Tulum, Provincia de San Juan: Plan Agua Subterranea. San Juan, Argentina, CFI-NU.
----. 1970b. Hidrología del Valle de Tulum, Provincia de San Juan: Plan Agua Subterranea. San Juan, Argentina, CFI-NU.
FAO/UNDP. 1974. Development and Management of Water Resources. Jamaica-Rio Cobre Basin. Rome, FAO.
Godoy, V.E. 1991. "Recarga Artificial en Toledo-Chaco Central," Revista Geológica, 1, pp. 7-17.
----, et al. 1991. Recarga Artificial de Acuíferos Freáticos en el Chaco Central Paraguayo. Filadelfia, Paraguay, PNUD Proyecto PAR/8 8/009. (Informe Técnico)
Government of Barbados, Stanley Associates Engineering Ltd., and Consulting Engineers Partnership Ltd. 1978. Barbados Water Resources Study. Vol. 3. Water Resources and Geohydrology. Bridgetown.
Hernández, Jorge. 1984. Río Mendoza: Infiltración en el Tramo Cacheuta-Alvarez Condarco. Provincia de San Juan, Argentina, CRAS.
Hsu, H. 1970. Hidrología del Valle de Tulum, Provincia de San Juan: Plan Agua Subterránea. San Juan, Argentina, CFI-NU.
Lohn, P. 1970. Hidrogeoquímica en los Valles de Tulum, Ullum y Zonda, Provincia de San Juan: Plan Agua Subterranea. San Juan, Argentina, CFI-NU.
Naciones Unidas. 1978. Investigación y Desarrollo de Agua Subterranea en el Chaco. New York. (PNUD Proyecto PAR/72/004, Informe Técnico)
Oosterbaan, A.W.A., and V.E. Godoy. 1987. Recarga Artificial en la Región Semi-árida del Chaco Central del Paraguay. Paper prepared for the 2da. Reunión del Proyecto Regional Mayor (PRM) sobre Uso y Conservación de Recursos Hídricos en Areas Rurales de América Latina y el Caribe, La Serena, Chile (enero 1987). Filadelfia, Paraguay, Departamento de Abastecimiento de Agua para el Chaco (CNDRICH).
Provincia de Mendoza. Departamento General de Irrigación. 1987. Aprovechamiento Integral del Río Mendoza en Potrerillos. Mendoza, Argentina.
Senn Alfred. 1946. Geological Investigations of the Groundwater Resources of Barbados. Bridgetown, British Union Oil Company Ltd. | <urn:uuid:2149ce63-997b-4b6f-8072-63bb7eddb5ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oas.org/usde/publications/unit/oea59e/ch18.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.837115 | 5,188 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Photo: pixnpics (flickr)
Did you ever do this when you were young: Dive to the bottom of a swimming pool with a friend, then have your friend yell a phrase into the water?
You listen to the phrase all low and garbled, then try to guess what it was. This low, muffled, underwater noise is how the world would sound if you were inside a womb.
Researchers have placed tiny microphones inside a pregnant woman’s uterus. They found that outside noises became much lower and muffled, and about thirty decibels quieter. Do these noises just wash around the fetus like so much amniotic fluid, or can the fetus actually hear them?
Actually, after twenty eight weeks a fetus begins to hear the internal sounds of its mother’s body–the rush of blood and the rumble of the digestive system. By the third trimester, the fetus can respond to external noises too. As many expectant mothers know, a sudden car horn can start a fetus kicking.
Not only can fetuses hear outside noises, they sometimes remember what they’ve heard. One study found that infants who repeatedly heard a soap opera theme song in the womb reacted positively when they heard that same music after birth.
Perhaps this ability to remember helps a newborn recognize its mother’s voice. A fetus can’t hear specific words or intonation–these are too muffled. Instead, they remember the rhythm of their mothers’ voices. To check this out, researchers gave newborns a special nipple rigged to a tape recorder. By changing the way they sucked, these infants could modify the cadence of a prerecorded voice. Eighty percent of these newborns sucked in the way that produced a voice with their mother’s specific rhythm. | <urn:uuid:c0749be0-4b66-4967-b202-1ca3b5757b50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/fetus-hears/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952919 | 371 | 3.421875 | 3 |
J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the poem entitled 'Goblin Feet' on 27 - 28 April 1915 to please Edith Bratt
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|J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the poem entitled 'Goblin Feet' on 27 - 28 April 1915 to please Edith Bratt.
Even though Tolkien later wrote that he "wish[ed] the unhappy little thing, representing all that I came (so soon after) to fervently dislike, could be buried for ever'' (see Book of Lost Tales, part 1, page 32), at least one early reader was impressed with the poem, for Edith and Tolkien were married the next year.
'Goblin Feet' was published in Oxford Poetry 1915 and subsequently reprinted in an anthology entitled 'Fifty New Poems for Children'. This item, thus represents Tolkien’s first work published in book form. This book is quite scarce and is not recorded in Hammond and Anderson’s bibliography of Tolkien’s writings. Interestingly, Tolkien’s name is misspelled three times in this book as "Tolkein",
in the table of contents, on the page where the poem appears, and in the index.
This is the first edition of Fifty New Poems for Children, which does not have a date printed in it; subsequent editions (or impressions) have 1924 (2nd edition) or 1929 (3rd edition).
OTHER POETS INCLUDED:
E. L. Duff
E. F. A. Geach
E. Wyndham Tennant
DATE OF PUBLICATION: n.d. [early 1922] first edition
CONDITION: overall Very Good Plus, with tight binding and text in good condition internally. Shows a bit of offsetting to the title page (first) and last page.
previous owners name to the front free endpaper, which is actually stuck to the paste down, which makes it appear the ffep is missing, but it is not.
Does not have any writing, but does have a checkmark next to a number of the poems, throughout the book. The paper label is complete on spine and cover with some rubbing and stains, but no edgewear.
BINDING: charcoal paper over original boards, with black and white woodcut by C.T. Nightingale pasted on front board; paper edges are rough cut but show no tears or foxing. The binding is just starting to seperate at the gutters, but still holding.
A very collectable and highly prized book with J.R.R. Tolkien first published work.
Digital photo's available, inquire if interested.
Other Tolkien books available, include both the UK and US editions, original cloth bindings, custom fine bindings, and Signed/Numbered/Limited Editions.
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shipment for 10 days for checks to clear. Please inquire for shipping
Interested: Please send email to [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:fc6727c4-4048-4152-92ba-21d7287f745a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/tolkien-book-store/001249.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931326 | 682 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Endocrine disruption, diabetes, obesity — to the list of ills potentially associated with exposure to the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), you can add one more: childhood asthma.
In a new study presented over the weekend at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver, researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine found that if pregnant women are exposed to BPA, their children may end up at a higher risk for developing asthma early in life.
In a study of 367 pairs of mothers and infants, researchers measured levels of BPA in the urine of pregnant women at 16 weeks of gestation and 26 weeks, as well as at the time of birth. Afterward, mothers were asked every six months for three years whether their child was showing symptoms of asthma. The results indicated, among other things, that BPA exposure was almost universal — 99% of children were born to mothers who had detectable levels of BPA at some point during their pregnancy.
(More on Time.com: Pregnant Women Awash in Chemicals. Is That Bad for Baby?)
The connection to asthma, though, was a little less clear-cut. At 6 months old, infants whose mothers had high levels of BPA were twice as likely to show wheezing as babies whose mothers who had low levels. But that difference disappeared as the children aged. Interestingly, though, the scientists also found that high levels of BPA detected in mothers at 16 weeks of gestation were associated with asthma in their kids, but high levels later in pregnancy or at birth showed little association. That lends some credence to the idea that the impact of BPA — like other hormone-disrupting chemicals — may be dependent on the timing of exposure for pregnant women, not just the level of exposure.
Still, it’s important to note that this study is correlative — it shows a possible association between BPA and asthma, not a cause — and that it has not yet been peer-reviewed. As the chemical industry has pointed out repeatedly, there have been no conclusive studies proving the dangers of BPA, and indeed, the federal government has made no move yet against the chemical, which is used in many plastics. But foreign countries and states have already moved to ban BPA from products used by young children, and the pressure to remove the chemical is increasing. (Interestingly, however, Coca-Cola has recently resisted shareholder pressure to eliminate BPA from its can linings.)
(More on Time.com: Want to Reduce Your Exposure to BPA? Cut Out Canned, Packaged Foods)
This isn’t the first study to make the connection between asthma and BPA — another piece of research, published last year in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found evidence that mice exposed to BPA were more likely to give birth to pups that developed breathing problems. The case hasn’t yet been made, but expect the worries about BPA to only keep growing.
More on TIME.com on Environmental Chemicals: | <urn:uuid:48d54569-33f7-48c7-ba7b-f169e3d3bbf5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/02/bpa-linked-to-childhood-asthma/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976339 | 619 | 3.015625 | 3 |
UN Urges More Aid for Women's Health
This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT.
The United Nations says that developing nations have made great improvements in reproductive health and women's rights. But it says that rich counties have given only half of the six thousand million dollars they promised for these goals ten years ago.
The head of the U-N Population Fund made the announcement last week in London, England. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid spoke at a conference of non-governmental organizations. The meetings examined progress to improve reproductive health around the world by two thousand fifteen.
The meetings observed the tenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. At that time, one hundred seventy-nine countries agreed to a U-N plan of action to improve women's health, education and rights.
Mizz Obaid says a new study by the U-N Population Fund shows that twenty-three countries have made the most progress toward improving the reproductive health of women. They include Zambia, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Nepal and the Philippines. But, Mizz Obaid says there has been little progress toward reaching other goals set ten years ago. The number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth remains high. In addition, the spread of AIDS and the H-I-V virus is now affecting more women and children than ever before.
The report studied one hundred thirty-three countries with populations over one million. Researchers examined national rates of death among mothers and babies, number of children, national policies to end pregnancies, and the average number of children with H-I-V or AIDS infections. Portugal, Kuwait, the United States, Botswana, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa are among the countries that made little or no progress.
Mizz Obaid identified three important areas for reaching the goals by two thousand fifteen. They are better health for mothers, efforts to fight H-I-V/AIDS and devices to prevent pregnancy and the spread of sexual diseases. Mizz Obaid says the amount of money that rich nations give to pay for such contraceptives has dropped by more than thirty percent. But, she says the need for contraceptives in developing nations will increase forty percent by two thousand fifteen.
This VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT was written by Jill Moss. This is Gwen Outen. | <urn:uuid:5c961844-3e68-4910-94f6-f3fd781da6e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.manythings.org/voa/0/11385.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94485 | 486 | 2.734375 | 3 |
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
Purkinje Fibers: The Purkinje fibers are part of the electrical conduction system of the heart. The Purkinje fibers are located in the walls of the left ventricle and right ventricle of the heart. The Purkinje fibers conduct electrical impulses from the left bundle branch and the right bundle branch to the ventricles and stimulate them to contract and squeeze blood into the aorta and the pulmonary artery. Conditions that afflict the Purkinje fibers include bundle branch block, cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation, tachydysrhythmias, bradydysrhythmias, heart blocks, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrest.
The following organs are closely related to the organ: Purkinje Fibers:
The following conditions are related to the organ: Purkinje Fibers:
These symptoms are related to afflictions of the organ: Purkinje Fibers:
Condition count: 0
Organs: list of all organs
Search Specialists by State and City | <urn:uuid:87af9880-bee0-4e87-ad3e-adf2973e70ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/organ/purkinje_fibers.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.859677 | 228 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Geothermal Groundwater Database
Access here. A collection of hydrological, geochemical (sampling and chemistry), geothermal, geological and geophysical data collected from over 500 sites within New Zealand.
Data has been sourced from current and historic GNS Science groundwater and geothermal research and commercial programmes, and from a variety of other sources including data supplied to GNS Science under license by Regional Authorities and other organisations. The data has been collected primarily for research purposes. Not all information is available at each site.
This database includes the nationally significant database - the National Groundwater Monitoring Programme (NGMP).
Contact: Magali Moreau-Fournier. | <urn:uuid:3cdcbf2c-fc6a-4a15-8ec2-3191c68b62bb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gns.cri.nz/Home/Products/Databases/Geothermal-Groundwater-Database | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878874 | 135 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The first-ever daily pill to help prevent the spread of HIV has been approved by US regulators – a milestone in the 30-year battle against the virus believed to cause AIDS.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Gilead Sciences’ pill Truvada as a preventive measure for people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners.
Public health advocates said the approval could help slow the spread of HIV, which has held steady at about 50,000 new infections per year for the last 15 years in the US.
An estimated 1.2m Americans have HIV, which scientists believe develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs.
With an estimated 240,000 HIV carriers unaware of their status, doctors and patients say new methods are needed to fight the spread of the virus.
Gilead Sciences has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are already infected with the virus.
But starting in 2010, studies showed that the drug could actually prevent people from contracting HIV when used as a precautionary measure.
A three-year study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 per cent, when accompanied by condoms and counselling.
Last year another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 per cent in heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not.
Because Truvada is on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure.
FDA approval will allow Gilead Sciences to formally market the drug for that use, which could dramatically increase prescribing.
However, the regimen is estimated to cost around $14,000 per year, putting it out of reach for many.
Common side effects of the pill include diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and weight loss.
Truvada’s ground-breaking preventive ability has also exposed disagreements about managing the disease among those in the HIV community.
Groups including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation asked the FDA to reject the new move, saying it could give patients a false sense of security and reduce the use of condoms, regarded as the most reliable preventive measure against HIV.
But FDA scientists on Monday said there was no indication from clinical trials that Truvada users were more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour.
“What we found was that condom use increased over time and sexually transmitted infections either remained at baseline levels or decreased,” said Dr Debra Birnkrant, FDA’s director of antiviral products.
“So in essence, we don’t have any strong evidence that condoms were not used or there was a decrease in condom use.”
The goal of the approval is to eventually cut back on the rate of new infections in the US, which have stayed steady in recent years, she said.
A key goal of the US strategy against HIV/AIDS, set forth in 2010, is to decrease the number of new infections by 25 per cent by 2015.
“The hope is that over time it will decrease the rate of new infections or incidence in the United States.” | <urn:uuid:d0df688b-77ec-49f7-ba2e-9046fe55640d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rocketnews.com/2012/07/us-approves-first-ever-pill-to-help-fight-hiv/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968715 | 658 | 2.75 | 3 |
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