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Tools and Data
Microsoft Excel: A spreadsheet application is needed to analyze the data. Microsoft Excel is used in this lesson and is available as part of Microsoft Office. Excel is part of the suite of Microsoft Office software. Students and educators may be able to purchase this software at a reduced cost. The Student and Home Edition is sufficient for use in this unit.
EdGCM, a powerful modeling program, was used in the collection of data, but will not be used in the lesson. Developed by scientists at NASA, it can model future global conditions based on various inputs: carbon dioxide data, nitrous oxide data, CFC data, methane data, and solar conditions. From it one can extract temperature data, evaporation data, precipitation data and much more. A 30-day free trial is available here.
Global Historical and Future Emissions Data
The global data are from the IPCC’s AR4 scenario data page8 . These emissions are what they predicted carbon emissions will be in a certain scenario. The scenario used (A1G MINICAM) simply means that in this scenario, the efficiency with which fossil fuels can be obtained increases, and the use of unconventional sources of energy rise towards the end of the 21st century. MINICAM is the modeling program used to predict these emissions.
Global Annual Modeled Temperature Data
This data sheet is obtained directly from models run in EdGCM. Each year is averaged using daily data points. Then, the global average data point was extracted from each data sheet for each year. This was done for 50 years’ worth of data, for all 6 scenarios. MATLAB was used in the extraction and analysis process.
Carbon source and sink data: Galen McKinley. Carbon and Climate Applet Data. 6 2011. http://carboncycle.aos.wisc.edu/carbon-budget-tool/.
Climate Change Scenarios: IPCC story lines, models, downscaling. 7 2011. http://www.ess.co.at/METEO/CCS.html.
Princeton University Carbon Mitigation Initiative. 2011. 7 2011 <http://cmi.princeton.edu/wedges/>.
1 New York State Climate Action Council. 8 2011 <www.nyclimatechange.us>.
2 350.org. 7 2011 <www.350.org>.
3 Decision -/CP.15. Conference of the Parties. Copenhagen, 2009.
4 James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, David Beerling, Robert Berner,Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Pagani, Maureen Raymo, Dana L. Royer and James C. Zachos. "Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity aim?" Open Atmos. Sci. J. vol. 2 (2008): 217-231.
5 Rockstrom, Johan, et al. "A Safe Operating Space for Humanity." Nature v 461 (2009): 472-475.
6 Rockstrom, Johan, et al. "A Safe Operating Space for Humanity." Nature v 461 (2009): 472-475.
7 Global Surface Temperature Anomalies. 5 2011. 6 8 2011 <http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cmb-faq/anomalies.php#anomalies>.
8 SRES Final Data. 6 2011 <http://sres.ciesin.org/final_data.html>.
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Biology 1A Oct 20, 1998
Lecture 14 - Bryophytes
Page Contents :
Overview of Lecture:
Life cycles in early plants.
Plants evolved from Charophycean green algae.
Evolution of the plant life cycle.
Typical moss life cycle.
Bryophytes have a dominant gametophyte and a dependent sporophyte.
Bryophyte ecology and morphology.
Liverworts, Hornworts, and Mosses.
Overview of Lab:
(A bullet indicates a handout.)
I. Life Cycles in Early Plants.
A. Plants evolved from Charophycean green algae.
II. Bryophyte Ecology and Morphology.
1. Introduction to the Charophyceae
B. Evolution of the plant life cycle
a. freshwater group of green algae
2. Traits green algae share with plants
b. Spirogyra, desmids, stomeworts, Coleochaete
a. chlorophyll a & b
3. Traits the Charophyceae share with plants
a. asymmetric sperm cell flagellae
b. retain zygote on the gametophyte
d. pattern of cell wall formation
1. Charophyceae have a haploid life cycles, while plants have a heteromorphic alternation of generations.
C. Typical moss life cycle.
2. Multicelular gametangia evolved in plants.
3. The embryo develops within the archegonium.
D. Bryophytes have a dominant gametophyte and a dependent sporophyte.
1. The meaning of "dominance"
2. The gametophyte is dominant in bryophytes
3. The sporophyte is dependent in bryophytes
a. The sporophyte develops attached to the gametophyte
4. The term "bryophyte" refers to group with this kind of life cycle.
b. Never "leaves home"; needs nutrients through foot (transfer tissue)
5. Contrast with vascular plants (in other plants, SPT dominant)
A. Where do bryophytes grow?
III. Liverworts, Hornworts, and Mosses.
1. rainforest, tundra, desert, forests
B. How are they important?
2. streams, trees, rocks, floating
1. nutrient cycling
C. Bryophyte tissues are not very complex
2. soil crusts - reducing erosion
3. insulating the permafrost
1. Characteristics like early land plants, though some now very complicated
2. Usually whole gametophyte is photosynthetic
3. Bryophytes have no root system, but rely on rhizoids
5. Thalloid or leafy
6. Asexual reproduction often important (gemmae)
A. Liverworts (Hepaticophyta)
B. Hornworts (Anthocerotophyta)
a. about 6000+ species
b. only group of plants to completely lack stomata
c. basal group of land plants, probably most like plant ancestors
a. thalloid or leafy
b. dorsiventral & usually prostrate
c. some have conducting tissue
d. oil bodies
a. usually small, simple, and short-lived
b. elaters - hygroscopic cells
C. Mosses (Bryophyta)
a. thalloid, rhizoids
b. single large chloroplast per cell
a. horn-shaped (hence name)
c. basal meristem
d. mostly sporangium, columella, splits to spread spores
a. about 10,000+ species
b. third most diverse group after flowers and ferns
c. hydroids and leptoids -- evidence of relations to vascular plants
d. mosses that aren't mosses: reindeer moss, Spanish moss, club moss
b. leafy -- leaves one or two cells thick, usually a midrib
c. Question: Are there stomata in the leaves of mosses? Why or why not?
d. radial, erect or prostrate
a. calyptra - part of old GPT
4. Sphagnum - peat moss
b. operculum - cap
c. peristome (hygroscopic) - releases spores when dry
a. highly unusual - floating aquatic moss
b. the most economically important bryophyte
antheridium embryophyte operculum
archegonium foot peristome
bryophyte gametangium protonemata
calyptra gemmae rhizoid
Charophyceae hydroids sporangium
Coleochaete hygroscopic spore
columella leafy sporopollenin
dioicous leptoids sterile jacket
dominance monoicous thalloid
dorsiventral neck canal transfer tissue
elaters oil bodies vascular plant
- What are the Chrophyceae? What characteristics of the Charophyceae make them the likely ancestors of land plants?
- How is the life cycle of bryophytes different from that of the Charophyceae?
- How are the gametangia of land plants different from those in algae?
- Diagram and explain the basic structure of both an antheridium and an archegonium. What features of these structures show an adaptation for a terrestrial environment?
- What is the difference between a monoicous gametophyte and a dioicous one?
- Why are land plants also called embryophytes? How is this an adaptation for a terrestrial existence?
- What features of the bryophyte spore make it ideal as a unit of dispersal?
- How do the gametes of bryophytes locate each other? What must be present for them to get together?
- Diagram and label the major structures of a typical bryophyte sporophyte. Which structures are haploid? Which are diploid?
- How is the life cycle of the bryophytes different from other plants?
- Which generation is dominant in bryophytes? What does it mean that one generation is "dominant" over the other?
- What is the function of transfer tissue, and where is it found?
- Where do bryophytes grow? How are they important?
- Do bryophytes have roots? How do they obtain their water and nutrients?
- How are leafy and thalloid bryophytes different from each other? Which bryophytes can be thalloid? Which may be leafy?
- What are gemmae and what is their function?
- How are liverworts different from all other plants? Name one feature of other plants that liverworts lack. Name two found only in liverworts.
- How is the sporophyte of a hornwort different from other sporophytes? (There are several ways)
- How are moss leaves different from leaves in vascular plants? (There are several ways)
- What are hydroids and leptoids? In which bryophytes are they found?
- What are protonemata?
- How is the peristome of a moss capsule similar to elaters in a liverworts? How are they different?
© 1998 Brian R. Speer. These pages for the personal use of students and teachers; any commercial use or publication is strictly prohibited.
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This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.
Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.
McLEAN, Sir Donald
Land Purchase Commissioner and Native Minister.
A new biography of McLean, Donald appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.
Donald McLean was born on the Hebridean island of Tiree on 27 October 1820, the son of John McLean of Kilmaluaig, and of Margrette, née McColl. While Donald was still a child his father died and the boy was brought up by his mother's people, the McColls, his grandfather being a Presbyterian clergyman. A well-grounded but frugal upbringing awakened ambition for which, as so often in the Highlands, emigration was the only opportunity and, with a cousin, McLean arrived in Sydney in April 1839. He spent some months in New South Wales, but crossed to New Zealand in 1840 as an agent for the timber-trading firm of Abercrombie and Company, later working around the Hauraki Gulf and on Waiheke Island. He quickly saw that a knowledge of Maori and an understanding of Maori culture would be an invaluable qualification for success. Of commanding physique, adaptable, discreet and even cautious, but of inflexible perseverance and determination, he soon acquired an excellent working knowledge of the language. In 1843 he came under the notice of the Colonial Secretary, Andrew Sinclair, on whose recommendation he was appointed by Governor FitzRoy to a position in the office of the Protector of Aborigines. Following a period of induction he was transferred to New Plymouth as a Subprotector in August 1844.
His first testing responsibility was an attempt to reconcile the Taranaki Maoris to an acceptance of Commissioner Spain's award to the New Zealand Company of a considerably greater area in the district and elsewhere than its Maori owners were prepared to recognise. Soon after he assisted in the purchase of the FitzRoy, Bell, and Tataraimaka Blocks. In 1845, following the abolition of the Protector's office, his title was changed to that of Inspector of Armed Police. In the course of his duties as mediator between the two peoples and as conciliator in tribal differences, he undertook many arduous and lengthy journeys through the interior of the Island. Noteworthy among these were the visits to Mokau, Tuhua, and Taupo in April and May 1845, from where he returned by the Wanganui River, and a second journey to the same area in the reverse direction during the last three months of 1845.
The increasing orientation of McLean's duties to land-purchase operations reflected the Government preoccupation of the period. In May 1848 he completed the Wanganui land purchases which, in common with the New Zealand Company purchases elsewhere, had been a difficulty from the formation of the settlement. His first major success, however, was the acquisition in 1849 of the Rangitikei Block of some 200,000 acres between the Rangitikei and Turakina Rivers. Two years later, in Hawke's Bay, the purchase of the Waipukurau, Ahuriri, and Mohaka Blocks of approximately 630,000 acres opened the future province to pastoral settlement. The Wairarapa had resisted the efforts of several earlier negotiators, but, in 1853, following Sir George Grey's personal intervention, McLean was able to obtain several key blocks which, again, lead eventually to the European acquisition of much of the district. The Wairarapa purchases marked the high-water level of McLean's success. Growing Maori concern at the effect of the sales, particularly the subsequent sharp appreciation in land values and, soon after, the growing strength of the King movement, markedly slowed down the pace of these transactions except in the far north. McLean's methods involved close and prolonged rapport with the key chiefs, the exercise of endless patience in what might be regarded as the softening-up process, and the generous promise of specific reserves.
In 1853 he was appointed Chief Land Purchase Commissioner in the newly established Land Purchase Department. When Gore Browne succeeded Grey as Governor, his position and authority were greatly enhanced. In McLean's view the best interests of the Maori were to be served by rapid land purchases at roughly 1d. to 3d. an acre, which would open the way to European settlement, with a consequent improvement in Maori living standards. Haste, departmental and immigrant pressure, together with the underlying expectation of the early extinction of the Maori race, caused officers to ignore Maori occupation rights and the more subtle aspects of Maoritanga. When the offices of Native Secretary and Chief Land Purchase Commissioner were amalgamated, the reality as well as the appearance of an administratively disinterested concern for Maori welfare, as distinct from land purchasing, was destroyed. McLean supplanted F. D. Fenton as Native Secretary and tacitly opposed the introduction of measures which savoured of indirect rule.
McLean's part in the critical Waitara purchase which led to the Taranaki War has recently been examined by historians. It is clear that he was at fault in not briefing Gore Browne more fully regarding the implications of the Governor's acceptance of the offer of Te Teira to sell the block in which other non-sellers were interested. At the same time it was unfortunate that a critical attack of rheumatic fever at the end of 1859, the penalty of some 15 punishing years in the field, virtually incapacitated him throughout the critical period. His already unrivalled knowledge and judgment could have prescribed caution before both the Crown and Wiremu Kingi, the chief who opposed the sale, had irrevocably committed themselves to positions from which retreat without loss of face was extremely difficult. McLean's last major act before resigning from the secretaryship in May 1861 was the organisation of the Kohimarama Conference at the end of 1860, an attempt to win support for the Government's Waitara policy.
Temporarily free from office, McLean proceeded to develop and extend his station properties. He had purchased Maraekakaho Station in Hawke's Bay, was slowly acquiring Akitio on the Wellington provincial border, and for a time held Run 333 in Central Otago – assets which by judicious sale of the last two were to give him an estate valued at over £100,000 on his death.
In 1863 he was elected Superintendent of the Hawke's Bay Province and in March 1866 defeated Colenso in the election for a seat in the House of Representatives. With J. D. Ormond, he virtually ran the province until the abolition ten years later. His local prestige, together with his knowledge of native affairs, led to his appointment as Government Agent on the East Coast in 1868. The escape of Te Kooti and his followers from the Chatham Islands provided a difficult and testing period both for Government and McLean. In the exchanges between them there were clashes over the competence of individual officers, the wisdom of putting Maori auxiliaries under Col. Whitmore, and finally over the proposal of the Government to send the Ngati Porou chief Ropata and his followers away from their home area to Taranaki. When McLean supported Ropata in his reluctance to leave his tribal territory undefended, McLean's appointment was terminated.
Three months later, following the resignation of the Stafford Ministry, McLean joined Fox as Native Minister and, except for the brief interregnum of the September-October 1872 Stafford Ministry, he was in office under successive premiers until a month before his death, eight years later. He was also Defence Minister until 10 September 1872. The policy which he vigorously applied was directed to ending the war and reaching an understanding and reconciliation with the Maori. The unofficial return of Wiremu Kingi to Waitara in 1872, meetings with the Maori King, and the exercising of restraint at the seeming provocation of a murder on the aukati were generally acclaimed examples of its success. At the same time land purchasing was resumed at an increased tempo, some millions of acres being acquired, chiefly in the Auckland and Wellington Provinces. Results were achieved by the same exercise of personal authority as had characterised his administration as a civil servant in earlier years. The pacification set the stage for the free play of the public works policy of the decade, but McLean himself did not build up an efficient, enduring administration, nor in a number of instances did he exercise judgment in the selection and promotion of subordinates. His K.C.M.G. in 1874, however, was a well-merited tribute to his part in the European occupation of New Zealand. In a political reaction against certain purchases he, with Ormond, was attacked in the House for his own transactions. The resulting anxiety, the cumulative burdens of office, and premature ageing from the hardships of earlier years led to his resignation in December 1876 and death on 5 January 1877.
In 1850 McLean married Susan, the daughter of R. R. Strang, Registrar of the Supreme Court in Wellington. Their tragically brief marriage ended with her death shortly after the birth of their only son Douglas in 1852.
In October 1877 Douglas McLean established the Te Makarini Trust for Te Aute Maori College and endowed it with £3,000 in memory of his father. The income has since provided annually a series of scholarships for gifted students from the primary native schools attending Te Aute College.
by Austin Graham Bagnall, M.A., A.L.A., Librarian, National Library Centre, Wellington.
- McLean MSS, Turnbull Library
- McLean MSS, Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery, Napier
- Sir Donald Maclean – the Story of a New Zealand Statesman, Cowan, J. (1940)
- The Chief of Hawke's Bay, Turnbull, M. (1960).
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The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced yesterday an ambitious robotics program aiming to revolutionize disaster response robots. The DARPA Robotics Challenge is the brainchild of DARPA program manager Dr. Gill Pratt, a researcher and educator with numerous inventions to his credit.* We spoke with Dr. Pratt about the goals of the new effort and how it could change robotics in a big way.
Q: DARPA funds lots of robotics programs. What’s the goal and focus of this new effort?
A: The program is really aimed at developing human-robot teams to be able to help in disaster response. Here the human is at a distance from the robot and will supervise the robot to do a number of tasks that are quite challenging. And we think it will be very exciting. … It’s important to note that this isn’t just for a nuclear power plant situation. The next disaster may not be a nuclear plant. For that reason, we want to leverage the human tools that are likely to be out there. It’s all about adaptability—what’s the most adaptable system that can be used during that first day or two of the disaster when you have a chance to reduce the scope of the disaster by taking action. That’s what the challenge is about.
Q: Is the program designed to advance humanoid robot technology? Do robots entering the challenge have to be humanlike machines?
The DARPA Robotics Challenge is decidedly not exclusive to humanoid systems. The three big ideas here are, first, we need robots that are compatible with shared environments, even though the environments are degraded, and second, we need robots that are compatible with human tools. The reason for that is that typically we don’t know where the disaster is going to be, and right now the stock of tools, all the way from vehicles to hand tools, are really made for people to operate, for maintenance or construction, and so we want the robot to be able to use all those tools. The third thing is compatibility with human operators in two ways: one is that the robot is easy to operate without particular training, and second is that the human operator can easily imagine what the robot might do. For that to be true, the robot needs to have a form that is not too different from the human form. But I think that some variation actually might work. For instance, if it had more arms than we have, or if it had more legs than we have, or if it had a mobility platform that was different than legs and could get around in the same environment and use the same tools that we use, that would be fine to do those types of tasks. We are not pushing a particular robot architecture or type; rather we’re saying what the interface needs to be like, both for the operator and for the tools and environment.
Illustration of a disaster response scenario part of the DARPA Robotics Challenge: The robot on the right uses a power tool to break through a wall, and the one on the left turns a valve to close a leaking pipe. Image: DARPA
Q: The disaster response scenario you came up with looks really hard. Is it realistic to expect teams will succeed?
A: Some people have said, incorrectly, that we expected that teams would not be able to complete the first challenge [during Phase 1 of the program], but that’s actually not true. The challenge will be adjusted as we gain experience with the teams over this first phase, before the first live challenge in December 2013. What we’re going to make sure is that the live challenge is difficult but not impossible. And then we expect that in the second live challenge we’ll be doing the same thing, and that in fact we’ll show off skills and performance that are better than what we had before.
Q: How would you adjust the difficulty if there are just two actual competitions, one for each phase of the program?
A: Basically we have several parameters, several "knobs" that we can use to adjust the difficulty. One is so that we can change how hard the tasks and environment are—for instance the material that the robot needs to break through. We can do anything from drywall to concrete, and we’ll have to see what’s easy and what’s hard. We also have a "knob" on the communications link. We have an ability to modulate what the communication is like between the operators and the robots. We’ll turn down the bandwidth, increase latency and jitter, and do some modulation of the availability of the communications link that will make the challenge more difficult as we throttle that more, of course, and easier as we open the channel up between the two. Another thing we’re considering is having the first live challenge set up in a way where each of the events is separate, so that if teams do well on some but not on others, they’d still score. We’ll be developing that, and whether we run one team from start to finish, or whether we run all the teams in the first event, and then all the teams in the second and so forth, we aren’t sure of that yet. But since the challenge involves a set of tasks, if you kind of miss on one, you could move on to the next one.
Q: And at what point are you getting feedback from teams saying, "This is just too hard"?
A: In the simulation phase, which is the first nine months, we’re going to be getting lots of feedback from the teams saying how hard things are. We’re devoting program resources to the development of the simulation engine. … We want to ask for participation not just from traditional robotics performers but also from people that are in the graphics world, video games, and areas like that, because we think they have a lot to add there. We’re going to be paying NIST and some other places to do validation of the results from the simulation and to be a hardware "shakeout site" for all teams to make sure that we actually develop a tool that will have the impact on the robotics world that [the electronics circuit simulator] SPICE had on the EE world. … I really want the broader community, not just the usual robotics, legged-locomotion guys, to think about this. And to think of the opportunity that they have here to team up with people in response to the BAA [Broad Agency Announcement] and also the upcoming [solicitation] from the simulation provider to help really develop a transformational tool.
Q: How would these people participate in the competition? The simulation engine will come from one single provider, right?
A: It will come from a provider, but it will be open-source, and we plan to offer financial incentives for a wide range of contributions. So it’s important to distinguish between the BAA [released yesterday] and the solicitation that we’ll have from that one provider to the entire world to contribute to the simulation tool. It’s a critical component of the challenge.
Q: One of the tasks requires a robot to drive a vehicle. Why is that part of the challenge, and is that a way of imposing human size and features to the robot?
A: That wasn’t the intention. It’s really a question of available tools. As an example, in the Fukushima disaster, they had fire trucks on hand, but after the first reactor explosion, they could not have people drive those fire trucks because the contamination was high. We want these robots to really be compatible with all tools, from earth-moving machinery all the way down to a screwdriver. We know that in a disaster, presently, most of those tools are not going to be setup to be driven by a robot or teleoperated—that they’re mostly going to be the tools that are at hand, and that includes vehicles. If you look at [a typical human] environment the number of vehicles is very large, so that is a form of tool that we think is a resource in a disaster that tends to get used. Now, it is true that some have been converted for teleop work; an example is the QinetiQ teleop interface for a Bobcat. And that’s great, if you can get it to the site in time. But in most cases, you have to use the tools that are at hand, and so the construction equipment, including vehicles, is what is at hand. Notice this is not a repeat of the other DARPA challenges that developed cars that drove by themselves. The robot will be under supervisory control from a person, and so it’s not that we expect the robot to drive on a path all on its own. This is to show its dexterity in using various tools, and vehicles are within that set of tools. Now there’s a second benefit that we get from it which has to do with the power supply for the robot itself. We’re not going to disallow tethers in order to power the robot, but the tether will not be able to go all the way back to the operator. So what the utility vehicle can help with is, you can put the power supply for the robot on the flatbed of the vehicle and then the tether can go to the robot, and the vehicle is now a movable base that the robot can operate a certain distance from.
Q: Can I also have a wired communications link between the robot and the mobile base vehicle?
A: In the BAA we say no, but we also require a wired hookup to the robot, and so we may end up using the mobile base as a RF point, we are not sure yet. As an example, in Fukushima, the RF environment inside the buildings was very bad, because of all the shielding that was there. This is a way of getting around that issue. But mostly it’s the power issue that we get the advantage from.
Q: Can you clarify the point about a robot being allowed to divide its body into more than one unit to complete tasks? Can a robot leave parts of itself behind?
A: Robots competing in the challenge can’t leave parts behind. We want to give maximum freedom to the performers to choose the topology of the robot that they think is best. So if during an event it’s best to have a small part move off and then perform a task and then come back, that’s perfectly fine. But we want to exclude teams developing a robot that is specialized for each task, and then just using one at a time for each. So it’s a one-robot challenge, but the robot can split apart and come back together if desired.
Q: DARPA will fund a company to build a robot to be used by the software teams—but this doesn’t seem like something you can just take existing technology and integrate into a platform. How can you be sure you’ll be able to build a robust, capable robot that the software teams can use? It looks like you’re solving the challenge that you’re proposing…
A: We are not solving the challenge by developing a robot for the software teams. The robot itself is only part of the challenge. As an example, a robot that has two legs that walks on its own and does the balancing task, that has been done; it’s been done by the Japanese and by several U.S. groups also. And so the GFE [Government Furnished Equipment] robot could be one of those platforms. But that’s not what the challenge is. The challenge is going to be, given these particular tasks, where does the robot place its feet, where does it place its hands, how does it turn the valve, how does it open the door. The locomotion part of it, which is to balance and decide where the feet are going to be placed to walk forward, that’s actually not the hard part. In particular, how do you make best use of the human [operator] in this team, to give the supervisory commands to the machine, to say, grab that handhold, turn that valve, pick up this bolt… those are the more difficult parts.
Q: Still, from the scenario, it looks like the technology required is too far off, and though you might be able to have a robot do one or two tasks, performing them all with a single robot seems really far-fetched.
A: We think that it's actually “DARPA hard,” but not an impossible thing to do. And the reason that we’re spending the funds on this is actually to push the field forward and make this capability a reality. We’re also trying to widen the supplier base for the capability that would help here. So we picked a pretty hard goal, that’s absolutely true. It’s a goal that has a lot of risk, but a lot of reward as well, and that’s really the theme of what DARPA tries to do. If we look at the driverless-car world before the DARPA challenges occurred, there were a lot of research efforts that showed the cars moving a small distance down the road, on a curve, and maybe recognizing some fraction of the time where they were with respect to the road. And I think that the previous challenges really pushed the field forward to the state where now other firms have picked this up and are making those cars. Some day, not too far from now, we’ll just get in our car and sit and talk to the person who’s next to us and not worry about how to drive. And that would be an amazingly great thing. I expect the same sort of thing will happen with the new challenge we're launching.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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Photos: Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, BudapestClick on a thumbnail image to view the full photograph.
Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, Budapest. This park commemorates Wallenberg and others who protected many of Budapest's Jews from deportation to extermination camps. The sign reads: May this park commemorate as an exclamation mark for the post-Holocaust generations the name of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. May it also remind all of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish martyrs, of the labour-camp inmates who died unknown, and of all those righteous men and women who, putting their own lives at risk, saved persecutees of certain death. Tree of Life. This sculpture commemorates the 5,000 victims of the Holocaust buried nearby. The willow tree is a traditional symbol of mourning. It is also said to represent an overturned menorah. Tree of Life. Tree of Life. Tree of Life. Stones are left here in memory of the dead. Tree of Life. Detail of the central portion of the sculpture. Tree of Life. Detail of arching willow branches. Tree of Life. The black granite slab at the center of the sculpture has two holes cut through in the traditional shape of tablets. This represents the absence of the Ten Commandments as a moral code for those who perpetrated the Holocaust. Tree of Life. Graceful metal branches of the monument. Tree of Life. Individual leaves are engraved with the names of Holocaust victims. Tree of Life. More names of victims engraved on metal leaves. Rescuers memorial. Behind the Tree of Life is a monument to those who rescued Hungarian Jews. Rescuers memorial. A black stone at the center recognizes those who rescued thousands. Rescuers memorial. Among the names of the more prominent rescuers are Per Anger, Friedrich Born, Carl Lutz, and Raoul Wallenberg. Rescuers memorial. Four upright red stones commemorate ordinary Hungarians who also rescued Jews. Rescuers memorial. Tablet commemorating ordinary rescuers. Rescuers memorial. Tablet commemorating ordinary rescuers. Rescuers memorial. Tablet commemorating ordinary rescuers. A wall at the back of Wallenberg Park commemorates individual victims of the Holocaust.
Return to Other Memorials, A-B
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A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 2005.
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| 0.881637 | 547 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Definitions of sandwich
n. - Two pieces of bread and butter with a thin slice of meat, cheese, or the like, between them. 2
v. t. - To make into a sandwich; also, figuratively, to insert between portions of something dissimilar; to form of alternate parts or things, or alternating layers of a different nature; to interlard. 2
The word "sandwich" uses 8 letters: A C D H I N S W.
No direct anagrams for sandwich found in this word list.
Adding one letter to sandwich does not form any other word in this word list.Words within sandwich not shown as it has more than seven letters.
All words formed from sandwich by changing one letter
Browse words starting with sandwich by next letter
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| 0.910886 | 163 | 2.59375 | 3 |
SEATTLE ‒ A 16-year-old, male zebra, named Furahi (fer-AW-hee), was euthanized today at Woodland Park Zoo after being found unable to stand and suffering from apparent seizure activity. Zebras can live 20 to 30 years in the wild and up to 40 years in zoos.
The zoo’s animal health team responded immediately after a zookeeper discovered the zebra was experiencing seizures on the African Savanna. Despite urgent medical aid, the convulsions continued and the veterinarian made the humane decision to euthanize the animal in distress. This zebra had been under long-term veterinary care for a chronic medical condition.
According to Dr. Darin Collins, director of Animal Health at Woodland Park Zoo, “we will perform a necropsy (animal autopsy), which is routine for all animal deaths at the zoo.” A final cause of death is pending complete results of histology and other diagnostic testing. The remains will become part of the research and education collection at The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Furahi was born at Woodland Park Zoo and did not have any offspring. One zebra, a 9-year-old female, remains at the zoo.
Woodland Park Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and follows rigorous standards for animal health care and husbandry for all of its animals. “Our zookeepers and veterinary staff provide excellent day-to-day care for our animals and are impacted by the death of an animal. The animal management and animal health teams faced today’s sudden incident with professionalism and compassion,” said Martin Ramirez, curator of mammals at Woodland Park Zoo.
The zebras at Woodland Park Zoo represent the plains or Damara species. Zebras live throughout eastern and southern Africa and inhabit open, grassy plains or well-grassed woodlands. While several attempts have been made over the last two centuries, zebras have never been successfully domesticated. The plains zebra is the only species of wild equid not near or on the verge of extinction. While plains zebra populations remain plentiful, their numbers diminished greatly in the last century due to humans hunting them for sport and their skins. Another threat is loss of habitat due to the rapid expansion of human populations. As with so many large animals, both prey and predator, humans pose the greatest risk to zebras’ continued existence in the wild.
Zoo visitors can enjoy giraffe, hippos, patas monkeys, ostrich and lions at the award-winning African Savanna exhibit. Coming to the Savanna in May are warthogs, a new species at the zoo. The pigs will make their home in the former African wild dog exhibit which is currently undergoing a transformation to evoke the arid savannas of East Africa.
For more information about the zoo and how to become a zoo member, visit www.zoo.org. Or call 206.548.2500 or 548.2599 (TTY).
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| 0.953439 | 636 | 2.953125 | 3 |
static pthread_mutex_t mutex = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
static int acquires_count = 0;
res = pthread_mutex_trylock(&mutex);
if (res == 0)
On x86 processors, current gcc will optimize this to use a comparison, an add with carry flag, and an unconditional store to
acquires_count. This eliminates a branch, but it means that the variable is written to even if the lock is not held. That introduces a race condition.
This is clearly permitted by the C language standard, which in general describes a single threaded model. The standard says nothing about precisely when values are written to memory. It simply says that if you assign a value to a global variable, then when you read the global variable you should see that value.
It may seem that this should be an invalid optimization: the compiler should not move stores out of a conditionally executed basic block. Several people have reacted to this test case in this way. However, note that the first function call could be anything–it could even be a test of a global variable. And note that the store could be a load–we could load a global variable twice, protected by some conditional both times. If we require that this code be safe in a multi-threaded environment, then we can not coalesce the loads. That would be OK with people who write C as a fancy assembly language. But it would significantly hurt performance for complex programs, especially in C++, in which the conditionals would be in different functions and then inlined together.
So what should the compiler do, given a choice between optimizing complex C++ code and helping to generate correct complex multi-threaded code? Complex C++ code is much more common than complex multi-threaded code. I think the compiler is making the right choice. And it conforms to the language standard.
For this code to be correct in standard C, the variable needs to be marked as
volatile, or it needs to use an explicit memory barrier (which requires compiler specific magic–in the case of gcc, a
volatile asm with an explicit memory clobber). But many people don’t see that–including Linus Torvalds.
I think this is a nice example of my earlier point, which is that our current models of parallel programming are generally too hard for people to use.
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| 0.925624 | 507 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Theme paper on enhacement of property rights including and land rights of women
ISSUE NO.1: Economic empowerment of the women by ensuring greater legal access to property rights including land rights to them.
1.1 The Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment (Land Reforms Division) hereby intends to draw the attention of the State Govts. towards the need of taking appropriate legal and administrative steps to end the gender inequalities in providing legal rights to women on property especially on landed property, which is the most important productive asset in the rural India and, hence, access to arable land may be considered as an important instrument for economic empowerment as well as increasing the social status of the rural women belonging to agricultural families including the families of landless agricultural labour.
1.2 With the aforesaid objectives this Ministry examined the Revenue Laws of various State Govts. on land and other natural resources along with the concerned provisions of the Constitution and found that there is a need to address this issue jointly by Government of India as well as the State Governments.
1.3 The Constitution of India guarantees the fundamental rights to all citizens for equal treatment under law (Article 14) and non-discrimination on the grounds of sex (Article 15). This necessitates re-examination of all existing laws which provide rights to the women on property especially on land which is the major concern of the Land Reforms Division of this Ministry.
1.4 The land rights as well as access to land to the women can accrue primarily through three avenues:-
1.5 There seems to be a need to locate gender inequalities in the existing succession legislations for Hindu women as well as customary laws to provide inheritance to property for women of other religious communities, and some specific policy decisions are required to be adopted.
1.6 This Ministry made some examination of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Indian Succession Act, 1925, Customary Laws of Succession amongst other religious groups to locate gender bias in general. The Ministry has also made a rough examination of some of the State laws only to illustrate some of the basic flaws in the State land laws. The detailed examination of each State law pertaining to land is required to be taken up by the respective States in greater detail.
1.7 The Approach Paper to the draft Ninth Plan clearly states that preference will be given to women in the distribution of ceiling surplus land and legal provisions made for protecting their rights on land as a part of the overall anti-poverty effort. The National Perspective Plan for Women had recognised the need to highlight such concerns and laid down a series of action points, which included the framing of appropriate legislation.
1.8 The National Commission for women, which was set up in 1992 to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women and recommend remedial measures, has repeatedly stressed the need to eliminate gender-bias from our laws. Further, India has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993. This is the only legally binding international instrument dealing with the rights of women, though member countries retain their right to assert their unique cultures and practices.
Suggestion: It is, therefore, proposed that Government may evolve general consensus on the overhaul approach and modality to be adopted in this fiftieth year of Independence to enhance greater legal access to property
including landed property to women for their improvement of economic and social status and general empowerment.
ISSUE NO.2: Examination of Land Laws including Tenancy Laws of various States and Suggestions for necessary amendments to end gender inequalities.
2.1. The revenue laws constitute a considerable body of statutes, belonging to three categories. In the first category one could include the laws relating to inheritance, mutation and correction of records of rights. The second would include laws relating to survey and creation of record of rights which would also include fresh rights arising out of usage or rights not recorded being included in the body of records. Thereby it amounts to recognition of fresh rights. The third category would include ceiling laws for instance whereby the rights of those holding above the ceiling limits are abridged and rights are created amongst the landless as per the provision of distribution of ceiling land in the surplus land so acquired.
2.2 All the above three categories of land related legislations need to protect the gender rights to land. However, the these acts and rules do not contain provisions whereby the right of women to land can be asserted or safeguarded. Each enactment and rule of which there are more than 300 in this country need to be examined separately before we are able to establish that what provisions provide for enforcement or protection of the land rights of women. Therefore, the opinion being given in these paragraphs by and large is lacking in details. The instant opinion is based on a sample study of some of the enactments and rules.
GENDER BIAS IN THE TENANCY LAWS.
2.3 Tenancy rights in agricultural land were specifically exempted from the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. As a result, there is today a major disjunction in several states between state land enactments affecting the devolution of certain categories of agricultural land and the personal laws affecting the devolution of all other property, on at least two counts. First, in a number of states the succession rules relating to land held under tenancy have a different order of devolution than the personal laws specify. For example, in the tenurial laws of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (all located in northwest India), the specified rules of devolution show a strong preference for agnatic succession, with a priority for agnatic males. In all these states the tenancy develops in the first instance on male lineal descendants in the male line of descent. The widow inherits only in the absence of these male heirs. In addition, in the first four states mentioned, daughters and sisters are totally excluded as heirs. In Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, daughters and sisters are recognised but come very low in the order of heirs. Moreover, in all these six states, a woman (in any capacity) can hold only a limited interest in the land, in that after her death the holding goes not to her heirs but to the heirs of the last male landowner. She also loses the land if she remarries or abandons the land (that is, fails to cultivate it for a specified period , usually a year or two).
2.4 States where the tenurial laws explicitly mention that the devolution of tenanted land will be according to personal law are very few, and include Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where the personal law applies for all communities(Annexure-I). Also in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, the commentary following Section 40 of the relevant Act clarifies that for Hindu tenants the Hindu Succession Act will apply. In practice, however, even in Rajasthan daughters have been recognised as heirs only in some judgements, while in others male heirs alone have received recognition. In addition, there are states which do not specify the order of devolution in their laws dealing with tenancy land, such as Gujarat, the Bombay region of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, the Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In these states we can presume that the personal laws automatically apply. Then there are states such as Bihar and Orissa for which the tenancy acts specify that occupancy rights shall devolve in the same manner as other immovable property, "subject to any custom to the contrary". This leaves open the possibility of admitting gender inegalitarian customs if established, especially for the tribal communities in these regions.
2.5 Coming to the tenancy laws the Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885 does not contain even one provision whereby the land rights of the women as provided under the Hindu Succession Act or under the Indian Succesion Act or under other personal laws could be enforced or safeguarded. Likewise, in matters of recording as well the names and the share of the women in column four of the Khatiyan is not recorded. The Survey Manual and the Bihar Maintenance of Records Act are remarkably silent over this issue. Therefore, the initial contention that the revenue laws negate the effect of principal laws holds good and needs to be corrected by including recording and protecting devises for women's land rights.
Gender bias in the land laws of some States.
2.6 The State has special legal provisions dealing with the devolution of holdings. Under this comes the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950.
Section 171 holds, "General order of succession,- subject to the provisions of Section 169, when a bhumidhar or asami being a male dies, his interest in his holding shall devolve in accordance with the order of succession given below:- (a) the male lineal descendants in the male line of descent in equal share per strites, (b) widow and widows mother and widow of a predeceased male lineal descendants in the male line descent etc." This provision has strong gender-bias as daughters have no right of inheritance when sons are alive.
2.7 This has a special provision for the succession to a mans holding. Under this provision the male lineal descendants in the male line of descent inherit in equal shares. The widow comes only after them, along with the widowed mother and widow of a predeceased male lineal descendant in the male line of descent. The necessary condition of these three widows to inherit is that they should not have remarried. The daughters, married and unmarried, come even after the father, though between the daughters, the unmarried ones get a preference. In addition, the widow, mother or a daughter inheriting the holding in that capacity does not get an absolute right as on her death the devolution of the property will not be to her heirs, but to the heir of the last male bhumidar. Even when a woman inherits, not as an heir, the property, on her death, goes according to the provisions of the Act under which the son, grandson and the great grandson, and the widow of a son or a grandson inherit first. The daughter does not even come after them but after the husband who is the heir after the male descendants and the widows of male descendants.
It is suggested that these laws are to be amended to the effect; in a joint Hindu Family the daughter of a coparcener shall by birth become a co-parcener in her own right in the same manner as a son and have the same rights in the coparcenery right had she been a son inclusive of the right to claim by survivorship; and shall be subjected to the same liabilities in respect thereto as the son etc.
2.8 Several Sections of the Uttar Pradesh Imposition of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1960 are gender-biased. Provisions of this Act did not define women as tenure holders, they are excluded from tenure holding. Section 17 holds, "tenure holder means a person who is the holder of a holding does not include (a) a woman whose husband is a tenure holder.
2.9 The Delhi Land Reform Act 1954 follows practically the same pattern as the U.P. Act. Sections 48, 50, 51, 52 and 53 hold gender-bias. Section 48(1) of Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 holds, "a Bhumidhar may by will bequeath his holding or any part thereof except as provided in sub-section (2). (2) No Bhumidhar entitled to any holding or part in the right of a widow, mother, step-mother, fathers father, fathers mother, unmarried daughter, or unmarried sister may bequeath by will such holding or part."
2.10 Section 50 holds, "Subject to the provisions of section 48 and 52, when a Bhumidhar or Asami being a male dies, his interest in his holding shall devolve in accordance with the order of succession given below: (a) male lineal descendants in the male line of descent: Provided that no member of this class shall inherit if any male descendant between him and the deceased is alive: Provided further that the son or sons of a predeceased on howsoever inherit the share which would have developed upon the deceased if he had been then alive; (b) widow; (c) father; (d) mother being a widow." In succession to the male, the widow is pushed below all the male descendants. Like the U.P. Act, when she does inherit as an heir, on her death the property goes to the heir of the last male bhumidar. When she holds the property not as an heir but in her own right, the Act lays down the list of the heirs with the first preference being the male descendants followed by the husband.
Suggested that these laws are to be amended to the effect; in a joint Hindu Family the daughter of a coparcener shall by birth become a co-parcener in her own right in the same manner as a son and have the same rights in the coparcenery right had she been a son inclusive of the right to claim by survivorship; and shall be subjected to the same liabilities in respect thereto as the son etc.
2.11 Section 59 of The Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 amended up to 1969 states quite categorically that women cannot claim succession to tenancy if a male heir is alive. The widows right is recognised only after all male heirs.
2.12 Section 30 of the Pepsu Tenancy Agricultural Land Act, 1956 holds, "if any tenant or sub-tenant dies before exercising his right to acquire proprietary rights in respect of any land under this Chapter such right shall on his death devolve upon his lineal male descendants in the male line of descent. According to Section 8 of the same Act the security of tenure to hold land for minimum time of three years shall not apply to the tenant of a person who is a widow, minor and an unmarried woman, daughters daughter.
2.13 The provisions of the Punjab Occupancy Tenants (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act, 1952 holds the definition of a person, "land-lord, occupancy tenant" defined in masculine pronoun.
2.14 The Section 3(4) of the Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972 defines the family in relation to a person means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may be of such person or his or her minor children other than a married minor daughter. These provisions obviously create gender-bias. Even exclusively, the minor married daughter has been excluded from family, consequently she has been debarred of the right to property.
2.15 The Punjab Tenancy Act states quite categorically that women cannot claim succession to tenancy if a male heir is alive. The widows right is recognised only after all male heirs. After the widow the Act recognises the right of the widowed mother. As in the Andhra Act,they not only lose the right on remarriage, but also have restrictions about transfer of the right of tenancy. Like the Jammu and Kashmir Act the widows have the right to sub lease but for a term less than the one provided under the Jammu and Kashmir Act. The latter permits 2 years for a sub lease, while the Punjab Act allows it for a period of one year only. The Act also lays down clearly that the right of occupancy will be governed by the Act and not by the personal law of the parties.
Suggested that new enactment is to be made to replace these old Acts of the State of Punjab to provide equal rights to the women.
2.16 The same Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, Pepsu Tenancy Agricultural Land Act, 1956, the Punjab Occupancy Act, 1952 are applicable in the State. There exists, therefore, male lineal descendants in the male line of descent.
2.17 The Section 45 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reform Act, 1972 gives male lineal descendants in the male line of descent. It holds, "When a tenant in any land dies, the right shall devolve (a) on his male lineal descendants, if any, in the male line of descent; and (b) failing such descendants, on his widow "
2.18 The Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955:- (a) It has been observed that throughout the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955, the pronoun he or its derivatives such as his/him have been used. The pronoun she or her has always been omitted. As for example, Section 5 (26A) of the Act defines landless person as "he who shall be an agriculturist by profession". This has an element of gender-bias, despite the provision of Section 14(1) of Rajasthan general Clauses Act, 1955, which gives a scope of interpretation, he may be read as she.
We would like to suggest that in all appropriate places the word she and her is to be incorporated in the Act, for empowering women through property rights.
(b) Section 46(1) holds, "the restrictions imposed by Section 45 on letting by a holder of Khudkasht and on sub-letting by a tenant shall not apply to (a) a minor, or (b) a lunatic, or (c) an idiot, or (d) a woman (other than married). This is discriminatory and woman has been placed at par with minor, lunatic and idiot.
We would suggest to remove this discriminatory part from the Act.
(c) Women (except other than married) are not deemed to be Khudkasht. This limiting factor could be removed if the widow be deemed to be Khudkasht holder irrespective of the date when she got this right.
(d) Landless person who are women may be made entitled to the allotment of land.
(e) By the Land Reforms Act tenants have been allowed for the first time, the right to have written lease (patta) and to keep it with them as a document of their tenancy. Similarly, the land holder is now entitled (under Section 32 of the Act) to receive a counter part of the lease (patta) from the tenant.
It is suggested that the lease (patta) should be made specifically in the name of women too.
2.19 According to the definition of family in the Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973, it consists of husband, wife, and their minor children but excluding married (or deserted) minor daughters, their adult sons whether married or not and still in the family. The sons, however, form a separate unit for the purpose of determination of ceiling area. The separate unit has been explained as a person which excludes daughters.
Therefore, it is suggested that like Karnataka and West Bengal, this Act should also include unmarried daughters within the definition of family for computing ceiling area.
2.20 There is an exception to the right of person to hold land within the ceiling limit under Section 4 of this Act. In case, ceiling applicable to any person or family under the provisions of the Act excludes the ceiling area with such persons or family entitled to hold according to the provisions of the repealed law, then such persons or family will not be entitled to the benefit of the excess area of land but will be subjected to retain the same as it is under the provisions of the repealed law.
2.21 Section 6 of Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of Unculturable Wasteland for Development of Private Forests) Rules, 1986 provides for allotment of uncultivable wasteland to the applicants.
It is suggested that since women generally do not apply for such benefit, a provision may be made in Section 14 that a certain quantum of land to be distributed under this category may be earmarked for women cooperatives specifically.
2.22 It is observed that despite the provisions of equal wages for male and female in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Govt. of Rajasthan is continuing minimum rates of wages for the whole of the State of Rajasthan except the canal area of the Ganganagar District different for adult male and adult female.
It is suggested that this anomaly may please be removed forthwith.
2.23 Sections 164 and 192 of the M.P. Land Revenue Code 1959 also provides that subject to his personal law the interest of Bhumiswami shall, on his death, pass by inheritance, survivorship or bequest. Even the interest of an occupancy tenant in his holding shall on his death pass by inheritance or survivorship in accordance with his personal law. There does not occur discriminatory provisions directly.
It is suggested that feminine pronouns also be inserted at appropriate places.
2.24 The Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885 (Act No.8 of 1885) amended upto 1987:
Section 5.5 (2)(3) of the Act, while defining tenure-holder and raiyat, express, "a person who has acquired a right to hold land for the purpose of cultivating it." Other Sections of the Act also use the pronoun, person or its derivatives such as his and him. The pronoun she, her, etc. have not been used.
This use of masculine terms tends to gender-bias. At the time of interpretation of provisions of laws discrimination may arise in case of women.
Suggested that feminine pronouns may be inserted at the appropriate places.
2.25 No specification of the order of devolution; but the tenancy laws state that the devolution of occupancy rights shall be in the same manner as other immovable property.
Suggested that order of devolution may be spelt out by declaring womens order as equal to the male members.
2.26 Sections 6 and 7 of Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (Bengal Act 6 of 1908) while defining "raiyat and raiyats rights for Khunt-Katti" hold that, "primarily a person who has acquired a right to hold land for the purpose of cultivating it by himself or by members of his family." Throughout this Act, the pronoun person, his, him etc. have been used and their feminine gender has been ignored.
This situation has helped generating a gender-bias in legal parlour so far as right to property is concerned.
Suggested that feminine provisions may be inserted in the Act at appropriate places.
2.27 Section 4(xiii) and (xv) of Santal Parganas Tenancy Act, 1949 while defining raiyat similarly uses the pronoun in masculine gender leaving enough scope for fomenting gender-bias towards the feminine gender regarding property matters.
2.28 In view of this, suggestion may be made to use the words she and her in all appropriate places of these Acts for empowering women by ensuring property rights.
2.29 The Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961.
Section 2EE of this Act defines the family as follows:
"family" means and includes a person, his or her spouse and minor children;
2.30 The same section defines the landholder:
"Land holder" means a family as defined in clause (ee) holding land as raiyat or as under raiyat or a mortgagee of land in possession or holding land permanently settled by Government or lessee of land not resumable by Government;
2.31 Section 4 of the same Act provides that on the appointed day ceiling area has been laid down for one family consisting of not more than five members for the purposes of this act. Section 5 of the same Act provides that it shall not be lawful for any family to hold, except otherwise provided, land in excess of the ceiling area. It is evident from section 2 (ee) that the definition of family in the act is that of a neclear family and not Hindu Undivided Family. All major members of the family who are entitled to be treated as landholders have to be treated as separate units, irrespective of the fact that whether there has been a partition in the family or not [Mahavir Pd. v. State of Bihar, 1976 PLJR 134: AIR 1976 Pat. 256: 1975 BBCJ 701]. In other words it shall be deemed that there has been a partition in the HUF and all major landholders who are entitled to be treated as a separate unit have been so considered. Likewise, in Muslim law right in property by mere birth is not recognised. Family cannot be made to include major children and land held by them cannot be clubbed by the family of the parent. [Ramdulari Kunwar v. the State of Bihar;1976 BBCJ 641]. Coming back to the issue of Mohammedan law a muslim son or daughter do not have any right or interest in the property in the life time of their father. According to the Muslim Law, they acquire the right only in the event of the death of the father. The Muslim major son cannot become a land-holder within the life time of his father within the meaning of this Act and cannot constitute a family as defined under section 2(g) of the Act. Accordingly a Muslim major son is not entitled to a separate unit. [Imamul Hasan Choudhary v. State of Bihar, 1982 PLJR 321:1982 BRLJ 43: 1982 BBCJ 208]. This judgement were set aside by a full bench of the Hon'ble High Court vide overruled by State of Bihar vs. K.M. Zuberi, 1986 PLRJ 67 (SB): 1986 BRLJ 18.] wherein it was held that the primary objective of the Bihar Land Ceiling Act is imposition of ceiling, consequent calculation of surplus land and its distribution to the landless. It is is no way statute for providing for succession, and it is also a wholly secular provision in character. Any consideration of religion and personal law of the party (land-holder) cannot be allowed to intrude State of Bihar v. K.M. Zuberi, 1986 PLJR 67 (SB): 1986 BRLJ 18. (Majority view).
2.32 There is a minority view regarding the above judgements in 1986 PLJR 67 (SB). A minor male child of a Mitakshara Co-parcenary acquires interest in property by birth and is entitled to a share on partition. By including such a child with the definition of family the child has been deprived of his right to claim a separate unit for himself independently. The Legislature enacted an Explanation to clause (ee) of section 2, because this provision of the Ceiling Act was in conflict with personal Hindu Law, by which a minor Hindu son is governed. On the contrary a Mohammedan son gets interest to father's property only on death of his father. To permit a Mohammedan son to retain some property within permissible ceiling area would be making him owner and giving him share in property of his father in his life-time. This will be quite contrary of law governing a Mohammedan son and create inroads in personal laws governing Mohammedans. Before a person can be declared to be entitled to possess one unit of land, that person must have basic right to hold land ibid (Minority view). Though the minority view was not upheld it has a lot of substance in it. The ceiling act decide the total quantum of land that will be available to a family. The distribution within the family will be governed by the personal law to which the family professes. Here the position of women is definitely be worse of. While separate units have been granted to major sons major unmarried daughters and married daughters have not been granted separate units of their own. Though under the Hindu Succession Act they have the same co-parcenary interest as the sons. Even within a nuclear family the enforceability of the girls child's rights will depend upon so many extraneous factors. Normally, it has a low enforceability. Thus, we find that in keeping with the traditions of the Mitakshara the male child has been strengthened at the expense of the female child and this inequitous situation needs to be urgently remedied.
2.33 Section 10(5) of the Andhra Pradesh Tenancy (Andhra Area) Act 1956, holds, all rights of a cultivating tenant under this Section shall, subject to the provisions of Sections 12 and 13, be heritable. Explanation I: goes, "for the purpose of construing the term heritable in this Section, the following persons only shall be deemed to be heirs of a cultivating tenant, namely:-
Provided that where there is more than one heir, the heirs shall be entitled to sub-divide the interest in the holding according to their shares.
2.34 In this provision there is hardly any scope to operate gender bias as because the right to tenancy develops to all descendants and even to the widow in case of their absence. Besides, Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 has already been amended by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh.
2.35 The reason for keeping land and all rights connected with it outside the jurisdiction of Central Law appears to be the conflicting interests between national policy of land reform and womens rights to equality. In a full Bench Case dealing with the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act 1973, the Court said that "the legislation relating to land reforms is a device for bringing about radical alteration in property and economic obligation". The aim of such legislation "was the removal of concentration of wealth and distribution of means of production and material resources of the community". Land Reform has been one of the professed goals of our country and our planners from the very first Five Year Plan which stated that it was interalia with the object" to eliminate all elements of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system so as to ensure equality of status and opportunity to all sections of the population".
2.36 These objectives lead one to examine the whole question from a different angle-national policy of helping the deprived against the interest of a handful of people who have exploited the majority so far. In a recent case the point was stressed that "agrarian reform is the basic statutory perspective so that there would not only be an equitable distribution of land but also there would be no undue imbalance in society resulting in a landless class on the one hand and concentration of land in the hands of a few The goal of the legislation is to make the surplus land available for working out justice and rural development".
2.37 Looked at from this point of view one sees why equality of sexes was given a second place as was social and economic justice. This comes out also from the speech of Pataskar, the then Law Minister during the Hindu Succession Bill in 1956. He mentions that the "problem of land reforms is being solved by different States in different ways. Land tenures differ not only from State to State but also from area to area in the same State. I know that in the State of Bombay there are many tenures Under the Constitution, land, in all its aspects is a State subject and any legislation whether existing or future will not be affected in any way by the provision of the Bill (Hindu Succession Bill) Even now there are some States which have enacted legislation for the prevention of fragmentation or for the fixation of ceiling in respect of agricultural holdings".
Each State knows the needs and ground realities of the regions covered by its legislation. This makes it inevitable that there will be no uniformity as far as the question of devolution of a holding as far as intestacy is concerned. The aforesaid contention will be clear if we examine some of the State legislations selected below.
2.38 Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (ceiling on Agricultural Holding) Act, 1973.
Section 3(f) of the Act defines family, "(i) in the case of an individual who has a spouse or spouses such individual, the spouses and their minor sons and their unmarried minor daughters, if any; (ii) in the case of an individual who has no spouse, such individual and his or her minor sons and unmarried minor daughters .."
In this provision too there is a gender-bias, as married (or deserted) minor daughters have been left out.
Section 14, Clause 2 of the Act defines the term "person". The term as such does not spell any gender-bias, but the term has further been expressed always only with the masculine pronoun he and his.
It is suggested in view of the position above that at all appropriate places gender denoting feminine may also be inserted to remove any scope of gender discrimination.
JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION FURTHER AUGMENTS GENDER-BIAS IN THE STATE LAWS
2.39 The extent to which legislation was aided by judicial interpretation to deny widows any rights in agricultural land is brought out clearly in a Calcutta High Court Case. In Chintamani Debi vs. Upendranath the head of the family died leaving a widow and two sons. Under the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act 1954 the agricultural land vested in the State and a compensation roll was prepared. Understandably the widow claimed her share of the compensation money. After stating that she cannot claim any interest in her husbands agricultural property, the learned Judge clarified further that it was, "immaterial whether the agricultural property was converted into another kind of property, which was compensation money. But since according to law she could not claim any interest in her husbands agricultural property (emphasis added), she cannot claim a better position . Which had its origin in an agricultural property".
She could therefore get no part of the compensation money which went to the two sons.
2.40 Issues of a totally different nature have been thrown up in a recent case from Rajasthan. A number of peasant women challenged the legal provision by which adult son got the allotment of excess land comprising the temporary cultivation lease of their father, and the daughter did not get any. The Rajasthan High Court referred to the permanent allotment rules in the Rajasthan Canal Area, which stated that after providing 25 bighas of land to the temporary lease holder, the excess was to be allotted to the adult sons. The Court held that by excluding adult daughters of the temporary lease holder from allotment of excess land, article 15 of the Constitution was violated which clearly prohibited discrimination on the ground of sex. This perhaps is the only time that a group of peasant women have challenged the discriminatory provisions and the Court has upheld their point.
2.41 The Rajasthan case stands in a class by itself. The real issue at stake was not just depriving women in applying the ceiling law all the ceiling laws do that anyway. Here the state was not taking away, but giving land to peasants in a newly irrigated area. The peasant women in this case should have shared the states "distributive justice" in a manner equal to men. Their occupational class and social status is distinctly different from those of the women involved in the other cases.
2.42 By ignoring their claims, the Rajasthan government was, in fact reinforcing its own, and societys perception of these women as non-producing dependents. It is now well-known that such a perception is far from the actual reality. They are part of the family labour team, without whose labour support the family economy would not survive. Their contribution often exceeds 50 per cent of the familys earnings. Especially if these women came from landless families (as is likely since they were being allotted land by the government) their contribution to the familys survival through their labour and earnings would be critical. This question has been raised very forcibly by groups of peasant women in recent years. Muslim, tribal and scheduled caste peasant women in West Bengal challenged their government in two successive meetings in 1979 and 1980.
"Now that you are distributing land to the landless, why not to us? Are we not peasants? Dont we work on the land? What about our livelihood and security, when our husbands can kick us out any day?"
Suggestion:- Government may examine and amend the relevant state laws, specially land laws, to bring gender equality and enhancing access of women to land.
ISSUE NO.3: Examination of gender bias in the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, if any, and proposing necessary amendments as may be deemed fit to be taken up by the Central Government
3.1 The Hindu Succession Act amended and codified the laws relating to state of succession among Hindus and brought about some fundamental and radical changes in the law of succession. The Act laid down a comprehensive system of inheritance governing the Mitakshara and the Dayabhagaa Schools and also to those in certain parts of Southern India. The Act applies to any persons who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms. Buddhists Jains and Sikhs are also included within its ambit and also the converts and reconverts to any of the four religions-Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This Act made major and far reaching changes in the law of succession to the property of a person dying intestatewhether the property was held in co-parcenary rights in a joint family property or was self-acquired. It gave the woman the same rights in the matter of succession as a male, thereby making a material change in their ability to inherit and alienate the property.
3.2 For the first time women have been recognised as simultaneous heir to the property of a male Hindu dying intestate along with the male heirs. The Act provides for certain category of female heirs in the class I of the schedule along with the list of male heirs who are entitled to succeed simultaneously to the property of a male Hindu dying intestate. Besides the widows, daughters have for the first time been made entitled to succeed along with the sons to have a share in the property of their fathers under the said Act. But attention may be invited to some of the sections of the Act, which probably tends to discriminate the female heir, as indicated below:-
Suggestion: It is to be considered as to what extent the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 requires an amendment by the Union Government so that its applicability can be made universal all over the country, to such extend as may be considered acceptable under the general socio-economic condition of the country as a whole.
ISSUE NO.4: To consider and decide on the extent to which additional amendments of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 should be taken up to enhance land rights as may be different in different States considering the ground reality of the socio-economic development of a particular State.
4.1 Many of the States have already taken up the issue of women empowerment through succession right to landed property. Amendments to section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 have been undertaken by the following States with a view to providing coparcenary right in a coparcenary property for the daughter of a coparcenar in a Joint Hindu Family governed by the Mitakshara law on par with their male counterparts.
4.2 The amended provisions hold:
"29-A. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 6 of this Act,-
(ii) at a partition in such a Joint Hindu Family the coparcenary property shall be so divided as to allot to a daughter the same share as is allotable to a son:
(iii) any property to which a female Hindu becomes entitled by virtue of the provisions of clause (i) shall be held by her with the incidents of coparcenary ownership and shall be regarded, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, as property capable of being disposed of by her by will or other testamentary disposition;
(iv) nothing in this Chapter shall apply to a daughter married before the date of the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1989;
(v) nothing in clause (ii) shall apply to a partition which had been effected before the date of the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1989.
29-C. (1) Where, after the date of the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1989, an interest in any immovable property of an intestate or in any business carried on by him or her, whether solely or in conjunction with others, devolves under section 29-A or section 29-B upon two or more heirs, and any one of such heirs proposes to transfer his or her interest in the property or business, the other heirs shall have a preferential right to acquire the interest proposed to be transferred.
(2) The consideration for which any interest in the property of the deceased may be transferred under this section shall, in the absence of any agreement between the parties, be determined by the court on application being made to it in this behalf, and if any person proposing to acquire the interest is not willing to acquire it for the consideration so determined, such person shall be liable to pay all costs of, or incidental to, the application.
(3) If there are two or more heirs proposing to acquire any interest under this section, that heir who offers the highest consideration for the transfer shall be preferred."
4.3 A number of others have made specific gender-sensitive provisions in their land laws. Some, like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have, in accordance with our long-standing policy of non-interference with personal laws, provided that issues related to property, including landed property, would be dealt with in accordance with the appropriate personal laws. However, serious anomalies continue to persist. A number of States like U.P., Haryana, J and K, Delhi and Punjab are apparently yet to take adequate steps to provide the Constitutional/legal safeguards to women, with respect to their access to land. These anomalies are often evident in the tenancy and ceiling laws, which affect the most impoverished and marginalised section of our rural society. In these States, the succession rules relating to agricultural land is different from personal laws affecting the devolution of all other property. In these states land devolves on male lineal descendants. The widow and daughters inherit only in the absence of these male heirs. In some other states, such as Bihar and Orissa the tenancy laws prescribe that occupancy rights will devolve in the same manner as other immovable property, subject to any custom to the contrary. This leaves open the possibility of admitting gender inegalitarian customs if established.
Suggestion: Each State may constitute a Committee of legal experts to suggest necessary State amendments of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 provisions of which can be duly implemented in the respective State laws relating specially to inheritance of landed property.
ISSUE NO.5: Deliberations to identify the causes of failure of the State machinery to allot ceiling surplus land , Bhudan land and Govt. waste land to implement the policy of ensuring greater access to land for the women, implications thereof and suggestions for future measures.
5.1. It was this demand, conveyed to the Planning Commission and the Government of India by several national womens organisations that led to the promise in the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85) that in cases of assets being distributed, "Government shall endeavour to provide joint titles to husband and wife". To start with, this was to be introduced in cases of transfer of agricultural and homestead land. The review of the Sixth Plan referred to this decision as a "radical move". The commitment in the Sixth Plan was the first acknowledgement that without economic independence womens equality would remain unrealisable. It was thus necessary for the State to accelerate the process of translating the Constitutional guarantee of equality through such radical measures.
5.2 Government of India took special note for empowering women through allotment of surplus land, the activity for which started since the year 1952. The para 27.19 of the Sixth Five Year Plan in no certain term declared:
"Economic independence of women would accelerate the improvement of the status of women. Government would endeavour to give joint title to husband and wife in the development activities involving transfer of assets. This would be taken up for implementation to start within programmes like distribution of land and house sites and beneficiary oriented economic units."
5.3 This important policy directive of the plan was also considered in the Conference of Revenue Ministers and Revenue Secretaries held on 17th and 18th May, 1985. The Conference recommended that legal provisions be made by States/UTs for giving joint pattas in the name of the head of the family and spouse wherever land is allotted by Government or Gram Sabha. It was also decided that recording the name of the wife of the land holder in the record of right and other land records as matter of course be done.
5.4 The National Perspective Plan for Women 1988-2000 has recommended further steps to accelerate the process of empowerment of women. Taking into account these recommendations, the following steps may please be considered for implementation:-
5.5 The Department of Rural Development have received comments of various State Govts. regarding implementation of issuing joint pattas while distributing surplus land, out of Land Ceiling Act and other types of land to be distributed among landless poor. Following are the States who have readily started implementing the scheme:-
5.6 However, Governments of Haryana and Orissa have stated that until and unless applications from the beneficiaries do not come to the authorities, it will be difficult to allot joint pattas. Government of Uttar Pradesh have stated their difficulty because in many cases problems arise out of widow re-marriage. Therefore, suggestions have been made that in case of death of male khathedar the land should devolve in equal shares to his widow with his sons, the sons being not alive devolution in favour of the widow alone. Government of West Bengal have stated that 75% of ceiling surplus land has already been distributed to individual. So, they expressed their inconvenience.
5.7 The Govts. of Haryana and Orissa may be instructed to call for applications in joint name only to overcome their problem. Govt.of Uttar Pradesh can be instructed not to give stress on widow re-marriage as because male are frequently going for polygam. Govt. of West Bengal may be instructed to follow the latest instructions for 25% ceiling surplus land yet to be distributed among the people and the pattas issued in single name may be regularised by incorporating the joint name in consonance with the existing laws.
5.8 The Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment organised a number of national level conferences involving the Revenue Ministers as well as the Chief Ministers of all the States in which this issue was deliberated upon and policy decisions were adopted on the basis of national level consensus to provide greater access to land resources to the rural women. The summary of the Recommendations of the Conferences of the Revenue Ministers and Chief Ministers of States/UTs are given below:
5.9 Legal provisions be made by the States/UTs for giving pattas in the name of the head of the household and the spouse whenever land is allotted by the Government or the Gram Sabha.
5.10 Land Pattas be granted in future could be made jointly in the names of Husband and wife jointly. But in respect of Pattas already granted and distributed as it would require huge administrative effort to convert them into Joint Pattas, it was felt that all Pattas could be converted into Joint-Pattas at the time of updating of records or on a specific demand from a beneficiary even earlier.
5.11 The joint ownership of man and women spouse should be extended to all types of productive assets including land.
5.12 In the allotment of the Government land/surplus ceiling land and house-sites, at least 40% number of eligible women should be given pattas wherever possible.
5.13 Apart from the fixation of a specific percentage of distribution it was also recommended that the allotment of land to women beneficiaries and issue of joint patta needed to be monitored periodically.
5.14 As a follow up action to these recommendations, the Department of Rural Development advised all the State Governments and Uts vide their letter dated 2nd April, 1990 to effectively implemented the provisions with immediate effect. The Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development impressed upon all the Chief Secretaries of all the State Government etc. through his D.O. letter dated 3rd July, 1992 that at least 40% of the pattas be given to the women.
5.15 The issue was further vigorously pursued through the reminders dated 7.12.92, 19.4.93 and 21.3.94.
5.16 The Chief Ministers Conference also considered the issue for protecting the interest of the women.
5.17 It reiterated the recommendations of the Revenue Ministers Conference held in 1988.
5.18 The Chief Ministers Conference in the year 1992 also kept the issue of distribution of surplus land in its agenda 1.18 which held: "At least 40% of the allotment should be made in the name of female members of the household and the remaining jointly in the name of Husband and Wife. This will lead to enhance status of women with rural society.
5.19 The Revenue Ministers Conference held on 27th December, 1995 resolved to give top priority to SC/ST families while allotting Ceiling surplus, Bhoodan and Waste land. Out of the total beneficiaries, 40% should be exclusively assigned to women and in rest of the cases, the allotment should made jointly in the names of the husband and the wife.
5.20 The earlier recommendations were reiterated in the Conference, held in 1997.
5.21 The recommendation have been forwarded to the State Governments and the Union Territories for immediate execution. Some States have replied in affirmation. However, in many cases, there has been no response, despite several reminders etc. The statements showing distribution of Ceiling surplus land etc. prepared by the State Governments and Uts do not show any bifurcation of distributed land between women and men beneficiaries. It appears that the authorities are not taking the issue with adequate seriousness.
Suggestion:- Decisions are to be taken for effective implementation of the existing policy for allotment of government land to empower the women in the manner suggested above. Deliberations and decisions are also required for plugging the administrative loopholes which lead to tardy implementation of legal rights in social legislations.
ISSUE NO.6: Examination of certain probable difficulties, social resistance and side effects in strict implementation of the law of inheritance particularly on landed properties and suggesting measures for averting such eventualities.
6.1 There is a definite need to study the socio-economic as well as political and cultural background of various regions for adoption of any national policy or legislative change as the issue is quite sensitive and may be having genuine problems in implementation. The probable area of objections and criticisms as well as social resistance, administrative difficulties may be taken into consideration to avert any set-back in grounding the national policy effectively. Some of the issues which require consideration in advance, are enlisted below:
A. Matters relating to effective implementation of law of related inheritance
B. Problem of effective implementation of the law of inheritance.
6.2 Can there be a law to ensure that women do not suffer from a feeling of economic insecurity before marriage or after marriage by making legislations which assures that
This shall imply that all marriages shall be registered and in the registration certificate signed by both the parties there should be a written guarantee that the bridegroom undertakes the responsibility of registering all properties in the name of the wife presently owned or to be owned in future by any legal means including inheritance and such registration of joint ownership shall be conducted within 30 days from acquiring, holding or inheriting such property. For example, if a bridegroom owns a motor vehicle in his name before the date of marriage, he shall within 30 days after the marriage change the registration certificate amended to include the name of the wife. Similarly, all properties registered in the name of the bridegroom shall be again registered to incorporate the name of the wife and the process shall continue throughout the married life of the bridegroom. The same rule shall apply for the bride and she shall also, while acquiring any property w.e.f. the date of marriage and till the continuation of the marriage, get all such property registered in the joint name of herself and her husband. Enjoying family properties with equal rights and privilege before the marriage as suggested under para "A" and after marriage as suggested under para "B" can only ensure equal property rights than the problem of alienation of property from the pre-marital family to the post-marital family, which has all ingredients for social education and other problems narrated above. In the mantras used for Hindu marriages there is utterance that "your heart is my heart etc." and therefore the same concept "your property is my property" shall be the future law to change the present situation globally where the registered value of the total property of the women are less than 1% of the property value registered in the name of the male members of the society.
Suggestion:- The Government may consider the areas and issues on which state-wise, region-wise, community-wise studies are required to understand the existing social, religious and customary laws and ramifications of implementation of a common policy on this pluralistic society of India.
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Definitions for magnetical
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word magnetical
Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; magnetic.
Of or pertaining to, or characterized by, the Earth's magnetism.
Capable of becoming a magnet; susceptible to magnetism.
the magnetic metals
Having, susceptible to, or induced by, animal magnetism.
a magnetic sleep
Origin: magneticus: compare magnétique. See magnetic.
pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of iron; a magnetic needle
of or pertaining to, or characterized by, the earth's magnetism; as, the magnetic north; the magnetic meridian
capable of becoming a magnet; susceptible to magnetism; as, the magnetic metals
endowed with extraordinary personal power to excite the feelings and to win the affections; attractive; inducing attachment
having, susceptible to, or induced by, animal magnetism, so called; as, a magnetic sleep. See Magnetism
Origin: [L. magneticus: cf. F. magntique.]
The numerical value of magnetical in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
The numerical value of magnetical in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Images & Illustrations of magnetical
Find a translation for the magnetical definition in other languages:
Select another language:
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On Chanukah and Purim, Jews are fond of spinning objects. It is not just the youngsters who take in hand the dreidel (Chanukah top) and grager (noisemaker). But there is a noticeable difference: During Chanukah we spin while holding the protruding top piece of the dreidel; on Purim, however, we hold the grager from the bottom part and then begin to turn.
This discrepancy is no mere coincidence; it actually conveys a profound lesson.
Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira, author of B'nei Yissaschar, explains the difference as follows: God wishes to constantly bestow only abundant blessing upon His nation, but we must initiate with an "inspiration from below." If we create an opening the size of the "eye of a needle," then God, in turn, will respond by "opening up the gateway to a large banquet hall." (Shir HaShirim Rabba, 5:3)
In other words, if we but take the first step - even a miniscule one -- in performing good deeds, God will reciprocate with an outpouring of supernatural kindness from the heavens above. Through even small amounts of Torah, repentance, and mitzvot, we can open the gates to allow for boundless "inspiration from above" to come our way, often taking even the form of miracles.
PURIM: BOTTOM UP
In the days of Purim, their lives hanging on a delicate thread, the Jewish People united in sincere prayer and repentance to create an inspiration from below worthy of God's promise to reciprocate. Their collective efforts to rescind the harsh decree issued against them were successful in opening up the gates of heaven for many hidden miracles that brought about their salvation. With the tremendous effort of repentance on the part of the Jewish People, Haman was subsequently destroyed.
Thus while reading the Scroll of Esther on Purim, we spin the grager from below upon hearing Haman's name to proudly demonstrate that the Jewish people initiated the overwhelming response from the heavens above; first the bottom part spins, and only then does its upper part follow in kind.
CHANUKAH: TOP DOWN
On Chanukah, however, our prayer and repentance were not as sincere. A mere handful of Hasmoneans led the charge, while most of our nation failed to display the requisite inspiration from below to warrant abundant blessing from above. And yet God showered us with miracles regardless. He provided us, mercifully, with inspiration from above, although we were undeserving of His open involvement. The miracles arrived and we emerged the victors; we re-dedicated the grand Temple and lit a miraculously burning oil.
On Chanukah we spin dreidels upon which are inscribed the first letters of the words, "neis gadol ha'yah sham" -- a great miracle happened there. We rejoice with our dreidels, but we spin them specifically from their top part to constantly remind ourselves that Chanukah was a time when miracles came gratis, when God bestowed His infinite compassion upon His people and things began to spin down to us in the form of undeniable miracles.
On Purim the spinning is from below, on Chanukah it begins from above.
This difference is also seen in how we play with these items. People often "play the dreidel" by spinning it for money. Whether it lands on the "gimmel" and the winner takes the whole pot, or the "shin" and money is lost -- one is at the mercy of a fate totally outside his control. We're also unsure as to how long the spinning will last. If we don't take the initial step in triggering God's promise to reciprocate in disproportionate fashion favorable to us, then we leave ourselves up to simply hoping for the best, wishing for God's undeserved mercy.
Purim time, on the other hand, we can all spin our noisy gragers as a sign we've played a role in bringing about Haman's demise. Just as the cacophony emitted from our gragers is not at all pleasing to the ears, our fasting, crying, and heartfelt repentance might not always look so pretty either. But it gets the job done. When we do our part, we can rest assured that God will do His. And thus, as opposed to the Chanukah top left to spin on its own, the grager's spinning duration is controlled by us.
REFLECTED IN PRAYER
This distinction is fleshed out in the contrasting liturgies of the two holidays as well. In the prayer known as the "Al HaNissim," we find mention in the passage for Chanukah of God having fought their [the Jews] battle, and having avenged their vengeance.
In the blessing recited at the conclusion of the reading of the Scroll of Esther, however, we encounter instead: "You [God] fought our battle, avenged our vengeance." To consider it our battle, our war, and our victory, we must take the all-important initiative. It was specifically on Purim that we, as a unified nation, took collective action in a heartfelt effort to inspire and evoke God's boundless mercy and compassion. We all put in the time with several days of serious and sincere prayer and repentance.
In stark contrast, the miracle on the battlefront against the far superior Greek army was a total gift from God in response to the noble sacrifice of but a few select individuals.
This Chanukah, let's get the inspiration started from below. We must do our utmost to unite as a nation, to work together as individuals and as a People on growing in all areas of spirituality, and hopefully we'll trigger God's mercy and miracles like never before. Let's increase our charity, good deeds, dedication to prayer, and let's start spinning those dreidels upside-down!
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Antioxidants are compounds that prevent or slow a chemical change called oxidation. A commonly recognized oxidation reaction is the rusting of iron, in which iron reacts with oxygen to form iron (ferrous) oxide. Similar reactions take place within foods and within the human body itself.
Heat is often released in the process of oxidation.
In the Human Body
Oxidation that occurs in the human body can lead to improper functioning of the body. Substances known as free radicals, which are highly reactive (have a strong tendency to take part in chemical reactions), undergo oxidation that can result in cell damage. This general process is thought to be a contributor of many undesirable conditions: cancer, aging symptoms, alcohol-induced liver damage, Parkinson's disease, senile and drug-induced deafness, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and the iron-storage disease hemochromatosis.
While many studies have suggested benefits for antioxidant supplements in laboratory experiments, clinical trials on humans have failed to clearly demonstrate a benefit, while strong antioxidants, such as oxalic acid and phytic acid can have anti-nutritional effects due to their binding to dietary minerals in the gastrointestinal tract and preventing absorption. While antioxidants supplementation is widely hypothesized to prevent the development of cancer, antioxidants may, paradoxically, interfere with cancer treatments.
Nutritional Sources of Antioxidants
Some foods guard against the negative effects of free radicals in the body, and are commonly referred to as antioxidants. These foods include the following:
- Fruits. Cranberries, blueberries, plums, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, apples, strawberries, red currants, figs, cherries, gooseberries, pears, guava, peaches, oranges, apricots, mangoes, grapes, pomegranates plums, raisins and dates. Dried fruits are especially high in antioxidants (more so than fresh), because the concentration means more antioxidants per serving.
- Vegetables. Artichokes, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, avocados, beetroot, radishes, kale, onion, romaine lettuce, parsley, and spinach.
- Spices. Cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, curry powder, mustard seed, ginger, pepper, chili powder, paprika, garlic, coriander, and cardamom.
- Herbs. Sage, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, peppermint, oregano, parsley, savory, basil, rosemary, dill weed.
- Cereals. Sorghum bran, crude rice bran, corn flakes, oats and granola.
- Nuts. Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, cashews, macademia nuts and peanuts (though not technically a nut).
- Other. Red wine, tea, fungi, essential oils and cocoa.
Vitamin C, vitamin E, and lycopene are noted antioxidants.
In foods, oxidation generally contributes to spoilage, and therefore the canning process preserves food by reducing available oxygen (as well as by killing microorganisms that contribute to spoilage).
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Professor Stephen Hawking told listeners of BBC Today programme that he thought humans would almost definitely colonise Mars, but he warned against encouraging alien encounters.
As Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday approaches, the scientist who was told he wouldn’t live past 40 answered some of the public’s questions focusing on humanity's destiny to inhabit outer space.
A bit of a futurist, Hawking's latest book, George's Secret Key To The Universe is an explanation of the world aimed at children, a lesson for the next generation.
It’s not the first time Hawking has advised people to “reach out to the stars.” The physicist has long been outspoken on the subject of humanity’s intergalactic future.
He was the first quadriplegic to experience zero gravity, after a sub orbital space flight in 2009. At the time, he justified the £100,000 needed (and donated by Richard Branson) by saying:
"Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons.
"First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers.
"I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space."
This anxiety was picked up again in Hawking’s answer on the Today programme. He was asked "Do you think the human race will survive all potential disasters and eventually colonise the stars?"
His response reflects worries of biological and particularly nuclear warfare:
"It is possible that the human race could become extinct, but it is not inevitable.
"I think it is almost certain that a disaster such as nuclear war or global warming will befall the Earth within a thousand years."
This is part of the reason why the Cambridge University cosmologist and theoretical physicist insists on colonisation.
"It is essential that we colonise space. I believe that we will eventually establish self-sustaining colonies on Mars, and other bodies in the solar system, although probably not within the next 100 years."
Ever-ambitious, Hawking limits human expansion to beyond the solar system, spiralling out into other galaxies:
"I am optimistic that progress within science and technology will eventually allow humans to spread beyond the solar system and out into the far-reaches of the universe,"
"The discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would be the greatest scientific discovery ever. But it would be very risky to attempt to communicate with an alien civilisation.
Fleshing out the possibilities of alien interaction, Hawking went on: "If aliens decided to visit us, then the outcome might be similar to when Europeans arrived in the Americas. That did not turn out well for the Native Americans."
Hawking’s birthday is on Sunday 8 January, and Cambridge University Centre of Theorectical Cosmology is holding a public symposium for the professor who was given only 2 years to live when he was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease in 1963.
Since then, Hawking has not only lectured as a distinguished academic but has transformed the perception of the universe, published best selling books and led a busy family life: he has three children and three grandchildren.
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Context clues are always so tough for me to teach! Anyone else? I have always been a reader and I think learning vocabulary has always been automatic for me, that sometimes I have a hard time slowing it down and teaching how to learn new vocabulary through context. I also think using context clues are very tough for students to learn, which oftentimes make it difficult to teach as well. Context clues are a HUGE part on the OAA. I can't remember the exact number, but it is the second most frequently tested indicator in the fourth grade. For all of these reasons, I'm getting a jump start on context clues this year!
This year, I have decided to slow-it-down. I'm going to break it down into at least four mini-lessons. Each mini-lesson will focus on the different context clues strategies. As each strategy is introduced, students will record notes on this sheet.
Students will keep these notes in the "Notes" section of their Literacy Binders. Each lesson will be taught on the Smart Board. About three example sentences will be given, and students will first be shown, then guided on how to use each type of context clue. Each mini-lesson is followed up with a quick assessment. My co-teacher and I will use the assessments to determine who needs additional instruction and form strategy groups if needed. My absolutely wonderful literacy coach (who I talk about often on here!) has also volunteered to help plan additional instruction/enrichment if needed. I'm really hopeful that teaching context clues in this manner will help my students understand it better.
What strategies or fool-proof lesson plans do you use to teach context clues?
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Esther Williams was a star of movie musicals, as well as a popular pin-up girl in the 1940s and 1950s. She is credited with popularizing swimming as an athletic and recreational activity in America, and with originating synchronized swimming as a viable sport. Her contribution to American entertainment has been so significant that her name is now a household word.
Esther Williams was born on August 8, 1922, in Los Angeles, California. From earliest childhood, she had a great affinity for the water; her favorite pastimes included swimming and surfing. By age 16, Esther was on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team and her breaststroke and freestyle had earned three national championships. She was to compete at the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo, but the advent of the Second World War resulted in the cancellation of the games.
However, Esther’s appearance in publicity shots of the team had garnered some attention from the entertainment industry. The young woman was beautiful and well-toned, as well as extremely photogenic. She was soon contacted by showman Billy Rose, who cast her opposite Olympian and performer Johnny Weissmuller (of Tarzan movie fame) in his Aquacade review. Rose wrote that, “With the possible exception of Eleanor Holm, she's the most beautiful swimming champion in the history of aquatics." And it’s worth noting that Billy Rose was married to Eleanor Holm!
Esther’s successful run in the Aquacade drew the attention of MGM executives in 1942, and they arranged for her to screen test with screen legend Clark Gable. They soon cast her in one of their popular but relatively insubstantial “Andy Hardy” films. Audience response was favorable, and the studio quickly commissioned the film “Bathing Beauty” for the express purpose of showcasing Esther’s talents. The film’s success cemented Esther’s image in the media, and it resulted in MGM’s formulation of an entirely new sub-genre centered around her. For fifteen years, Esther Williams was the “aqua musical.” Notable titles include “Million Dollar Mermaid” and “Dangerous When Wet.” These films are well known to the public’s collective consciousness in part as a result of the masterful choreography of Busby Berkely, a style which was parodied quite neatly by Mel Brooks in “History of the World Part I,” with the swimming nuns in the Spanish Inquisition sequence.
Due to her popularity in films, Esther Williams soon became a favorite poster girl as well. The studio made sure that she frequently graced the covers of magazines and that she had photo ops whenever possible. At this time, the nation saw a marked increase in swimming, particularly among young women. As International Swimming Hall of Fame literature explains, "If swimming would make his daughter grow up to look like Esther Williams, then father was willing to pay for the lessons." Esther was also a master of synchronized swimming, a sport that is often given short shrift in contemporary society. However, it requires unparalleled endurance and an extremely disciplined body.
Esther Williams has also proved herself to be quite enterprising. She realized early on that MGM could only make a finite number of swimming musicals before the concept would be completely played out. In fact, after interest in aqua musicals waned, an attempt at a dramatic career found little success. Not to worry, though. Esther had cleverly made licensing agreements with a swimming pool manufacturer and with a swimsuit company. This decision has proven itself to be both lucrative and professionally responsible. According to the Delair Group (the pool manufacturer), "Esther Williams is the most well-known name in the above-ground pool business today.'' Similarly, the Esther Williams Collection is extremely popular among mothers and mature women, because the swimsuits take into account the differences in body type that these women typically exhibit.
Esther Williams has been married four times. Her first marriage was from 1940-1944, to doctoral student Leonard Kovner. The marriage ended when Esther chose to pursue her acting career while Leonard expected her to be a full-time housewife. Her 1945-1959 marriage to singer Ben Gage produced three children (Benjamin, Kimball, and Susan) before they were divorced. In 1969, Esther married Latin heartthrob Fernando Lamas and remained with him until his death in 1982. She is now married to actor Edward Bell, whom she met in 1984 at the Olympics. Esther Williams remains poised and beautiful to this day, and her attendance is often a high point of benefits and premieres.
As a side note, Esther Williams’ fame extends to both sides of the Atlantic. A 1971 segment of Monty Python’s Flying Circus features a jury foreman conveying a verdict via a spirited game of charades. Having successfully communicated “not,” he moves onto the first syllable of the second word. Mimicking a fish and pointing to his neck, he is attempting to express “gill” (for guil, as in guilty). However, the clerk suggests “Esther Williams.” The Judge is quick to ask, “How can you find someone 'Not Esther Williams?'” And, indeed, one cannot. Sadly, the American and British judicial systems still lack this mechanism.
(Some information taken from www.imdb.com and www.esther-williams.com.)
Esther Williams died on June 6, 2013 in her sleep in her Los Angeles home. She was 91 years old.
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What Second Graders Can Teach Us
Nine-plus years of implementing three Teaching American History (TAH) grants totaling over $3.5 million have taught me much about solid, needs-meeting professional development for history teachers. Yet, it was in co-reflecting about the topic with my wife Grace—an elementary teacher-of-the-year last year now re-experiencing teaching second graders for the first time since her inception year in 1990—that I quickly realized that what makes for meaningful, lasting history teacher learning is not much different than what counts for meaningful, lasting second grader learning.
Personal, Relevant Connections
Second graders live in a magical world, where all things are real and possible. A keen teacher knows and uses that to find ways to make the learning not only fun, but important, meaningful, and relevant, by using stories and realia to create personal connections. Meaningful and long-lasting professional development for history teachers also taps into magical worlds. It happens when the content meets the heart, and together it creates a learning experience that goes beyond that Saturday, the summer institute, and way beyond the school year. It changes lives. It happens in dusty, old science labs that should have been condemned decades ago just as it does in living museums, brand-new libraries, field experiences, and historic national parks. Meaning and relevance does not require nor respect special space and precious time—it lives within or in spite of them.
Plan, Deliver, Follow-up
I am not talking about acting here, but rather about delivering a carefully planned product that is meaningful. In some ways the magical relevance described above has to be discovered in the construed planning so that participants are escorted to find their place in the drama that unfolds. Too often staff development that falls short merely lacks that creative spirit—the content is strongly aligned to targeted academic goals, the instructional strategies are research-based, yet something is lacking. A second grader lives for his teacher, and can’t wait to go into that classroom because he knows that the wonderful teacher will do much more than spill out facts, dictate do’s and don’ts, and issue grades—that teacher will orchestrate a day-after-day symphony of living experiences that are obviously relevant to both the teacher and the students. Meaningful professional development for history teachers is much the same way. History teachers can’t wait to attend the next professional development opportunity when it is truly meaningful: academically sound and delivered with heart.
Reading is Encouraged, Expected, and Respected
Am I talking about encouraging teachers to read in a workshop, while the presenter is presenting? No, not really. Just as the 2nd-grade classroom is a print-rich environment, where students are taught to use down time between instructional activities—as students wait for others to complete assignments, during lunchtime, or when the teacher is calling roll, posting grades, or doing some other necessary teacher chore—a professional development venue also can be stacked with reading materials at the participant tables or at the peripheral ones: history novels, teacher resource kits, almanacs, professional readings, maps, old newspapers, etc. Providing possible history reading resources for participant down time will discourage them from pulling out that dreaded newspaper sports section, crossword puzzle, or assignment to grade, and encourage them to explore history content that they may not have even planned for that day. I know of no vendors that would say “No!” to a request for sample materials for this purpose.
In It for the Long Haul
Second-grade classroom instruction starts in mid-August and ends in early June. It is not a series of 180 separate, unconnected, one-shot day-long events. It is one complete 180-day experience. Similarly, effective history teacher staff development is sustained and ongoing, and stretches across that same 180-day span, with time to deploy on-site and off-site experiences that teach new content and strategies, allow for reflective time, and demand meaningful additional completion and preparatory work between sessions. Just as the dynamic 2nd-grade classroom builds on previously learned material, day after day, so too does the professional development experience for the history teacher—before, during, and after each session, it is connected and meaningful in total.
Teaching a group of second graders can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience. So can leading history teachers through professional development. On occasion, Grace has been approached by students from her 1990 class of second graders to thank her and fondly reminisce with her while at the store, the theater, or the restaurant. I can see and hear that their experiences were mutually meaningful and lasting. Ah, if only we could capture that magical world, bottle it, and pull it out when needed. I think good history staff development does.
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Farmers are generally perceived as a conservative lot, unwilling to take chances on anything less than a “sure thing” in the tough economic times they face today.
Nevertheless, cotton producers are continuing to experiment with some rather unconventional practices such as double-cropping cotton behind wheat. And researchers are falling in right beside them.
Agronomists at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona planted cotton behind wheat in 2008 and found they were able to harvest a crop, although yields were lower compared to conventional cotton with nearly the same planting date.
One of the biggest differences between the double-cropped and mono-crop cotton plots planted on approximately the same day was that the wheat stubble in the no-till cotton planted behind wheat increased the first fruiting branch node location, says Normie Buehring, an agronomist with Mississippi State University.
“The first fruiting branch node for the mono-crop cotton May 20 and June 5 plantings was node 6 with node 7 for the cotton planted in wheat stubble with all nitrogen rates,” he said.
“The wheat stubble had an impact on cotton maturity. The cotton in the wheat stubble percent open bolls at defoliation ranged from 29 percent to 37 percent and was lower than the 58 percent open for mono-crop cotton with the same planting date.”
A speaker at the National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference, Buehring said the single-crop cotton had similar yields with that planted in mid-May, averaging 1,223 pounds of lint per acre compared to 1,279 pounds for the early June planting.
“Those yields were approximately twice those of the zero nitrogen check treatment and about 36 percent higher than cotton planted in wheat stubble with the same N rate and planting date,” according to Buehring.
The latter was planted into wheat that produced an average yield of 62 bushels per acre, which results in a higher amount of residue than is normally found with the recommended seeding rates for no-till wheat.
Rainfall was extremely variable during the 2008 season, Buehring noted.
It was 10 percent and 62 percent of normal for June and July and 179 percent and 133 percent of normal for August and September.
“Observation notes indicated that the May planted mono-crop cotton first flower date was July 9 with a July 29 first flower date for the June planted mono-crop cotton and an Aug. 1 first flower date for the June cotton planted in wheat stubble,” he said.
“The N rates (30, 60 and 90 pounds of nitrogen per acre) showed no difference in total harvestable bolls per plant and plant height, but all treatments had more harvestable bolls than the zero-nitrogen check and were taller at maturity.”
The May-planted cotton was defoliated Sept. 25 and harvested Oct. 1.
The double-crop and mono-crop cotton planted in early June was defoliated with Prep and Folex on Oct. 22 with a repeated application on Oct. 30 and harvested on Nov. 6.
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Colleges use both formulas and feelings when awarding aid. Here's how to stack the odds in your favor.
Here's something that may surprise you: Four years at Harvard could actually cost the same as four years at a state school. That's because financial aid often makes up the difference between the sticker price and what you have to pay. If, for example, your "expected family contribution" is only $5,000, you might qualify for $25,000 in annual aid for a school that costs $30,000 each year. But if the school's annual costs are only $8,000 a year, you're likely to qualify for just $3,000 in aid.
When it comes to college financial aid, people have plenty of misconceptions. The cardinal rule for parents: assume nothing. Just because the family next door or your colleague's kid received aid doesn't mean you will -- or won't. Financial aid is based on a combination of factors, and differs from school to school, even child to child.
Despite the climbing costs of a college education, the outlook for parents seeking aid is pretty bright. A record $90 billion in financial aid was available in the 2002-2003 school year, according to the College Board, a non-profit organization that tracks college trends.
After adjusting for inflation, that's an 11.5 percent increase over the prior year. In all, more than 75 percent of private college students and 60 percent of public college students got some type of aid this past school year.
"While there have been tremendous increases in the cost of private education, there is a tremendous amount of aid available as well," says Alan Posich, an independent education consultant.
The trick is figuring out what aid you're eligible for -- then getting it.
NEXT: Who gets aid? >>
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Pictures of Wollaton Hall
About Wollaton Hall
From the outside, Wollaton Hall could easily be mistaken for a grand Victorian mansion - even though it was built when Sir Francis Drake was defeating the Spanish Armada.
Its extravagant architecture and elegant lines readily deny the ravages of over 400 years' weathering.
Unlike most lavish Elizabethan houses it was not built on the usual E or H shaped plan.
The great hall is its main feature: over 50 feet high with windows set 35 feet above ground level so they surmount two floors of rooms which surround the hall.
Above a stone screen on the west side is a minstrel's gallery. The woodwork of the beautiful hammer-beam roof is designed, coloured and carved to look like stone and is decorated with many coats of arms. Two large staircases with painted ceilings lead to the upper floor. One of them also boasts spectacular wall paintings. They are the work of Sir James Thornhill an English baroque painter of the early 18th century, and Laguerre his contemporary, whose work can be found in many country houses.
A narrow spiral staircase of 68 steps leads to the Prospect Room, directly above the great hall. Its windows dominate the surrounding countryside as it falls away in all directions. At one time it was called Bedlam, being a dormitory for visitors' servants and is also said to have been used as a ballroom - though access must have been hazardous for women in full skirts and layer upon layer of petticoats. In later years the room was a kind of museum for rare furniture.
As expected, the servants' quarters were in the basement, but they were unusually well lit, because the hall floor is a good way above ground level. The old kitchens and wine cellars are linked to a bewildering maze of storage rooms by long winding passages and unexpected staircases. One room was built like a prison cell, complete with barred window, big door bolt and inspection grille.
From the north-east basement a flight of rough steps and an underground passage lead first to a well of ice-cold water and then to a subterranean reservoir called the Admiral's bath, after a naval chief in the Willoughby family who apparently used it for his daily plunge. At the other end of the basement, the old servant's hall includes a fantastic bell system, used at one time to summon service to any corner of the house.
Architecturally the exterior is more ornate and intriguing with its false Dutch gable ends, attractive stone strapwork motif, strange chimneys, niches and carvings - there are said to be over 200 statues around the building and still some of the niches are empty.
Text from Wollaton Hall leaflet (Nottingham City Council 1982), updated January 2005
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The Clarence Hotel
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The Star Inn
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England (1.7 miles, 2.8 km, direction S)
Situated in the town of Beeston in Nottingham, The Star Inn offers a bar, free WiFi, and free onsite parking (subject to availability). Beeston Railway Station is just 5 minutes' walk away and central...
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Counterpoint is a musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. It is especially prominent in Western music. In all eras, writing of counterpoint has been subject to rules, sometimes strict. Counterpoint written before approximately 1600 is usually known as polyphony.
The term comes from the Latin punctus contra punctum ("note against note"). The adjectival form contrapuntal shows this Latin source more transparently.
By definition, chords occur when multiple notes sound simultaneously; however, chordal, harmonic, vertical" features are considered secondary and almost incidental when counterpoint is the predominant textural element. Counterpoint focuses on melodic interaction rather than harmonic effects generated when melodic strands sound together:
- "It is hard to write a beautiful song. It is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole. The internal stuctures that create each of the voices, separately must contribute to the emergent structure of the polyphony, which in turn must reinforce and comment on the stuctures of the individual voices. The way that is accomplished in detail is...'counterpoint'."
It was elaborated extensively in the Renaissance period, but composers of the Baroque period brought counterpoint to a kind of culmination, and it may be said that, broadly speaking, harmony then took over as the predominant organising principle in musical composition. The late Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote most of his music incorporating counterpoint, and explicitly and systematically explored the full range of contrapuntal possibilities in such works as The Art of Fugue.
Given the way terminology in music history has evolved, such music created from the Baroque period on is described as contrapuntal, while music from before Baroque times is called polyphonic. Hence, the earlier composer Josquin Des Prez is said to have written polyphonic music.
Homophony, by contrast with polyphony, features music in which chords or vertical intervals work with a single melody without much consideration of the melodic character of the added accompanying elements, or of their melodic interactions with the melody they accompany. As suggested above, most popular music written today is predominantly homophonic — governed by considerations of chord and harmony. But these are only strong general tendencies, and there are many qualifications one could add.
The form or compositional genre known as fugue is perhaps the most complex contrapuntal convention. Other examples include the round (familiar in folk traditions) and the canon.
In musical composition, counterpoint is an essential means for the generation of musical ironies; a melodic fragment, heard alone, may make a particular impression, but when it is heard simultaneously with other melodic ideas, or combined in unexpected ways with itself, as in a canon or fugue, surprising new facets of meaning are revealed. This is a means for bringing about development of a musical idea, revealing it to the listener as conceptually more profound than a merely pleasing melody.
Excellent examples of counterpoint in jazz include Gerry Mulligan's Young Blood and Bill Holman's Invention for Guitar and Trumpet and his Theme and Variations as well as recordings by Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, Johnny Richards and Jimmy Giuffre.
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
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Abstract:Integrating immigrant student populations poses significant challenges to the quality and equity of education systems across OECD countries. Migration is not a new phenomenon, but ageing populations and the looming threat of labour and skill shortages have brought the issue to the top of the policy agenda in many countries. A country's success in integrating immigrants' children is a key benchmark of the efficacy of social policy in general and educational policy in particular. Education systems that allow all students to achieve their potential manage to combine excellence and equity.
Document Type: Review Article
Publication date: July 1, 2012
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Fagus grandifolia is the species of beech tree native to the eastern United States
and extreme ... It is a deciduous tree growing to 20–35 m (66–115 ft) tall, with
smooth, silver-gray ba...
Grown for their large, stately habit, usefulness as shade trees and bright yellow to
orange fall foliage, beech trees (Fagus spp.) earn their keep in the landscape ...
Although you can purchase a sapling and transplant it into your yard, planting
beech tree seeds is relatively simple. Follow the steps below to grow beech trees
www.ask.com/youtube?q=How To Grow Beech Trees&v=rswfAzmLzHA
Dec 5, 2007 ... Timelapse film of the germination of a beech seed/nut, into a small plant with the
2 first leaves and the 2 first real leaves.
www.ask.com/youtube?q=How To Grow Beech Trees&v=xOPHN0TghSk
Sep 13, 2014 ... Today I collect seeds from the copper beech tree on our farm with a view to
planting them. I test their fertility by using the popular "float" test.
The tree Guide at arborday.org offers information on size, height, growth rate, sun
and soil preference, and more on American Beech and many other commonly ...
Sep 28, 2008 ... As you might have noticed, this is the second tree that I've had rotten luck with (
see ... Anyone got a good strategy for growing beech from seed.
The growing season for beech varies from 100 to 280 days; the species is ...
Beech trees on poorly drained sites have shallower root systems than those on ...
Learn how to grow beech trees in the garden in this article. Includes information
on planting, growing and varieties of beech trees.
Nuts from beech trees. Seed from birch cones. Nuts from hazel (though
germination rates can be low). Acorns from oak. Seed from Scots pine cones.
Nuts from ...
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Strengthening the case for dark energy: type Ia supernovae are uniform after all
A research group says that type Ia supernovae explode asymmetrically. The different spectral appearance is merely a consequence of the random directions from which a supernova is observed.
Provided by IPMU, Kashiwa, Japan
July 2, 2010
An international collaboration of researchers led by Keiichi Maeda from the Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) at the University of Tokyo has solved a mystery regarding type Ia supernovae. Type Ia supernovae form a homogeneous class of stellar explosions and are used as "standard candles" to study the acceleration of the universe. However, it has long been known that type Ia supernovae that otherwise look like twins can show diverse spectral features, questioning their accuracy as standard candles.
The research group argues that type Ia supernovae explode asymmetrically, and that the different spectral appearance is merely a consequence of the random directions from which a supernova is observed. This result is good news for cosmology because it suggests that the spectral diversity is no longer a major concern in using type Ia supernovae as cosmological standard candles.
Type Ia supernovae have been playing a key role in cosmology and in the discovery of dark energy since they can be used to measure distances across the universe. This relies on the well-developed relation between their brightness and the decline rates — brighter supernovae decline slower.
This single parameter description of type Ia supernovae may well reflect the uniform nature of the progenitor system. Type Ia supernovae are explosions of a white dwarf consisting of carbon and oxygen. The explosion is triggered by sparks of thermonuclear flames ignited in the innermost part of the white dwarf, although how the explosion is initiated is still in debate. The explosion most likely takes place when the white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass (about 1.4 times the Sun) through accreting materials from its binary companion or by merging with another white dwarf.
However, recent investigations have revealed that the true nature of type Ia supernovae is far more complicated. They indeed do not look like a uniform system in their spectral features. Type Ia supernovae that look like twins concerning their luminosity evolution can demonstrate quite different behavior in the speed with which their spectral features evolve — the velocity gradient. Scientists first noticed this spectral evolution diversity in the late 1980s, and they quantified it beyond doubt in 2005. The origin of this diversity has not been clarified, raising a couple of concerns: Are they really good standard candles? Are they from a uniform progenitor system?
The research group led by Maeda, including Ken'ichi Nomoto and Masaomi Tanaka of IPMU, has reported that it has finally identified the origin of the diversity. The members found that the velocity gradient is closely related to another independent observed quantity, namely the wavelength shift of emission lines in late-time spectra of type Ia supernovae taken about 200 days after the explosion. This late-time emission-line shift has a straightforward interpretation that the shift can arise only if the innermost part of the supernova is asymmetric, and the degree of the shift depends on the direction from which the supernova is observed. Now the origin of the spectral evolution diversity must be the same; it is merely a consequence of the random directions from which a supernova is viewed.
"This is a single stone to kill at least three birds," said Maeda. "It is not only about uncovering the origin of the spectral diversity. The finding now gets rid of a concern about using type Ia supernovae for cosmology since this viewing angle effect will average out if we collect many supernovae. In addition, the idea of the uniform progenitor system is rescued. Finally, this is the first strong observational indication about how the thermonuclear flames are ignited in the explosion. The finding points to asymmetric, off-center explosions, as opposed to what most people had believed so far."
"It was amazing to see that the mystery of the supernova spectral diversity was immediately solved when we found this new correlation," said Stefano Benetti from Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy, who in 2005 pointed out the problem that the spectral diversity is not correlated with the supernovae luminosities. "I first ran into this mystery already in 1989 while working on my master's thesis."
"This is a major step forward in the supernovae cosmology," said Maeda. "We have obtained the good insight into properties of type Ia supernovae, which is necessary if we are to aim at the more accurate cosmological measurements."
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Wolfenden, Luke; Kypri, Kypros; Britton, Benjamin; James, Erica L.; Francis, Jeryl L.; Wyse, Rebecca
School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, [email protected]
To the Editor:
Accurate measurement of health behavior is critical to reliably estimating population prevalence, trends, and intervention effects. Although some objective measures exist, self-report of health behavior via questionnaires or interviews is often the only feasible method of collecting health behavior data in large population studies. Self-reported assessments of alcohol consumption and tobacco use typically underestimate actual use,1 whereas self-reported vegetable and fruit intake2 and physical activity3 typically are overestimates. A variety of survey design and administration strategies have been recommended to reduce such misreporting but few have been formally studied. We conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial to assess how providing introductory information and instruction to participants might affect their reporting of health behaviors.
The sampling frame was an existing research cohort. To be eligible, participants had to be at least 18 years old; speak English; and reside in New South Wales, Australia. Participants completed a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI). Following a brief greeting, participants were randomized to receive a brief introductory statement and instruction (information-statement group) or to not receive this introductory information (no-information-statement group), using a random number function embedded in the CATI software. Participants, but not interviewers, were blind to allocation.
Interviewers telephoned potential participants, saying they were from the local health service and inviting them to participate in a 15-minute telephone survey. No other information was provided to participants randomized to the no-information-statement group. Participants allocated to the information- statement group were then read the following: “The call today will ask questions about a range of health behaviors. There are no right or wrong answers. Accuracy of the information is important to us as the information will be used to help health services. Some of the questions you may find difficult to answer, but please take your time and answer to the best of your knowledge.”
All the participants then completed a telephone survey including eight questions from the Active Australia survey concerning participation in physical activity in the previous week, 10 items of the Alcohol Use Identification and Disorders Test, two questions assessing usual daily vegetable and fruit consumption, and a single item about current smoking status; current smokers were also asked how many cigarettes they smoked per day. These behavioral assessments are commonly used in epidemiologic research in Australia.4,5 Of the 597 adults assessed for eligibility, 482 completed the telephone survey. The demographic characteristics of participants were similar between groups. Reported health behaviors by group are presented in the Table. The findings suggest that providing introductory information and instructions makes respondents more likely to disclose some undesirable health behaviors.
It is unclear why the intervention influenced some behaviors and not others. Previous studies have found that more comprehensive, multi-item assessments of health behaviors (such as the physical activity and alcohol use questionnaires we used) typically provide more valid measures of health behavior.6,7 In addition, reporting of stable health behaviors (such as tobacco or alcohol use) is thought to be more accurate than reporting of less stable behaviors (such as the quantity of food consumed or amount of exercise per occasion).8 When a health behavior is unstable and assessed with a single item (such as number of cigarettes or servings of fruit and vegetables) an information statement like the one we used may improve recall. A larger study is required to verify the effects reported here and to test hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of misreporting.
We acknowledge the contribution of telephone interviewing staff of Hunter New England Population Health for their review and piloting of the telephone survey script.
Erica L. James
Jeryl L. Francis
School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Newcastle
1. Stockwell T, Donath S, Cooper-Stanbury M, Chikritzhs T, Catalano P, Mateo C. Under-reporting of alcohol consumption in household surveys: a comparison of quantity-frequency, graduated-frequency and recent recall. Addiction. 2004;99:1024–1033
2. Amanatidis S, Mackerras D, Simpson JM. Comparison of two frequency questionnaires for quantifying fruit and vegetable intake. Public Health Nutr. 2001;4:233–239
3. Rzewnicki R, Vanden Auweele Y, De Bourdeaudhuij I. Addressing overreporting on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) telephone survey with a population sample. Public Health Nutr. 2003;6:299–305
4. AIHW. The Active Australia Survey: a Guide and Manual for Implementation, Analysis and Reporting. Cat. no. CVD 22.. 2003 Canberra, Australia AIHW
5. Fleming J. The epidemiology of alcohol use in Australian women: findings from a national survey of women’s drinking. Addiction. 1996;91:1325–1334
6. Thompson FE, Subar AF, Smith AF, et al. Fruit and vegetable assessment: performance of 2 new short instruments and a food frequency questionnaire. J Am Diet Assoc. 2002;102:1764–1772
7. Dollinger SJ, Malmquist D. Reliability and validity of single-item self-reports: with special relevance to college students’ alcohol use, religiosity, study, and social life. J Gen Psychol. 2009;136:231–241
8. Bachman JG, O’Malley PM. When four months equal a year: Inconsistencies in student reports of drug use. Public Opin Quart. 1981;45:536–48
© 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
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Cheese 'can prevent diabetes'
Eating just two slices of cheese a day can prevent diabetes, scientists have claimed.
The new research contradicts current health guidelines which advise cutting back on high-fat foods - including dairy products - to help prevent type-2 diabetes.
Scientists in Britain and Holland examined the diets of 16,800 healthy adults and a further 12,400 people diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.
The study found those who ate at least 55 grammes of cheese a day - around two slices - were 12 per cent less likely to develop the illness.
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The researchers, led by Ya-Lin Chiu, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Greene lab, investigated why resting, nondividing CD4 T cells are impervious to HIV infection, while activated, dividing CD4 T cells are not. The team discovered that a potent antiviral factor called APOBEC3G (A3G) is the key.
The team, working in cell culture, found that A3G exists in two different-sized forms -- a small form that actively repels the virus, and a large form that is completely ineffective against it. Moreover, they detected only the small form in resting CD4 T cells, where HIV fails to grow, and only the large form in activated CD4 T cells, where the virus efficiently grows and wreaks havoc. They further showed that blocking production of the small, active form of A3G in resting CD4 T cells was sufficient to make these normally resistant resting cells highly susceptible to HIV infection.
"Until now, the prevailing belief has been that HIV failed to infect resting T-cells due to a simple lack of some essential factor or nutrient," says Greene, a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. "This study now shifts the paradigm, showing that resting CD4 T cells actively repel HIV infection through the action of the small, enzymatically active form of A3G, which stops the virus in its tracks."
CD4 T cells are a class of lymphocytes, or white blood cells, that fight infection by orchestrating immune responses. They have the ability to recognize specific antigens -- foreign substan ces, such as toxins, bacteria or environmental factors -- through receptors on their surfaces. Roughly 95 percent of CD4 T cells in the blood stream exist in a resting, inactive state, awaiting the appearance of their specific antigen. When they detect its presence, they spring into action -- growing and dividing, releasing cytokines (proteins that the immune system uses to communicate between cells) and recruiting and activating additional T cells. The new study shows that this activation process dismantles the highly effective A3G antiviral shield, making these cells highly susceptible to HIV infection.
Greene's group is now looking at ways to use this new knowledge therapeutically. One approach would involve converting the ineffective, large form of A3G into the protective, small form in activated CD4 T-cells. In this case, the goal would be to identify small molecules that promote the disassembly of the large A3G complex, which is shown by the Gladstone team to contain not only A3G but also a cellular RNA and possibly other host proteins.
A parallel strategy would involve finding ways to prevent the small form of A3G from converting to the large form in the first place, during the process of T cell activation. However, notes Greene, scientists would first need to determine whether preserving the antiviral shield provided by small A3G in activated and dividing CD4 T-cells does not produce any deleterious effects. These could include the early death of these cells or the creation of mutations in the chromosomes that might lead to cancer.
"The possibility of exploiting the natural and potent antiviral properties of A3G to control HIV infection is very exciting," says Greene. "We have learned a great deal from our studies of how the resting CD4 T cell resists HIV. Now, the challenge is for scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology and elsewhere to translate these basic discoveries into novel treatments that could benefi t HIV-infected patients around the world."
Four years ago, HIV biologists were galvanized by the discovery of A3G as a potent anti-HIV factor. Initially, scientists thought that A3G had to squeeze into new HIV viral particles in order to produce its antiviral effects. The new Nature study indicates that this is not the case in resting T-cells. The Greene lab showed that in activated T cells, however, Vif, one of HIV's nine genes, counters the antiviral effect of A3G by binding to it and accelerating its destruction as well as decreasing is production. These effects of Vif were so complete that no A3G was left in infected activated CD4 T for incorporation into the new viral particles. Thus, this antiviral action of A3G that only occurs in activated T-cells can be overcome by Vif.
The results have launched the search for a new class of antiviral drugs that block the action of Vif, which would leave A3G poised and able to unleash its antiviral effect from inside viral particles. In resting T cells, though, HIV is defenseless against A3G, because there is no Vif in the incoming viral particles and the virus has not advanced far enough into its life cycle to make new Vif.
The study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the University-wide AIDS Research Program and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
Other co-authors of the Nature paper, "Cellular APOBEC3G restricts HIV-1 infection in resting CD4 T cells," at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology are Vanessa B. Soros, Jason F. Kreisberg, Kim Stopak, and Wes Yonemoto. Kreisberg and Stopak are students in the UCSF Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.
The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology is one of three research institutes of The J. David Gladstone Institutes, an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution affiliated with UCSF. For further information, visit www.gladstone.ucsf.edu.
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — What’s being done inside a St. Paul greenhouse could change the view outside Minnesotan’s car windows — forever.
It’s hard to miss the brown grass on Minnesota’s roadsides come spring time. It happens because of all the salt used on our roads during the winter.
In 2009, Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT) approached the University of Minnesota’s Department of Horticultural Science with the problem. So, with the help of a $175,000 research grant, a group of grad students are developing salt-resistant grass.
While watching grass may not sound like fun to you, Josh Friell devotes hours to it every day.
Friell’s work could save the state substantial money that’s currently used on replanting. It’s no secret, salt used to keep Minnesota’s roads safe often makes for ugly grass.
“It’s very sparse. Often times after winter, if it can’t tolerate the salt. It just turns brown,” Friell said.
New varieties and mixes of seeds feeding the grass is part of the solution. Another part comes in the form of salt-tolerant turf.
Already, the team has discovered turf mixes that work better than the ones currently used.
“Primarily, it needs to be salt tolerant. In addition for that, we look for something that’s drought tolerant, because we’re not watering roadsides,” Friell said.
By varying salt levels, a winner was revealed. A type of grass named “fine fescue” has so far proven most tolerant.
MnDOT hopes to have the mixes planted on roadsides in about two years.
The research team says the solutions they find could also help homeowners.
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"Blessed are the poor in spirit." These folks believed that being poor in anything was a sign they were sinners and that they were far from the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit"? Poverty was almost as much an indicator of sin as was deformity and disease. The question must have arisen, "Where is He going with this?"
As Jesus' sermon progressed, that same question was probably asked again and again. "Where's He going with this?" Actually, Jesus was preaching an inductive sermon. Two main types of sermons that exist are inductive and deductive. A deductive sermon usually expresses the main thought at the beginning, makes several points to support that thought, and then ends with that thought being proven. For example, I could say, "God is love" at the beginning of a sermon, raise a few points to support that saying, and conclude with, "See, I told you that God is love." That's a deductive sermon.
An inductive sermon may start with a thought that makes the listener wonder where the preacher is headed. For example, I could say, "What is God like?" at the beginning of a sermon, give some texts and illustrations, and, hopefully, the listener is guided to conclude, "God is love." The same goal is reached through different methods.
In the inductive sermon, the conclusion is extremely important. It brings the whole sermon together. This is what Jesus does with the Sermon on the Mount which is recorded in the book of Matthew.
This sermon seems to go in many different directions, each verse which could easily be made in to its own sermon. So people are wondering, "What is He getting at? What's the main point?" Jesus starts out with the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit," blessed are all kinds of people that don't normally think that they're blessed. "Blessed are the persecuted?" This was new stuff. He tells people they are the "salt of the earth" in this sermon. He tells people they are "light" and they should let it shine. He tells them of the importance of God's law and how it will stand forever. Jesus tells them something very strange: to love their enemies and to give to the needy. He teaches them how to pray and how to fast. He talks about storing up treasures in Heaven and not worrying about what tomorrow will bring. He counsels not to judge others and how to receive answers to prayer. All in the same sermon! How is He to conclude?
I don't believe that Jesus sat down and wrote this sermon out the week before its delivery. I believe it was coming right from His heart on the spot. Many new and disturbing things had been said, but how. How is He to wrap it up now? What is the conclusion?
Ellen White, in a Review and Herald article from 1885 says that Jesus drew their attention to scenes around them and pointed out two houses. Many of the people had been attracted to the beautiful green valleys that led down to the Sea of Galilee. They were fisher folks. Their industry was built around the sea. And so many people wanted to leave close to the sea. It was a beautiful setting. Many built their houses in ideal spots, they thought, not taking into account the rainy season. It seemed so much nicer a place to build. It was convenient to the sea where many worked in the fishing industry. It was convenient to the streams of fresh water that ran through the valleys to the sea. But what many realized too late was that those streams, which were usually small or even dry during most of the year, could become raging torrents during the rainy season. These streams would overflow their banks in a big way and sweep away homes that were thought to be secure.
Others had built in less convenient but more solid places. Some of the homes that they could see on the hill tops had been there and withstood storms for many years, facing the very same storms that had swept away the others. This scene is from where Jesus drew His conclusion to the sermon.
Let's look at it in Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore (everyone who hears) Therefore! When you come to a "therefore" you have to ask what it's there for. Why is it therefore? What is it there for? It's there for a reason. This is the conclusion of the sermon. There are some other "therefore's" within the sermon, but this is the last "therefore." So, this is what is bringing this whole inductive sermon to a head. "Therefore, all of these things I've been talking to you about, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
Brother Dave Turner spoke today of building on a foundation. We have a number of experienced builders in our congregation. They know the importance of a solid foundation. If they build on anything that is not solid, their reputations are in jeopardy because the walls in the house may begin to crack. If I ask, "Who built this wall?" The owner won't hesitate to tell me. A firm foundation is so important! Our homes, our lives must be built on that.
One builder many years ago has a reputation today that he was not looking for then. In 1174, Bonanno Pisano began working on church property. He was commissioned to build a bell tower for the local church. When he reached the third story of what was to be an eight story building, the structure began to sink. He quit the project. The building sat in that condition for 90 years. That's kind of an eyesore for ninety years. I hope that when we get a building project started here it won't take so long. Then, others came and finished what he had started. Unfortunately, they did not fix the foundation! They decided to fix what had already been built. This means that instead of fixing the foundation, they built on top of what was crooked, what was leaning, and they made it straight. It was straight once again. At least part of it was anyway. They built the extra stories straight up. This means that what is now called the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" can also be called the "Crooked Tower of Pisa." If you see a picture of it from a right angle, you can see a definite curvature. They tried to straighten it out.
I climbed the 294 steps to the top of this tower in 1982. It was very strange! Each level you get up to there is a porch on the outside with columns around it, and a door that you can go out. That door is in a different position on every floor. If you walk out of that doorway on the downward side, you feel like you could fall right out. Indeed, you could, for there were no railings to prevent it. A very disconcerting feeling. Well, I could tell it was a little different on the top. Remember they had tried to straighten it out so the top wasn't leaning quite as much, but it was still leaning. The top was not so bad. But Remember, the building had once been straightened above the third story. Even though it was a very windy day, the tower felt solid and did not seem to budge. But the tower continues to lean more and more each year. One estimate is that the rate is now over one inch a year and increasing. Susan and I went back to climb it ten years later in 1992. They wouldn't let anyone very close at that time. It was walled off around the bottom. An area was marked out where it might fall. Work was being done on the foundation and the fear was that it might soon fall. They are finally going to the root. If it does fall, The leaning tower of Pisa won't fall by itself. It'll take out a nice little pizza shop. I know, because I was eating in that little pizza shop. I could not resist the idea of eating a piece a Pisa pizza. As I sat there, eating that piece a Pisa pizza, that tower was leaning right towards me. That shop's gone when that tower goes.
Many Christians are like the Tower of Pisa. They began their growth on a foundation of their own choosing. Then, when they start to lean from the direction that God wants them to go, they may try to fix themselves by trying to become "better." But they don't go back to the foundation. They just try to fix what is already taking place. They may appear solid and unshakable, just as this tower is solid and unshakable. I stood on the top of that tower in a high wind, and that thing doesn't move perceptibly. Many Christians appear solid and unshakable, but in reality, they may be crooked and sinking. When they fall, others are usually taken with them. They have not followed the teachings of Christ and have built their religion on something less.
In that same Review and Herald article, Ellen White wrote, "Let none of us deceive ourselves into believing that we can carry into our religious life the crookedness of character the unchristian traits, which have been transmitted to us as a birthright and strengthened by education."
Another tower, finished in 1889, seems more stable, even though it stands 984 ft high. Somebody told me that is about a hundred stories high. Alexandre Eiffel chose a more solid foundation for his masterpiece. The Eiffel Tower stands today high above Paris. Whether you like the way it looks or not, it is visible. When construction began, many hated it and called it the "Iron Skeleton." One writer, Elliot Paul, disliked the looks so much that he rented a space on its first level to do his writing. When asked why, he stated, "This is the only place in Paris where I can avoid seeing this retched structure." Others see it as a beautiful work of art. In fact at night with the lights shining on it, it's called "the Lady of lace." People come from all around the world just to see it. The money that it generates for Paris is enough to quiet those who dislike it.
I have been to the top of this tower too. I didn't take the steps, though. I used three elevators and an hour and forty five minutes to get to the top. You had to wait in line for each of the elevators. When you get to the top, it seems so much higher than it looks. You feel like you're in a seven forty seven flying over Paris. And the wind blows. And this tower moves when the wind blows. You can feel it. It's not a good feeling. But I noticed that it only moved a little bit. And it moved back and then it moved the other way and it came back. But it always came back to its perpendicular course, and never moved far from it because of its foundation.
Christians should have that kind of foundation. They may move slightly when the winds of strife come. We may sin. It's not a good thing, but it does happen to us. Is there anyone here in a position now where they can say, "Well, I didn't sin all last month."? That's not good. It's not appropriate. But that is the way we are. If our foundation is secure on the Rock of Jesus Christ, when we do stray off course, it's not far and we come right back to the course. We can get forgiveness, we can head back toward heaven. And, like the Eiffel Tower, a Christian should stand up for Jesus no matter what others think of them. Last week we had a sermon about a tree standing prominent. We should be like a tower standing prominent for the Lord. No matter what people think of us, we should be there. People should know what foundation we're on. We should attract others to that solid Foundation.
Let's look again at verse 24. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."
Notice, it is not just those who hear, but those who hear and do who are considered wise. Some believe that Jesus has done it all so we do nothing. That is not the case. We do because Jesus did! That is our motivation. The reason why we do anything is because He did everything. But our doing is not for our own benefit. It is for others. To help bring them to the Foundation, the Rock, Jesus, Himself and all that He represents.
Look at verse 25. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."
When you have the news on, and a report come on that there's a tornado in the area, where do they tell you to head? Where in the house are you supposed to go in case of a tornado? If you have a basement, go there. Why? Because it is the most solid part of the house. Why? Because it is closest to the foundation.
If you find yourself in a spiritual storm, go to the Foundation. If your foundation is the Rock, Jesus Christ, you will be secure. That is not saying that you won't be affected by the storm. The storm hits the righteous and the unrighteous. But you will remain on course because of the foundation. That is why some people can face great difficulty and endure heart ripping tragedy with a peace that seems strange. They are remaining strong and on course because their Foundation, the Rock of Ages, is secure.
Where other people, the least little wind of strife get their feeling hurt. They're gone, They're out the back door. They're somewhere else. "I can't handle it any more!" Shifting sand! That is the alternative to the Solid Rock.
Look at verse 26. "But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand." Notice, both groups heard the words. Neither one of these groups is ignorant. They know what Jesus has said. But it is those that have their house on the solid rock that are doing what He said, but those on the shifting sand are in trouble.
What is the sand? Anything that is not the rock! Anything that you can build your life on that is not Jesus Christ is drifting sand. All the old world has to offer is "fun" for a season and tragedy for a lifetime. It's not eternity. Many rely upon themselves for security. "If I can do things good enough and look good enough to those around me, I am good enough."
This reminds me of what we see on the news stories every year on TV. The mud slides of California. Have you seen those houses going down the side of the mountain? Every year, beautiful, expensive, mansions slide off the slopes dragging their swimming pools with them. Every year, more mansions are built on those same slippery slopes. It does not seem to matter who built the house. It does not seem to matter how much money it cost. It does not seem to matter how beautiful it is. It does not seem to matter that the owner is the CEO of a major corporation or a Pop Star. It does not seem to matter that the kid's GPA is 4.0. What matters is the foundation that it's on! And yet they keep doing it over and over again. That's why they're called "foolish." It's right here in the scripture.
In verse 27, "The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
The same storm that beat against the first house demolished the second one.
F. E. Belden once wrote:
We'll build on the Rock, the living Rock, on Jesus, the Rock of Ages; So shall we abide the fearful shock, when loud the tempest rages. Some build on the sinking sands of life, on visions of earthly treasure; Some build on the waves of sin and strife, of fame, and worldly pleasure. O build on the Rock forever sure, the firm and the true foundation; Its hope is the hope which shall endure, the hope of our salvation.
Is your foundation solid? Or is it shifting and eroding? If you are not on solid ground, do not try to attack it by trying to fix the structure. Go to the foundation. Start over. Make Jesus your foundation, and then build upon that. Grow upon Him with the secure knowledge that He will keep your life on course. "My hope is built on nothing less..."
Hymn of Praise: #8, We Gather Together Scripture: Matthew 7:24-27 Hymn of Response: #522, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
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last updated 3/6/2000 by Bob Beckett.
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Posted on July 25th, 2012 by Rachel
A blog post by Education Intern Ariella Esterson.
Every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., the doors to the Jewish Museum of Maryland burst open and in run the smiling faces of the SuperKids. SuperKids is a six-week summer reading enrichment program for boys and girls in grades 2nd,3rd, and 4th. The idea of SuperKids is to combine traditional summer camp activities with enriching learning experiences that helps to prepare students to return to school in the fall. They partner with many of Baltimore’s best-known cultural and historical organizations to ensure children receive a fun and educational summer. They integrate reading and writing into all aspect of camp so while the campers are having fun, they are also working to improve their literacy skills.
When the SuperKids arrive, they immediately can’t wait to get started with the day’s activities. The kids are split into 3 groups; one group to Lloyd Street Synagogue, one to Chosen Food and one to Voices on Lombard Street. One of the docents, Lois Fekete, is in charge of the Synagogue portion and teaches the SuperKids an intro to Judaism lesson and teaches them the Hebrew Alphabet. The group in Voices of Lombard Street set out on a scavenger hunt to learn about how immigrants lived when they arrived to Baltimore. They get to play and interact with the different objects inside the exhibit, such as the kitchen set and sowing machines.
So far, all of the SuperKids have loved these interactive sections and we’ve even had trouble having the kids leave the museum! Sample questions in the scavenger hunt include “Behind you is a bathtub. Read the text panel above it. Draw a picture of what was inside,” and “Find the photograph of people on a boat. These are immigrants coming to Baltimore. What is an immigrant?” Questions such as these ensure that the SuperKids read and write, which helps to prepare them for returning to school.
The third exhibit, Chosen Food, is the last stop for the SuperKids. In here, there are three different stations. The first station is a Hechser Hunt. A Hechser is a symbol placed on foods to show that these foods are considered Kosher. These symbols include the Star-K and the OU. The concept of kosher is introduced to the kids and then food packages and a chart of the different symbols are handed out and the kids need to locate the symbol on the boxes. They get really excited and love calling out when they find one with the name of the Hechsher they found.
Now that the kids know about Jewish foods, at the next station they learn about Jewish holidays and different Jewish foods eaten on those holidays. The kids are asked what their favorite holiday is, Jewish or Secular, and what’s their favorite food to eat on that holiday. We’ve gotten responses such as turkey on Thanksgiving and candy on Halloween. We then discuss different Jewish holidays and the food eaten on those, such as Matzah on Passover and Latkes on Hanukah. We then hand out a paper with a picture of a plate and have the kids draw their favorite holiday meal. We’ve gotten many delicious designs which have made us all very hungry.
The third and final station within Chosen Food is having all the kids sit down and reading them a book titled, “Matzo Ball Soup,” written by Jennifer Littman. (http:///www.amazon.com/Matzo-Ball-Soup-Bobbed-Brewed/dp/0965643107) The book tells the story of a grandmother preparing matzo ball soup for her family to eat on the Sabbath.
It ties together the entire Chosen Food exhibit for it talks about a Jewish holiday with a specific Jewish food that is eaten. Through the entire Chosen Food exhibit, the SuperKids read, write, and draw which is very important to aid their development as they prepare to return to school.
SuperKids is a great program that combines learning with fun. It’s so nice to see their smiling faces every week and their excitement about the museum and I can’t wait until next time!
For more information on SuperKids check out http:///www.parksandpeople.org/learn/summer-programs/superkids-camp/
Posted on June 26th, 2012 by Rachel
Hi everyone! My name is Ariella Esterson and I am one of the new Education interns here at the Jewish Museum of Maryland. I am currently finishing my undergraduate degree in History and Secondary Education at Queens College in New York. Since starting my internship a few weeks ago, I have been lucky enough to shadow some tours and help rewrite the docent tour script. While reading through the script and participating in a tour, I have recently noticed the Hebrew inscription that is located on the outside of B’nai Israel.
Looking at this plaque, I was left with many questions. When was it put up and more importantly what did it say? Being able to read and understand Hebrew, I was able to figure out that the first line read “Sh’ar Shel Beit El” with means in English “Gate of the House of God.” This is written to symbolize that this building is a synagogue or Jewish house of worship. After consulting with a book on Hebrew acronyms, I can safely assume that the second line, the “Kuf Kuf” stands for “Kehilla Kedosha” or “Holy Congregation.” The third line was when I started having some issues translating. It seemed to be like a bunch of gibberish, with letters strewn all over the place. It was hard to determine what each letter was, and I realized I needed to do some research. The fourth line I assumed was a date, but until I solved the mystery of the third line, I assumed the fourth line would make no sense.
While scanning the Past Perfect database, I finally stumbled on a picture of this plaque that was accessioned to the museum in 1987 (1987.173.071)
As one can clearly see from this picture, besides for the peeling paint and old feeling to the plaque, the third line is clearly visible. The letters spell out the name of the synagogue “B’nai Israel.” Now that I knew what line 2 said, I played detective and matched up those letters to the plaque that is up now. Taking a pen and outlining the letters that made the words “B’nai Israel,” I found that the leftover letters spelled “Chizuk Amuno,” the old synagogue that used to reside there! What a find!
Although I was able to decipher what the third line said, I was still left with a burning question. Which synagogue name was listed on the plaque first? I hoped that the fourth line would help shed some light on this question. I hoped that this would result in a date of when the plaque went up, which would reveal which synagogue was listed first. Using Gematria, which is assigning a numerical value to Hebrew letters, I was able to see that “Taf” equals 400, “Reish” equals 200, “Lamed” equals 30, and “Vav” equals 6, to make a grand total of 636. To my disappointment, this was not a year that I could use. My eyes then saw the last three letters on the plaque which are “Lamed” “Pey” and “Kuf.” Consulting once again my acronym dictionary, I got the words, “L’Prat Katan,” which in English means “Small details.” What this means is that back in the day when years were written they would leave out a letter (Hey, which in this case would be 5,000) from the beginning of the year, but they would put this acronym at the end to remind the reader to add the original 5,000. When that is added, there is now a grand total of 5,636. When this year is converted to the English year, you are left with 1876, the year Chizuk Amuno was established!
Based on this information, one can safely assume that “Chizuk Amuno” was etched in first on the plaque. When the building was bought by “B’nai Israel,” they covered up the original letters and re-etched the name of their synagogue. During the restoration period in the 1980’s, workers uncovered both synagogue names and decided to keep them both there for all visitors to see the transformation. I can now say mystery solved!
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On July 14, 1993, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crew trapped a 2-year-old female grizzly bear in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley, a wild river-carved lowland just northwest of Glacier National Park. Officially, the 80-pound grizzly was designated Bear 286. Unofficially, the crew named her Irene.
The team fitted Irene with a radio-collar, packed her onto a truck and drove 150 miles through the night to the Cabinet Mountains, a rugged swath of snow-covered peaks and conifer forests tucked in Montana’s northwest corner. The next morning, biologist Wayne Kasworm turned Irene loose near Lost Girl Creek.
Rarely had such great expectations been pinned on a single animal. Irene had been designated one of the involuntary saviors of the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, a 2,600-square-mile region on the Montana-Idaho border abutting Canada. It’s one of six designated recovery zones in the Lower 48 where the federal government aims to protect or boost threatened grizzlies. While some recovery zones, like the lands around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, supported growing populations, bears in the Cabinet-Yaak were spiraling toward extinction. Kasworm estimated that only 15 bears roamed the Cabinets.
Kasworm believed the only way to save the population was to supplement it with more grizzlies. The strategy, called augmentation, made biological sense, but it was politically contentious. The same year Irene moved to the Cabinet Mountains, a biologist who hoped to transplant bears to Washington’s North Cascades was spat on at a public meeting. “Nobody had ever moved bears to bolster a population before the Cabinet-Yaak program,” Kasworm recalls. “Obviously, it was a controversial idea.”
Today, though, the strategy appears to have paid off: According to a recent DNA study, around 45 grizzlies now reside in the Cabinet-Yaak. Once on the verge of vanishing, the population is nearly halfway to 100 — the threshold at which it would be deemed no longer at risk.
The bears’ persistence gives scientists hope that the Cabinet-Yaak could someday serve as a node of connection for isolated pockets of grizzlies throughout the Rockies. Yet that optimism is tempered by serious challenges, none greater than keeping bears alive in a landscape shared with humans.
In 1987, when Kasworm first floated the idea of transplanting bears to the Cabinet Mountains, locals responded with suspicion. Previous recovery efforts had been blamed for the region’s floundering timber economy and the closure of backcountry roads. “When I was a kid, people would drive up to our house excited because they’d seen a bear,” says Bruce Vincent, a logger whose family has lived around Libby, a town of 2,700 that’s the Cabinet-Yaak’s largest population center, since 1904. “But attitudes changed. The bears became ‘goddamned grizzly bears.’ “
Vincent wasn’t opposed to augmentation, but he and the USFWS agreed that locals deserved a voice in how it was implemented. He and other community leaders, including elected officials and timber and mining industry representatives, created a committee to guide the plan. Kasworm agreed to delay relocation to hold meetings and modify the program.
Finally, the committee consented to a conservative experiment: Starting in 1990, Fish and Wildlife would relocate four young females over a five-year period. If the bears stuck around and reproduced, the augmentation would proceed. If not, it would be years before the scientists got another shot. “That citizens committee was how we were able to pull this off,” Kasworm says.
Initially, though, the bears didn’t cooperate: The first shed her radio-collar and disappeared, and the second was found dead just a year after being released. Irene, however, survived and stayed out of trouble. Kasworm gave biweekly updates on her whereabouts on a local radio show.
Then, in 1995, Irene slipped her collar. She was gone, the augmentation in jeopardy. For several years, scientists tried in vain to recapture Irene and two other introduced bears. Were they still alive? Had they wandered away, or stayed to reproduce? Nobody knew — until 2004, when a barbed-wire snare snagged a clump of hair that DNA analysis identified as Irene’s. She was alive, and as later hair-snares revealed, had borne nine cubs. Her cubs in turn gave birth to eight more. By 2012, Kasworm had identified 35 individual bears; 20 were Irene’s descendants or mates. Almost singlehandedly, she’d rescued the Cabinet population.
Encouraged by Irene’s success, and with the community’s cautious blessing, Kasworm and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department began relocating more bears, about one a year. They’ve now introduced 15 grizzlies altogether, most recently a 3-year-old male in 2013.
Augmentation only works, however, if the bears survive. The Cabinet-Yaak is just a fraction the size of the recovery zones centered around Yellowstone and Glacier, and though its human inhabitants are few in number, the ecosystem has been fractured by nearly 4,000 miles of open roads and scattered pockets of logging and mining. That fragmentation makes fatal conflicts with wide-ranging bears almost inevitable. Grizzlies have been slaughtered by poachers, hit by trains, and shot legally by people who felt threatened. Still more have been mistakenly slain by black bear hunters, or euthanized after developing a taste for human food. Altogether, at least 48 Cabinet-Yaak grizzlies have been killed by humans since 1982, about three times as many as have died from natural causes.
In other words, the Cabinet-Yaak is losing bears as fast as it’s gaining them. “The main reason our population hasn’t grown much in the last 10 years is human-caused mortality,” says Kim Annis, bear management specialist at the Montana wildlife agency.
That mortality, combined with the population’s narrow gene pool — granddaughters have bred with their own grandfathers — means augmentation won’t cease anytime soon. Though Kasworm predicts that “there will come a point when we can let this population go its own way,” he adds, “Right now, I can’t tell you when that point will be.”
The vague timetable frustrates some locals, who are ready for the recovery process, and resulting road restrictions, to be over. “We need to have a frank discussion about what success looks like,” Vincent says. “Living with bears is part of the romance of calling this place home. But it’s hard for people to accept the management regime.” In a 2008 survey, over 70 percent of locals believed bears should be conserved, but less than half supported the federal goal of 100 grizzlies.
The bears are hardly the sole point at issue: Volatile lumber markets have shuttered sawmills, and road closures have as much to do with maintenance costs as bears. Environmental groups also frustrate locals, especially the Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which often comments on and challenges timber sales that threaten grizzly habitat.
Between 2006 and 2008, it filed more lawsuits against the U.S. Forest Service than any other group did during that time — 42 altogether. “The science shows that most grizzlies are killed near roads,” explains Executive Director Mike Garrity, who estimates the organization wins 85 percent of its lawsuits and appeals. “You can’t keep bringing in bears without protecting their habitat.”
Kasworm, who fears the lawsuits are eroding local support for grizzlies, has supported timber projects that he thinks wouldn’t harm bears. Some, he says, could even benefit the animals by clearing space for huckleberries, a primary food source. “No bears are dying for lack of huckleberries,” retorts Garrity. “The limiting factor for grizzlies is secure habitat.”
Ultimately, the most serious problem might be isolation. The Cabinets’ bears are cut off from populations that could grow their numbers and diversify their genetic pool. Although bears occasionally wander over from the Selkirk Mountains, the Whitefish Range and Canada, those nomads haven’t reproduced. Increasing the exchange of bears between ecosystems, says Chris Servheen, grizzly recovery coordinator for Fish and Wildlife, will help restore the health and resilience of bears throughout the Rockies. “This was all part of their continuous range,” he says. “Grizzlies shrank into these small units because of human impacts.”
The Cabinet-Yaak population might be small, but its central location between Glacier, the Selkirks, and Canada makes it an important piece in the bigger bear puzzle. Ryan Lutey, director of lands at Vital Ground, a nonprofit that seeks to connect grizzly populations through strategic land acquisitions, dreams of a day when the region is capable of supplying bears to other ecosystems — especially the Bitterroot, a 5,600 square-mile recovery zone 120 miles south. Although the designated wilderness at its core makes it prime habitat, the Bitterroot has no grizzlies, in part because a planned relocation program fell victim to anti-bear politics in 2001.
For now, simply surviving is challenge enough for the Cabinet-Yaak’s bears. One casualty occurred in November 2009, when an elk hunter shot an old female he claimed was threatening him. When Kasworm examined the corpse, he noticed small holes in its ears, where tags had once hung. This was one of his bears, and though he hadn’t seen her in 16 years, he suspected he knew which one. DNA analysis confirmed it: Irene was dead.
Rather than mourn her death, though, Kasworm chose to celebrate Irene’s extraordinary life. “She contributed so much,” he says. “I don’t know where this population would be without her.”
This story originally appeared in the April 28, 2014 issue of High Country News (hcn.org).
“We need to have a frank discussion about what success looks like. Living with bears is part of the romance of calling this place home. But it’s hard for people to accept the management regime.”
a logger whose family has lived around Libby, a town of 2,700 that’s the Cabinet-Yaak’s largest population center, since 1904
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How much land does the federal government own?
It seems like a basic question that would have a simple answer, but the federal government does not have the kind of basic property and asset data that a well-run business or responsible family relies on to manage its finances.
Some agencies do have good inventory systems—tracking acres of land under management, mineral resources, buildings, vehicles and office furniture—and others are in the process of developing them. However, there is no comprehensive, accurate federal inventory of real property, which is the land and everything on it, leading to frequent misuse and underutilization of land and assets.
Now in the midst of the economic crisis, the government is seeing the need to pursue efficient operations and learn about the full array of financial opportunities available. Not only has the financial crisis affected individuals, families and businesses, but the collective drop in economic activity has had a negative impact on tax receipts at all levels of government. The White House is projecting a $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit for 2009, with nearly $1 trillion in deficits a year for the next ten years. And the Congressional Budget Office is projecting that federal debt will exceed 82 percent of GDP by 2019.
Faced with this bleak economic future, the president and Congress will need to work hard to get government spending under control. One aspect of fiscal responsibility is efficient and effective management of federal property. President Barack Obama came into office in January 2009 committed to cutting waste in the government and promising a new era of transparency and efficiency. Since then, White House Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey D. Zients has been able to push through a handful of reforms, but none of them changing the inefficient way the government manages its real property.
However, in June 2010, the White House began to move on federal property efficiency. On June 10 the president signed a memo directing agencies to accelerate their efforts to divest excess and surplus property in an effort to achieve upwards of $8 billion in savings by fiscal year 2012. This presidential order also asks agencies to find ways to consolidate office space, reduce operating costs, eliminate wasteful lease arrangements, and use space management techniques more efficiently. This memo is a good step towards more efficient federal real property management. However, it is missing a serious component of any efficient real property management system: a dynamic, centralized asset inventory system.
Office of Management and Budget director Peter R. Orszag says the federal government owns “1.2 million buildings, structures, and land parcels” including “14,000 building [sic] and structures currently designated as excess and 55,000 identified as under- and not-utilized.”
This assessment, however, comes from an incomplete database built from inconsistent data managed mainly by the agencies themselves, each using its own inventory method, rather than an accurate, centralized inventory.
Very basic steps, like using GIS-imaging to map all federal property or requiring all agencies to use uniform methods when reporting the status of their real property, have not been pursued. These kinds of initiatives would greatly aid in establishing a real property inventory to cut government waste, manage property more efficiently, keep track of stimulus and TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) spending and examine financial sector systemic risk oversight.
One estimate suggests all surplus federal property could be sold for over $1.2 trillion—welcome dollars for a government desperately in need of shedding waste. Better still, selling unused property is only the beginning of fiscal and operational gains to be gleaned from developing a real property inventory.
There are many benefits and challenges to building an accurate and useful accounting of government’s inventory. This paper will look at both and draw on best practices from states that can offer solutions to the federal government in establishing a robust system for tracking and managing real property. The paper will also draw on expertise from the private sector in providing a step-by-step guide for officials wanting to pursue real property inventorying as a part of building a fiscally responsible government.
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Hypotension refers to the abnormal condition of low blood pressure. It is a common phenomenon during pregnancy and yet hardly any attention is paid to it. It is a dangerous condition which requires medical supervision and timely treatment.
In this condition, the circulation of blood in the arteries slows down. Since the circulation is slow, the blood supplied to different parts of the body is lower than the normal levels. This affects the normal functioning of the body.
Dizziness, fainting and frequent headaches are some of the symptoms that are commonly associated with this problem.
Hypotension during pregnancy may be either of postural or supine type. Postural hypotension results from rapid change of body position, getting up abruptly from a sitting position. During this condition, the blood pressure falls when we rise all of a sudden. The blood leaves the brain due to the force exerted by the gravity. Rising up slowly from a sitting or a kneeling position may help in overcoming this situation.
Supine hypotension is due to the pressure exerted by the enlarging uterus on the vena cana and the aorta. It is caused most often when the patient lies on the back. It can be controlled if the patient avoids lying down on the back.
Very often, a decline in the blood pressure levels has been noticed in early pregnancies. The condition is usually self-correcting and the blood pressure level may improve with the progression of the pregnancy. However, if the condition persists, it requires medical attention. If the condition is ignored, then the mother’s and child’s health can be put to grave risk.
Hypotension during pregnancy can be as serious as hypertension. Low systolic pressure may lead to low birth weight, death of the foetus or low intelligence quotient scores at the age of about four years. Low diastolic pressure can also increase the risk of premature birth.
To avert the dangerous possibilities associated with low blood pressure levels during pregnancy, it is important to continually measure and monitor blood pressure during prenatal visits. If required, appropriate medication should be started without undue delay.
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A recent study done by Safe Kids Worldwide has found drastic increases in teenage injuries and fatalities linked to crossing the street carelessly. Although crossing the road is a part of many teenagers’ everyday routine, few give a second thought as to how risky this seemingly simple task may be. When children are young, parents regularly remind them to look both ways and hold hands before crossing the street. Unfortunately, when the teenage years arrive, many teens throw all caution to the wind. Many teenagers, with their mindsets of invulnerability, take safety for granted and allow distractions to take priority over basic safety. Almost 80% of teens believe that pedestrian accidents affect mostly younger children, but in reality, older teenagers account for over half of street crossing fatalities in children up to nineteen years of age. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, pedestrian injuries among 16-19 year olds have increased by over 25% in the past five years. One in five high schoolers and one in eight middle schoolers cross the street while distracted.
What has caused this surprising and sudden increase in injuries and fatalities among teen walkers? All signs point to increased distractions by talking, texting, listening to music, and video games.. As technology becomes more prevalent in teenage culture, the danger of being distracted while walking increase greatly. 39% of distractions were attributed to texting, and another 39% were due to listening to music with ear buds in place. Another 20% of distractions occurred while talking on the phone, and the final 2% were linked to the use of hand-held video games. When a teenager becomes distracted by technology, the real world becomes blocked out, sometimes with deadly consequences.
Take time today to begin a conversation with your children about distracted walking, bike riding, or even driving, Convince your teen to put away the phone, put down the videogame, and take out the ear buds while moving. Hearing and seeing oncoming traffic might give them the few seconds they need to avoid disaster. Urge them to use all their senses, look both ways, and pay attention while crossing the street. While it is probably impossible to prevent all pedestrian injuries in children, increasing caution and decreasing distractions is a good place to start. Telling your teen to be careful while crossing the road may seem elementary and cliché, but it could save their life.
Your comments and stories are welcome at my blog, www.docsmo.com. While you are there, take a few moments to explore the literally hundreds of audio posts, interviews, book reviews, and articles about pediatric topics. Until next time.
Written collaboratively by Keri Register and Paul Smolen M.D.
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Are you a hepatitis B vaccine non-responder? Approximately 5-15% of people who receive the vaccine are considered non-responders. This is especially important for health care workers, families living in households with people that have HBV, and others who may be at increased risk of exposure to HBV. A vaccine non-responder is someone that does not build up an adequate immune response after receiving two, 3-shot series of the HBV vaccine. In other words, they complete one series of the HBV vaccine, and follow it with a surface antibody test (HBsAb or Anti-HBs) 4-6 weeks following the last injection of the series. If the anti-HBs titre is not greater than 10IU/l, than the series is repeated, preferably with an HBV vaccine from a different manufacturer, and the person is once again tested for immunity by testing for adequate anti-HBs. (See previous blog, “Got Hepatitis B? Keeping loved ones safe though HBV vaccination” for details)
Fortunately there are other options for those concerned with being an HBV vaccine non-responder. There is a higher concentration of the HBV vaccine recommended by the CDC that is used for patients undergoing dialysis, and for those that are immune suppressed. It is a 40µg/ml concentration. If it has been one year or less since you completed the three-shot series of the regular concentration of the vaccine, you can try one intramuscular dose of 1.0 ml of the 40µg HBV vaccine. If it has been more than one year since your last three shot series of the vaccine, you can repeat the entire three-shot series with the 40µg concentration of the vaccine. Follow up with an anti-HBs titre test 4 to 6 weeks following the last injection to ensure it is greater than 10 IU/l, and that you have adequate immunity.
If you continue to remain a non-responder, you can try a series of as many as five intra-dermal injections, given every two weeks, using the 40µg concentration of the HBV vaccine. Dose one consists of 0.10 ml of the 40µg/ml vaccine, followed by the same dose two 2-weeks later. At that time an anti-HBs titre test would be drawn to check for immunity. If there was not adequate immunity, a third-intra-dermal dose of the vaccine would be given two weeks later. Anti-HBs titres would be checked every two weeks and the patient would be given another intra-dermal injection up to a total of 5 intradermal injections of the 40µg concentration of the HBV vaccine. Don’t forget to ensure that your anti-HBs titre is greater than 10IU/l.
Please note that the schedule for the series might vary depending on the study your doctor chooses to follow. However, it is recommended that the higher concentration (40µg) of the hepatitis B vaccine be used for best results.
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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
July 5, 1996
The Mysterious Rings of Supernova 1987a
Credit: C. Burrows (ESA/ STScI), HST, NASA
Explanation: What's causing those odd rings in supernova 1987a? In 1987, the brightest supernova in recent history occurred in the Large Magellanic Clouds. At the center of the picture is an object central to the remains of the violent stellar explosion. When the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at the supernova remnant in 1994, however, curious rings were discovered. The origins of these rings still remains a mystery. Speculation into the cause of the rings includes beamed jets emanating from a dense star left over from the supernova, and a superposition of two stellar winds ionized by the supernova explosion.
Authors & editors:
NASA Technical Rep.: Sherri Calvo. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
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A Northwestern University study shows that coupling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent to a nanodiamond results in dramatically enhanced signal intensity and thus vivid image contrast.
"The results are a leap and not a small one -- it is a game-changing event for sensitivity," said Thomas J. Meade, the Eileen Foell Professor in Cancer Research in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the Feinberg School of Medicine. "This is an imaging agent on steroids. The complex is far more sensitive than anything else I've seen."
Meade led the study along with Dean Ho, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Ho already has demonstrated that the nanodiamonds have excellent biocompatibility and can be used for efficient drug delivery. This new work paves the way for the clinical use of nanodiamonds to both deliver therapeutics and remotely track the activity and location of the drugs.
The study, published online by the journal Nano Letters, also is the first published report of nanodiamonds being imaged by MRI technology, to the best of the researchers' knowledge. The ability to image nanodiamonds in vivo would be useful in biological studies where long-term cellular fate mapping is critical, such as tracking beta islet cells or tracking stem cells.
MRI is a noninvasive medical imaging technique that uses an intravenous contrast agent to produce detailed images of internal structures in the body. MRI is capable of deep tissue penetration, achieves an efficient level of soft tissue contrast with high spatial and time-related resolution, and does not require ionizing radiation.
Contrast agents are used in MRI because they alter the relaxivity (contrast efficacy indicator) and improve image resolution. Gadolinium (Gd) is the material most commonly used as an MRI contrast agent, but its contrast efficacy can be improved.
Meade, Ho and their colleagues developed a gadolinium(III)-nanodiamond complex that, in a series of tests, demonstrated a significant increase in relaxivity and, in turn, a significant increase in contrast enhancement. The Gd(III)-nanodiamond complex demonstrated a greater than 10-fold increase in relaxivity -- among the highest per Gd(III) values reported to date. This represents an important advance in the efficiency of MRI contrast agents.
Ho and Meade imaged a variety of nanodiamond samples, including nanodiamonds decorated with various concentrations of Gd(III), undecorated nanodiamonds and water. The intense signal of the Gd(III)-nanodiamond complex was brightest when the Gd(III) level was highest.
"Nanodiamonds have been shown to be effective in attracting water molecules to their surface, which can enhance the relaxivity properties of the Gd(III)-nanodiamond complex," said Ho. "This might explain why these complexes are so bright and such good contrast agents."
"The nanodiamonds are utterly unique among nanoparticles," Meade said. "A nanodiamond is like a cargo ship -- it gives us a nontoxic platform upon which to put different types of drugs and imaging agents."
The biocompatibility of the Gd(III)-nanodiamond complex underscores its clinical relevance. In addition to confirming the improved signal produced by the hybrid, the researchers conducted toxicity studies using fibroblasts and HeLa cells as biological testbeds.
They found little impact of the hybrid complex on cellular viability, affirming the complex's inherent safety and positioning it as a clinically significant nanomaterial. (Other nanodiamond imaging methods, such as fluorescent nanodiamond agents, have limited tissue penetration and are more appropriate for histological applications.)
Nanodiamonds are carbon-based materials approximately four to six nanometers in diameter. Each nanodiamond's surface possesses carboxyl groups that allow a wide spectrum of compounds to be attached to it, not just gadolinium(III).
The researchers are exploring the pre-clinical application of the MRI contrast agent-nanodiamond hybrid in various animal models. With an eye towards optimizing this novel hybrid material, they also are continuing studies of the structure of the Gd(III)-nanodiamond complex to learn how it governs increased relaxivity.
Meade has pioneered the design and synthesis of chemical compounds for applications in cancer detection, cellular signaling and gene regulation. Ho has pioneered the development of nanodiamonds and has demonstrated their efficiency as drug delivery vehicles. Both are members of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
The Nano Letters paper is titled "Gd(III)-Nanodiamond Conjugates for MRI Contrast Enhancement." In addition to Ho and Meade, other authors of the paper are Lisa M. Manus (first author), Daniel J. Mastarone, Emily A. Waters, Xue-Qing Zhang, Elise A. Schultz-Sikma, and Keith W. MacRenaris, all from Northwestern University.
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Brigham Young University (BYU) Center for Remote Sensing holds various data from the Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP) program. The SCP is a NASA-sponsored project to develop scatterometer-based data time series to support climate studies of the Earth's cryosphere and biosphere. Originally developed to measure winds over the ocean from space, scatterometer data includes polar ice and tropical vegetation. Because the scatterometer radar signal can penetrate the surface, a scatterometer can observe subsurface/subcanopy climate-related features.
These data sets consist of an Antarctic iceberg database, current Antarctic iceberg locations, sea ice extent products, QuikSCAT sea ice motion, and QuikSCAT global sigma-0 browse images.
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To intrude into the deeper regions of the lungs, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis appear to mask their identity and hitch a ride on white blood cells.
The findings suggest an explanation for the longstanding observation that tuberculosis infections begin in the comparatively sterile lower lungs. In the upper respiratory tract, resident microbes and inhaled microbes of a variety of species signal their presence.
These tip-offs alert and attract many infection-fighting cells to the upper airways. The presence of other microbes in the upper airway may thereby help to keep TB infections at bay by creating a hostile environment.
Click "source" to read more.
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What’s Killing Our Budgies
(Mortality of Exhibition Budgies)
Disclaimer: I am not medically trained, and take absolutely NO responsibility for any unfortunate consequences that occur as a result of using the information in this article as the basis for treating your bird or birds. Always consult your vet for advice on how to deal with avian medical problems.
For some time now, we have been witness to reports of ever diminishing life expectancies for exhibition budgies. At the present time, we can expect our English budgies to live only somewhere in the range of two to three years. And although we all know individual budgies that have lived much longer, the expected typical lifespan continues to decline. As distressing as this is, the situation is particularly perplexing because ordinary pet budgies seem to be much longer lived. Studies that focus on pet budgies report typical lifespans on the order of five or six years, with some living far beyond that. I recall one pet budgie of mine that lived at least fifteen years.
Dr. Baker’s Eleven-Year Study:
Budgie enthusiests in both the U.S. and the U.K. have long noted the declining life expectancy of exhibition budgies. Several studies have been done with the goal of better understanding what’s happening and finding ways to improve the situation. In the early 1980s, several U.K. exhibition budgie sanctioning organizations commissioned veterinary researcher/pathologist Doctor J.R. Baker to determine what was killing exhibition budgies. The result was a study that began in 1984 and continued to 1995. Over the course of the study, 1525 birds were examined post mortem. Approximately 1000 of the birds were deceased when received. The remainder, all sick birds with incurable conditions, were euthanized when received. All of the birds were examined for bacterial and other disease conditions, and careful detailed records were maintained. No attempt was made to determine the primary cause of the bird’s demise, but rather to determine all the health problems that could be determined for the examined birds. Baker published his findings in a definitive paper (Causes of Mortality and morbidity in exhibition budgerigars in the United Kingdom, Veterinary Record (1996) 139, 156-162).
The study results confirmed that exhibition birds are dying young. The average age of the birds in the study was only about 1.5 years. Many exhibition budgies are making it to maturity, but not a whole lot further. Second, Baker found a wide range of diseases to be responsible. In particular, trichomoniasis, enteritis, and pneumonia were common in the birds that were received dead, with chronic conditions such as psittacosis and megabacteriosis (AGY) present at higher levels in the euthanized birds. It seems probable that improving our prevention and control of these diseases in particular would be helpful in halting or reversing the the declining lifespan of exhibition budgies.
The information and opinions presented in the following paragraphs draw both on Dr. Baker’s report and on other sources, including the author’s experience.
Five Major Killers:
Trichomoniasis: This illness is caused by a microscopic protozoan (trichomonas gallinae) that invades the gut. It can kill rapidly or cause a more chronic condition that can continue for some time with few if any visible symptoms. The disease has long been recognized by pigeon fanciers, where it is known as canker. Fortunately, the disease can be easily and very inexpensively controlled. Pigeon Supply Houses, such as Global Pigeon Supply (www.globalpigeon.com/) offer a variety of treatment products that can be added to birds’ drinking water to prevent and control trichomoniasis. Note that a treatment for trichomoniasis will generally also prove effective for other protozoan gut diseases as well, such as coccidiosis. Treating the birds in your aviary twice a year can go a long ways toward minimizing the risk that you’ll lose birds to these common protozoan diseases.
Enteritis: An all too common inflammation of the gut, enteritis has many possible causes, with everything from bacteria to grit implicated. It poses a difficult treatment problem because, although many birds recover on their own, there’s no way to know which birds will swiftly recover on their own and which will die if left untreated. Good management is important, and could include minimizing stress and maintaining a clean warm environment.
Some of the causes of enteritis are infectious. Some are not. Some are treatable. Some aren’t. None occurs so frequently as to warrant being pointed out as the main cause of enteritis. If a bird develops enteritis, the one thing you should always do is isolate it, preferably in a nice warm hospital cage, and supply it with easily digested food, such as spray millet. Isolating the bird helps assure a bacterial illness won’t be spread throughout the aviary. Sprinkling a little bismuth carbonate on the bird’s food could be beneficial according to some sources, and antibiotics such as Baytril could prove helpful if a bacterial infection is at fault. Further testing and expert diagnosis by an avian veterinarian may be required. One hurdle to successful treatment is that the time factor can be critical; a bird with enteritis may remain chronically ill for a long time, or it might die in a few hours, depending on the specific cause and the bird’s condition.
In the context of Enteritis, “Going Light” needs mention. Baker uses the term, not to describe a symptom, but as the name of a specific kind of degenerative enteritis resulting from an allergic reaction, in which a bird that is eating normally loses weight steadily. Since predisposition to the condition is genetic, a bird exhibiting the condition should not be bred, nor should birds that are closely related be bred. Note that many different conditions could cause a bird to lose weight, making diagnosis difficult.
Pneumonia: Unfortunately, pnemonia is almost always swiftly fatal in budgies. Birds that appear to be perfectly fine in the morning may be found dead before day’s end. As a result, should you note a bird that has pnemonia, your options may be limited. The one thing you should always do though is to isolate the bird at once, placing it in a warm humid location, and begin treating it with an antibiotic. If the pneumonia is the result of a bacterial infection susceptible to the antibiotic, you just might save the bird. Running tests to pin down the specific cause may not be helpful because the bird probably won’t survive long enough to get the test results.
According to Baker, good ventilation has a role to play in preventing pneumonia. It seems to occur most frequently where the ventilation is poor and the air in the region of the cages becomes stagnant.
Pssitacosis: Budgies that “have a cold” too often turn out to be suffering from pssitacosis (avian chlamydia). It is highly contagious and deadly. Moreover, it can be easily transferred to humans, where it is not as dangerous but is nevertheless not be taken lightly. Fortunately, there are tests for it and the treatment, doxycycline, administered via injection or in the drinking water, is generally effective.
Avian Gastric Yeast (AGY or Megabacteria): There are many unanswered questions regarding the history and impact of this organism, which, when viewed with a microscope, looks for all the world like gigantic rod-shaped bacteria. It basically resides in the proventriculus and that’s primarily where it attacks the host budgie. AGY was completely unknown just a few decades ago. Now it seems that it is present in a great many avian species, to the extent that some researchers regard it as part of the normal gut flora of birds in general. Given the ability of this organism to sicken and kill host birds, it seems remarkable that it went unnoticed until recently. Mortality studies prior to Baker’s don’t mention the organism’s presence. Was it there but overlooked, or did it only recently become pathogenic in budgerigars? For such a ubiquitous organism, the latter seems unlikely, and we are left with a mystery.
The mystery aside, it appears that AGY is present in most, if not all, aviaries, and that a good portion of the world’s budgies harbor the organism in their gut. Year by year throughout the Baker study, the number of euthanized birds diagnosed as having AGY rose steadily. What’s not clear is whether the increase was real or whether budgie hobbiests were becoming aware of AGY and more skilled at recognizing its symptoms, resulting in more and more of these birds being singled out for Dr. Baker’s study.
Make no mistake about it. AGY is widespread and it is a killer. In the search for a specific cause for the declining mortality of exhibition budgies, AGY certainly would seem to be one possibility, one worthy of further study.
Although AGY is contagious, it tends not to sweep through an aviary striking down every bird in its path. Rather, it sickens one or two, then later on, one or two more. Progress through the flock is typically stealthy and slow, and although the attrition over time can be heavy, its presence may remain unnoticed. Budgies often tolerate AGY very well and remain non-symptomatic for a long time, perhaps for life. It may be that, when a bird becomes stressed, perhaps from change or from being attacked by another illness, it becomes vulnerable to AGY. Some hobbiests have noted that AGY tends to attack older birds more often than young ones. Perhaps changes in the immune system with age lead to increased vulnerability. It may be worth noting that the smaller American budgies are just as susceptible to AGY as are exhibition budgies.
There is only one medication proven to be effective against AGY and that is the anti-fungal Amphotericin B. This drug is available in a commercial product, Vetafarm’s ( http://www.vetafarm.com/index2.asp ) Megabac S. Information provided with Megabac S describes its use for treating a flock. For information on diagnosis and on an effective treatment regimen using this product to treat a critically ill bird, see An Effective Treatment Regimen for Budgies Suffering From AGY (Megabacteria) Disease .
Note that other anti-fungals may be beneficial. For example, Diflucan® (fluconazole) has also been shown to be active against AGY, but only at toxic levels.
Together, the five sources of budgie morbidity discussed in the preceding paragraphs play a major role in cutting short the lives of exhibition budgies. Doing a better job of recognizing and treating these conditions would help to reverse the trend towards decreasing lifespans. However, even if the situation improves for the conditions discussed, our budgies still face a myriad of other possible health problems. Although they may not occur as frequently as those discussed, many of them are nonetheless potentially lethal.
The nature of the hobby itself tends to keep the risk at a high level. Enthusiasts who competitively show their budgies more or less continually acquire new birds, either by exchanging or buying. At the same time, they endeavor to find homes for birds that don't fit in their breeding program. These birds are generally sold, often at shows, or given away. The result is that there is a lot of mixing taking place, which has the potential for swiftly spreading infectious agents far and wide.
Quarantining newly acquired birds is good practice, but it falls far short of the degree of protection needed. A bird could be harboring trichomoniasis, pssitacosis, and AGY, all three, and still pass a three or four week quarantine with flying colors.
More testing would provide some help, but it’s not a panacea either. In the case of a viral illness, unless a bird is “shedding” the virus being tested for, the test result will be a false negative. In the case of AGY, there is no test available. The organism is ordinarily only present in a very small section of the gut, where it is not easily accessible. Sick birds may shed AGY organisms in their droppings, but asymptomatic birds are unlikely to do so. The problem is compounded by AGY already being so wideapread. I know it’s present in my aviary. Chances are it’s present in yours too.
Given the nature of the hobby, preventing the spread of serious disease would seem to be just about impossible. However, breeder/exhibitors should be able to improve the longevity of their birds by becoming more skilled in diagnosing and treating the aforementioned serious illnesses.
An explanation of why pet budgies outlive their exhibition cousins seems straightforward. Although there may be instances where genetics comes into play, it isn’t likely that exhibition budgies are genetically inferior overall because of the many generations of line-breeding needed to develop desirable traits, and that this genetic inferiority causes them to be naturally short-lived. Rather, the reason pet budgies live longer is that they are far less likely to contract illnesses from other budgies. A great many pet budgies end up in single-bird homes, where they live out their entire life without coming in contact with another bird. In effect, they live lives of continuous quarantine. With no opportunity to acquire contageous diseases from other birds, their chance of living out their normal lifespan is far better than it might otherwise be.
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Blacks in China
From West Asia to China the land was occupied predominately by Blacks. The Blacks were forced from East and Southeast Asia by the expansion of the Thai, Annamite, Bak and Hua Mongoloid. The Blacks ruled China until around 1000-700 BC.
Names for the Blacks in China
The Blacks of China were known in the historical literature by many names, including Negro, Austroloid, Oceanean, etc by the Europeans. The East Indians and Mongoloid groups had other names for these Blacks such as Dara. Yneh-chih. Yaksha, Suka ,and K'un-lun. Lushana and Seythians.
The original Black population that lived in China was the Negritos and Austroloid groups. After 5000 BC, Africoid people from Kush in Africa, began to enter China and Central Asia from Iran, while another group reached China by sea. This two-route migration of Blacks to China led to the development of southern and northern Chinese branches of Africoids.
The Northern Chino-Africans were called Kui-shuang (Kushana) or Yueh-chih, while the southern tribes were called Yi and li-man Yueh and Man. In addition to the Yueh tribes along the north east coastal region, they also lived in Turkestand, Mongolia, Transoxiana, the Ili region and Xinjiang province.
IN NORTHERN CHINA the Blacks/Africoids founded many Civilizations. The three major empires of China were the Xia, Dynasty (1900-1700 BC), Shang/Yin Dynasty (1700-1050 BC) and the Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty was the first dynasty founded by the Mongoloid people in China.
The Xia and Shang dynasties were founded by Black tribes living in ancient China. The key to understanding Chinese civilization is to remember the fact that both Xia and Shang came from similar ancestors.
In Southeast Asia and southern China, ancient skeletal remains represented the earliest inhabitants to be Austroloids and Negrillo/Negrito. By the beginning of the Present (Holocene) period the population in China could be differentiate, and placed into categories designating Mongoloid in the north, and Oceanic on Black races in the south. Both of these groups evolved out of a common Upper Pleistocene substratum as represented by the Tzu-yang and Liuchian skulls. By at least 2500 BC Africoids of the Mediterranean and West African type entered this areas by way of India. The skeletal evidence from the Shantung and Kiangsu China show the modern Africoid type especially at the initial Qinglien King and Machiabang phases.
The archaeology of southern China is related to the Southeast Asian pattern, with numerous finds of chipped stone of the type found in Szechewan Guangxi, Yunan and in the western part of Guanguung as far as the Pear River delta. The Neolithic culture of southern China as the people parallel southeastern Asian developments. There were several major centers of Neolithic culture in China were pottery and agriculture flourished. In southern China the most well known early Chinese culture was called the Dapenkeng culture of the southeastern coast dating to the 5th millenium BC.
The Dapenkeng sites are characterized by cord-marked pottery. The color of the pottery dating to 4450 BC ranges from buff to dark brown. These folk had large jars and bowls. They made dugout canoes to communicate.
Blacks also founded the Yangshao site at Huang Ho basin in North china. In the southeastern section of China the people at Hupeh and Guangxi made use of artificial irrigation and by terracing of the mountain slopes. They were using bronze.
As in other black societies the woman's were highly esteemed. They also participated in the religion which consisted of worship of a mountain and snake cult.
The Neolithic technology of Blacks in south China, as areas further North was typified by hunting with the bow and arrow. The stone inventories of ancient China include shoulder axes, similar to those found at Ya-an in Sikang, and on the island of Hainan.
The ceramics are characterized by corded red ware. There was also painted pottery, black pottery, and tripod pottery which were later duplicated in bronze. The people practiced single burials.
The pottery inscriptions show that the Southern Chinese already had their own writing system. The writing system of the Shang and Xia Dynasties was developed in the Proto-Sahara. This writing later evolved into modern Chinese script.
The Blacks of southern China, according to Dr. Shun-Shang Ling, in A study of the raft, outrigger, double and deck canoes of ancient China, the Pacific and Indian Ocean, spoke Austronesian languages like the aborigines of Hainan and Taiwan. Here many Dapenkeng sites have been discovered.
There was an extensive mound culture in China stretching from its plateau in the west to the western coast of the Pacific Ocean, it includes Huang-Huai (the Yellow River and the Huai River) plan of north China and the lower valley of the Yangtse River of central China, these mounds lie in the ancient line of Austronesian habitation. The mounds were occupied when these areas were much warmer than they are now.
The Austronesian people descended from the Yuanshan and Lungshan cultures. In accordance with oral traditions and Chinese Proto-history mounds were invented Huangdi Fuxi. The legendary rulers Tai-Hao and Huangdi were buried in chiu (mounds).
The Chinese mound culture had began around 3000 BC, a thousand years after a similar culture had developed in Africa. One of the most important mound cultures of China was that of Hu Shu. The Hu Shu mounds were man-made knolls called 'terraced sites'. The mounds served as 1) burial places, 2) religious centers, and 3) habitation.
From southern China the Oceanic peoples invaded Northern China, which was mainly inhabited by Australoids and a smallish Negroid-Mongoloid group. Although the Australoids had been the first inhabitants of China, by 1000 BC many of them had been exterminated or absorbed by the taller heavier Mongoloid Bak tribes, that were slowly expanding southward from the north.
By 3000 BC the Negritos were being forced into isolated areas of China by Proto-Saharan blacks. Around the same time the Oceanic people were moving northward from the coastal plains area.
THE XIA AND SHANG DYNASTIES
Many Scholars and laymen alike have recognized similarities between ancient China and Africa. For example, the straw hats worn by West African peoples are also worn in China. Moreover, both the ancient Chinese and West Africans had a mound culture that possessed similar burial customs and common symbols.
Numerous theories have been put forward concerning the origins of these similarities but few of them satisfy scientific proof because they neglect to address the possibility that Blacks lived in China before the advent of the East African slave trade. Although this has been true of other authors, the present author will explain and discuss the role of Blacks in China, during the founding of Xia and Shang dynasties.
The first two dynasties of China were founded by people from Africa. These Black people spoke Dravidian and African languages.
The first civilizations were called Xia and Shang. They were ruled by emperors called Xuan Di "Black Emperors".
These Blacks introduced farming and writing to China. Trade cities and travel grew under their leadership.
In addition to writing, the Blacks of Xia and Shang introduced bronze working to China. They also invented the pounded earth architecture associated with early Chinese city-states.
The first civilization of China was the Xia dynasty. It was founded by the Yueh tribes.
It was from Xia that Shang sprung. The Zhou people had an old saying that supported this fact:
"The rituals/or the rules/of the three Dynasties are one...the Yin inherited their rituals/or rules/from the Xia and what they took out or added on is known, and the Zhou inherited their rituals/or rules/from the Yin, and what they took out or added on is known".
The founder of the Xia dynasty was King Yu. He founded Xia in the Second Millenium BC. the father of Yu, was Kun.
Myths about Kun are found through out southwest Shansi. The on n of Yu was the founder of the Pa culture. The pa culture was a megalithic culture.
Chinese traditions claim that the great Yu, was then regulator of the waters and the builder of canals. He also invented wetfield agriculture. The Xia dynasty was founded by Yu.
The Xia culture was centered in southern Shansi and northwestern Ho an. This culture developed out of the Lungshan culture. Lungshan people had black pottery and oracle bones. This culture appeared first in the east ;and then progressively moved northward. Artifacts from Lungshan show affinities to those found in the southern regions of the Pacific coast. This is archaeological evidence make it clear that the ancestors of the Oceanic people in Southern China and the Xia people were closely related.
By the beginning of the Xia dynasty walls were being built around cities to protect them from invading nomadic tribes. The Xia, had writing, inscribed pottery, bronze vessels and household items.
The most important culture in Chinese history is the Shang or Yin dynasty. The Shang culture was founded by Yi tribes. Both the Yi and Yueh bribes according to Prof. Shun-sheng Ling, were Blacks. Fu Ssu-nien, in the Yi hsi tunghsi shuo, makes is clear that the Shang culture bearers remained allied to the rest of the Yi people who originally lived in southern Chin.
The name Shang refers to a town which was the early capital of the emperor. According to the Shang poem Xuan ciao: "Heaven bade the dark bird/to come down and bear the Shang".
The earliest Shang capital was located at Zhengzhou. There were 30 kings of Shag, the last 14 Shang kings reigned at An-yang, Henan in the Yellow River Valley.
Artifacts discovered at Panlongcheng, Hubei far to the south in the Yangtze River Valley show bronze vessels 'culturally homogeneous' to the Zhengzhou type 'in every respect". At this time China had a different environment. Then this part of China was much wetter and warmer several millenium before the Christian era. Many animals found only in southeast Asia and southern China today, once lived in the north.
In the Anyang area during the Shang period there were two harvest of millet and rice. There were also elephants and rhinoceros in the area according to oracle records. During the Shang period the Chinese wrote much information on bones and turtle shells. This form of writing is called oracle bone writing.
The plants cultivated by the Shang had first been domesticated by the Yi and Yueh people in the south and later taken northward as they colonized northern China.
Shang society was based on totemic clans called tsu. The clan signs are visible in clan emblems in bronze and oracle bone inscriptions, they were based on animal signs.
The symbol of the Shang clan was the bird. Later Shang clans, probably representing the Xia clans and nomadic Chinese were affiliated with cattle.
The eastern coast was a major area of Black Habitation in ancient times. One of the popular symbols of the southern Chinese tribes was the egret bird, according to F. Hirth in The ancient History of China.
In the Kushitic world due to a sedentary economy, such concepts as matriarchy, monotheistic religion and totemism were the major aspects of social organization. In examining the history of blacks in ancient China we find that totemic names denoting blackness refers to first rulers of Shang in ancient China.
Shang was the first recorded dynasty in China, where there is substantial archaeological information to elucidate aspects of its culture and history. In examining the traditional literature of the Chinese, there is much mention of Black totems for the founders of the Shang dynasty. The most important traditional text relating to Yin/Shang is the Yin pen chi, which is located in a chapter of the Shih Chi , by Ssu-ma Chien, the official historian-archivist of Emperor. We Ti (140-87 BC) of the Han dynasty.
According to the Yin pen Chi, the founding ancestor of Shang was Xieh a member of the Tzu clan. Kwing-Chih Chang, in Shang Civilization, translates part of the Yin pen chi as follows:
"Yin's Xieh, his was Chien Ti, a daughter of Yu Jung Shih and second consort of Ti K'u. three persons/including Chien Ti/went to take a bath. They saw that black bird dropped an egg. Chien Ti took and devoured it, became impregnated and give birth to Xieh. Xieh grew up. [And] assisted Yu in his work to control the flood with success ".
The use of the term 'black bird', as Yu, the father of Hsieh relates to a totem popular among the Black tribes of ancient China. This passage indicates that the founders of Shang were of mixed origin. The fact that the bird myths such as the one above are mainly centered on the east coast also suggest a Black origin for Shang since this area was the heartland of ancient Black China.
This view is also supported by many archaeologist including K.C. Chang, evidence which indicates that the Neolithic Mongoloid population of north China resembled the Oceanic-Mongoloid type, not the modern Mongoloid group we find living in China and much of southeast Asia today.
But during the last 273 years of the Shang dynasty, Shang was not the capital of the empire, because the people had been conquered by nomadic tribes. This view is supported by the Zhou poem Pi Kung, which talks about the Great King "who lived on the southern slopes of mount Qi/and began to trim Shang".
Once the Yi were conquered they were made into slaves by the Chinese. These folk usually captured in war served as farmers. All their labor was done to benefit the nobles or lords of the land they lived on.
The Shang had extensive trade relations with the Southern Chinese. The sources of Shang copper and tin were in the southern areas of China. Here the southerners mined metals and sold them to Shang.
The monetary system of ancient China included the use of cowry shells. The cowry shells appear to have been introduced into northern china from the eastern seacoast.
For divination the Yi of Shang used turtle shells. The characters written on the shells give us the earliest written records of china's first civilization. As in the case of other elements of Shang culture the source of these shells lied in south China.
Both the ancient Chinese and contemporary Africans had similar naming practices. As in Africa the Shang child had a day name. The Shang child was named according to the days of the Xuh on which he was born. These days are called the ten celestial signs.
Shang was destroyed by Zhou nomads. these people came form central Asia, some of these people many have been Tibetans. Due to nomads invading the Shang empire, the Yin had to constantly move their capitals around until they were finally conquered by the Zhou dynasty.
A large bronze gui or bowl, set on a square base dating to 1000 BC describes the Zhou defeat of the mixed rulers of Shang: "King/Wu/ son of king Wen/conquered Shang, on the morning of /the day/jiazi. Having seized the/Shang/King/King Wu/ overthrew the Shang/on the seventh day/xin wei, king/Wu/, while at Lanshi, rewarded his minister Li with bronze. /Li/used it to make this precious vessel for/making sacrifices to his ancestor/Tangong".
H. Imbert, a French scholar in 1928 in Les Negritos de Chine, observed that "In the first epochs of Chinese history, the Negrito type peopled all the south of this country and even the island of Hainan, as we have attempted to prove in our study on the Negritos, or black men of the land".
There are many references to these Negritos in Chinese literature. According to T. De Lacoperie, the Chinese first met these tribes in 2116 BC, when they advanced eastwards of the great southern bend of the Yellow River. They are spoken of in the Zhou Li, composed under the Zhou dynasty (1122-249 BC), as "black and oily skinned." Tribes of the same race are also spoken of in the fabulous geography of the Shan hai king, written a few centuries before the Christian era. Many of these tribes were called Diaoyao or 'Dark pygmies'.
In 122 BC, Prince Liu-Nan, who died in 122 BC, speaks of references of Negritos in China as late as the Tang dynasty. In the Lin-yi Kuo Chuan, contained in Book 197 of the Chu Tang Shu it is written that "the people living to the south of Lin-yi have wooly hair and black skin". In addition to the above, Chinese folk-lore mentions an empress of China, named Li (373-397 AD) who was the consort of the Emperor Xiao Wu Wen, was a Black.
In addition to fighting the Yi, the Zhou also conquered the Negritos of southern China. They defeated some but not all of the Negrito kingdoms especially in Yunnan. The Chinese called the Negrito Blacks: Man, and K'un-lung . Many of these Blacks presently live in Cochin China, and Yunnan.
The Xia people fir came in contact with these folk in 2116 BC, they are mentioned in the Zhou Li, as living along the Yellow River. The Nam of the Yangtze River basin area were also constantly at war with the Zhou. The Nam, were closely related to the Tibetans of Szechwan. At this time the Man States were ruled by princes.
The Negritos occupied much of Szechwan; Yunnan from Kaehum in the southeast to Vunchang in the southwest. Many of the Negritos, were forced into the Malay Peninsula by the advance of various Chinese tribes toward the coast after the Zhou defeated the Shang.
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Anticolonialism "is the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America. Anticolonialism was the rallying cry of Third World politics for much of the second half of the 20th century."
The concept has historically been called anti-imperialism. In the 1870s, critics of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli coined the term "imperialism" to describe his foreign policy of seeking to exert political and economic control over what was then called the British Empire. In the 19th Century, advocates of imperialism believed that by colonizing other nations, their native people would gain the benefits of science, technology, religion, and political order. Other advocates viewed the wealth and commerce that came from having a large network of colonies as the key to winning the competition with other European nations for economic supremacy.
Following World War II, the world faced the question of how to handle the areas colonized by Germany and Japan as well as the countries that the Axis had occupied during that war. This evolved into a principle of national self-determination, and by the 1960s most nations converted their network of colonies into independent nations.
As for the United States, it converted the Philippines into an independent nation, Puerto Rico into an independent commonwealth, returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, and made Alaska and Hawaii states. The United States still administers protectorates over some very small islands in the South Pacific and over the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Most people would characterize United States foreign policy as opposing imperialism since World War II.
- How Obama Thinks - Dinesh D'Souza - Forbes dated September 27, 2010
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English to English
1. going or proceeding or coming after in the same direction
the crowd of following cars made the occasion seem like a parade|tried to outrun the following footsteps
2. Next after; succeeding; ensuing; as, the assembly was held on the following day.
3. about to be mentioned or specified
the following items
4. immediately following in time or order
the following day|next in line|the next president|the next item on the list
5. in the desired direction
a following wind
6. a group of followers or enthusiasts
7. the act of pursuing in an effort to overtake or capture
the culprit started to run and the cop took off in pursuit
8. One's followers, adherents, or dependents, collectively.
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The analysis presented here takes Gaitskell's text as a product of colonial culture and draws on it, along with other sources, to explore both the symbolic meaning of the Gezira Scheme for the colonizers and the ways in which the Gezirain scribed the social and political relations of colonialism. While colonial accounts accord little attention to Sudanese perceptions of the cotton scheme,4 we are nonetheless able to gain some sense of the conflict between the colonial order and its Sudanese subjects from these texts. Further insights into how Sudanese experienced such schemes are drawn from oral histories of farmers in the village of Wad al Abbas, where I conducted fieldwork in the 1980s. Wad al Abbas is located across the Blue Nile from the Gezira and was incorporated into a cotton scheme patterned after the Gezirain 1954.The case of the Gezira Scheme suggests that development projects are not solely nor even primarily economic in nature, but disciplinary institutions that establish authority, encode moralities, and order social relations. The Gezira Scheme shares these characteristics with many postcolonial development projects. (Bernal, 449)
About the Author
Bernal is a Professor at the University of California Irvine.
Professor Bernal's research has addressed a range of issues relating to gender, migration, nationalism, transnationalism, development, cyberspace, and Islam. She has carried out ethnographic research in Eritrea, Tanzania, and the Sudan. Bernal has been the recipient of a number of prestigious grants and fellowships from Wenner-Gren, Fulbright, and Rockefeller Foundations among others. Her book analyzing rural transformations and the complex interplay of development policies, labor migration and peasant households, Cultivating Workers: Peasants and Capitalism in a Sudanese Village was published by Columbia University Press. Her articles and chapters have appeared in numerous collections as well as in anthropological, African Studies, and interdisciplinary journals, including Cultural Anthropology, American Ethnologist, American Anthropologist, Comparative Studies in Society and History, African Studies Review, and Political and Legal Anthropology Review.
Professor Bernal is currently working on three major research projects. "Eritrea Online: Diaspora, Cyberspace, and Social Imagination" analyzes the Eritrean diaspora and its use of cyberspace to theorize the ways transnationalism and new media are associated with the rise of new forms of community, public spheres, and sites of cultural production. Eritreans use the internet as a transnational public sphere and a medium for political expression and organizing. Through the web, the diaspora has mobilized demonstrators, amassed funds for war, debated the formulation of the constitution, and influenced the government of Eritrea whose leaders are believed to themselves participate in on-line political debates under assumed names. Other populations of migrants and exiles are engaging in similar activities, and the influence of diasporas is a global phenomenon. Geographic and technological mobility are giving rise to new publics and new public spheres where struggles over meanings and power are staged and social action is mobilized. Bernal's research analyzes the involvement of the Eritrean diaspora in transnational fields of political mobilization and in Eritrean national debates from diverse locations to reveal hidden aspects of transnational migration and to explore the interconnections between citizenship and democracy in the U.S. and Europe and struggles for social justice and democratization elsewhere. In this research project Bernal uses the Eritrean experience as a lens through which to bring into focus answers to key questions concerning the emerging world order associated with population movements, de-territorialized identities, and new technologies, paying particular attention to cyberspace as a site of cultural production and political expression.
A second research project "Donors and Democracy in Dar es Salaam" explores implications of the rise of transnational funding and transnational organizing for feminist activism and for our understanding of the ways that globalization is linked to fundamental changes in civil society. Tanzanian NGOs are produced and animated as much by foreign funds, initiatives, and discourses as by anything Tanzanian. Tanzanian women's NGOs, moreover, are not simply struggling in relation to the Tanzanian state and local authorities of various kinds; they are also struggling with international donor regimes. While universalist discourses of human rights at the global level have been the subject of much debate, little attention has focussed on the transformations of public cultures and politics within national arenas as these become globalized. Contemporary discussions of women's citizenship rights, gender equality, and democratization are inadequate if they fail to capture this de-nationalization of civil society and the complex interpentrations of local and global governmentalities and the porous boundaries of states and so-called nongovernmental organizations. This research project draws on fieldwork in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on local NGOs and international donors to show how a focus on postcolonial feminist activism can help us to see globalization, democratization, and international rights issues in new ways.
A third project "Democratizing Women: NGOs, Marginalization and Empowerment in the 21st Century" is a collaborative project of Professor Bernal and Professor Inderpal Grewal in Women's Studies at UCI. This interdisciplinary project focusses on globalization, feminism, and the welfare and empowerment of women in so-called "developing" countries. In the last decade there has been a massive shift in development and democratization initiatives away from government agencies to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A tremendous amount of the worlds resources with regard to gender equity is now being spent through and on NGOs that are run by and/or for women. What is lacking is a theoretically engaged body of research and analysis on the implications of this global shift. The initial phase of this project is an international symposium on these issues, co-organized by Professors Bernal and Grewal to be held in Bellagio, Italy in August 2004 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Professor Bernal is currently the Director of Graduate Studies in Anthropology.
Professor Bernal and Professor Inderpal Grewal, Women's Studies are the co-organizers of a Bellagio Symposium on "NGOs, Marginalization and Empowerment in the 21st Century" to be held in August 2004 in Bellagio, Italy supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
In Fall 2003 Professor Bernal was the convener of a resident research group on "Feminism, Global Cultures, and Cyberspace" at the UC Humanities Research Institute.
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Media have been reporting this week on the massive glacier system in West Antarctica that has started collapsing and will contribute to significant worldwide sea-level rise over the next two centuries. The glaciers contain enough ice to raise global sea level by 4 feet (1.2 meters). This melting appears to be happening faster than anyone realized. Here’s an explanation of the science behind the news, from NASA.
Why is West Antarctic ice sheet in irreversible decline?
New studies say that part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now undergoing an “irreversible” decline. The science behind the news, from NASA
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The Dioscoreales are primarily a tropical group, with a few species in Europe and temperate America. Most are vines or climbing plants, but some are herbs as well. The Dioscoreales include 600 species of Dioscorea, and about 35 species in other genera. The group is not especially large, but the genus Dioscorea is common in wet tropical regions around the world. In many countries, it is cultivated for its starchy tubers, sometimes called air potatoes or Chinese yams. Another member of the order, the large herb Tacca, is a common horticultural oddity favored by florists -- it is one of the few plants with blackish flowers, as shown at right.
A common characteristic of most Dioscoraleans is a thick, starchy underground stem called a tuber. The tuber provides an energy store for these plants, whose leaves and above-ground portions die back each year. The stored food allows the plants to begin growth again when conditions are favorable. The tubers of Dioscorea are full of starch and nutrients, and so are boiled and eaten in many cultures. These provide the primary source of carbohydrate for about 70 million people in more than a dozen countries in tropical Africa, as well as for peoples in southern Asia and parts of the Americas. The plants are propogated by cutting up the tubers, rather than from seed, as there are not usually many seeds produced.
The Dioscoreales are among those basal monocot groups which do not fit the textbook description of a monocot. In particular, the leaves have a reticulated venation reminiscent of the paleoherb dicots, and may be heart-shaped or highly lobed. For this reason, the Dioscoreales have at times been considered the most "primitive" of monocots, but although they may retain many characters found in early monocots, they now appear to be more closely related to the Liliales. The picture at left shows the leaves and fruits of Dioscorea; click on the image to view more of it.
The fossil record of the Dioscoreales appears to extend back into the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian). Broad heart-shaped leaves with reticulated venation are known from the Ripley Formation of the southeastern United States, and these are quite similar to some species of Dioscorea. The identity of these leaves is not entirely certain, however, since the leaves of Smilax in the Liliales are very similar. Only with further work, or with the discovery of preserved flowers, will the identity of these fossils be determined.
The Dioscoreales may be divided into the following families:
For more information about the Dioscoreales, try the Dioscoreaceae and Taccaceae Resources Lists at Texas A&M, or the DELTA descriptions for the Taccaceae, Trichopodaceae, and the Dioscoreaceae
Texas A&M Botany has a collection of images of the Dioscoreaceae and Taccaceae. You can also view images of Dioscoreaceae at University of Wisconsin. View images of Malagasy Taccaceae at the Missouri Botanical Garden
C. P. Dahglian. 1981. A review of the fossil record of monocotyledons. Botanical Review 47(4):517-555.
R. M. T. Dahlgren, H. T. Clifford, and P. F. Yeo. 1985. The Families of the Monocotyledons, 520 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
C. A. Segnou, et al. 1992. Studies on the reproductive biology of white yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.). Euphytica 64:197-203.
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Start Date: September 2010
Alfred M. Spormann, Departments of Chemical Engineering, and of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
This research program explores the opportunities and bottlenecks of electrosynthesis, a technology that uses microorganisms to produce transportation fuel from electrical energy and atmospheric CO2. The fundamental science encompasses microbial communities, their interaction with electrodes and the processes that allow efficient electron uptake, transfer and synthesis of fuels and fuel precursors such as methane, acetic acid and hydrogen. Understanding the interactions of microbes, and how their metabolic interactions are controlled, is an emerging field that is relevant for bioenergy as well as bioremediation, human health and ecosystem management.
Petroleum and other fossil hydrocarbons are primarily used as energy sources for liquid (transportation) fuels and as raw materials to produce commercially valuable chemicals. These uses represent the largest anthropogenic contribution to atmospheric CO2 and global warming. To reduce or eliminate this net release of CO2, new approaches are urgently needed that connect electrical energy to the infrastructure advantages of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical precursors.
In nature, some microorganisms are capable of transferring cellular electrons to insoluble extracellular compounds, in particular to iron-oxide mineral surfaces, such as in hematite or goethite. This mechanism is a key feature of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), where the anode serves as the electron acceptor, and the cathode is oxidized typically by molecular oxygen. Microbes can also uptake low-potential electrons directly or indirectly from a cathode (Figure 1) to drive catabolic processes.
This project focuses on the microbial synthesis of methane, acetate and other hydrocarbons that can be easily separated from a bioreactor and used as carbon-neutral fuels or precursors.
Specific reduction-oxidation (redox) enzymes, including hydrogenases and diaphorases, play an important role in mediating reductive reactions at the cathode (Figure 2). A cathodic fermentation process will be developed that feeds molecular hydrogen (H2) to microorganisms for CO2 fixation. The fixed CO2 will be used to produce precursors of biofuels, such as acetate. This research will advance our fundamental understanding of low-potential redox enzymes, including hydrogenases, and the molecular pathways of electron transfer within the enzymes. Moreover, the research will lead to the development of novel ways to engineer microbial communities for the production of biofuels.
The initial research has focused on specific bacteria, such as Cupriavidus necator H16 and Shewanella oneidensis, which are known to metabolize electrons.Using C. necator H16, the research team demonstrated for the first time the direct uptake and metabolism of electrons from the surface of a cathode. The data showed that C. necator H16 uses cathodic electrons during the metabolism of oxygen and nitrate. This important finding suggests that C. necator can be used as a platform for microbial electrosynthesis. Previous studies have shown that the hydrogenase enzyme of C. necator H16 can be used to coat an electrode to consume hydrogen and produce a current. If the electrons from the cathode can be channeled into respiration, then the energy that is generated could be used to drive other cellular processes, such as carbon dioxide fixation. Data obtained in the experiments with S. oneidensis indicate that this microbe might also be a very useful and effective.
- Lovley, D.R., et al., Dissimilatory Fe(III) and Mn(IV) reduction. Adv MicrobPhysiol, 49, 219-286 (2004).
- Logan, B.E., et al., Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ Sci Technol, 40(17) 5181-5192 (2006).
- Schroder, U., Anodic electron transfer mechanisms in microbial fuel cells and their energy efficiency. Phys Chem Chem Phys, 9(21) 2619-2629 (2007).
- Burgdorf, T., et al., [NiFe]-hydrogenases of Ralstonia eutropha H16: modular enzymes for oxygen-tolerant biological hydrogen oxidation. Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, 10(2-4) 181-196 (2005).
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| 0.883243 | 895 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Harvard University President Lawrence Summers has been on the hot seat since saying in January that, based upon "a fair amount of reading the literature," he thought one of the reasons women are underrepresented in "tenured positions in science and engineering at top universities and research institutions" is that men have a greater "intrinsic aptitude" for science than women--that is, they are genetically predisposed to do better science than women.
Summers' reading must have been narrowly focused, because the scholarship is far richer and more complicated than his remarks would suggest. With spring break approaching, what better way for Summers to spend his time off than to catch up on the abundant research on gender and biology, and on women in science? Here are some places he could start:
Woman: An Intimate Geography
By Natalie Angier
Houghton Mifflin (1999)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for The New York Times explores in detail and with good humor the myths and facts of women's biology from conception to menopause. Particularly intriguing are her examination of the roles hormones do and don't play in gendered behavior and her convincing account of the many ways cultural and social influences can alter biological function.
Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women
By Deborah Blum
A Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist offers a lively, nuanced analysis of recent research on sex difference, suggesting that while there are undeniable biological distinctions between men and women, how those differences translate into behavior is difficult to determine.
Myths of Gender: Biological Theories About Women and Men
By Anne Fausto-Sterling
A professor of medical science examines the psychological, biological, genetic and evolutionary data on gender difference and finds little evidence to support stereotypes of innate masculine and feminine abilities. A classic on the role biology plays in determining gender hierarchies.
The Politics of Women's Biology
By Ruth Hubbard
Rutgers University Press (1990)
These essays by the renowned Harvard professor of biology emerita cover such subjects as the history of women's exclusion from academic science and the dubious science behind evolutionary psychologists' assumptions that animal behavior proves that gendered human behavior is the product of natural selection.
The Mismeasure of Woman
By Carol Tavris
A psychologist shows how evidence of differences between women and men is consistently misused by doctors, lawyers, scientists, sociologists and psychologists to prove women are inferior to men.
Athena Unbound: The Advancement of Women in Science and Technology
By Henry Etzkowitz, Carol Kemelgor and Brian Uzzi
Cambridge University Press (2000)
This carefully researched study explores the myriad institutional, social and cultural obstacles to women's success in science and technology.
The Gender of Science
Edited by Janet A. Kourany
Prentice Hall (2002)
A compilation of some of the most important feminist essays on gender, women and science, ranging from empirical analyses of the experiences of female scientists and the barriers to women's success in the field, to more theoretical explorations of gender biases in scientific practice.
The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and the Struggle to Succeed
By Sue V. Rosser
A dean at the Georgia Institute of Technology and one of the foremost experts on women in the sciences interviews some of the nation's top female academic scientists to illuminate the obstacles to gender equality and propose practical strategies for their elimination.
The Mind Has No Sex?: Women in the Origins of Modern Science
By Londa Schiebinger
Harvard University Press (1989)
A historian of science shows how the institutionalization of scientific research and shifting ideas about the relationship between sex and the intellect squeezed women out of the sciences in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
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| 0.922273 | 774 | 2.75 | 3 |
A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate clause to a main clause.
The following is a list of the most common subordinating conjunctions.
|after||how||till ( or 'til)|
|as if||in order that||when|
|as long as||lest||whenever|
|as much as||now that||where|
|as soon as||provided (that)||wherever|
An adverb clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction. A noun clause and adjective clause sometimes are.
Adverb clause: Before you go, sign the log book.
Noun clause: He asked if he could leave early.
Adjective clause: That is the place where he was last seen.
A subordinating conjunction is always followed by a clause. Many subordinating conjunctions can be other parts of speech.
Adverb:Jill came tumbling after.
Preposition: Jill came tumbling after Jack.
Subordinating Conjunction: Jill came tumbling after Jack had fallen.
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| 0.847907 | 216 | 3.5 | 4 |
Common misspellings for preschool:
- preshool (24%)
- prescool (18%)
- preeschool (12%)
- preshcool (10%)
- preschol (8%)
- preschhol (8%)
- perschool (8%)
- prechool (6%)
- preschoool (4%)
- preschooll (4%)
Google Ngram Viewer results for preschool:
This graph shows how "preschool" have occurred between 1800 and 2008 in a corpus of English books.
Examples of usage for preschool:
Preschool education- Head Start- is already here to stay and, I think, so are the Federal programs that tonight are keeping more than a million and a half of the cream of our young people in the colleges and the universities of this country. "Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present" , Various.
Quotes for preschool:
Rhymes for preschool:
- abdul, cruel, dual, fuel, home-school, misrule, nepool, o'toole, raoul, retool, uncool.
- boole, boule, buel, buhl, cool, drool, fool, joule, juel, jule, kool, luelle, mule, pool, poole, poul, raul, reule, ruel, rule, school, spool, spruill, stool, thule, tool, who'll, you'll, yule.
- istanbul, supercool.
- How to spell preschool?
- Correct spelling of preschool.
- Spell check preschool.
- How do u spell preschool?
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| 0.894715 | 361 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Katholische Universtät Eichstätt, Fakultät
Family policy and social work in the Federal Republic of Germany:
the impact of the Catholic Social Doctrine and the Catholic
The Catholic model of family policy played an important role
in society and politics, especially in the 1950s, when the
society of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was relatively
homogenous (due to the experiences with the Nazi regime and
the war) and in a normative sense, intensely geared towards
family as the nucleus of society. The then necessary compensation
of burdens and economic disadvantages that families accepted
by rearing their children was mainly guaranteed by financial
support. In spite of that, the gap between families with children
and couples without became wider and wider. The compatibility
of family and job, particularly due to the increasing “emancipation”
of women, became a second central problem of family politics.
Its solution is difficult because economic measures alone
won’t do. It would be necessary for institutions to
facilitate the compatibility of family and job for both sexes,
stronger integration of man into private life, a more effective
financial equalization of burdens for families, more indirect
support by structurally-based cheap services and feeder services.
On the whole, these demands cannot satisfactorily be carried
through in the economic and political field. Empowerment and
self-reliance on the part of the families is more necessary
than ever. The family needs help more than ever before, but
it is very difficult to help it. Empowerment and self-reliance
will be an effective way to improve its situation. These efforts,
however, have to be supported by new and powerful strategies
of the systems of social security and social work.
“The family needs help, but it is difficult to help
it.” -F.X. Kaufmann
I have altered the topic presented to me and printed in the
programme – “The Catholic Model: family policy
and social work with families” – for the following
reason: a specific “Catholic Model” in the realm
of family policy can be at best described for the first two
decades of postwar Germany, i.e. up to the middle of the 1960s
in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Three decades later, this “Catholic Model” has
become, even in the eyes of Catholic moral philosophers and
Catholic welfare organizations, more and more obsolete, especially
for two reasons. First, its justification as part of the “Catholic
social doctrine” of these years, which was very much
influenced by a neo-thomistic interpretation of the natural
law, had to undergo a fundamental change as this neo-thomistic
base itself was more and more broken up by the most important
representatives of the Catholic theology. Second, for the
Catholic welfare organizations, the concept of family of those
years as well as the demands for an adequate family policy
and social work are not sufficient to describe and analyze
the difficult situation of the family in modern societies
and therefore are a thing of the past.
In spite – or just because – of that, a survey
of this “model” may facilitate the understanding
of family, family policy and social work at the turn of the
century because it may open up the possibility of focusing
on the dramatic change the institution of “family”
has undergone in Germany in the last forty years, as well
as in almost all highly industrialized areas, regions and
countries of the world.
At this time of hope in the 1950s, it was believed that growing
prosperity would steadily foster the well-being of the family.
But it was more and more realized that families needed even
more help than before. At the same time, however, it has become
even more difficult to help them.
Bearing this in mind, I will present the “Catholic Model”
not as an “ontologic” model valid for all social
contexts and periods of social development, but as an example
of family concepts, family policy and social work strategies
in the 1950s in Western Germany and as an example for the
dramatic change of the family situation in highly industrialized
countries during the second half of this century. In a first
step, I will try to explain why the Catholic Social Doctrine
became relatively influential in postwar Germany (although
the German “political culture” had been influenced
in the Republic of Weimar, and the Empire by Catholicism only
in some parts of Germany, for instance, in Bavaria). In a
second step, I will present the “Catholic Model”
and, in a third step, I will try to expose some issues of
the development and the present-day situation of the family
in Germany including some aspects of the role of the “Catholic
Social Doctrine” and the Catholic welfare associations
of today. Finally, I will try to give an outlook on the further
The impact of
the Catholic Social Doctrine on social policy and social work
in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s
Owing to the specific character of the development of the
modern welfare state in Germany as a “corporatistic”
model, not only social work in Germany but also the development
of the systems of social security had been, in the last two
decades of the 19th century, very much influenced by welfare
organizations, trade unions and the “social wings”
of the political parties (except the Nazi period, of course).
There had always been a certain influence of Catholic social
thinking in German society, but this influence had been limited
by the fact that Germany as a whole was more Protestant than
Catholic and the Catholic political groups had only a regional
impact. Therefore, the great influence of the Catholic social
thinking in postwar (Western) Germany indicates a new period
in the development of social policy, the political system
and the political culture as a whole in this country. This
has to be explained at least briefly.
After the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945,
the extent of the catastrophe was beyond imagination of the
contemporaries of that time. For the persons concerned –
at least in Europe all people were more or less affected by
war and its disastrous consequences – the destructions
were of apocalyptic dimensions. The dropping of the atomic
bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945 seemed to confirm
that mankind had experienced at least the prelude to the end
of the world. The war, intended and begun by the German government,
had in fact outreached in every respect the destructions of
former wars. The Nazi crimes (particularly in various concentration
camps) were so gruesome that they were – and in some
aspects still are – inconceivable to human understanding.
Historical research needed years to even partly establish
some kind of rational explanation. It is a well-known statement
by Theodor Adorno – a member of the famous “Frankfurter
Schule” who, German and Jewish, had survived the Nazi
regime in the United States – that after Auschwitz it
would be impossible to continue to live as before.
Although it was claimed later that the unexpected success
of the “economic miracle” (“Wirtschaftswunder”)
had made this insight, and the shock it was based on, ephemeral
and of little importance in the German society and political
culture, this is certainly not true for those political actors
who pointed the way to the constitution of the new Republic
(“Grundgesetz”) and to the legislation by which
this “Catholic model” of family politics in particular
and the concepts of the Catholic social doctrine as a matter
of principle were introduced into the society of “free”
In this context it became of crucial importance that the encounter
with apocalyptic horror was interpreted not only as a consequence
of the ruin of the Weimar Republic or democracy in Germany
on the whole, but also as a consequence of the falling away
of society from God and the values of Christianity. In order
to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents and crimes
forever, it was also necessary not only to re-establish democracy
in a formal way but also to instill democratic political values
into it, e.g. human rights as “positive” rights,
and in this context to restore Christian values too.
Concerning our topic above, these three became important:
1. The formerly splintered interest groups and parties along
political and religious lines almost anywhere overcame their
previous differences and gradually formed the alliance of
the two postwar Christian parties, the Christian Democratic
Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU).
The expression “union” indicates the unification
of Protestants and Catholics in the political field (the fact
that there was nevertheless a second Christian party, namely
in Bavaria, indicates that there was, and still is, a strong
and virulent Federalism). With Germany split and divided by
the beginning and the strengthening of the “Cold War,”
the importance of Catholic Christians in West Germany was
more strongly felt. Out of a minority in the Bismarckreich
and the Weimar Republic, with only local or regional influence,
a serious political power that comprised the society as a
whole was developed.
2. The Parliamentary Council’s (“Parlamentarischer
Rat”) working out of the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Germany consisted of two ideologically antagonistic
blocs, namely the “Social Democratic Party of Germany”
(SPD) and the CDU/CSU, which were of equal strength. Thus
the third force, the “Free Democratic Party” (FDP),
could tip the scales, preventing the hardening of differences.
In this way, a strong representative constitution came into
being which, concerning the social and economic order, was
largely open, but with regard to the defence of the free democratic
constitutional structure and the stability of the political
system set determined norms. This, however, in connection
with the make-up of parliaments in the years to come, led
to the fact that the Catholic element in the FRG had a relatively
conspicuous important influence in contrast to the Weimar
Republic or the German Empire where it had only been a regional
3. The well-balanced constitution – connected with some
normative assessments regarding the particular role of the
individual and his protection from the state, his safeguarding
by promoting highly effective intermediary groups or associations,
and last but not least, federalism – complied to an
extent with the Catholic Social Doctrine or was supported
by it far more than was the case in the Weimar Republic and
the Empire. The principle of subsidiarity particularly met
with the self-understanding of the FRG as a “federal
state based on the rule of law and social justice” (“Sozialer
Rechtstaat”, Articles 20 and 28 of the “Basic
Law”) which obligates the state to protect the weaker
members of society and to seek social justice. In other terms,
the principles of the Catholic Social Doctrine corresponded
to a high extent with the fundamental principles of the “Basic
Law” of the Federal Republic of Germany – which
were understood in those years even in their secular interpretation
by many opinion-leaders as a kind of “natural law”
which did not contrast too heavily with the “Catholic
version” – and of the economic system implemented
and developed in the society of postwar Germany (“Soziale
In short terms we could say that the relatively intense and
widespread influence of the Catholic Social Doctrine in general
and of the “Catholic Model” of family policy in
particular during the first two decades of the FRG was mainly
due to three factors: the terrific experiences between 1933
and 1945 and the challenge by the integration of the other
part of Germany (the German Democratic Republic or DDR) had
led to a relatively large consensus in the society of FRG
concerning the priorities of human values which were based
on a common interpretation of human rights; due to the same
experiences, the “corporatistic” organization
of the German system of social security and social work which
had already been launched (since Bismarck was so much strengthened
by the political system in theory and in practice) the welfare
associations became mighty intermediary groups in the German
society as never before; and as the Catholic (“Caritas-Verband”)
and the Protestant (“Diakonisches Werk”) welfare
associations played a very important role in this context
and as their “corporate identity” concerning family
policy did not differ very much, the influence of the “Catholic
Model” began to grow with the rapid development of the
system of social security and of the welfare organizations
in the 1950s.
of the Catholic Social Doctrine and the “Catholic Model”
of family policy
Church derives the universal truth of its social doctrine
from two sources of realization, namely from the Revelation
and the “natural reason”. The latter is based
on the statements of Genesis concerning that God made the
human being like himself (“imago Dei”). Resulting
from that, human beings are able to participate in natural
reason which is created by God. This “natural reason”
was the bridge by which – according to self-understanding
– the Catholic social teaching deals mainly with philosophical
arguments. Before the Second Vatican Council, especially in
the period of origin and rise of the “Catholic Model”,
these philosophical arguments were, to a large extent, elaborated
by Catholic theologians and philosophers who, above all, referred
to Thomas of Aquino and advanced and concretized his principles
of natural law. This Catholic doctrine of natural law proceeds
from the basic understanding that there is a fundamental essence
of man unalterable by the change of social conditions. This,
on the other hand, is established by the fact that there is
a God, who is Creator of the world and of man and hence their
legislator. God created man in such a way that for him the
principles of the natural law are valid. These rigid and logical
principles are supertemporal and identical for all peoples
of all cultures.
Consequently the essence of the Catholic Social Doctrine of
those days became, in the eyes of many of its representatives,
an entity not only directing individual actions but also reflecting
a certain normative content to change an imperfect and partly
even inhumane society into a better one. Taking these premises
as a starting point, a social doctrine predominantly founded
by natural law came more and more into being since the beginning
of the modern Catholic teaching by the encyclical “Rerum
Novarum” of Pope Leo XIII (1891) at least until the
encyclicals of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.
In this context, the connection of this interpretation of
natural law and some principles of Catholic moral theology
in general and the conception of marriage and family in particular
constituted the specific character of Catholic family policy
of those years and contributed to the consistency of the Catholic
Social Doctrine. This specific character was founded on two
fundamental statements, one of which is of theological and
the other of philosophical nature:
1. Marriage is an indissoluble long-term relationship and
at the same time a sacrament. This quality distinguishes it
fundamentally from non-marital partnerships.
2. Even if this inherent Catholic interpretation of marriage
as a sacrament is not universally accepted, cognition based
on natural law prevails. Regardless of an interpretation rooted
in culture and religion, the family of a monogamous couple
and their children can, in principle, be explained as the
only social group.
The prevailing doctrine of (Catholic) moral theology and (Catholic)
natural philosophy contributed, to a very large extent, to
the consistency of the Catholic social teaching and the social
work of the Catholic welfare organizations of those days.
Although, with this connection, the Catholic social teaching
distinguished itself from other doctrines based on the natural
law embodying similar social principles and dealing with similar
classical topics of social work (e.g. the protection of family).
The contribution of this Catholic social teaching and the
social work of the Catholic welfare association could be understood
as indispensable for the whole society. The argument was that
an ethical deed is dependent on an absolute essence somehow
recognized by man and therefore doubtlessly deduced from general
norms. In this respect, theological aspects faded in importance
in favour of a deontological casuistic. In simple terms, one
could say that the socio-ethical theology of this moral theology
solely existed in the assumption that the norms deduced by
the deontological method, if observed by as many people as
possible, would be sufficient to enable society to shape its
living conditions in an ethically responsible way.
As this insight is derived from natural law accessible to
everybody as “natural reason,” the demands to
state and society arise almost automatically, due to the principle
of subsidiarity, to promote the welfare of the family. Thiss
is not only achieved by active help, but also by the intention
to prevent everything within society that might harm the welfare
of the family, e.g. by parental rights.
The Catholic Church with its social doctrine as well as the
CDU/CSU parties that explicitly act according to Christian
values, and the welfare organizations, especially the Catholic
Caritas, see themselves as precursors of help. Their main
concern is to keep up this conception of the family in society
and prevent the danger of disintegration.
These normative guidelines were met with the fact that at
the time of Nazism the family very often turned out to be
a stronghold against the heteronomy of the party, and later
at the time of the expulsion and postwar reconstruction, it
proved to be a safe retreat of survival and of human relations.
As was already stated, despite the difference between other
natural laws and specific norms according to which a Catholic
Christian should lead his life, this doctrine of natural law
complied largely with the basic norms that were embodied in
the constitution of 1949, and in a way, with the ideas of
the political caste in these years.
After the end of the Nazi regime, the building up of democracy
in Germany was ideologically based on the natural law of the
Western democracies which, at the time, might be interpreted
as only a bit more secularized than that of the Catholic Church.
In politics it would mean to march forward for putting the
human rights into practice. The consequences of the paradox
the modern states are based on – for everybody, social
justice on a high level of welfare, and pursuit of happiness
(if necessary) in an extremely individual manner – was
at best only recognized in an abstract way. The road to a
society with “prosperity for everybody” (“Wohlstand
für alle”) – the slogan of the famous “Wirtschaftswunder”,
Ludwig Erhard – seemed guaranteed.
However, development of the industrial society and the fact
that at least part of the Catholic Social Doctrine lacked
reality have contributed to the phenomenon that the “Catholic
model” of family policy turned out to be inappropriate
in effectively helping the family in the long run. This was
also true of most other aids in the field of social work and
social systems of safeguarding of that time. It is also true
that the reflection of this lack of reality led to serious
consequences for the development of the Catholic social teaching
itself and for the social work of the Catholic welfare associations.
I will give a short outline of this development.
the “Catholic model” and social work with families
in the Federal Republic of Germany 1949-1989
The fast growing Gross National Product (GNP) of the Federal
Republic of Germany, from its very beginning and its self-understanding
as “Sozialer Rechtsstaat” with the special protection
of the family in article 6 of the “Basic Law”,
led since the 1950s to a tremendous boom of social achievements
such as social budgets, personal inputs of the welfare associations
As it is not possible to explain here in detail the complexity
of the development of the FRG society between the 1950s and
1980s in which the situation of the family is embedded, a
comparison between the “usual family” of the 1950s
and that of the 1980s may serve as one example of the dramatic
change of the family structure in only three decades. In other
terms, if we only compare these two structures – and
the structure of family is a very important starting point
for each family policy – we can see that the dramatic
change of the family is embedded in social, economic, psychological
and other contexts that cannot be influenced by mere instruments
of the achievements of social work and policy.
The “usual family” of the 1950s can roughly be
sketched in the following way (Puekert, 1996): married, with
child(ren), common household, two natural parents in the household,
lifelong marriage, exclusive monogamy, heterosexuality, husband
is the main breadwinner, two-adult household. From the simplified
enumeration of characteristics alone it becomes evident how
the “normal” family of the time differs from many
of the partnerships that started to appear in about the middle
of the 1960s and differentiated in a variety of family types.
These include: singles, non-marital partnership, childless
marriage, living apart or together, one parent family, binuclear
family, step- and adoptive family, successive marriages, non-exclusive
relationships, homosexual partnership, egalitarian marriage,
marriage with dual careers, house-husband marriage, household
with more than two adults, three-plus generation household
and/or a flat-sharing community.
This discrepancy between the standard family of the 1950s
and the tendencies in its development from the beginning of
the 1960s demonstrates that in spite of all differentiation
the family with children provides vital achievement for society
and the state that, at least in the foreseeable future, cannot
be produced by any other institution. For all that, no society
can develop without the rising generation, but it is also
of crucial importance that the “family” as a way
of rearing children and living together with them is preserved
especially just when traditional values no longer exist as
a common “property” of society.
The family remains an important modern/postmodern social phenomenon
as it is, as a rule, based on voluntary decisions of both
marriage partners that lead to long- or short-term obligations
and is therefore generally contributes to the stabilization
of society. Consequently, the family is perpetuating the function
of an otherwise highly specialized and pluralistic society
based on the division of labour. This ought to bring about
the idea that even at times when the “Catholic conception”
of family or the Catholic socio-ethical model of social work
has long since fallen short, the family is to abandon the
“structural recklessness” (Kaufmann) of society
towards it and introduce a policy that enables them not just
to survive but to actively fulfill its mission in society.
The family policy in the Federal Republic of Germany had,
since the beginning of the 1960s, to deal with this important
change of the family. This took place in a society that developed
in a process no longer controllable by the political system
or class in a way that social policy could manage to implement
sufficient achievements to compensate the negative side effects
of the development as a whole. Although we must admit that
– considering the complexity and the fast change of
the situation in the family – it became more and more
difficult to support families as the balance of the efforts
even in the period of a very successful economy was, on the
whole, not sufficient.
Leaving the general set-up of politics out of consideration,
the beginnings of a family-oriented political conception decidedly
pursuing the aim of supporting and giving financial relief
to families for carrying through their tasks dates back to
1954. At that time additional non-contributory benefits of
the security for non-economically active family members and
tax-free allowances for children were legally enacted according
to which the third and following child(ren) had a legitimate
claim to DM 25.00 child benefit.
In this way the so-called dual equalization of burdens for
families (Familienlastenausgleich – FLA) was introduced;
it consisted of tax-free allowances for children and child
benefit. In the following years it was increased and completed
by introducing maternity leave and educational grants and
by acknowledging the periods of upbringing in the pension
scheme. The tax system of the Federal Republic of Germany
as well as the system of social security is almost as complicated
as the equalization of burdens for families; I needn’t
show this in detail. What has to be mentioned, though, is
the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of May 29,
1990, which reminded the lawmakers to increase tax relief
and other subsidies to secure the subsistence level for a
family with children. This judgment proves that from the constitutional
court’s point of view that the subsidies and achievements
of the society in the FRG are to be considered so insufficient
that this gap is even against the Constitution.
In 1994 a committee of experts drew similar conclusions for
the Fifth Family Report of the Government: “The political
directions as laid down in Article 6 of the Constitution to
protect and promote the family have hitherto not sufficiently
been realized” (Deutscher Bundestag, 12; Wahlperiode,
Drucksache 12/7560, 1994). The income situation of families
with children alone shows the structural injustice they are
exposed to: the per capita income and the economic prerequisite
for leading a decent life is considerably lowered with the
increasing number of children. The per capita income of families
with one child is at about 20-25 percent below the per capita
income of families without children, that of a family with
two children at about 35-40 percent and that of families with
three or more children at about 50 percent.
The development of the industrial society, based on the division
of labour and the service society, is contributing more and
more to that phenomena as they are increasingly restricting
the possibility of employment for couples with children. Among
other things, this is shown by the rising number of children
and young persons who are constantly supported by “income
support” (Sozialhilfe), both as children of single parents
as well as in families with three or more children. This “Sozialhilfe”
is granted in the FRG for people who are living on the lowest
possible level of income. It indicates, in the opinion of
society, the absolute “poverty line”. Generally
speaking, it is a matter of fact that the relative income
of families in comparison with singles has declined in the
last two decades.
The Fifth Family Report summarizes the situation as follows:
“The cost for child-rearing has become private, the
profits to be made by future generations are socialized”
(Deutscher Bundestag, 12; Wahlperiode, Drucksache 12/7560,
1994). By this development it becomes evident that the structural
disadvantages concerning the family are not only a problem
of the core family in the Catholic design of the 1950s but
it concerns all those who have children, regardless of the
The Catholic welfare associations, since the early 1960s,
tried their best to relieve the burdens of the traditional
family which were increasing more and more by the development
of the industrial society and the change of values. The achievements
were multiplied and the methods were improved but these strategies
were not sufficient enough to obtain more than results on
some particular levels (e.g. individual, personal financial
achievements), which we should not estimate as incidental,
but as the central, structural issues of the family.
model” of the support of society for the well-being
of the family with the help of social work (a system of social
security and social politics), which in particular in the
first decades of the existence of the FRG had far-reaching
impacts on this country, was based on assumptions that from
the 1960s onwards increasingly disappeared. The main assumptions
were that the Catholic conception of family was a lifelong
institution of partners with, if possible, lifelong relations
to each other and to their children and grandchildren, who
would be prepared and capable to cope together with arising
social challenges and plights by self-help, and according
to the principle of subsidiarity, supported by the system
of social security and the achievements of social work. The
gap between the requirements of the industrial society (e.g.
development of technologies and the labour market with increasing
demands for mobility and availability) and the prerequisites
to maintain the traditional family (e.g. unity and nearness
of the members of the private household) will remain narrow
enough that a reasonable enlargement of the social achievements
will be sufficient.
parties, welfare organizations and serious studies (e.g. F.X.
Kaufmann, 1995; Lampert, 1997) agree that one has to try to
meet more powerfully with the "structural injustice"
and disadvantaged families by abolishing the blatant financial
discrimination of tax legislation by improving the labour
market for women and by supplying better achievements in the
education sector for children. And of course, all agree that
social work has to grant its helps better in families with
difficult situations to relieve people more efficiently. However,
in a society that increasingly abandons commonly accepted
values and institutions and that is evolving into one that
tolerates and creates as many identities as possible, only
those who are able to help themselves can be helped in the
long run. It is not sufficient to add some more social achievements
and to put the classic core family on the list of threatened
life forms calling for solidarity of society and subsidies
of the state that are no longer available.
A civil society that claims to have overcome social problems
as effectively as or even better than in the first postwar
years will have to strengthen - in contrast to the ideas of
the 1960s and 70s - the mobilization of "self-reliance"
of the family. It is true that the family needs help and that
it is hard to help it but one must be aware of the fact that
this is only possible by enabling it to help itself as much
as possible. However, the empowerment requested is not only
an individual, personal problem, but also a problem of the
social security and social work systems - especially of the
welfare associations, and as a whole, an issue of all modern/postmodern
societies - for the simple reason that the core family is
providing something that others don't. It will not be completely
replaceable by other groups of socialization, and there are
still other valuable reasons to maintain the family. It needs
help, it is difficult to help it, but we should try it.
für Arbeit und Sozialordnung, Familie,
Frauen und Gesundheit (Ed.). (1996) Dokumentation: Treffpunkt
Familie. München: RP-Nr. 10/97/35.
Bundesverband der Katholischen Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung (KAB)
(Ed.). (2. Auflage 1982). Texte zur Katholischen Sozialehre.
Die sozialen Rundschreiben der Päpste. Kevelaer.
12. Wahlperiode. Drucksache 12/7560 (1994).
Stellungahme der Bundesregeirung zum Bericht der Sachverständigenkommission
für den 5. Familienbericht.
Furger, F. (1989).
Die katholische Soziallehre - eine Einfübrung. Freiburg
Glatzel, N., Kleindiest,
E. (Hrsg.), (1993). Die persoanle Struktur des
gesellschaftlichen Lebens. Festschrift für Anton Rauscher.
Duncker & Humblot.
(1990) Vernunft – Glaube – Politik. Reflexionsstufen
Sozialethik. Paderborn, München, Wein, Zürich: Schöningh.
Kaufmann, F. X.
(1995). Zukenft der Familie im vereinten Deutschland.
Gesellschaftliche und politische Bedingungen. München:
Verlag C. H. Beck.
Kerber, W. (1974).
Leitlinien des gesellschaftlichen Handelns von Katholiken.
In H. J.
Walraff (Ed.), Sozialethik in Wandel der Gesellschaft. (pp.
Klug, W. (1997).
Wohlfahrtsverbände zwischen Markt, Staat und Selbsthilfe.
Lampert, H. (1997).
Familie und Familienpolitik im Rahmen der Sozialstaatsreform.
Anton Rauscher (Ed.), Zukunftsfähige Gesellschaft. Beiträge
zu Grundfragen der
Wirtschaft – und Sozialpolitik. (pp. 121-139). Berlin:
Duncker & Humblot GmbH.
O. v. (Ed.). (3 Auflage 1983). Soziallehre der Kirche. Erläuterung
lehramtlichen Dokumente. Wein.
Schaper, K. (4 Auflage 1998). Die Sozialordnung der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland. Frankfurt a.M., New York: Campus-Verlag.
S., Heierle, W. (1980). Einführung in die Katholische
Wissen schaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Peukert, R. (2
Auflage 1996). Familienformen im sozialen Wandel. Opladen:
for the I.U.C. Journal of Social Work Theory and Practice
is owned by the Social Work Program, Department of Social
Relations and Services, Bemidji State University, Bemidji,
Minnesota, USA. One copy may be made (printed) for personal
use; teachers may make multiple copies for student use if
the copies are made available to students without charge.
Permission must be secured from the editors for sale of any
copies of articles or for any commercial use of the material
published in the Journal.
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Blane Klemek: Brown creepers — the only treecreepers in North America
In late November on a very calm and cold morning in the La Salle Lake State Recreation Area located a dozen miles north of Lake Itasca, I heard a high-pitched, but thin sounding call-note of a familiar, yet not-often-seen, avian friend of mine.
While standing in a lowland forest not far from La Salle Creek and an adjacent cedar swamp, I searched the immediate area around me for the little brown bird and quickly located it. To some people not familiar with the bird’s voice, the whisper-like note — delivered as seee or sreee—might go unnoticed, or possibly thought to be more distant than its actual location.
Indeed, my little brown friend was none other than the frequently described “diminutive” brown creeper. The brown creeper’s Latin genus name, Certhia — shortened from certhius, which was derived from the Greek word “kerthios”, or a small tree-dwelling bird — means “a creeper”. Spiraling vertically up the trunks of trees, the five-inch long birds are aptly named.
I can think of only a few other birds that could be mistaken for a brown creeper. Nuthatches possess similar behaviors and body design, but no nuthatch is brown in color. As well, nuthatches typically creep downward on a tree trunk or limb, headfirst, while the brown creeper usually creeps upward, headfirst. And though nuthatches and creepers are vocal, nuthatches vocalize louder and much more often than do creepers. As well, creepers share characteristics with species of woodpeckers, too; albeit unrelated to woodpeckers.
Brown creepers blend into their environment better than most species of birds do. Whereas many birds, particularly male birds, display assortments of color, the mottled brown backs of brown creepers is as cryptic a plumage as Nature provides. As anyone can attest, picking out brown birds in natural environments is difficult at best.
Propped tightly against and creeping on the bark of trees, brown creepers are nearly invisible. Partly as innate defense against would-be predators and partly because the posture and mode of locomotion is good foraging strategy, creepers instinctively behave in ways that best equip themselves for survival.
By navigating and clutching firmly the trunks and major limbs of trees in the manner they do — that is, drawing their breasts snuggly into bark crevices, essentially flattening themselves — brown creepers appear to be a part of the tree itself. If threatened, creepers will sometimes freeze, spread their wings, and become motionless for several minutes until the perceived danger passes.
As creepers navigate on the boles of trees in search for food, they stop repeatedly to probe cracks in the bark with their thin, decurved beaks. The beak, perfectly adapted to the birds’ specific foraging method, is shaped the way it is for a good reason: it works and works well. Any place where their beak can fit into or underneath, brown creepers use it to probe for insects, insect pupae, and insect eggs. They also occasionally feed on nuts and seeds.
So at home within the bark of tree trunks and main limbs for their foraging activities, creepers also nest within the bark. Characteristic of brown creeper nesting behavior are nests constructed of bark bits, tiny sticks, some moss, and a few feathers neatly arranged into a small bowl tucked up against a tree trunk and sandwiched behind slabs of bark. True to their physical form, brown creeper nests are difficult to locate, let alone see. Cavities inside of trees are also utilized by nesting creepers.
Habitat components that are important for the rarely viewed brown creeper (although they are occasionally observed visiting backyard suet feeders) are the types of trees they prefer feeding from and nesting in. Commonly nesting within hardwoods, brown creepers tend to concentrate their searches for food on dead and dying trees where wood boring insects and other invertebrates are usually more abundant. Here is yet another avian species that depend on snag trees for their existence.
The inconspicuous brown creeper hasn’t much of a song or call. But a well-tuned ear can pick up the faint, high-pitched lisped-call — a sort of “tsee” note, if you will; and the song is described as a “tinkling, descending warble”. In any event, the brown creeper voice is consistent with its minuscule size and unobtrusive presence.
Brown creepers are the only members of the treecreeper family, Certhiidae, that reside in North America. Other species of treecreepers can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa, India, Australia, and the Philippines, to name some. Additionally, our species of treecreeper is the only North American bird that exhibits the combination of traits that make them so unique: mottled plumage, a decurved beak, and the upward creeping behavior regularly observed. To be sure, no other bird is quite like our little brown creeper.
Reminding us of woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens, and other little brown unremarkable birds of the forest, the brown creeper, unique in every way, is a bird that’s sure to please as we get out and enjoy the great outdoors.
(Klemek is the DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor in Detroit Lakes. You can contact him at [email protected].)
Follow us on Twitter @DLNewspapers
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"So you're the little lady who started this great war," Abraham Lincoln famously said to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was the most sensational, best-selling and influential book of its day.
Stowe was born 200 years ago this Tuesday, and in honor of her birthday scholar David Reynolds has published a cultural history of the novel, tracking its influence across decades of domestic and international politics.
In "Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America," Reynolds convincingly argues that the novel "was central to redefining American democracy on a more egalitarian basis. It helped rectify social injustice by affirming fairness and empowerment for marginalized or oppressed groups," in the United States and abroad. Without it, the last 150 years would have played out differently.
Reynolds, a professor at the City University of New York, is author of other well-regarded books on American literature and history, including "Walt Whitman's America" and "John Brown, Abolitionist."
He knows 19th-century America, and the first part of "Mightier Than the Sword" traces the roots of Stowe's novel. He discusses Calvinism, gender roles, the temperance movement and the religious beliefs of the famous Beecher family -- Lyman, Stowe's father, was a nationally known preacher, as was her brother, Henry Ward. Stowe, a life-long abolitionist, lived in Cincinnati for several years where, it is said, she witnessed those trying to escape from Kentucky by crossing the river into Ohio.
How did the novel start the war? Without Lincoln's election, Reynolds argues, there would have been no Civil War. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" helped put Lincoln in the White House by uniting differing antislavery groups, igniting the passions of the regular citizens and inflaming Southerners.
First serialized in a newspaper, then published in 1852, Stowe's novel was an instant best seller, and one month later, the presses were "running twenty-four hours a day, three paper mills supplying paper, and a hundred booksellers selling work." Within a year, it had sold over 300,000 copies in the United States, three times more than any other American book, including the Bible.
Reading it aloud became a favorite family pastime, and abroad, it was widely translated. The British bought more than 1 million copies -- triple the rate of U.S. sales. (Stowe, incidentally, did not get rich: She signed a poor contract and, without international copyright laws, received nothing for foreign editions).
Just as important as the novel, Reynolds convinces us, were the spinoffs: engravings of the black characters, Topsy dolls, Uncle Tom's Pure Unadulterated Coffee and Parisian licorice called Uncle Tom's Candy. Most influential was the play based on the novel. Some Southern states outlawed the book and its theatrical version.
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote of the novel's influence in a poem: "All through the conflict, up and down / Marched Uncle Tom and Old John Brown, / One ghost, one form ideal; / And which was false and which was true, / And which was mightier of the two, /The wisest sybil never knew, /For both alike were real."
The ripples didn't stop with the Emancipation Proclamation. Lenin loved the novel. Tolstoy called it "the highest art." It inspired nationalist movements in South America, and in 1901, it was the first U.S. novel translated into Chinese.
Before the century expired, 500 traveling companies were staging the play in the United States. Tom shows were, Reynolds argues, "among the primitive beginnings of mass entertainment in America." In the early 20th century, most Americans' first experience with theater was at a Tom show.
Eventually, Tom's accommodating became subject to debate. Reynolds quotes appreciations by W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington as well as put-downs by Richard Wright and Alain Locke. He demonstrates how early films deployed both racially sensitive and insensitive portrayals of Tom and Topsy and how both kinds influenced modern cinema.
Reynolds, sensitive to historical change, concludes that the novel had "invested blacks with beauty and power to a degree that no other pre-Civil War novel began to approach." Langston Hughes agreed, calling it a "moral battle cry."
Today there are 88 foreign translations of the novel. After a dip during which critics deemed the novel crude and Tom only racist, both novel and protagonist are better understood as pioneers.
Clear and informative, "Mightier Than the Sword" is a research-driven yet readable history. It reminds us to remember the author born two centuries ago this week.
Anne Trubek is the author of "A Skeptic's Guide to Writers' Houses."
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Smithsonian display casts light on Japanese-Americans who beautified their dismal internment camp surroundings
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is presenting "The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese-American Internment Camps, 1942-1946" at its Renwick Gallery. The display opened March 5 and runs through Jan. 30, 2011. The exhibition features more than 120 objects, the majority of which are on loan from families of former internees. "The Art of Gaman" presents an opportunity to educate a new generation of Americans about the internment experience and provide a historical context through archival photographs and artifacts.
"The Art of Gaman" is organized by San Francisco-based author and guest curator Delphine Hirasuna with the cooperation of the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League. The exhibition is based on Hirasuna's book, "The Art of Gaman," published by Ten Speed Press.
"My mother died in 2000 and I was going through one of the boxes in the garage and came across a wooden bird pin and then I started remembering some of the things I had seen over the years. A friend of mine who saw the pin suggested that it might make an interesting topic for a book," says Hirasuna. "So that is how it started. My parents never really talked about the camps so I really didn't know what was [in the boxes] and I was blown away by what I saw - the range, the quality. It was after I gathered about a dozen things that I realized that this was a richer topic than I initially anticipated."
Soon after the Dec. 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, almost 120,000 ethnic Japanese - more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth - were ordered to leave their homes and move to 10 inland internment camps for the duration of World War II.
"The rule was that the entire West Coast was declared a military zone so when the orders came down to what they called 'evacuate,' basically there was no place to evacuate to because the other states said if you consider the Japanese so dangerous, we don't want them either," Hirasuna says. "They went through the orphanages, foster care homes, they took people out of hospitals. If you had 1/16 Japanese blood, you had to go into camps. Within 11 weeks after Pearl Harbor, people had to begin reporting to camp so it wasn't enough time to really think through what you could do."
While in these remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by soldiers with machine guns, the internees used scraps and materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. What they created is a celebration of the human spirit under adversity. These objects - furniture, tools, teapots, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays - are physical representations of the art of "gaman," a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.
Using found materials at first and later what they could order by catalog, the internees sought courage and solace through art. They whittled and carved, painted, etched, stitched and crocheted.
"People didn't value what they had. They made it in camp, but most of them threw it in a shed or their attic and didn't look at it again. When I started asking around, people gave me stuff that was still in boxes from 1945," Hirasuna says. "Most of them, particularly the woodworkers, were not professional artists. They were just making it because they needed a piece of furniture or just to occupy their time. So when the camps closed, they didn't think of themselves as having made anything exceptional."
The exhibition is presented under the patronage of Norman Mineta, a former congressman and U.S. secretary of transportation, and regent of the Smithsonian. Mineta was interned at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
"Since the book has come out, people have been coming out of the woodwork," Hirasuna says. "People are telling me what they have and I think they are looking at this in a whole new light. Then, once it became an exhibition, people have really changed the way they view these things. The people who made these things are all gone, I would say 99 percent."
In 2006, the exhibition appeared at museums in California, Oregon and Connecticut. The presentation at the Renwick includes several additions that have not been seen publicly, including works by Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Isamu Noguchi, Henry Sugimoto and master woodworkers Gentaro and Shinzaburo Nishiura.
Contact: Smithsonian Institution, MRC 970, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012. Tel: 202-633-8530. americanart.si.edu
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue.
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It may sound like an excuse to get out of doing the washing-up – but Grace Kirkby is regularly stumped by daily tasks thanks to her phobia of bubbles.
The 19-year-old suffers from trypophobia – the fear of bubbles or clusters of small holes.
She runs out of the room if they appear when she is cooking or watching TV, while pints, fizzy drinks and frothy coffee are all out of the question.
The worst triggers are foods and drinks where she can feel as well as see the holes, such as crumpets – but even a patterned dress can make her head spin.
If she does see them, she becomes intensely itchy – so much so, in the past she has scratched herself until she bled.
Miss Kirkby said: ‘It sounds so silly but bubbles and all small holes make my skin crawl. I would run away screaming all the time if I could.’
The university student from Exeter has no idea where her phobia came from but has had it for as long as she can remember.
Trypophobia is yet to be officially recognised as a medical condition.
Dr Geoff Cole, from the University of Essex, suggests it has an evolutionary basis. ‘There may be an ancient part of the brain telling people they are looking at a poisonous animal,’ he said.
In the meantime, Miss Kirkby has opted to study psychology at university to try to understand her condition.
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CHALLENGES TO LEARNING
You may have a disability that affects how you learn. Having a disability does not have to prevent you from going to college. This page includes information about your rights, ways to study, and services available to you.
What are the laws that protect students with disabilities who want a college education?
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
This law protects the civil rights of students with disabilities. Schools may not discriminate against students solely because of their disability. This means that students with disabilities cannot be denied financial assistance or benefits, and they cannot be excluded from participating in activities because of their disability. Examples of qualified disabilities include AIDS, arthritis, cancer, deafness, mental retardation, speech disorders, and more.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Title II protects the rights of people with disabilities to make sure they can benefit from all state and federal govern ment programs and services, including public education.
Common Questions about Disabilities and College
The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights website has answers to common questions college students have about disabilities, like these:
May a college deny my admission because I have a disability?
No. If you meet the essential requirements for admission, a college may not deny your admission simply because you have a disability.
Do I have to tell a postsecondary school that I have a disability?
No. It’s your decision to tell the school about your disability. However, if you want the school to provide you with services related to your disability, you must identify yourself as having a disability.
If I want services related to my disability, what must I do?
You must inform the school that you have a disability and need services. Unlike your local school district, your postsecondary school is not required to identify you as having a disability or assess your needs.
Do I have to prove that I have a disability to get services?
Generally, yes. Your school probably will require you to provide documentation that shows you have a current disability and need services.
What documentation should I provide?
Schools may require you to provide documentation from a medical doctor, psychologist or other qualified diagnostician. The documentation may include a diagnosis of your current disability; the date of the diagnosis; how the diagnosis was reached; the credentials of the professional; how your disability affects a major life activity; and how the disability affects your academic performance. The documentation should provide enough information for you and your school to decide which services are best.
Visit the Office of Civil Rights website to find out more. Scroll down to read more questions and answers.
Strategies to Prepare for Classes
- Participate in orientation programs. These programs provide opportunities to become familiar with campus life and to ask questions of continuing students and advisors about classes, faculty, resources, and services.
- Don't procrastinate. Do not wait until the last minute to begin gathering information about courses and professors. Most Offices for Disability Support Services will allow students with disabilities to begin registering a few days before other students.
- Talk to other students. They can be an excellent source of information about classes and professors.
- Audit (visit) classes. It is possible to observe a class for a limited period of time to determine whether this is the right class for you. Students who audit a course are not responsible for exams or assignments.
- Check the internet. Most colleges and universities offer course information online, including the syllabus (outline of the course), objectives, textbook, readings, and assignments.
- Meet the professor. Professors have office hours to answer questions about the course. Getting the textbooks and reading list ahead of time also allows students an opportunity to get a head start on the course.
–Taken from ERIC EC Digest #E620 by: Juliana M. Taymans and Lynda L. West, Dec. 2001.
Online Resources for Students with Disabilities
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies
These agencies provide counseling, evaluation, and job placement services for people with disabilities. Scroll down to find your state to find contact information.
From the home page, click on “Education,” then click on “Higher Education.” Click on a topic to learn about financial aid, programs for students with disabilities, and more.
Information and Resources for Students with Specific Disabilities
Here is information about specific disabilities, suggestions for study, and services your college may provide to help you do your best at school.
Students with Learning Disabilities
What is a learning disability (LD)?
Learning disabilities are neurological disorders. Having LD makes it difficult for a person to understand what they see or hear or to connect information they get. People with LD may have problems understanding what they read or what others say. They may find it hard to pay attention. All these factors can make it difficult for a student to learn in school. Learning disabilities are life-long.
From the home page, click on the links to find out about LD, read questions and answers, find resources, and more. To visit the section especially for college students, click on “LD Topics,” then click on “College and College Prep.” To find out about getting evaluated, click on “Questions + Answers” and then click on “Evaluation/LD Testing.”
Students with Dyslexia
What is dyslexia?
International Dyslexia Association
This type of LD makes it difficult to read and write words and usually also numbers. People with dyslexia are usually creative, empathic, and have good physical coordination.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals with dyslexia, their families and the communities that support them. Their goal is to provide the most comprehensive forum for parents, educators, and researchers to share their experiences, methods, and knowledge.
Dyslexia at College
This website is filled with study tips and techniques especially for college students with dyslexia.
Students with Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD)
What is ADD/ADHD?
ADD/ADHD is a neurological disorder. The principal characteristics of ADD/ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
ADDitude: College Advice for ADHD Students
Click the page numbers to continue reading the article. Click the links in the article for more tips.
Students who are Hard of Hearing/Deaf
Get in touch with the disability services office at your school and see what assistance they have available. One example is an assistive listening device that helps you hear the instructor in class. Or, your school may provide someone to interpret for you in classes and meetings with teachers.
Students with Visual Impairment/Blindness
Contact your school’s disability services office to find out what assistance they can provide for you, such as note takers to take class notes for you or computers that can read books out loud.
Living Blind offers good advice. On the home page, click on “College,” then click on the links for useful suggestions on preparing for classes, getting materials in alternative formats, and more.
Tools and Technology to Support Learning
This is free software that reads web pages out loud to you. On the home page, click on “Download” and follow the instructions.
This is free text-to-speech software to help you read web pages as well as documents in Windows-based operating systems such as Windows 2000 or XP.
If you have trouble reading books because the print is too small or you read too slowly to finish your class assignments, you have several options:
Large Print Books
Many books come in large-print format. If you are buying your school books online, type “large print” in the search bar along with the title. If you are buying your books at the school’s bookstore, ask for the large-print copy or ask the staff to order a large-print copy for you.
Classic Books Online
This website has classic novels online. This might be good for you if you take an English literature class. You can choose the font and background for easier reading. Best of all, it’s free! Type a book title in the search box or click on “Electronic Library” to search for an author. When you click on a book, you can choose the background color, font style, and more. Click in the text box and scroll down to continue to read the book.
Books on Tape or CDs
Many books come in tape or CD format. You can check if your college library or your local library has the book you are looking for and then borrow it for free.
Electronic Audio Books
This website offers popular books (fiction and nonfiction), not textbooks. You must be a member to enjoy this website. Each month the service emails you one or two books, depending on which membership plan you choose. The membership fee also entitles you to a free or discounted MP3 player. On the home page, click on “What is Audible?” to find out more.
Audio Books For Free
This website has about 1,500 titles. It is a good website to check out if you’re not sure you want to pay for a service like Audible. Read the home page for more information, then click on “Enter our website.”
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
This organization has over 95,000 recorded books in their catalog. To access the recordings, you must be a member. On the home page, click “Membership Information” for more information.
Digital Voice Recorders
This is a great tool for class if you have trouble keeping up with the professor. A digital voice recorder is like a tape recorder without the tape. You can listen to your professor’s lecture again and fill in the blanks in your notes. These are available at office supply stores.
AlphaSmart / Quickpad
If you have trouble taking notes by hand, then you should consider getting an AlphaSmart or Quickpad. AlphaSmart and Quickpad are simple, less expensive versions of a laptop computer. You can type and make charts in both. You can connect it to your computer or to the school’s computer and load your files.
If you do not have the use of both hands to type, have impaired vision, or other special needs, ask your school’s computer lab assistant about special keyboards. One option is the Dvorak keyboard, which places the most-used letters near one another so that you only have to use one hand to type. If you are working on a computer that has Windows 95 or later, you can change the keyboard setting to Dvorak. (There are stickers available that you can place over your current keys to match the Dvorak layout.) Check the website below for more kinds of keyboards.
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Sulphuric acid; called also oil of vitriol. So called because first made by the distillation of green vitriol. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric. Blue vitriol. See Blue. Green vitriol, ferrous sulphate; copperas. See Green. Oil of vitriol, sulphuric or vitriolic acid; popularly so called because it has the consistency of oil. Red vitriol, a native sulphate of cobalt. Vitriol of Mars, ferric sulphate, a white crystalline substance which dissolves in water, forming a red solution. White vitriol, zinc sulphate, a white crystalline substance used in medicine and in dyeing. It is usually obtained by dissolving zinc in sulphuric acid, or by roasting and oxidizing certain zinc ores. Formerly called also vitriol of zinc.
Origin: F. Vitriol; cf. Pr. Vitriol, vetriol, Sp. & Pg. Vitriolo, It. Vitriuolo; fr. L. Vitreolus of glass, vitreus vitreous. See Vitreous.
(01 Mar 1998)
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Monday, May 3, 2010
• The Golden Poppy plant has Fern-like leaves with single flowers on a long stalk.
• Golden Poppy leaves are 3/4-4" long divided into narrow segments on long stalks.
• Golden Poppy bloom in open areas, grassy or sandy slopes.
• Golden Poppy is found in southern California to southern Washington, east to Texas.
• Golden Poppy flower is used in landscaping for a temporary spring display by scattering the seed in the fall.
• California Indians cherished the Golden Poppy as both a source of food and for oil extracted from the plant.
• The true poppy genus is Papaver, but many flowers of related genera are also called poppies.
• The milky sap of Golden Poppy's unripe seed pods is the source of opium and several other similar drugs, e.g., morphine, codeine, and heroin.
• Golden Poppy seed, also called maw seed, is not narcotic and is used as birdseed and for a flavoring or garnish in baking.
• Golden Poppy seed is also ground for flour.
• Poppy oil, derived from the Golden Poppy seeds, is employed in cooking and illumination and in paints, varnishes, and soaps.
• The Golden Poppy has been the symbol of the dead and of sleep since antiquity.
List of all State Flowers
Jasmine flower and the essential oil extracted from the flower are being used extensively in cosmetics and perfumery, and as a calmative (relaxing properties, sedative) and aphrodisiac (intensifies sexual desire).
Jasmine is a very popular flower around the world, especially in tropics because of its unique fragrance. The Jasmine is native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the old world.
Jasmine flowers are white in most species, with some species being yellow flowered. Jasmine is believed to have originated in the Himalayas in western China.
Unlike most genera in the Oleceae family, which have four corolla lobes petals, Jasmines often have five or six lobes. Jasmines are often strongly and sweetly scented. Jasmine is widely cultivated for its shining leaves and beautiful clusters of fragrant flowers.
Flowering in Jasmines takes place in summer or spring, usally six months after planting. The Jasmine flower releases its fragrance at night after the sun has set and especially when the moon is waxing towards fullness. Jasmine flower buds are more fragrant than the flowers.
There exists a true Jasmine and a false Jasmine, and the two are commonly mistaken for each other because of the fragrance the plants release. The true Jsmine belongs to the family Oleaceae, is primarily a bushy shrub or climbing vine, and is non-poisonous.
True Jasmine has oval, shiny leaves and tubular, waxy-white flowers. The false Jasmine, on the other hand, is in a completely different genus, Gelsemium, and family, Loganiaceae, is considered too poisonous for human consumption.
Some Interesting Facts about Gardenias
• Gardenias are grown for their beautiful foliage and they make great cut flowers.
• Gardenias flowers from about mid-spring to mid-summer, i.e., May through July
• Many of the gardenia species are strongly scented.
• The genus Gardenia is named after Alexander Garden, a physician in Charleston of South Carolina.
• Gardenias can be used as screens, hedges, borders or ground covers.
• In France, Gardenia is the traditional flower which men wear as boutonnieres.
• The most popular cultivated species is the Cape jasmine, native to China.
• Each gardenia flower is followed by 6-sided berries of rich orange-red with long, elegant stems.
• Gardenia thunbergia produces a woody fruit which has hard, angular seeds inside.
About Gardenia Flower and Plant
Gardenias are very fragrant creamy-white flowers with glossy, dark-green leaves. Gardenia flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white or pale yellow. The gardenia flowers are with a tubular-based corolla with 5-12 lobes petals from 5-12 cm diameter.
Gardenia plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1-15 m tall. The Gardenia plant leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four. They are dark green and glossy 5-50 cm long and 3-25 cm broad, with a leathery texture. They are simple, entire, and hairless, with wavy margin.
• Gardenia plants need high humidity.
• A loose, well-drained organic soil is recommended.
• For best results plant gardenias in full sun, partial shade, or shifting shade.
• Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball.
• Thoroughly mix one part soil and one part planting mix.
• Check that the top of the original root ball is slightly above the level of the surrounding soil.
• Take the soil mixture and make a gentle mound of soil sloping away from the plant so that the water drains away from the trunk.
• Remove any air pockets, if present.
• Water the plant with a root stimulator.
Cosmos flowers are produced in a capitulum. Cosmos flower Capitulum is surrounded by a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets. There is a lot of color variation in between the species. Cosmos flowers are 2-4 inches in diameter. Cosmos flowers come in brightly colored single or double flowers which include white, pink, orange, yellow, and scarlet colors.
Facts about Cosmos flower
• Cosmos are herbaceous perennial flowering plants.
• Cosmos flower plants grow to 3-6 feet tall.
• The leaves of Cosmos plant are simple, pinnate, or bipinnate, and are arranged in opposite pairs.
• The word Cosmos is derived from the Greek, which means a balanced universe.
• Cosmos flower blooms twice a year and only once in the season.
• Cosmos flowers blooms heavily, but dies with first frost.
• Cosmos flowers can regrow in the following spring if seed falls on bare ground.
• Cosmos flowers occurs in Solid pink, white, maroon, and pink with deep pink flares.
• Cosmos flowering plants can be grown quickly and successfully in all regions.
• Cosmos seeds are miniature pine needles.
• Cosmos seeds are one of the easiest seeds in the world to grow.
• Chocolate cosmos or Cosmos atrosanguinea, fills the air with its sweet scent of vanilla tinged chocolate.
• Lace cosmos have more rows of petals, and have ferny foliage of a very delicate texture. Cosmos sulphureus plant leaves resemble those of marigolds (member of the Compositae, to which Cosmos belongs).
Growing Cosmos flowers
• Sow the cosmos seeds directly just before the last frost.
• Give 12 inches of space between the plants.
• Spread the cosmos seeds over freshly turned bare soil.
• Press the seed into the dirt, and do not cover the seed.
• Cosmos seeds germinate quickly.
• Cosmos plants normally grow to 4-5 feet in a season.
• Most of the Cosmos varieties are annuals, but there are perennial varieties also.
• Perennial varieties of cosmos are Rhizomes and can be propagated by division.
Caring Cosmos flowers
• Spent flowers should be deadheaded regularly, as it keeps cosmos in bloom for many weeks.
• Overfertilizing and overwatering reduces the flower production.
• Cosmos flower plants are drought tolerant but water Cosmos plants during long dry spells.
• After the plants die after the first frost, remove them, and keep as compost, which helps as mulch for the next year plants.
Orchid flowers have always been admired for their elegant, exotic and refined appearance making them a sophisticated floral gift for any occasion. The intricate beauty of the orchids symbolize a wide variety of meanings. Historically orchids have symbolized wealth, love and beauty, while today orchids are treasured as symbols of rare and delicate beauty. To the early Greeks, the orchid represented virility, and the Chinese called it "the plant of the king's fragrance." During the Middle Ages, orchids were considered an aphrodisiac and were used in love potions.
Orchids Need Special Care
Orchids benefit from extra special care. Contrary to popular belief, orchids have a good vase life, as long as they are kept in water. When u buy orchids, the stems may come in water tube or wrapped in wet cotton wool. This should be removed, and the stems re-cut and placed in fresh water with flower food as soon as possible. Orchids should be kept away from heat, draughts, fans, air conditioning units and anything that may cause moisture loss. Frequent misting of the flowers with water is recommended. If they look limp, place them in water – flower head and all – for up to one hour. Orchids should also be kept away from fruit, vegetables and decaying flowers, as orchids are especially susceptible to ethylene gas.
Orchid Flower History, Symbolism and Origin
The orchid's name originates from the Greek orchis, meaning "testicle," and its history is one of lust, greed, and wealth. Some orchids are called "ladies' fingers," "ladies' tresses," or "long purples." Orchids were collected extensively during the 1800s; once, four thousand trees were cut down for the orchids growing on their branches.
There are nearly 25,000 varieties of orchids. Greek women thought they could control the sex of their unborn children with orchid roots. If the father ate large, new tubers, the child would be male; if the mother ate small tubers, the child would be female
The paphiopedilum orchid was named for Phaphos, a temple on Cyprus where the love goddess Aphrodite was worshipped. The most famous orchid, the vanilla orchid, was said to give strength to the Aztecs, who drank vanilla mixed with chocolate.
The flower comes in several varieties but originally the chrysanthemum was just a small yellow flower. After generations of cultivation, the number of varieties grew rapidly. In the Chrysanthemum Book of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), 35 varieties were noted but by the time of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the number had risen to 136. In Li Shizhen's famous book, "Ben Cao Gang Mu", finished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), more than 900 varieties of chrysanthemum were listed. Today more than 3,000 varieties are blooming in China.
Chrysanthemums, or "mums," are any of several annual and perennial herbs in a large genus, Chrysanthemum, of the daisy family, Compositae. Chrysanthemums are widely grown commercially for their showy red, white, or yellow blossoms, which are produced in late summer and fall. The blossoms range from daisylike in appearance to very shaggy.
Although most of the popular varieties are new hybrids, chrysanthemums originally came from China, India and Korea; they are the floral emblem of theimperial family. The Chinese varieties are the tallest, reaching heights of 1.2 m (4 ft) or more. Indian or pompon varieties have smallest flowers. Chrysanthemums should be planted in sunny locations, as they become spindly if grown in the shade
Water hyacinth is a member of the pickerelweed family. The plants vary in size from a few centimeters to over a meter in height. The glossy green, leathery leaf blades are up to 20 cm long and 5-15 cm wide and are attached to petioles that are often spongy-inflated. Numerous dark, branched, fibrous roots dangle in the water from the underside of the plant. The inflorescence is a loose terminal spike with showy light-blue to violet flowers (flowers occasionally white). Each flower has 6 bluish-purple petals joined at the base to form a short tube. One petal bears a yellow spot. The fruit is a three-celled capsule containing many minute, ribbed seeds.
Water hyacinths grow over a wide variety of wetland types from lakes, streams, ponds, waterways, ditches, and backwater areas.
Water hyacinths obtain their nutrients directly from the water and have been used in wastewater treatment facilities. They prefer and grow most prolifically in nutrient-enriched waters.
New plant populations often form from rooted parent plants and wind movements and currents help contribute to their wide distribution. Linked plants form dense rafts in the water and mud.
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1. (in the Gregorian calendar) a year that contains 366 days, with February 29 as an additional day: occurring in years whose last two digits are evenly divisible by four, except for centenary years not divisible by 400.
2. a year containing an extra day in any calendar. Cf. common year.
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Although flat panel monitors have been around for several years, their prices have only recently fallen to the point that they are being adopted by the masses. However, LCD monitors are so mechanically different from CRT monitors that diagnostic techniques that we have all been using for years are now obsolete. Many of the problems that plagued CRT monitors simply aren't an issue for LCD panels. At the same time though, LCD panels are subject to some rather strange issues that you would never encounter with a CRT monitor. That being the case, this article will explain what some common issues are with LCD monitors and how you can resolve them.
LCD vs. CRT
Before I get into the troubleshooting section, I want to take a moment and explore the anatomy of an LCD panel and how it functions in comparison to a CRT monitor. After all, it's tough to troubleshoot a hardware problem if you don't understand how the device works.
CRT monitors rely on a special type of vacuum tube called a cathode ray tube (hence the abbreviation CRT). The tube is narrow at one end and wide at the other. The wide end is the surface where the image is displayed. The narrow end of the tube contains an electron gun that fires electrons at the end of the tube that's used for viewing. The large end of the CRT tube is coated in phosphorous. Whenever an electron from the electron gun strikes the phosphorous, it releases a burst of light, and this is how an image is created.
The phosphorous coating is actually made up of three different colors of phosphorous; red, green, and blue. If the electron strikes red phosphorous, then the burst of light that is released is red. A device called a shadow mask separates the various phosphors from each other. Without a shadow mask, an electron might strike a red phosphor, but some of the energy would bleed over into the blue and green phosphors, causing the incorrect color to be displayed. The shadow mask insures that only the correct phosphor is illuminated at a given moment.
The other thing that you need to know about phosphors is that they release the burst of light extremely quickly. However, phosphorous has a quality called persistence that allows it to keep glowing for a little while after the light burst has been released. This is how monitors are able to give the illusion of a solid picture.
The picture is composed as the electron gun is turned off, aimed, and turned back on. Of course the whole process happens much too quickly to actually reposition the gun. Instead, a device called a yoke uses magnets to pull the electron from the gun in the desired direction. The entire screen is redrawn many thousands of times each second. The number of times that the screen is redrawn per second is the monitor's refresh rate.
An LCD monitor is based on the idea that you can re-align a liquid crystal's molecular structure by applying a small amount of electricity to the crystal. When the electric charge is removed, the liquid crystals return to their original state. This concept has been in use for decades in calculators. A calculator screen appears solid gray until an electric current causes black numbers to appear.
In a calculator, the liquid crystals actually form the numbers that are being displayed. In an LCD monitor though, electricity is applied to a crystal to turn it black, not to display an image, but rather to block out light. An LCD monitor has a cold cathode backlight that illuminates the entire display surface. The liquid crystals are sandwiched between the backlight and a thin film containing millions of translucent red, green, and blue dots. Red, green, and blue dots are arranged into triangle patterns called triads. Each triad represents a single pixel.
Suppose that a computer told a specific pixel to display as blue. The LCD panel would energize the crystals behind the red and green portions of the triad. In doing so, the now black crystals would prevent any light from passing through the red or green holes, leaving only blue illuminated. The result is that the pixel displays as blue.
The process sounds simple enough, but think about how many pixels are present on a monitor. A monitor with a resolution of 1024 x 768 contains 786,432 pixels. Being that there are three separate elements that make up each pixel, the monitor would have to manage 2,359,296 separate crystals.
In early LCD monitors, this was a huge problem. The monitor simply couldn't refresh itself quickly enough to produce a decent picture. If you moved your mouse pointer across the screen, a ghosted trail would follow. These early LCD monitors worked great for word processing and things like that, but their slow refresh rate made them a poor choice for things like gaming and video editing.
The problem of slow response time was eventually solved by adding a transistor to every single crystal on the entire monitor. The transistors made it possible to create LCD monitors with decent refresh rates. In fact, most of the LCD monitors in use today are of the TFT variety. TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor.
Now that I have described how an LCD monitor works and how it differs from a CRT, let's talk about some common issues with LCD monitors. The first issue that I want to discuss is dead pixels. A dead pixel is a pixel that always displays as either black or white, regardless of the image that is on the screen.
This problem goes back to the way that an LCD monitor works. The problem is related to either a manufacturing defect or to a set of blown transistors. What's happening is that the liquid crystals within that particular pixel are either always receiving electricity (black) or are never receiving electricity (white). There have also been cases in which only part of a triad is damaged. For example, red and green might work, but blue is stuck either on or off. This produces a pixel that is partially responsive but that often displays an incorrect color.
The bad news is that if you have a dead or a partially dead pixel, there is nothing that you can do about it other than buying a new monitor. The good news is that the problem isn't as common as it used to be. A couple of years ago, it was common for most LCD monitors to have at least one or two dead pixels because the manufacturing process had not yet been perfected. Today though, monitors hardly ever ship with dead pixels (bargain basement brands aside). It is possible for pixels to die over time though.
Poor picture quality
By far the most common problem with LCD monitors is poor picture quality. There are several different things that can cause the image on the screen to appear blurry or distorted, but there are relatively easy fixes for most of these problems.
One thing that causes poor image quality is the screen resolution that you've selected. As you probably know, CRT monitors have a maximum resolution, but any resolution at or below the maximum resolution will display clearly. The reason for this is because CRT monitors do not have pre-defined pixels. If you tell Windows to use a resolution that's lower than the maximum, then the monitor's yoke simply causes more phosphors to be illuminated for each pixel. This is done in a way that allows the lower resolution to take advantage of the full size of the screen.
LCD monitors work a little bit differently though. The number of pixels that the monitor contains is known as the monitor's native resolution. The monitor can display resolutions below its native resolution, but doing so usually results in a poor quality image because the monitor has to stretch the lower resolution image over a high number of pixels. Think about it for a moment. If you were to try to display an 800 x 600 image on a monitor with a native resolution of 1024 x 768, the monitor does not have enough pixels to assign two hardware pixels to every pixel of the image. Instead, some of the images pixels might be displayed across two triads while other pixels are displayed across one. The resulting image is usable, but it isn't pretty.
There are some situations in which displaying lower resolution images does not cause distortion though. I used to have an old Toshiba monitor that avoided the pixel stretching issue all together. If you selected a lower resolution, it would display the lower resolution image in the middle of the screen and black out the unused pixels around the edges. Another technique that avoids pixel stretching is to lower the image quality in an evenly divisible increment. For example, if a monitor has a native resolution of 1600 x 1200, then it will have no trouble displaying an 800 x 600 image clearly because 1600 is evenly divisible by 800 and 1200 is evenly divisible by 600. The best solution however is to simply use your monitor at the native resolution.
Text is difficult to read
Although LCD monitors are usually considered to have an image that is more crisp than CRT monitors, sometimes, especially on lower end monitors, text can be difficult to read, even if the monitor is running at its native resolution. There are a number of different things that can cause this, such as a poor contrast ratio, a low native resolution, or poor color reproduction. You can sometimes make things better by tinkering with your monitor's settings. However, Microsoft realizes that text is sometimes tough to read on LCD monitors and has built a feature into Windows XP called ClearType.
ClearType adds shading to text in an effort to make it more legible. You can enable ClearType by right clicking on an empty area of the Windows desktop and selecting the Properties command from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, you will see the Display Properties sheet. Now, select the properties sheet's Appearance tab and click the Effects button. When you do, Windows will display the Effects dialog box. Select the Use the Following Method to Smooth Edges of Screen Fonts check box and then select the Clear Text option from the drop down list. Click OK twice and ClearType will be active.
Another common problem is that the screen fails to display an image at all. There are several things that can cause this problem. The trick to diagnosing the problem is to determine whether or not an image is displayed when you first turn on your computer.
If you switch on your computer and you see an image up until Windows starts loading, then the issue is most likely related to your video card driver (especially if you are using a DVI connector). To fix this problem, use another computer to download the latest driver from your video card manufacturer's Web site. Some monitor manufacturers also provide monitor drivers, so it's worth checking to see if a driver is available for your monitor while you are at it.
Once you have the drivers, boot your machine into safe mode (Press [F5] just before Windows begins loading). When Windows boots, open the Control Panel and click Performance and Maintenance, followed by System. This will cause Windows to display the System Properties sheet. Now, select the properties sheet's Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
Navigate through the Device Manager until you locate your video card. You'll find it in the Display Adapters section. Right click on the listing for your vide card and select the Update Driver command from the shortcut menu. Now follow the prompts to load the new driver that you downloaded. If you have a monitor driver, then you will want to locate the monitor listing and update its driver as well.
If you attempt to boot the system and don't get any image at all, then you've got your work cut out for you. Obviously, you will want to make sure that the cables are secure and that the monitor is getting power. You might even try using a spare video cable or try the monitor on a different PC. Keep in mind that some PCs have multiple video outputs, and it could be that the monitor is connected to a video port that isn't active. Look for other ports that you can try connecting your monitor to.
I have heard several reports of blank screens when using a DVI connector. I personally have never had a problem connecting any of my computers to a flat panel monitor through a DVI connector, but apparently, some people have had to flash their BIOS or perform firmware updates to their video cards in order to make a DVI connection work. I have also heard some rather bizarre reports of DVI connections not working until the monitor has had time to warm up.
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The airplane propeller consists of two or more blades and a central hub to which the blades are attached.
Each blade of an airplane propeller is essentially a rotating wing. As a result of their construction, the propeller blades are like airfoils and produce forces that create the thrust to pull, or push, the airplane through the air.
The power needed to rotate the propeller blades is furnished by the engine. The engine rotates the airfoils of the blades through the air at high speeds, and the propeller transforms the rotary power of the engine into forward thrust.
An airplane moving through the air creates a drag force opposing its forward motion. Consequently, if an airplane is to fly, there must be a force applied to it that is equal to the drag, but acting forward. This force is called “thrust.”
Figure 1: Airfoil sections of propeller blade.
A cross section of a typical propeller blade is shown in figure 1. This section or blade element is an airfoil comparable to a cross section of an airplane wing. One surface of the blade is cambered or curved, similar to the upper surface of an airplane wing, while the other surface is flat like the bottom surface of a wing. The chord line is an imaginary line drawn through the blade from its leading edge to its trailing edge. As in a wing, the leading edge is the thick edge of the blade that meets the air as the propeller rotates.
Figure 2: Propeller blade angle.
Blade angle, usually measured in degrees, is the angle between the chord of the blade and the plane of rotation and is measured at a specific point along the length of the blade. Because most propellers have a flat blade “face,” the chord line is often drawn along the face of the propeller blade. Pitch is not the same as blade angle, but because pitch is largely determined by blade angle, the two terms are often used interchangeably. An increase or decrease in one is usually associated with an increase or decrease in the other.
The pitch of a propeller may be designated in inches. A propeller designated as a “74-48” would be 74 inches in length and have an effective pitch of 48 inches. The pitch in inches is the distance which the propeller would screw through the air in one revolution if there were no slippage.
When specifying a fixed-pitch propeller for a new type of airplane, the manufacturer usually selects one with a pitch that will operate efficiently at the expected cruising speed of the airplane.
Unfortunately, however, every fixed-pitch propeller must be a compromise, because it can be efficient at only a given combination of airspeed and r.p.m. Pilots do not have it within their power to change this combination in flight.
When the airplane is at rest on the ground with the engine operating, or moving slowly at the beginning of takeoff, the propeller efficiency is very low because the propeller is restrained from advancing with sufficient speed to permit its fixed-pitch blades to reach their full efficiency. In this situation, each propeller blade is turning through the air at an angle of attack that produces relatively little thrust for the amount of power required to turn it.
To understand the action of a propeller, consider first its motion, which is both rotational and forward.
Thus, as shown by the vectors of propeller forces in figure 2, each section of a propeller blade moves downward and forward. The angle at which this air (relative wind) strikes the propeller blade is its angle of attack. The air deflection produced by this angle causes the dynamic pressure at the engine side of the propeller blade to be greater than atmospheric, thus creating thrust.
The shape of the blade also creates thrust, because it is cambered like the airfoil shape of a wing.
Consequently, as the air flows past the propeller, the pressure on one side is less than that on the other. As in a wing, this produces a reaction force in the direction of the lesser pressure. In the case of a wing, the airflow over the wing has less pressure, and the force (lift) is upward. In the case of the propeller, which is mounted in a vertical instead of a horizontal plane, the area of decreased pressure is in front of the propeller, and the force (thrust) is in a forward direction.
Aerodynamically, then, thrust is the result of the propeller shape and the angle of attack of the blade.
Another way to consider thrust is in terms of the mass of air handled by the propeller. In these terms, thrust is equal to the mass of air handled, times the slipstream velocity, minus the velocity of the airplane. The power expended in producing thrust depends on the rate of air mass movement.
On the average, thrust constitutes approximately 80 percent of the torque (total horsepower absorbed by the propeller). The other 20 percent is lost in friction and slippage. For any speed of rotation, the horsepower absorbed by the propeller balances the horsepower delivered by the engine.
For any single revolution of the propeller, the amount of air handled depends on the blade angle, which determines how big a “bite” of air the propeller takes. Thus, the blade angle is an excellent means of adjusting the load on the propeller to control the engine r.p.m.
The blade angle is also an excellent method of adjusting the angle of attack of the propeller. On constant-speed propellers, the blade angle must be adjusted to provide the most efficient angle of attack at all engine and airplane speeds. Lift versus drag curves, which are drawn for propellers as well as wings, indicate that the most efficient angle of attack is a small one varying from 2° to 4° positive. The actual blade angle necessary to maintain this small angle of attack varies with the forward speed of the airplane.
Fixed-pitch and ground-adjustable propellers are designed for best efficiency at one rotation and forward speed. They are designed for a given airplane and engine combination. A propeller may be used that provides the maximum propeller efficiency for either takeoff, climb, cruise, or high-speed flight.
Any change in these conditions results in lowering the efficiency of both the propeller and the engine.
Since the efficiency of any machine is the ratio of the useful power output to the actual power input, propeller efficiency is the ratio of thrust horsepower to brake horsepower. Propeller efficiency varies from 50 to 87 percent, depending on how much the propeller “slips.”
Propeller slip is the difference between the geometric pitch of the propeller and its effective pitch.
Figure 3: Propeller slippage.
Geometric pitch is the theoretical distance a propeller should advance in one revolution; effective pitch is the distance it actually advances. Thus, geometric or theoretical pitch is based on no slippage, but actual or effective pitch includes propeller slippage in the air.
The reason a propeller is “twisted” is that the outer parts of the propeller blades, like all things that turn about a central point, travel faster than the portions near the hub.
Figure 4: Propeller tips travel faster than hubs.
If the blades had the same geometric pitch throughout their lengths, at cruise speed the portions near the hub could have negative angles of attack while the propeller tips would be stalled. “Twisting,” or variations in the geometric pitch of the blades, permits the propeller to operate with a relatively constant angle of attack along its length when in cruising flight. To put it another way, propeller blades are twisted to change the blade angle in proportion to the differences in speed of rotation along the length of the propeller and thereby keep thrust more nearly equalized along this length.
Usually 1° to 4° provides the most efficient lift/drag ratio, but in flight the propeller angle of attack of a fixed-pitch propeller will vary—normally from 0° to 15°. This variation is caused by changes in the relative airstream which in turn results from changes in airplane speed. In short, propeller angle of attack is the product of two motions: propeller rotation about its axis and its forward motion.
A constant-speed propeller, however, automatically keeps the blade angle adjusted for maximum efficiency for most conditions encountered in flight.
During takeoff, when maximum power and thrust are required, the constant-speed propeller is at a low propeller blade angle or pitch. The low blade angle keeps the angle of attack small and efficient with respect to the relative wind. At the same time, it allows the propeller to handle a smaller mass of air per revolution. This light load allows the engine to turn at high r.p.m. and to convert the maximum amount of fuel into heat energy in a given time. The high r.p.m. also creates maximum thrust; for, although the mass of air handled per revolution is small, the number of revolutions per minute is many, the slipstream velocity is high, and with the low airplane speed, the thrust is maximum.
After liftoff, as the speed of the airplane increases, the constant-speed propeller automatically changes to a higher angle (or pitch). Again, the higher blade angle keeps the angle of attack small and efficient with respect to the relative wind. The higher blade angle increases the mass of air handled per revolution.
This decreases the engine r.p.m., reducing fuel consumption and engine wear, and keeps thrust at a maximum.
After the takeoff climb is established in an airplane having a controllable-pitch propeller, the pilot reduces the power output of the engine to climb power by first decreasing the manifold pressure and then increasing the blade angle to lower the r.p.m.
At cruising altitude, when the airplane is in level flight and less power is required than is used in takeoff or climb, the pilot again reduces engine power by reducing the manifold pressure and then increasing the blade angle to decrease the r.p.m. Again, this provides a torque requirement to match the reduced engine power; for, although the mass of air handled per revolution is greater, it is more than offset by a decrease in slipstream velocity and an increase in airspeed. The angle of attack is still small because the blade angle has been increased with an increase in airspeed.
Torque and P factor
To the pilot, “torque” (the left turning tendency of the airplane) is made up of four elements which cause or produce a twisting or rotating motion around at least one of the airplane’s three axes. These four elements are:
- Torque Reaction from Engine and Propeller.
- Corkscrewing Effect of the Slipstream.
- Gyroscopic Action of the Propeller.
- Asymmetric Loading of the Propeller (P Factor).
Torque reaction involves Newton’s Third Law of Physics—for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As applied to the airplane, this means that as the internal engine parts and propeller are revolving in one direction, an equal force is trying to rotate the airplane in the opposite direction.
Figure 5: Torque reaction.
When the airplane is airborne, this force is acting around the longitudinal axis, tending to make the airplane roll. To compensate for this, some of the older airplanes are rigged in a manner to create more lift on the wing that is being forced downward. The more modern airplanes are designed with the engine offset to counteract this effect of torque.
NOTE—Most United States built aircraft engines rotate the propeller clockwise, as viewed from the pilot’s seat. The discussion here is with reference to those engines.
Generally, the compensating factors are permanently set so that they compensate for this force at cruising speed, since most of the airplane’s operating lift is at that speed. However, aileron trim tabs permit further adjustment for other speeds.
When the airplane’s wheels are on the ground during the takeoff roll, an additional turning moment around the vertical axis is induced by torque reaction.
As the left side of the airplane is being forced down by torque reaction, more weight is being placed on the left main landing gear. This results in more ground friction, or drag, on the left tire than on the right, causing a further turning moment to the left. The magnitude of this moment is dependent on many variables. Some of these variables are: (1) size and horsepower of engine, (2) size of propeller and the r.p.m., (3) size of the airplane, and (4) condition of the ground surface.
This yawing moment on the takeoff roll is corrected by the pilot’s proper use of the rudder or rudder trim.
The high-speed rotation of an airplane propeller gives a corkscrew or spiraling rotation to the slipstream.
At high propeller speeds and low forward speed (as in the takeoffs and approaches to power on stalls), this spiraling rotation is very compact and exerts a strong sideward force on the airplane’s vertical tail surface.
Figure 6: Corkscrewing slipstream.
When this spiraling slipstream strikes the vertical fin on the left, it causes a left turning moment about the airplane’s vertical axis. The more compact the spiral, the more prominent this force is. As the forward speed increases, however, the spiral elongates and becomes less effective.
The corkscrew flow of the slipstream also causes a rolling moment around the longitudinal axis.
Note that this rolling moment caused by the corkscrew flow of the slipstream is to the right, while the rolling moment caused by torque reaction is to the left—in effect one may be counteracting the other. However, these forces vary greatly and it is up to the pilot to apply proper correction action by use of the flight controls at all times. These forces must be counteracted regardless of which is the most prominent at the time.
Before the gyroscopic effects of the propeller can be understood, it is necessary to understand the basic principle of a gyroscope.
All practical applications of the gyroscope are based upon two fundamental properties of gyroscopic action: rigidity in space and precession. The one of interest for this discussion is precession.
Figure 7: Gyroscopic precession.
Precession is the resultant action, or deflection, of a spinning rotor when a deflecting force is applied to its rim. As can be seen in figure 7, when a force is applied, the resulting force takes effect 90° ahead of and in the direction of rotation.
The rotating propeller of an airplane makes a very good gyroscope and thus has similar properties. Any time a force is applied to deflect the propeller out of its plane of rotation, the resulting force is 90° ahead of and in the direction of rotation and in the direction of application, causing a pitching moment, a yawing moment, or a combination of the two depending upon the point at which the force was applied.
This element of torque effect has always been associated with and considered more prominent in tailwheel-type airplanes, and most often occurs when the tail is being raised during the takeoff roll.
Figure 8: Raising tail produces gyroscopic precession.
This change in pitch attitude has the same effect as applying a force to the top of the propeller’s plane of rotation. The resultant force acting 90° ahead causes a yawing moment to the left around the vertical axis. The magnitude of this moment depends on several variables, one of which is the abruptness with which the tail is raised (amount of force applied). However, precession, or gyroscopic action, occurs when a force is applied to any point on the rim of the propeller’s plane of rotation; the resultant force will still be 90° from the point of application in the direction of rotation. Depending on where the force is applied, the airplane is caused to yaw left or right, to pitch up or down, or a combination of pitching and yawing.
It can be said that as a result of gyroscopic action—any yawing around the vertical axis results in a pitching moment, and any pitching around the lateral axis results in a yawing moment.
To correct for the effect of gyroscopic action, it is necessary for the pilot to properly use elevator and rudder to prevent undesired pitching and yawing.
Asymmetric loading (P-factor)
When an airplane is flying with a high angle of attack, the “bite” of the downward moving blade is greater than the “bite” of the upward moving blade; thus moving the center of thrust to the right of the prop disc area—causing a yawing moment toward the left around the vertical axis.
That explanation is correct; however, to prove this phenomenon, it would be necessary to work wind vector problems on each blade, which gets quite involved when considering both the angle of attack of the airplane and the angle of attack of each blade.
This asymmetric loading is caused by the resultant velocity, which is generated by the combination of the velocity of the propeller blade in its plane of rotation and the velocity of the air passing horizontally through the propeller “disc.” With the airplane being flown at positive angles of attack, the right (viewed from the rear) or downswinging blade, is passing through an area of resultant velocity which is greater than that affecting the left or upswinging blade. Since the propeller blade is an airfoil, increased velocity means increased lift. Therefore, the downswinging blade having more “lift” tends to pull (yaw) the airplane’s nose to the left.
Simply stated, when the airplane is flying at a high angle of attack, the downward moving blade has a higher resultant velocity; therefore creating more lift than the upward moving blade.
Figure 9: Asymmetrical loading of propeller (P-factor).
This might be easier to visualize if the propeller shaft was mounted perpendicular to the ground (like a helicopter). If there were no air movement at all, except that generated by the propeller itself, identical sections of each blade would have the same airspeed. However, with air moving horizontally across this vertically mounted propeller, the blade proceeding forward into the flow of air will have a higher airspeed than the blade retreating with the airflow. Thus, the blade proceeding into the horizontal airflow is creating more lift, or thrust, moving the center of thrust toward that blade. Visualize ROTATING the vertically mounted propeller shaft to shallower angles relative to the moving air (as on an airplane).
This unbalanced thrust then becomes proportionately smaller and continues getting smaller until it reaches the value of zero when the propeller shaft is exactly horizontal in relation to the moving air.
Each of these four elements of torque effects vary in values with changes in flight situations. In one phase of flight, one of these elements may be more prominent than another; whereas, in another phase of flight, another element may be more prominent.
The relationship of these values to each other will vary with different airplanes—depending on the AIRFRAME, ENGINE, AND PROPELLER combinations as well as other design features.
To maintain positive control of the airplane in all flight conditions, the pilot must apply the flight controls as necessary to compensate for these varying values.
This concludes the propeller aerodynamics page. Please return to the Aircraft Powerplant page to continue study.
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How did Israel become a people? Is the biblical story accurate? In what sense, if any, is the biblical story true? Are the origins of these ancient people lost in myth or is there hope to discovering who they were and how they lived? These questions divide students and scholars alike.
While many believe the "Conquest" is only a fable, this book will present a different view. Using biblical materials and the new archaeological data, this title tells how the ancient Israelites settled in Canaan and became the people of Israel.
The stakes for understanding the history of ancient Israel are high. The Old Testament tells us that Yahweh led the Hebrews into the land of Canaan and commanded them to drive its indigenous inhabitants out and settle in their place. This account has often served as justification for the possession of the land by the modern state of Israel. Archaeology is a "weapon" in the debate, used by both Israelis and Palestinians trying to write each other out of the historical narrative. This book provides needed background for the issues and will be of interest to those concerned with the complexity of Arab-Israeli relations.
"…the author presents the various arguments of the people involved in this debate. He gives the views of evangelical scholars who believe in the trustworthiness of the biblical text, the views of those who present a minimalist or revisionist view of the text, and the views of those who are in between. In the end, he presents his own views and conclusions in light of the biblical and archaeological evidence. Hawkins recognizes the merits of the biblical text without rejecting the evidence provided by the archaeological data...the book contains many black and white pictures, a list of the archaeological periods, the names of all the pharaohs of the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth Dynasties, several charts, and a Glossary that explains many of the terms used in the book. How Israel Became a People is a book worth reading. Those who do so will gain a wealth of information about early Israel."
--Claude Mariottini, Professor of Old Testament, Northern Baptist Seminary
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MARSHALL - When Holy Redeemer teacher Kathy Richardson saw that the Minnesota State Science Standard now included engineering in its science curriculum expectations, she quickly implemented an excited new project to help prepare her students.
Richardson is guiding four classes of seventh- and eighth-grade students through a three-week hands-on experiment as part of a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) project.
"The state kind of tweaked the goals that they want for the students' skills relating to engineering," Richardson said. "They're finding that kids across the nation need to improve their problem solving skills."
Photo by Jenny Kirk
As part of a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) project, Shawna Vandendriesche, center, gets set to launch her straw rocket as Jarrett Louwagie, right, and Chi Chi Nwakama look on Monday at Holy Redeemer School.
The students use drinking straws for the rocket body and are responsible for attaching wings that are cut out from index cards and nose cones made from clay.
Most of the experiments are conducted in two-person groups and focus on three testing aspects: length of the rocket, size of the nose cone and launch angle. Each group is given two different sized straws to begin the project.
"The students perform a series of launches changing specified variable," Richardson said. "They will ultimately be challenged with designing a rocket to hit a specific target."
The students have to figure everything out for themselves, including designing and then attaching the wings, forming and then weighing the nose cones, measuring the launch distances and also analyzing the data and making corrections.
Richardson said that the project combines all the STEM subjects because that is a true problem solver.
"You're investigating through a controlled experiment, which would be the science," she said. "The engineering is actually the construction of the nose cone or the fins. After we do the trajectories, we have to sit down and calculate the velocity. They'll also be putting together a scatter plot that will show relationships between the angle of the launch and how fast it is going. That really is mathematics. The technology portion is just applying what you've learned."
In the project's first year of existence, Richardson said that the kids at Holy Redeemer have not only enjoyed the experience so far, but they've learned a lot.
"We use a smaller tip," said Allen Christiansen as he and partner Noah Henle watched their straw rocket soar down the hallway. "Along with the angle of our wings, that's why ours goes so far."
Shawna Vandrendriesche and Lauren Mathys were up next on the launching pad. But their rocket nose-dived quickly.
"Our smaller rocket doesn't go as far," Mathys said. "It's probably because our nose cone is too big."
When asked if the duo enjoyed the project so far, both agreed.
"Yeah, it's really fun," said Mathys and Vandrendriesche.
Actually getting to launch the rocket was the best part according to partners Adam Ratz and Thomas Fischer.
"Shooting it is the best," Ratz said. "We're learning that the nose cone makes the difference."
Back in the classroom, Natalie Rademacher and Nick Saugstad were making wings for their rockets.
"The wings have to be more than 10 centimeters, but less than 20 centimeters," Rademacher said. "The nose cone has to be no more than two centimeters."
In the second class, a number of students were weighing their clay nose cones. Richardson made sure they understood how to use the balance system and also how to record averages.
Ted Ektanitphong and Jordan Boerboom were recording all their data from their previous experiment.
"I like the testing the best," Boerboom said. "We found that the smaller nose cone makes a big difference."
"I like all the building and testing," Ektanitphong said. "I'd rather be here doing this than in the computer lab typing."
Many of the students were able to predict how far their rockets would fly.
"We knew it wouldn't go far," Alyssa Edwards and Joseph Sullivan said as they wrote down their weak launch results.
But trial and error are part of the experiment.
"The students want to be right," Richardson said. "They don't want to do some experiments because they don't want to do it wrong. Except that by doing it wrong is how the learning takes place."
So, just like Richardson's effort to get a new project going to get the kids up to par for the Minnesota standardized testing, the kids are working towards making the right adjustments.
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Zinc is the fourth most widely used metal after iron, aluminum, and copper. Zinc is used as corrosion-protection coatings on steel (galvanized metal), as diecastings, as an alloying metal with copper to make brass, and as chemical compounds in rubber, ceramics, paints, and agriculture. It is also a necessary element for proper growth and development of humans, animals, and plants.
Zinc is mined in more than 50 countries and is produced as metal and compounds in about 40 countries. In 1990, the leading ore-producing countries were Canada, Australia, and the U.S.S.R., in order of mine production; the leading metal-producing countries were the U.S.S.R., Japan, and Canada, in order of primary smelter production. The United States accounted for only about 7% of world mine output and about 5% of world smelter production in the same year. This was not always so; during most of the 1900-70 period, the United States was the world's leading mine and smelter producer of zinc and, in the 1950's, accounted for more than one-half of world metal production. From the late 1960's to the mid-1980's, U.S. mine and smelter output declined by one-half and two-thirds, respectively. Mine production rose to former levels in 1989 and 1990 owing to the opening of a large zinc mine in Alaska. Smelter capacity, however, only marginally increased and, in 1990, was only about 40% of that of 1968.
The United States has been the leading world consumer of zinc since the early 1900's and currently consumes about one- seventh of world output. As a result of the substantial decline in domestic zinc smelter capacity, reliance on metal imports remains high. Ironically, the United States has become a major world exporter of zinc concentrate, but continues to be the world's largest importer of refined zinc.
- Table 1.--U.S. historical salient zinc statistics
- Table 2.--Mine production of recoverable zinc in the United States, by State
- Table 3.--Primary and secondary slab zinc produced in the United States
- Table 4.--U.S. production of selected zinc compounds, zinc content
- Table 5.--Consumption of slab zinc, by industry
- Table 6.--U.S. consumption of zinc
- Table 7.--Yearend stocks of slab zinc in the United States
- Table 8.--Average U.S., LME, and European producer prices for equivalent zinc
- Table 9.--U.S. imports for consumption of zinc
- Table 10.--U.S. exports of zinc
- Table 11.--Zinc: World mine production
- Table 12.--Zinc: World smelter production, by country
- Table 13.--Zinc: 5-year averages of recoverable mine production and value, by region, 1907-91
- Table 14.--Zinc consumption of new and old scrap in the United States, by type of scrap
- Table 15.--Zinc recovered from scrap processed in the United States, by kind of scrap and form of recovery
- Table 16.--U.S. imports for consumption of zinc, by four leading countries
- Table 17.--U.S. zinc metal and mine refinery production, capacity, and capacity utilization 1967-90
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The World Health Organization recently predicted that depression will become the second leading cause of disability worldwide in just five years. The ongoing discussion about mental health in the United States has largely centered on gaps in access to care, but — particularly for the nearly 20 percent of Americans who experts say will endure major depression in their lifetime — the effectiveness of current treatments perhaps needs to be a bigger part of the conversation.
The most prevalent treatment option for various types of depression combines psychotherapy — also known as psychological counseling — and the ingestion of antidepressants that quells symptoms like a lack of energy, low appetite, feelings of worthlessness, and slowed cognition and body movements. While experts tout the counseling portion as crucial in helping patients sort out their problems, some critics have concerns about the medication, citing antidepressants’ side effects — weird dreams, dry mouth, diarrhea, and decreased libido — and potential for abuse.
Those drawbacks of taking antidepressants, and the reluctance of some patients to continue their regimen, prompted neuropsychologist Dr. Greg Siegle to explore options that treat depression more like a physical ailment than a mental problem. Since 2005, Siegle’s research has reflected that mindset by focusing on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain that controls executive function, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
“We thought that when it comes to depression, the brain might be like a muscle that needs to be toned up. People who go over negative things in their head a lot tend to respond most poorly to cognitive behavior therapy,” Siegle, a professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told ThinkProgress. “Some of them don’t want to take medication or talk to another about their emotions. Early on we thought about what would happen if we treated a mental disorder more like a stroke. How would the treatments look?”
Previous studies have shown that depressed people can’t use their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as easily as their counterparts, leaving Siegle and his colleagues to speculate that a key to helping people overcome their depression lies in strengthening this part of their brain. Subsequent clinical trials have tried to test this theory, calling on test subjects to shift their attention from negative images to positive images on a sheet of paper. During another test, subjects added numbers according to a set of rules outlined beforehand. They would also take on activities that they would find pleasurable.
Ten years after the start of his journey, Siegel said that the treatment, called “cognitive control therapy,” shows some promise of helping depressed people dwell less on the negative. He said these findings have been upheld with studies in Brazil and Australia, during which researchers directed a gentle electric current into subjects’ brains. A trial was also recently launched at Yale University in which subjects will undergo cognitive control therapy before they start counseling sessions.
There is some anecdotal evidence that these alternative therapies can help patients who haven’t responded to more traditional approaches. For instance, Sean Elliott, a 37-year-old educator from Melbourne, Australia told the Wall Street Journal that neither antidepressant medication nor therapy quelled his symptoms of depression. Making matters worse, when he tried to stop taking his medication, he only felt dizzy. But after participating in a clinical trial for cognitive bias modification-interpretation — a treatment similar to the cognitive control that calls on the depressed to positively interpret ambiguous situations — Elliott said that his condition improved, pointing out that he could bounce back from arguments more easily and experienced “wipe out days,” or long periods in recluse, less often.
Siegle said his approach doesn’t intend to target depression as a whole, but rather tackle some of the most persistent symptoms.
“Many depressed people think about things they don’t want to think about over and over again,” said Siegle. “Medications don’t help decrease rumination much. This suggests that even if you’re taking them, it might be helpful to get the rumination under control. In our research we set out to use these exercises to improve executive control and working memory.”
This area of study could have significant implications for a population that’s diving deeper into depression. Last year, researchers at San Diego State University found that symptoms of the mental ailment have increased significantly among Americans since the 1980s, including a 38 percent jump in memory trouble. Teens also experience sleeplessness nearly 75 percent more often now compared to 30 years ago. This epidemic has particularly affected college students, many of whom feel overwhelmed by the demands of balancing an academic, professional, and personal life. Traumatic life events and the stress of adolescent change can distort one’s feelings, actions, and perceptions, ultimately triggering a mental disorder.
If left untreated, depression can lead to suicide, as seen in the cases of nearly 4,600 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 who take their lives annually. In her summary, Jean Twenge, the psychology professor who led the aforementioned San Diego State study, stressed the need to address the mental health problem while acknowledging that antidepressants alone won’t heal patients.
In recent years, more people in the mental health space have taken on that school of thought. During a gathering of thousands of mental health advocates in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) implored lawmakers to push through legislation that would comprehensively reform mental health care in this manner. The collaborative care model has also grown in popularity for those who want their family members to work closely with their depression care managers in deciding the ideal treatment.
Siegle wants to go in a similar direction to treat disorders as multifaceted as depression. He said that enabling patients to control their thoughts before they undergo therapy should prove more effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Moving forward, Siegle said he would like to team up with a developer to make a smartphone app. He also wants to implement a similar type of therapy in the Army, where service members have historically been plagued by mental health issues.
However, he stressed that cognitive control therapy shouldn’t replace professional health care. “Even if we do make it available, I am not recommending that people stop seeing their therapist or stop taking their medication to take this program,” Siegle said. “This program is under active research and we’re hopeful about it but I don’t want to see people replacing their professional health care by using it yet.”
|
<urn:uuid:31f0a539-f674-49da-bb53-e96b28757803>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/06/05/3666449/new-depression-therapy/
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.961251 | 1,337 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Crafting is the method by which many blocks, tools, and materials are made in Minecraft. In order to craft something, players must move items from their inventory to a crafting grid. A 2×2 crafting grid can be accessed from the player's inventory. A 3×3 grid can be accessed by using (default: right-clicking) a Crafting Table.
For some items, the arrangement of their ingredients on the crafting grid is unimportant. These are commonly known as shapeless recipes. For example, a Fermented spider eye can have its ingredients placed anywhere within the grid.[note 1]
On the other hand, many of the more important or useful game objects must have their ingredients placed in the correct relative positions on the crafting grid. Even then, provided the resources are arranged correctly, the item can be made in any way that fits in the grid. For example, a 3×1 recipe, such as bread, can be made using the top, middle, or bottom row of the 3×3 grid, but it cannot be made using the 2×2 grid because it needs to be three items wide. Ingredients in ‘shaped’ recipes can be ‘slid’ up, down, left, or right. They can also be flipped horizontally. For instance, players can make a bow with the strings placed on the right instead of on the left. There are recipes which may not be moved or mirrored in this way. These are commonly known as fixed recipes.[note 2]
Players always have access to the 2×2 crafting grid from their Inventory screen, and this can be used whenever the screen is brought up. Crafting recipes that are at most 2×2 can always be made there. These include wood planks, sticks, crafting tables, torches and most shapeless recipes. To craft items using a 3×3 grid, create a crafting table, place it in any convenient spot, and right-click or tap/select it. This brings up a pop-up screen with a 3×3 grid on which the player can assemble any crafting recipe in the game.
- On this wiki, shapeless recipes are marked with a pair of intertwined arrows on the crafting table graphic. This symbol does not actually appear in the game.
- On this wiki, fixed recipes are marked with an exclamation mark on the crafting table graphic. This symbol does not actually appear in the game.
- 1 MATTIS or Pocket Edition Crafting System
- 2 Console crafting system
- 3 Complete recipe list
- 4 Video
- 5 History
- 6 Gallery
- 7 See also
MATTIS or Pocket Edition Crafting System[edit | edit source]
In Minecraft Pocket Edition, crafting is somewhat different and uses the Minecraft Advanced Touch Technology Interface System, also known as "MATTIS" crafting system. Although it displays the 2×2 and 3×3 grids, the items already appear in the correct slots. In the middle of the screen, there is a list that shows items that can be crafted with the items in the player's inventory. Items that can be crafted are prioritized and shown first. If the player has some but not all ingredients to craft an item, those show up after those that can be crafted and are shaded. In each slot, there is a number denoting how many times the player can craft that item with the current materials.
The right side of the screen shows the grid with the items already placed for the selected item. Below the grid is the name of the item currently selected and a button used to craft, showing the quantity of the item given when crafted. If there isn't a sufficient amount of ingredients to craft an item, the missing ingredients appear shaded on the grid. When one taps on an ingredient within the grid, the name of that ingredient appears above the hotbar.
To the left of the crafting grid are different tabs. The different tabs show different things that can be crafted. The Armour tab (Iron Chestplate) shows different types armour you can craft. The Crafting (Crafting Table) tab shows things you can craft that are tools or other misc. things that don't fit anywhere else. The Blocks (Dirt Block) tab shows different blocks you can craft.
The player has the option to use a crafting table to give him/her many more choices. When the player taps the crafting table, the MATTIS pops up with crafting options.
Console crafting system[edit | edit source]
The Console Edition uses a simplified crafting system by default. It does not make use of the standard crafting interface, but still has similarities to the PC version's 2×2 and 3×3 crafting grids, making it a cross between the PC grid-based system and the Pocket Edition's MATTIS system. The interface does not require the player to place items in the correct place in a crafting menu, but instead simply displays the ingredients required to craft the selected item and allows the player to craft that item as long as the player has the required crafting ingredients. The crafting table orders all craftable items into seven categories:Tools & Weapons, Food, Armor, Mechanisms, Transportation, and Decoration. The interface for crafting fireworks, however, is the same as used in the PC edition.
The crafting system can be changed to use the system from the computer edition for all recipes by checking the "Classic Crafting" option under "User Interface" in the options menu.
Pressing X or Square opens the 2×2 crafting menu, and the 3×3 crafting menu when using a Crafting Table. The Armor tab is missing in the 2×2 as crafting any armor requires the use of a 3×3 crafting grid.
The PlayStation Vita and Wii U versions does have the ability to touch on the interface.
Complete recipe list[edit | edit source]
|Normal Recipes||Shapeless Recipes||Fixed Recipes|
Video[edit | edit source]
History[edit | edit source]
|January 29, 2010||Crafting implemented.|
|A More controllable inventory was added, which was vital to crafting.|
|Early recipes included sticks, pickaxes, torches, swords, axes, and gold and iron blocks.|
|January 30, 2010||Indev was updated again with many other recipes. As new blocks and items were implemented into the game, new crafting recipes were made accordingly.|
|1.2||Shapeless recipes added.|
|1.8||Holding shift while grabbing a crafting output now automatically takes the maximum amount of outputs from the ingredients it was given.|
|1.8||14w30a||Fixed recipes added.|
|Pocket Edition Alpha|
|April 17, 2012||Daniel Kaplan released preview images of the Minecraft Advanced Touch Technology Interface System (MATTIS) crafting system in creative mode.|
|0.3.0||The MATTIS crafting system was implemented.|
|0.6.0||Added the stonecutter. This was used to make stone-related blocks|
|0.9.0||build 1||Improved the layout of the crafting screen by organizing blocks and items into category|
|The crafting screen shows only craftable recipes.|
|0.13.0||Removed the crafting functionality of stonecutter. All recipes requiring it are available through the crafting table and inventory.|
|0.14.0||build 1||Added the ability to access the crafting system in creative mode.|
|TU1||CU1||1.0||Patch 1||A simplified crafting system for the Xbox 360 was implemented with the first version release.|
|TU25||CU14||1.17||Added classic crafting system.|
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Console Edition 2x2 crafting interface
|
<urn:uuid:d8567679-64e2-448f-b6f1-8eecb0c22f8c>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Crafting
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|
en
| 0.9087 | 1,611 | 2.78125 | 3 |
This section provides step-by-step instructions on downloading and installing the major GIS tools used in this project. The download instructions are for Windows PCs. Participants all had Windows machines installed and available at their offices for use in this project. The download/installation screens as they appear on a Windows 7 PC were used to illustrate the process. The process is identical on Windows Vista and Windows XP machines, although the appearance of the dialogue boxes may vary with the operating system.
The major desktop tools such as QGIS and uDig can be downloaded and installed individually from their respective websites. However, many open source tools share "dependencies." They have software modules and files in common that are required to run these products. Individual installation usually results in multiple instances of these common modules being installed on the same machine at different locations.
The same applies to open source web mapping tools.
To avoid this problem, and to ensure that the most recent versions of various open source geospatial software modules are installed on the PC at any given time, this project has encouraged the installation of software from the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). OSGeo maintains a Windows installation package (OSGeo4W Installer) for just about all the open source geospatial software projects it supports.
Using this installer, one can choose which open source GIS/web map software to install. Running the installer periodically serves to update the already-installed software to the latest version, should a new version be available. (This happens more frequently in the open source world than in the commercial software world.)
We will be using this installer to install QGIS, uDig, QGIS Server, Apache web server, and GDAL/OGR command-line utilities. (GRASS GIS also gets installed as a module for QGIS.) This will install the components necessary to do desktop GIS tasks on participants' PCs.
Installing the Apache web server also allows the participant to develop and test, on his/her PC, some basic web maps and Google/Bing mashups. These basic web maps and mashups can then be uploaded to the web server of the township Internet Service Provider (ISP) so that they can be served from, and made available through, their township websites.
We can also use another software installer from OpenGeo to install GeoServer and its ancillary programs (“OpenGeo Suite”) that comprise a “complete open source mapping stack,” as the OpenGeo folks call it. Installing this package is only necessary if GeoServer-based web mapping is planned.
The OpenGeo Suite comes in two flavors: the enterprise edition and the community edition. The enterprise edition is the version that is fully supported by the staff OpenGeo, with the level of telephone and on-site support depending on which annual support package is purchased. The fully functional community edition is available as a free download, but user support is available only via on-line community forums. The instructions below are for installing the community edition.
Again, each of the components can be downloaded from their respective open source projects individually, but using the installer ensures that a fully-integrated web mapping environment is seamlessly installed.
As noted earlier, this procedure will install QGIS, QGIS Server, uDig, Apache web server, PHP, GDAL/OGR, and various modules (like GRASS).
View the procedure as a slideshow: CLICK HERE or on the figure at right. (When the slide show appears, press the "pause" button [two vertical bars] between the left and right arrows. This will stop the overly fast automatic display of the slides. Then use the arrow keys to view the slides one at a time. )
For independent installation of QGIS, go to QGIS Stand-alone Installer. QGIS is available for Windows. Mac OS, and various flavors of Linux.
For independent installation of uDig, go to Refractions. uDig is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
For independent installation of Apache Server, the easiest is to install it as part of an AMP (Apache-MySQL-PHP) installation. A good one is XAMP. XAMP is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris.
This procedure installs the OpenGeo Suite on your PC. Again, this is NOT NECESSARY unless you are planning on making web maps that use the GeoServer map server software. The slides are for installation on a Windows 7 machine.
View the procedure as a slideshow: CLICK HERE or on the figure at left. (When the slide show appears, press the "pause" button [two vertical bars] between the left and right arrows. This will stop the overly fast automatic display of the slides. Then use the arrow keys to view the slides one at a time. )
The stand-alone Windows installer for GeoServer is available from the GeoServer website. A Mac OS installer is also available.
|
<urn:uuid:89185920-9835-48ca-a1aa-f124f7d579d8>
|
CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.townshipgis.com/resources/problems-and-workarounds/download-your-open-source-tools
|
s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.891583 | 1,037 | 2.515625 | 3 |
|Length||roughly 4,600 Km|
|Basin size||805,604 Km2|
|Population density||71 people/ Km2|
|Key economic activity||Fishing, aquaculture, agriculture and natural resource harvesting|
|Threats||Over-fishing, illegal fishing, large infrastructure, deforestation, changes in sediment transport patterns and toxics from agriculture
Mekong - Lancang
The Mekong river basin is the largest in Southeast Asia. It is the 10th largest in the world by volume, draining an area more than twice the size of Germany.
Unlike many major rivers in Asia, this river and its flood regime are relatively intact. As a result, the lower Mekong basin is the most productive river fishery in the world.
Freshwater fisheries here have a commercial value exceeding US$1.7 billion and provide 80% of the animal protein consumed by 55 million inhabitants. Not surprisingly, the lower Mekong countries have some of the highest dependence on inland capture fisheries in the world.
Rising in the mountains of China’s Qinghai province near Tibet, it flows south. It forms the border between Laos and Myanmar (Burma), most of the border between Laos and Thailand, and moves across Cambodia and southern Vietnam into a rich delta which opens to the South China Sea.
The basin is home to an amazing 1,200-1,700 fish species, the highest fish diversity in any basin after the Amazon and Congo. Sixty-two fish species are found nowhere else in the world.
This river harbours more species of giant fish than any other on the Earth as well as the largest freshwater fish known to science, the Mekong Giant Catfish. There are over 160 known amphibian species, and 5 Ramsar wetlands of international significance.
The basin is also home to the Irrawaddy dolphin, the Mekong population of which is critically endangered (WRI 2003).
The exceptional fishery in the Mekong River is based on the ecological boost provided by the annual wet season flood of its extensive floodplain, particularly the back flow of the river into the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia.
The scale of this beneficial flooding and consequent fish harvest is threatened by the present and potential impoundment of floodwaters behind 58 existing and 149 proposed large dams, and by roads in the floodplains.
For references please download the pdf of the report
|
<urn:uuid:0ba87b53-8f49-4162-b891-9f7df852d3d3>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/river_decline/10_rivers_risk/mekong_lancang/?src=footer
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|
en
| 0.920798 | 500 | 3.453125 | 3 |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts startup is launching a new device that transforms almost any bicycle into an electric-hybrid vehicle using an app on a smartphone.
The device, called the Copenhagen Wheel, is installed as part of a rear hub of a bike wheel and is packed with a proprietary computer, batteries and sensors that monitor how hard a rider is pedaling and activate an onboard motor whenever support is needed. The device uses wireless connectivity to communicate with the biker's smartphone to track distance traveled and elevation gained, share with friends the number of calories burned and lock the wheel remotely as soon as the owner walks away from the bike.
"The motor integrates itself with the rider's motion very, very seamlessly," said Assaf Biderman, who co-invented the device at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SENSEable City Lab, where he is associate director. "It's almost like having a riding companion riding together with you, making the ride easier, simpler."
The combination of power from the Copenhagen Wheel and the cyclist's energy can make an average biker move "almost like a Tour-de-France-level athlete in your daily commute," said Biderman, who founded Cambridge, Mass.-based Superpedestrian Inc. that secured an exclusive license for the technology from MIT.
The Copenhagen Wheel packs sufficient power to propel a rider as fast as 60 kph (37.28 mph), but developers have put speed limits in software to meet local speed limits, effectively turning off the motor once the speed reaches 20 mph in the U.S. and 25 kilometers in Europe.
The concept was inspired by a simple question: "How can we get more people to cycle?" Biderman said.
The project received funding from the Italian ministry of the environment and office of the mayor of Copenhagen, a Danish city known as one of the most bicycle friendly locations in the world and whose tourism website says 55 percent of its residents bike 1.2 million kilometers (750,000 miles) every day.
The initial 1,000 units of the Copenhagen Wheel became available for pre-order through the Superpedestrian website earlier this month. Two weeks later, at least 810 had been sold for $699 each, the majority of them to customers in the U.S. Other orders went to Europe, Australia, Kenya, Madagascar and elsewhere. Shipping is scheduled for next spring.
The Copenhagen Wheel does not replace a cyclist's existing bicycle. Consumers get the stylish hubcap-sized device already installed on a new rear wheel that fits their current bicycle. They remove the current wheel from their bike and install the souped-up unit and they are ready to go. The batteries are rechargeable.
The Copenhagen Wheel seeks to tap into a lucrative and highly competitive market for electric bikes, also known as e-bikes.
In a recent report, clean-technology consulting company Navigant Research estimated that worldwide revenue from electric bicycles will grow from $8.4 billion this year to $10.8 billion in 2020, fueled in part by desire for a viable alternative to increasingly congested city roads that makes crawling in car traffic less palatable.
In the U.S., the trend is reflected in Census Bureau data showing the number of bicycle commuters rose 60 percent in the decade ending in 2010.
"Over the past few years we've seen a cycling renaissance throughout the world," Biderman said. "People are looking for alternatives."
Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at www.twitter.com/ngowi
More on the Copenhagen Wheel: http://www.superpedestrian.com
|
<urn:uuid:4dc6d24c-e668-4717-908e-37c9af3041cd>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20131218/us--smart-bicycle/?ir=green
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.950645 | 747 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Unix Shell - The until Loop
The while loop is perfect for a situation where you need to execute a set of commands while some condition is true. Sometimes you need to execute a set of commands until a condition is true.
until command do Statement(s) to be executed until command is true done
Here Shell command is evaluated. If the resulting value is false, given statement(s) are executed. If command is true then no statement would be not executed and program would jump to the next line after done statement.
Here is a simple example that uses the until loop to display the numbers zero to nine −
#!/bin/sh a=0 until [ ! $a -lt 10 ] do echo $a a=`expr $a + 1` done
This will produce following result −
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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<urn:uuid:1bd575c1-3654-4dbd-956b-468ec84d9119>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
|
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/unix/until-loop.htm
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|
en
| 0.873341 | 175 | 3.375 | 3 |
Though pure quartz is colorless and transparent or translucent, many different varieties of quartz exist. Common colored varieties include citrine, amethyst, and smoky quartz, but quartz can be found in almost ever hue. Though it is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth, quartz comes in a large variety of shapes, colors, structure and, as a result, rarities. Citrine, for example, is rarely found naturally and most of the citrine found on the market is actually heat treated amethyst. Heat treatment for quartz and other gemstones is common and has been used for years to bring bright color to gems. This wide range of looks makes the quartz group far reaching, ranging from deep, dark hues to the clear, lustrous look of fine glass. For centuries, pure quartz was thought to be ice that was permanently frozen after a long period of time. This clear, colorless variety of quartz is commonly referred to as rock crystal.
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<urn:uuid:498a6fe7-6909-4e1d-88eb-c10d06d92204>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.michaelcfina.com/jewelry/learn/preciousgems/quartz/
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|
en
| 0.962868 | 194 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Most of us think of tongue-tie as a situation we find ourselves in when we are too excited to speak. Actually, tongue-tie is the non-medical term for a relatively common physical condition that limits the use of the tongue, ankyloglossia.
Before we are born, a strong cord of tissue that guides development of mouth structures is positioned in the center of the mouth. It is called a frenulum. After birth, the lingual frenulum continues to guide the position of incoming teeth. As we grow, it recedes and thins. This frenulum is visible and easily felt if you look in the mirror under your tongue. In some children, the frenulum is especially tight or fails to recede and may cause tongue mobility problems.
The tongue is one of the most important muscles for speech and swallowing. For this reason having tongue-tie can lead to eating or speech problems, which may be serious in some individuals.
When Is Tongue-tie a Problem That Needs Treatment?
A new baby with a too tight frenulum can have trouble sucking and may have poor weight gain. Such feeding problems should be discussed with your childs pediatrician who may refer you to an otolaryngologisthead and neck surgeon (ear, nose, and throat specialist) for additional treatment.
NOTE: Nursing mothers who experience significant pain while nursing or whose baby has trouble latching on should have their child evaluated for tongue tie. Although it is often overlooked, tongue tie can be an underlying cause of feeding problems that not only affect a childs weight gain, but lead many mothers to abandon breast feeding altogether.
In Toddlers and Older Children
While the tongue is remarkably able to compensate and many children have no speech impediments due to tongue-tie, others may. Around the age of three, speech problems, especially articulation of the sounds - l, r, t, d, n, th, sh, and z may be noticeable. Evaluation may be needed if more than half of a threeyearold childs speech is not understood outside of the family circle. Although, there is no obvious way to tell in infancy which children with ankyloglossia will have speech difficulties later, the following associated characteristics are common:
- V-shaped notch at the tip of the tongue
- Inability to stick out the tongue past the upper gums
- Inability to touch the roof of the mouth
- Difficulty moving the tongue from side to side
As a simple test, caregivers or parents might ask themselves if the child can lick an ice cream cone or lollipop without much difficulty. If the answer is no, they cannot, then it may be time to consult a physician.
Appearance For older children with tongue-tie, appearance can be affected by persistent dental problems such as a gap between the bottom two front teeth. Your childs physician can guide you in the diagnosis and treatment of tongue-tie. If he/she recommends surgery, an otolaryngologisthead and neck surgeon (ear, nose, and throat specialist), can perform a surgical procedure called a frenulectomy.
Tongue-tie Surgery Considerations
Tongue-tie surgery is a simple procedure and there are normally no complications. For very young infants (less than six-weeks-old), it may be done in the office of the physician. General anesthesia may be recommended when frenulectomy is performed on older children. But in some cases, it can be done in the physicians office under local anesthesia. While frenulectomy is relatively simple, it can yield big results. Parents should consider that this surgery often yields more benefit than is obvious by restoring ease of speech and self-esteem.
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<urn:uuid:3ebf18dd-8349-475d-b20c-c5874b4dcf7b>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.entnet.org/?q=node/1413
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
|
en
| 0.944634 | 759 | 3.265625 | 3 |
PLANTERSVILLE – Shortly after class begins, students in one of Pam Lettieri’s eighth-grade pre-algebra classes drift into three different directions.
Four of those students at Plantersville Middle School head for a row of computers, log onto a website address that Lettieri has written on the board and begin solving math problems that the site gives them.
Three move to a cluster of desks in the back of the room where Lettieri presents a lesson and questions them about whether different numbers are whole, integers, rational or real.
Meanwhile, four more students walk to another cluster of desks where they begin a math exercise prepared by their teacher. The students roll four dice, form two fractions from the resulting numbers, add or subtract their fractions and answer questions about the resulting numbers.
Twenty minutes later, the students rotate.
Lettieri is one of the many teachers at the fifth- to eighth-grade school who incorporate small groups into their daily lessons. On most days, she will divide her 90-minute classes into three groups: a technology group, a teacher-led group and a hands-on problem-solving group.
Lettieri said the advantage of the rotating groups is that other students can be learning from the computer or from classmates while she directs her instruction to a smaller group of students.
“I like it because it is hitting their learning styles,” Lettieri said. “You have visual with the computers, auditory with the teacher-led and kinesthetic with different hands-on activities.”
One room down, Crystal Bigham divides her eighth-grade science class into two groups to perform an experiment. Each team will test how well different powdered drinks dissolve in water.
“They learn from each other,” Bigham said. “They’re going to be actively engaged in their learning.”
Bigham said that when the students work in groups on different experiments – like testing acids and bases; building machines made out of Legos or constructing cells made from candy – it increases the rigor of what they learn.
“It makes it a higher-level understanding, where they’re not only recalling it,” Bigham said. “You have to get them to higher-level thinking skills because that is what the job force is looking for.”
Teamwork with peers
In both classrooms, group members discussed the problems with classmates. Sitting at a table in Lettieri’s room, eighth-graders Cameron Montgomery, Armani Champ and Jaqaisha Shack worked on the exercise with the four dice.
As their dice rolls and arithmetic produced a fraction, they had to deduce whether it was a whole number, an integer or a rational number. They then recorded their answers on a sheet of paper that they turned in to Lettieri.
“I like it because we work as a team,” Armani said.
Added Jaqaisha: “The people who know it well can explain it.”
Lettieri said the method also forces her to think outside of the box to create different hands-on projects for her students. They will measure different foam shapes or household items and calculate area and perimeter. They will solve logic problems, do exercises with cards and use crayons and paper to draw pictures of word problems.
“Kids are terrified of word problems, but if they can make it fun and understand the problem, it is no big deal,” she said.
She spent her summer researching websites for the technology station. Some contain games that reinforce skills and others produce problems for students to solve. She also found tutorial websites where students use headphones to replay a lesson that reinforces what she has taught.
“I like that we get to work on our own, and I like that it’s hands-on,” student Cameron Montgomery said.
The school’s test scores showed dramatic improvement in the Mississippi Curriculum Test results released last week. Principal Bill Horton credited the small group practices of many of his teachers for boosting that improvement.
“In a lot of cases, kids might learn from another kid better than they would from a teacher or they might discuss it better,” Horton said. “It’s working, so we’re going to keep doing it.”
Contact Chris Kieffer at (662)678-1590 or [email protected].
Chris Kieffer/NEMS Daily Journal
|
<urn:uuid:f8470025-2c45-462a-bcc4-64d553233310>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://djournal.com/news/plantersville-students-work-together-to-solve-problems-during-small-group-instruction/
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Daily VideoOctober 5, 2010
Schools Challenged by Homeless Students
Homeless kids face many challenges, including where to go to school when their family continues to move from place to place. One school in Seattle is trying to address that problem by catering specifically to homeless students and helping them regain their self-confidence.
Teachers say homeless students are often shy and withdrawn because they’re never sure when they might have to move on to another school. Under a federal law called the McKinney-Vento Act, all schools are supposed to provide certain accommodations to homeless students such as enrolling kids without requiring the usual paperwork and providing transportation if they move to another shelter in the area. But, some homeless families still struggle to get their kids the right treatment under the law.
School districts are also supposed to try to identify and accommodate students who may be homeless but haven’t admitted it. But, some statistics show that the Seattle school district intentionally failed to identify many homeless students because it wanted to save money. Similarly, two years ago, in New York State, 37 percent of school districts failed to identify even one student as homeless.
“There’s no other way to see that than that schools are not identifying homeless students within their midst, because identifying a homeless student may bring about a cost to the school district.” – Casey Trupin, attorney
“Without school, I don’t know where I would be. Math equations, two plus two is four, you can never get that wrong. I mean, the liver filters your blood. There’s no wrong in that. But when it comes to home life, it’s very confusing.” – Samantha Williams, homeless student
“I want to stay, like, in one place and be stable. It makes it hard for me to study. Then I lose focus.” – Ian, homeless student
Warm Up Questions
1. What does it mean to be homeless?
2. What does “stability” mean?
3. Why would it be hard to have to switch schools all the time?
1. What kinds of things did you need to be able to enroll in school? Why might it be hard for a homeless student to provide those things?
2. Do you know anyone who is homeless? What challenges do they face that people with homes don’t face?
3. Based on what you saw in the video, why might schools be hesitant to identify homeless kids?
Tooltip of related stories
Tooltip of more video block
Submit Your Student Voice
A sit-in led by Democratic members of the House of Representatives began on the House floor Wednesday as they called for Republican colleagues to allow a vote on gun control legislation. Continue readingArts & CultureEconomicsHealthScienceU.S.UncategorizedWorld
Democrats once again attempted to push forward gun control legislation this week following last week’s massacre at an Orlando nightclub.Arts & CultureEconomicsHealthScienceU.S.UncategorizedWorld
The man accused of murdering a British member of parliament last Thursday made his first court appearance in London on Saturday. Authorities believe Thomas Mair shot and stabbed Jo Cox to death on a street in broad daylight, because of her position to keep the U.K. in the European Union. Continue readingArts & CultureEconomicsHealthScienceU.S.UncategorizedWorld
Concern surrounding Zika virus has taken center stage in Brazil, as local organizers of the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games assure the world that the country is safe for athletes and tourists. Continue readingArts & CultureEconomicsHealthScienceU.S.UncategorizedWorld
Recent acts of violence committed by extremists who were radicalized while living in the United States have raised concerns over the threat of home-grown terrorism. Continue readingArts & CultureEconomicsHealthScienceU.S.UncategorizedWorld
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| 0.9513 | 813 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The chief of the captains of the host of the Éothéod who rode south with Eorl the Young. Éomund fought beside his lord in the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, in which the Balchoth and Orcs were defeated and Gondor saved. In reward, Steward Cirion swore a great Oath to Eorl granting the land of Calenardhon (later known as Rohan) to his people. Éomund was a witness to that Oath, and took part in the negotiations that settled the borders of the new realm.
Another great captain named Éomund lived much later in the history of Rohan. In the years before the War of the Ring, this second Éomund of Eastfold was the chief of the Marshals of the Mark, and father to Éomer and Éowyn. It is unclear whether the two Éomunds were related to one another, but if so, then Éomer was the distant descendant of the captain of Eorl's armies.
For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.
Website services kindly sponsored by Axiom Software Ltd.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2008. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.
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| 0.967803 | 261 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Properties of the elements of period 3 (Na - Ar) to illustrate the periodic trends
What is periodicity?
Periodicity is the repeating pattern in which the elements are arranged in the periodic table, these are some of the trends shown from looking at the periodicity of the elements.
An atom doesn't have a fixed radius. The radius of an atom can only be found by measuring the distance between the nuclei of two touching atoms, and then halving that distance. Atomic radius is measured in nm.
The graph shows that atomic radius decreases across a period (from left to right). This is because the number of protons in the nucleus increases so the nuclear charge increases. The force of attraction between the nucleus and the electrons increases so the electrons are drawn more tightly to the nucleus so the size of the atom (and the atomic nucleus) decreases.
The atomic radius of Argon cannot be measured because it is a noble gas so doesn't form bonds.
First Ionisation energy
The first ionisation energy is the energy required to remove the most loosely held electron from one mole of gaseous atoms to produce 1 mole of gaseous singly charged positive ions. Ionisation energy is measured in Kjmol.
M(g) ----------- M+(g) + e-
First ionisation energy increases across a period because going across the period the number of protons in the nucleus increases so the nuclear charge in each element increases therefore the force of attraction between the nucleus and outer electron is increased, and there is a negligible increase in shielding because each successive electron enters the same energy level so more energy is needed to remove the outer electron.
Some anomalies occur in this graph and other graphs of first ionisation energy. The Anomaly in this graph...
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Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
On-line version ISSN 2411-9717
The status of sampling practices in the gold mining industry in Africa was determined as an initial step in a process to standardize sampling practices in the mining industry. Twenty-one gold mines, twenty metallurgical plants, and thirteen laboratories were rated for the potential influence of the relevant sampling errors on each component of the particular sampling system. The findings of the study on the status of equipment, standards, procedures, and management principles were presented in a dissertation (Spangenberg, 20121) and are now used by AngloGold Ashanti's mines in the quest for correct sampling practices. The information is also used to compile a guideline on leading practice procedures for sampling methods in gold mining. This article is an overview of sampling best practice found in African mining
Keywords : theory of sampling; best practise; sampling errors; sampling standards.
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| 0.921422 | 190 | 2.953125 | 3 |
This page describes various parts of an iguana's anatomy. The first photo here defines various parts of the head and upper body.
These two photos show that iguanas do have many very sharp teeth. These photos are provided to not only show you what iguana teeth look like, but to serve as a warning when dealing with large, aggressive iguanas. Iguanas have many very sharp, jagged and dangerous teeth that are very capable of shredding leafy foods, as well as human skin! The photo on the right is also an excellent view of an iguana's tongue.
The photo below shows the parietal eye. The parietal eye is a tiny, transparent scale on the top of the head that detects light and dark. Iguanas use the parietal eye to alert them to aerial predators. It is sometimes referred to as the third-eye.
The photos below show the femoral pores of a male iguana (Jake). The photo on the left was taken when Jake was not in breeding season. Notice his large, easily visible femoral pores. The photo on the right was taken during breeding season. Notice the large waxy plugs protruding from the femoral pores.
The photos below show the femoral pores of two different female iguanas. The photo on the left (Donnie) shows her small femoral pores. The photo on the right (Vega$) shows a close-up view of the waxy plugs within her femoral pores.
The following photo shows a male iguana (Bumpy) with everted hemipenes. This photo was taken during breeding season following a mating session. Males will evert their hemipenes for breeding, occasionally during defecation, and sometimes just to "show off" to people or other iguanas during breeding season. If the hemipenes are prolapsed (protruding for an extended amount of time), immediate veterinary treatment is advised. This photo also shows the waxy plugs protruding from the femoral pores, which is a good indication that the iguana is in breeding season.
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| 0.954321 | 429 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Medium-sized nuthatch with blue-gray upperparts and pale rust-brown underparts. Head has black cap, white eyebrow, and black eyestripe; throat is white. Bill is slightly upturned. Female and juvenile have duller head, paler underparts.
Range and Habitat
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Breeds across Canada from southeastern Alaska, Manitoba, and Newfoundland south to southern California, Arizona, the Great Lakes region, and northern New England, and south in Appalachians to North Carolina. Spends winters in breeding range and irregularly south to the Gulf Coast. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests.
Breeding and Nesting
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Four to seven white to light pink eggs, marked with red brown, are laid in a cup of twigs and grass, lined with softer material, and built in a tree cavity. The entrance is usually smeared with pitch, presumably to discourage predators; pitch often gets on the bird's feathers, giving them a messy appearance. Nest is built by both parents, but female does most of the work. Eggs are incubated for approximately 12 days by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Eats insects, spiders, egg masses, seeds, and nuts. "Nuthatch" is derived from "nut-hack", a reference to the habit of hacking or pecking open nuts by wedging them in a bark crevice and hammering them open with its bill.
Sunflower Seed, Nut Pieces
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Call is a tinny "yank-yank."
Red-breasted Nuthatch: White-breasted Nuthatch lacks black eye-line and has mostly white underparts. Brown-headed and Pygmy nuthatches have brown caps, white patches on napes, and lack the eye-lines.
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| 0.954682 | 404 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Large Hadron Collider: 5 Things You Didn't Know
Large Hadron Collider:
5 Things You Didn't Know
3- The Large Hadron Collider could win Stephen Hawking his Nobel PrizeFor years, celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking has suffered from a severe impediment, one that almost never strikes his peers: Hawking is a best-selling author.
His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, introduced millions to the basics behind black holes, those astro-toilets with gravitational fields so mighty not even light can avoid the flush. Such unbridled commercial success arrested his credibility in the scientific community the way ALS has paralyzed his body; however, with some luck the LHC could change all that.
In 1974, Hawking published a paper in Nature called "Black Hole Explosions?" predicting that the death of a black hole would produce a burst of thermal radiation (now called Hawking radiation). Should the LHC, as some fear, create a mini black hole (the odds aren't very good) and it dies according to prediction, many agree that it would earn Hawking the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Curiously, Hawking radiation is so widely accepted that scientists at CERN actually used it in a 2003 safety report to dismiss the danger of mini black holes, writing "any microscopic black holes produced at the LHC are expected to decay by Hawking radiation before they reach the detector walls."
4- The Large Hadron Collider contained the hottest spot in the solar systemThe superfluid helium within the LHC's superconducting magnets lowers the temperature inside the beam pipes to a chilly -456.34F (-271.3C), but there will be moments within those pipes when the weather changes — drastically.
Prior to March 2010, officials expected two proton beams to collide 600 million times every second; each collision was expected to create temperatures estimated to be about 100,000 times hotter than the temperature at the core of our sun, which normally runs at around 15,000,000 Kelvin. That equates to a scorching 27 trillion F (1.5 trillion C), so it's fortunate that those moments won't last more than about one trillionth of one second.
5- The Large Hadron Collider relies on Einstein's famous equationThe last thing you didn't know about the LHC is that it won't violate the laws of nature.
Albert Einstein's famous 1905 mass-energy equivalence, E=mc2, revolutionized the way we see the world. Its applications are everywhere including nuclear weapons, in which a mass, such as a lump of Plutonium, is converted into energy. The LHC relies on the same equation, though inverted to m=E/c2 .
Have a question? Get it answered by AskMen's guyQ.
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Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich
Stress-Strain Diagram expresses a relationship between a load applied to a material and the deformation of the material, caused by the load .
Stress-Strain Diagram is determined by tensile test.
Tensile tests are conducted in tensile test machines, providing controlled uniformly increasing tension force, applied to the specimen.
The specimen’s ends are gripped and fixed in the machine and its gauge length L0 (a calibrated distance between two marks on the specimen surface) is continuously measured until the rupture.
Test specimen may be round or flat in the cross-section.
In the round specimens it is accepted, that L0 = 5 * diameter.
The specimen deformation (strain) is the ratio of the increase of the specimen gauge length to its original gauge length:
δ = (L – L0) / L0
Tensile stress is the ratio of the tensile load F applied to the specimen to its original cross-sectional area S0:
σ = F / S0
The initial straight line (0P)of the curve characterizes proportional relationship between the stress and the deformation (strain).
The stress value at the point P is called the limit of proportionality:
σp= FP / S0
This behavior conforms to the Hook’s Law:
σ = E*δ
Where E is a constant, known as Young’s Modulus or Modulus of Elasticity.
The value of Young’s Modulus is determined mainly by the nature of the material and is nearly insensitive to the heat treatment and composition.
Modulus of elasticity determines stiffness - resistance of a body to elastic deformation caused by an applied force.
The line 0E in the Stress-Strain curve indicates the range of elastic deformation – removal of the load at any point of this part of the curve results in return of the specimen length to its original value.
The elastic behavior is characterized by the elasticity limit (stress value at the point E):
σel= FE / S0
For the most materials the points P and E coincide and therefore σel=σp.
A point where the stress causes sudden deformation without any increase in the force is called yield limit (yield stress, yield strength):
σy= FY / S0
The highest stress (point YU) , occurring before the sudden deformation is called upper yield limit .
The lower stress value, causing the sudden deformation (point YL) is called lower yield limit.
The commonly used parameter of yield limit is actually lower yield limit.
If the load reaches the yield point the specimen undergoes plastic deformation – it does not return to its original length after removal of the load.
Hard steels and non-ferrous metals do not have defined yield limit, therefore a stress, corresponding to a definite deformation (0.1% or 0.2%) is commonly used instead of yield limit. This stress is called proof stress or offset yield limit (offset yield strength):
σ0.2%= F0.2% / S0
The method of obtaining the proof stress is shown in the picture.
As the load increase, the specimen continues to undergo plastic deformation and at a certain stress value its cross-section decreases due to “necking” (point S in the Stress-Strain Diagram). At this point the stress reaches the maximum value, which is called ultimate tensile strength (tensile strength):
σt= FS / S0
Continuation of the deformation results in breaking the specimen - the point B in the diagram.
The actual Stress-Strain curve is obtained by taking into account the true specimen cross-section instead of the original value.
Other important characteristic of metals is ductility - ability of a material to deform under tension without rupture.
Two ductility parameters may be obtain from the tensile test:
Relative elongation - ratio between the increase of the specimen length before its rupture and its original length:
δ = (Lm– L0) / L0
Where Lm– maximum specimen length.
Relative reduction of area - ratio between the decrease of the specimen cross-section area before its rupture and its original cross-section area:
ψ= (S0– Smin) / S0
Where Smin– minimum specimen cross-section area.
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| 0.871849 | 931 | 3.625 | 4 |
The game field represents a hexagon divided into smaller hexagons, like a rhombus drawn on a check paper. According to the level, there is your army of bacteria and your opponent's on different sides of the game field. The bacteria have two abilities: to replicate themselves on a nearer square or jump to another farther-situated one. When a bacterium is positioned in immediate proximity to its opponent, it renders it into its own type thus allowing a certain side to get a numerical superiority. The player's objective is to cultivate their own colony of microorganisms on the whole area of the game field. In other words, to occupy the whole game space with "their" army of bacteria by replicating them or assaulting the opponent.
- An intellect challenging entertainment;
- 3 Game Modes: Classic, Scenario, Head to Head;
- 5 Types of bacteria;
- Beautiful graphics to please your eyes;
- No constraints in tactics and creativity.
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| 0.931748 | 196 | 2.765625 | 3 |
10 Health Benefits of Rooibos Tea
Last updated on August 5, 2012
Rooibos is an herbal plant, grown only in South Africa. Though technically not a tea (true tea is derived only from the Camellia sinensis plant), the oxidized leaves from the rooibos plant are commonly referred to as Rooibos tea and consumed as such. Unlike white, green, black and oolong teas, which are all made from the same plant and offer similar benefits, rooibos offers its own unique set of compounds and nutrients.
Here are 10 health benefits of rooibos tea:
High In Antioxidants
Rooibos contains great levels of flavonoids, a class of antioxidants touted for their wide range of benefits including reduced risk of cancer and cardiovascular support. Though the overall antioxidant support is considered better in green and white tea, rooibos remains a powerful antioxidant.
One flavonoid tested in rooibos seemed to be even more effective in preventing free radical damage than the flavonoids tested in green and white teas. Animal studies suggest that it may be an effective treatment for tumors, prevent cancer cell formation, and may help to protect the body against damage caused by radiation.
Rooibos contains polyphenol, a highly touted anti-inflammatory agent.
A study published in 2011 suggested that daily consumption of rooibos tea can contribute to lower risk of heart attack and help prevent cardiovascular disease. Rooibos is thought to lower bad cholesterol, increase good cholesterol and keep blood pressure low. The antioxidant and anti-inflammation support obtained from rooibos is also considered essential for good cardiovascular health.
Preliminary studies show that drinking rooibos tea may improve glucose tolerance and increase insulin production in the pancreas.
Rooibos aids tissue regeneration in the liver in rats exposed to prolonged intoxication. It is believed that drinking rooibos tea may offer similar support to the human liver.
Rooibos tea is often used to treat respiratory illness. The flavonoid content of the tea seems to act as both a bronchodilator and an antispasmodic.
Helps Fight HIV
The alkaline extract of rooibos tea appears to help suppress the HIV virus. Drinking rooibos tea alone, however, has not shown to have the same effect.
A study in rats found that rooibos tea may have a significant effect on age-related brain deterioration.
Bone & Teeth Health
Rooibos contains calcium, fluoride and manganese, all of which help maintain healthy bones and teeth.
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| 0.934187 | 553 | 2.671875 | 3 |
What Is Assistive Technology?
An assistive technology device is any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.
Assistive Technology (AT) is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. In short, Assistive Technology helps people to participate fully in all aspects of life.
Assistive technology services are any services that directly assist an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. People can find information at the Technology Access Center about any type of assistive technology for any type of need. However, center personnel specialize in assistive technologies not offered by other agencies in middle Tennessee and provide individual services centered on specific types of technologies including:
•Alternative/adapted computer access
•Reading and writing adaptations and alternatives
•Modification of educational materials
•Alternative/augmentative communication with speech generating devices
•Adapted toys and recreational activities
•Accessible home, work, and school environments
•Electronic and low tech aids for daily living
•Technology designed for individual safety especially in homes
•Modified tools for specific tasks
I know that this website is about Geeks and their toys and i will stay with Alternative/adapted computer access so i won't get off topic. but feel free to ask me about the other cataglories and i will try to help to give you a example this is the company that i co-founded when i was in Nashville http://www.tacnashville.org/ it will give some idea what we did and they still do today.
What's my long term goal for this forum?
My goal is to help people with the information that i have provided with certain adaptive computer software and hardware for the disable. Please if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask them i will help as best that i can.
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| 0.93665 | 414 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Improve test scores with these classroom-tested games! Each Curriculum Mastery Game Pack provides a hands-on, comprehensive review of 25 standards-based math topics. Flexible design allows students to play independently or in small groups from 10-30 minutes. Features easy-to-follow, universal instructions and minimal setup! CHOKING HAZARD. Not for under 3 yrs.
Each Pack Includes Enough for 36 Students!
- 12 double-sided, laminated gameboards
- 750 questions (25 sets of 30 standards-based, full-color review cards)
- Comprehensive Teacher’s Guide
- Classroom presentation CD w/interactive review questions (PC, MAC compatible)
- Free 90-day online subscription to interactive games, flash cards, & worksheets
Write a review
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Rating: Bad Good
Enter the code in the box below:
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| 0.821181 | 188 | 2.59375 | 3 |
North Africa and the Middle East will have enough drinking water for generations – if resources are sparingly used and efficiently managed. Fathi Zereini, a Germany-based mineralogist from Palestine, elaborates on the outlook
In recent years, it has been said repeatedly that future wars will be waged over water, not oil. What is your view?
Fathi Zereini: In actual fact, there is enough water. But water is used as a weapon in political conflicts – in the Middle East, for example, and in Africa. Governments may have those conflicts under control at the moment but we don't know how they might develop.
There are water disputes over the Jordan, over the Nile, over rivers flowing out of Turkey...
Zereini: Water is a source of concern throughout the region. But water problems could be solved by a reasonable policy and effective infrastructure. Most important of all is the need to avoid pointless waste. It is ridiculous to use fossil groundwater from the Sahara to grow cereals in Libya. There is no need to use such unrenewable resources for irrigating strawberries in Saudi Arabia. And Southern Jordan is actually too dry for cultivating potatoes.
If a realistic price was paid for water, all those farm products would be prohibitively expensive. They should be imported from places where there is no shortage of water. However, the people so far have no understanding of water being a commodity with a value. People think: "It's there; and it's ours to do with as we please." Water is wasted – with no thought for the consequences in a hundred, or even ten years' time.
Does irrigation farming need to be throttled back for water resources to suffice?
Zereini: In the Middle East and North Africa, agriculture consumes 70 % of water reserves. This is a massive amount. Tomatoes are sold for cents in the region. Farmers earn next to nothing from selling them, but growing them requires a huge amount of water – which is not paid for. And people who pay nothing, or far too little, for a commodity do not look for ways to use less.
If you insist on a realistic price for water, doesn't that mean that the rich will buy the water and the poor will get nothing?
Zereini: Don't look at it that way, think of the system as a whole. The crux of the matter is what farmers pay for their water and what they get for their products. At that level, it is worth assessing sound business lines. It then becomes obvious that there are areas which are suitable for agriculture and others which should not grow all their own food. We mustn't make the desert flourish.
These are not issues a country can solve for itself?
Zereini: No, they are not. Nile water, for instance, is important for many countries. Or consider the Jordan, which is used by Syrians, Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. At present, Israel is the biggest consumer. What is not acceptable, however, is that Israeli settlers irrigate huge plantations and even sprinkle decorative lawns on the West Bank, whereas Palestinians do not have enough drinking water. If everyone seeks only to derive the maximum benefit for themselves, there will be no solution.
In the long run, wasteful misuse hurts everyone. Therefore, everyone needs to get together and give thought to the future. Even war would not solve the conflicts. Should Israel occupy Syria or Lebanon for the sake of water? Should Turkey invade Syria? Military pressure has a short-term impact at most – and destroys more than can be won.
But the governments seem neither willing nor able to cooperate.
Zereini: Responsibility naturally resides first and foremost with the governments. But I think it is also worth involving civil society and launching activities at the sub-government level across the region. We are dealing with long-term perspectives. I can imagine joint projects in the Jordan Valley, locally involving Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians. Where people need to get along with one another, they normally find ways to do so. And when awareness changes at the grass roots, governments will have to respond.
You are thinking of local initiatives, cooperatives ...
Zereini: We need to reach society at large. At present, there is no public awareness of the need to curb consumption. Efforts to conserve water are unknown and societal change is pushing up demand. Modern conveniences such as washing machines, dish washers and flush toilets are making a substantial difference. And huge hotels are being built – with an immense demand for water, of course. Germany, Europe and the donor community as a whole should try to raise awareness of using water more effectively and efficiently – through new technologies, sewage treatment, better irrigation structures.
Instead of being watered with a hose, for example, crops could be drip-irrigated. We need to tell people that they have to be economical with water, that they need to safeguard water quality, that they must not pollute ground or surface water with waste. We need to move beyond the idea, commonly found in government circles, that grand technological schemes can deliver limitless amounts of water.
So the levels of water consumption found in Western Europe will never be available sustainably in North Africa and Middle East?
Zereini: No, but if we behave prudently, we will avoid any acute drinking water shortages, even in the future. For agriculture, we need to think of alternatives, such as using wastewater. But we should also provide alternative livelihoods. Structural change may be difficult, but it is possible. Think of the coal-mining areas of Germany. Why should people have to live as farmers in countries that are climatically unsuitable for agriculture?
But that kind of structural change will require international cooperation and integration in much more than just the water sector.
Yes, there is obviously a wider context. But there are excellent opportunities for solar and wind power in the Middle East – and that can be considered in one go with water distribution. The Europeans can play a leading role here. They have experience, expertise and capital.
The European Union is certainly trying to exert influence on the other Mediterranean countries. But it has not had much success so far.
Zereini: In Arab eyes, the EU is largely pursuing its own interests. Just consider the refugee issue, for example. But walls cannot be erected against poverty. Power relationships also play an important role. Turkey is on good terms with the EU and is a member of NATO. In Turkey, dams are built and major European or American investments are realised – in the full knowledge that they are more or less at the expense of neighbours like Syria and Iraq.
You don't think the European Union's policy approach is coherent enough to promote substantial progress?
Zereini: Development aid from Europe generally comes with conditions attached. Look at the post-election situation in Palestine, for example. Suddenly the message is: the money will stop unless you do this, that and the other. Europeans always come across as wanting to get their way without really tackling the region's problems.
Do you see any chance of cooperating constructively with Hamas, the islamist party that won the majority vote of Palestinians recently?
Zereini: Anything is possible in politics. Arafat used to be called a terrorist but was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Begin was considered a terrorist but then managed reconciliation with Sadat. In Palestine, we have the Oslo Accord and I assume the nations signed up to it are committed to it. But success depends on what is delivered.
The Palestinian people want to see progress – for example, the ability to go from village A to village B without spending three hours at an Israeli checkpoint. If they see progress, they will re-elect the people who brought it about. But if they feel that their freedom of movement is increasingly restricted – in the Gaza Strip, say – or that medical supplies remain inadequate, they will vote for the opposition.
Palestinians and Israelis, however, need to talk. They have no other option. Europeans and Americans have means to exert pressure both on the Palestinians and on Israel. But permanently one-sided pressure produces counter-reactions. 15 years have passed since Oslo and people in the Palestinian territories are getting poorer and poorer. This is no peaceful development.
As long as the region's top politicians insist on viewing everything in terms of black and white, good and bad, there is hardly a chance of drafting coherent plans for the entire region.
Zereini: We need to think long term. We need to work on a project or concept of how the region should develop in the decades ahead. We need to discuss that issue at greater length with the national governments and civil society. Donors have levers and they should make constructive use of them. But they need to be credible. At present, they emphasise their own particular interests far too much.
Given the depressing state of political relations, is there anyone who might take part in that kind of long-term dialogue at all?
Zereini: There are people in the countries concerned who share my view, who know that things cannot go on as they are at present. The book on the issue I published in 2004 with Wolfgang Jaeschke contains essays by authors from Israel, Palestine, Jordan and many other countries. In autumn, our society will stage an international conference near Beirut.
Cooperation must not be confined to the government level; it needs to encompass the academic community. What scientists discuss today is conventional wisdom tomorrow. Other societal groups should also be involved. Major infrastructure projects are important for the image and ego of governments. But it is the slow process of changing awareness that really makes a difference.
Interview conducted by Hans Dembowski
© Development and Cooperation 2006
Prof. Dr. Fathi Zereini teaches mineralogy at Frankfurt University. He is also president of the German-Arab Society for Environmental Studies.
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Basic Biostatistics for Geneticists and Epidemiologists: A Practical Approach
- Surveys basic statistical methods used in the genetics and epidemiology literature, including maximum likelihood and least squares.
- Introduces methods, such as permutation testing and bootstrapping, that are becoming more widely used in both genetic and epidemiological research.
- Is illustrated throughout with simple examples to clarify the statistical methodology.
- Explains Bayes’ theorem pictorially.
- Features exercises, with answers to alternate questions, enabling use as a course text.
Written at an elementary mathematical level so that readers with high school mathematics will find the content accessible. Graduate students studying genetic epidemiology, researchers and practitioners from genetics, epidemiology, biology, medical research and statistics will find this an invaluable introduction to statistics.
1. Introduction: The role and Relevance of Statistics, Genetics and Epidemiology In Medicine.
2. Populations, Samples, and Study Design.
3. Descriptive Statistics.
4. The Laws of Probability.
5. Random Variables and Distributions.
6. Estimates and Confidence Limits.
7. Significance Tests and Tests of Hypotheses.
8. Likelihood Ratios, Bayesian Methods and Multiple Hypotheses.
9. The Many Uses of Chi-Square.
10. Correlation and Regression.
11. Analysis of Variance and Linear Models.
12. Some Specialized Techniques.
13. Guides to a Critical Evaluation of Published Reports.
Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems.
- Written for those with little or no statistical background.
- Surveys up-to-date statistical methods used in genetics and epidemiology literature, including meta-analysis.
- Gives rationale underlying concepts to allow a better understanding of the appropriateness of procedures in given circumstances.
- Includes examples of computer code for implementation of the methodology.
- Features exercises, enabling use as a course text.
- Supported by a Web site featuring full data sets and extra computer code.
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en
| 0.79562 | 428 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Study Guides for The ICTS
Advantages of Studying from an ICTS Study Guide
Candidates preparing for the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS) on their own, usually follow a study guide, to help them with the preparation. Self-study or preparing with the help of a study guide can prove to be quite advantageous, because you can prepare for the test at your own pace. Moreover, if the book that you are following comes with a CD ROM (with mock tests), then you can get a first hand experience of the time constraints that you will face during the actual test. So let’s learn about some of the study guides...
Utilizing a Study Guide - to the Maximum!
If you visit your local bookstore or community library, you will find that there are a large number of guide books available. How then do you understand, which one will prove to be most beneficial and advantageous for you? The reviews given below will discuss the essential features of some of the better known study guides. This subsequently will help you realize the advantages of studying from one.
ILTS Mathematics 115 Teacher Certification Test Prep Study Guide: teacher certification exam: When preparing for the ICTS, you will find that Mathematics is an important part of the entire ICTS test battery. You will have to solve questions on Mathematics in the TAP, ATP and the Content Area tests. This particular study guide has different types of Math questions, catering to all the topics covered under Mathematics, in the afore-mentioned tests of the ICTS test battery. Thus, if you require help with Mathematics this book will prove to be most advantageous for you. This book also has a number of practice questions, so that you get firsthand experience of the type of questions you will have to solve in the final test. Hence, if you want to make maximum utilization of this study guide, then complete all the practice questions in the book.
ILTS Assessment of Professional Teaching Tests 101-104 Teacher Certification Test Prep Study Guide: This is ideal for you, if you want to develop your educational skills. The ICTS will evaluate these skills through the ATP tests and you can learn more about pedagogical skills, how to develop them etc. through this guide. This book consists of a number of chapters that will teach you the nuances of educational and academic skills. The book also has chapters that will teach you strategies regarding the development of pedagogical skills. Thus, this book will prove to be most advantageous if you want to become an educator of merit.
ICTS Basic Skills & Elementary/Middle Grades w/CD-ROM (ICTS Teacher Certification Test Prep): This book will prove to be most advantageous for candidates who want to become middle or elementary school teachers. If you are a like-minded candidate, you can consider studying from this book. Moreover, it is designed to cater to the needs of students who want to ace the ATP tests of the battery of tests. You must study the chapters in the book, reviewing the topics covered in the ATP tests and solve all the practice tests, to ensure that you make maximum use of the book.
The above-mentioned list outlines the essential features of some of the better known guides. It will also help you understand how to make maximum use of a study guide and the utility of following a single one.
Choosing a Suitable Study Guide
The choice of a guide depends upon the requirements of the candidate. For example, if you think that you need to practice in order to ace the test; then choose a study guide that has a number of mock ICTS tests. Similarly, if you require in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in the examination, then you should choose a study guide accordingly. You will find that the book that caters to most of your requirements is the most advantageous for your ICTS preparation.
Following a Study Guide
Once you have chosen a study guide that you want to follow, ensure that you strictly adhere to the instructions given in it. The study guide will also help you identify your weaknesses and then you can develop strategies to overcome them. So study the reviews given in the first section of this article and then identify your requirements. After that choose a study guide accordingly, so that you can get the maximum advantage by studying from that particular book.
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| 0.939235 | 880 | 2.640625 | 3 |
New follicle growth
Substance discovered that induces hair follicle formation in the mature skin cells of mice
November 25, 1998
Everyone has bad hair days. For 30 million men in the United States, roughly 40 percent of those over 35, every day is a no hair day. The good news is that thanks to new research, baldness may be fading away.
Researchers from the Howard Hughes Institute at the University of Chicago have induced hair follicle formation in the mature skin cells of mice. Follicle formation is a once-in-a-lifetime event that ordinarily happens only during early embryogenesis.
Their findings, reported in the November 25, 1998 issue of Cell, indicate that a molecule called beta-catenin may be the long sought message that instructs embryonic cells to become hair follicles, suggesting possible treatments for premature baldness.
"Beta-catenin can cause adult epithelial cells to revert to an embryonic-like state where they have the ability to choose to become a hair follicle," says Elaine Fuchs, Amgen Professor in the departments of molecular genetics and cell biology, Howard Hughes Investigator, and lead author of the paper. "This is exciting, because current treatments for baldness only work if there are living follicles left or if the patient undergoes hair transplant surgery. Our research shows that new follicles can be created from adult skin cells if certain molecular players are induced to act."
Beta-catenin performs two very different functions. In adult epithelial cells, it participates in binding neighboring cells together to facilitate cell-cell communication. But during embryogenesis, beta-catenin appears to have another role: it reacts with a molecule called LEF-1, which is expressed only in cells that will eventually become hair follicles. Together, beta-catenin and LEF-1 form a transcription factor that binds to the cell's DNA and activates the genes that instruct the cell to become a hair follicle.
Uri Gat, a postdoctoral fellow in Fuchs's lab, created mice that constantly produced a stabilized form of beta-catenin in their skin. (Normally any excess beta-catenin that is not needed for cell-cell adhesion is quickly degraded.) "The process caused some epidermal cells to make the partner molecule, LEF-1," explains Fuchs. "Wherever both stabilized beta-catenin and LEF-1 were present in an epithelial cell, a new hair follicle formed. If we can induce those two partners at the right time, new hair could be formed in places where it has been lost."
The genetically engineered mice were exceptionally hairy. In some mice, most skin cells became hair follicles. Unlike in embryogenesis, however, the genetically engineered skin of the transgenic mice made an endless supply of beta-catenin and benign follicle tumors formed.
"This is a case of too much of a good thing leading to a bad thing," says Fuchs. She cautions that the use of these exciting findings will still need more work before hair growth can be induced without danger of unwanted side-effects.
"If we can find a way to transiently express beta-catenin in these skin cells--just until new follicles are established--and then turn it off, we may be able to prevent tumor formation and still allow hair follicles to form," says Fuchs. The flip side of this, she says, is that it is also a potential tool to stop unwanted hair growth by inhibiting the pathway.
It could also have applications in the agricultural industry--for example to engineer sheep with denser wool or thicker skin, Fuchs explains.
The University of Chicago Medicine
950 E. 61st Street, Third Floor
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone (773) 702-0025 Fax (773) 702-3171
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| 0.949979 | 799 | 2.78125 | 3 |
New research in Communication Research uncovers a surprising exception to the typical correlation between TV viewing and decreased self-confidence.
PROBLEM: When kids aren't in school, there's a good chance they're sprawled on their couch living vicariously through the characters they watch on TV. How do the depictions of ethnicity and gender they see affect their self-esteem?
- In Teen Books, Foul-Mouthed Characters Are Rich, Cool, and Hot
- Media Multitaskers May Have Sharper Senses
- English Is an Overwhelmingly Positive Language
METHODOLOGY: Researchers Nicole Martins and Kristen Harrison surveyed 396 white and black preadolescent students in communities in the Midwest. Rather than look at the effect of particular shows or genres, they focused on the correlation between TV time in general and self-esteem over a yearlong period. They controlled for age, body satisfaction, and baseline self-esteem in their analysis.
RESULTS: TV time was significantly related to children's self-esteem. More precisely, television exposure predicted a decrease in self-esteem for black boys, white girls, and black girls as well as an increase in self-esteem among white boys. On average, the black children in the study also spent an extra 10 hours a week in front of their TV sets.
Martins explains in a statement that girls appear to be influenced by one-dimensional, sexualized depictions of women, while black boys may be disturbed by their TV counterparts, who are often criminalized or shown as hoodlums and buffoons. She adds that white boys may experience the opposite effect because they tend to identify with powerful characters who don't seem to work very hard for their accomplishments.
CONCLUSION: Watching TV can decrease the self-esteem of children, except white boys.
IMPLICATION: Television shows today, Martins says, may not be as progressive in their depictions of under-represented populations as producers claim.
SOURCE: The full study, "Racial and Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Children's Television Use and Self-Esteem: A Longitudinal Panel Study," is published in the journal Communication Research.
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| 0.953684 | 440 | 2.90625 | 3 |
For a tree grown in over 70 countries, from Indonesia to Puerto Rico, it's curious how narrow a range of
conditions is required to produce quality 'beans' and how relatively small the total output is.
The word 'beans' is deliberately in single-quote marks,
since the thing that gets roasted and ground to make the
drink isn't really a bean at all, it's a seed.
In particular, it's the seed of a fruit that grows on trees
that can easily reach twenty feet or more. Some wild
varieties grow to over 45 feet or 15m. Most of those
seeds come in a pair, though there is a variety that
produces only one (the peaberry). The berry resembles
a cranberry, with a sweet pulp covered by a membrane
called a silverskin.
In a band around the equator from approximately 25 degrees north or south, comes the overwhelming
majority of the world's coffee output. Temperatures of between 60F (15C) and 70F (21C) are best as is
rainfall of six inches per month or more.
Loamy, good-draining soil is needed and also helpful is high humidity - plenty of mist and cloud at the high
elevations, over 3000 ft (915m) for the good stuff. At these elevations the oxygen content is lower, so the
trees take longer to mature.
The robusta, or coffea canephora, goes into making the majority of coffee because it can be grown at lower
altitudes and is more disease resistant. But it's the high-altitude coffea arabica that forms the base of a gourmet
Diffuse light and moderate winds are helpful, both of which are sometimes produced by deliberately growing
in the shelter and shade. By contrast, wine grapes like hot sun and lots of it.
Once planted, the tree takes about five years to mature to first crop and even then a single tree will only make
enough for about two pounds (1 kilogram) of coffee.
Those two pounds equal about 2,000 beans, (correct or not, it's the standard term), usually hand-picked by
manual laborers. Manual they may be, but ignorant they are not. Coffee bean harvesting is a skill developed
over time, where the picker learns to select good beans and discard the bad. Bean by individual bean. That's
only one reason coffee is high priced.
The trees have broad, dark green leaves and produce a flower that resembles Jasmine. Some - in Brazil and
Mexico, for example, - blossom over a six to eight week period. In countries that lie along the equator such as
Kenya and Colombia, though, a tree can have mature berries growing alongside still ripening ones. That's part
of what makes picking such a specialty.
Blossom to harvest may cover a period of up to nine months depending on the weather and other factors and
the cycle will be carried out for the life of the tree - about 20-25 years. With the best cultivation technology, a
good harvest will be between 6,600 lbs (3,000 kg) and 8,800 lbs (4,000 kg) per hectare. (One hectare is about
From these inaccessible regions, where conditions are harsh, the berries are brought down and processed to
make up the world's second largest commodity (by annual dollar volume).
So, the next time you savor that brew, give a thought to the long journey it traveled to reach your cup. It
might make that high price seem less steep.
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| 0.935797 | 758 | 3.234375 | 3 |
It’s true that our bones tend to lose strength as we get older. But even in later years there is plenty we can do to slow down bone loss and avoid the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
“Fractures related to osteoporosis mainly occur later in life and we’re all living longer – men and women,” says Sarah Leyland, senior osteoporosis nurse at the National Osteoporosis Society. “But even when you are over 65 there are still things you can do to strengthen your bones as well as reduce your risk of falling, to prevent fractures.”
Stay active over 65 for healthy bones
In general our activity levels tend to drop as we get older. You may feel you don’t have the energy to exercise or that you may harm yourself in some way. Physical problems like stiff, painful joints can also make us less inclined to be active.
The problem is that being inactive makes your muscles and bones lose strength. This increases your risk of osteoporosis, falls and fractures. By staying active you can significantly lower your risk of breaking a bone.
Doing something is always better than doing nothing. But for optimum health, it’s recommended that people over 65 get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, in bouts of 10 minutes or more, every week.
With moderate-intensity activities you will get warmer, breathe harder and your heart will beat faster, but you should still be able to carry on a conversation. Examples include a round of golf with friends, doing some gardening, or taking the dog for a walk.
Muscle strength is vital for improving your balance and staying independent and mobile in later years. It’s recommended that people over the age of 65 do activities to improve muscle strength at least twice a week. This could include dancing, carrying groceries, going up and down stairs, or exercising to music – in fact, anything that challenges your muscles.
It’s also a good idea to do activities to improve balance and co-ordination twice a week as this can reduce your risk of falling. Things such as yoga or tai chi are best for this. These types of activity can also ease stiffness and unsteadiness associated with painful joints.
Another important tip for over 65s is to avoid sitting around for long periods. As well as reducing muscle and bone strength, this can make joints feel stiffer and so increase the risk of falls. If you find you have been sitting for more than about 20-30 minutes, get up and go for a stroll.
See more on the risks of sitting for long periods.
Physical problems, such as painful joints, needn’t prevent you from being active. Classes are available for people who are older or who have underlying health conditions, such as heart disease or arthritis. Ask your GP or practice nurse, or make enquiries at your local leisure centre.
See physical activity guidelines for older adults.
Exercising with osteoporosis
If you have a high fracture risk or spinal fractures caused by osteoporosis, you need to look after your back. It’s especially important to bend your knees when lifting objects. Avoid movements that involve awkward bending and lifting movements. You may need to be cautious about some types of high impact exercises. Your GP can advise you about this.
Eating for healthy bones over 65
Some people find their appetite starts to drop as they get older. Eating less can make it more difficult to get the nutrients you need to keep muscles and bones strong and healthy.
Staying active will help to keep your appetite up. But if you don’t feel like eating much some days, it’s still important to try and stick to a balanced diet, says Sarah Leyland. “Don’t just have tea and biscuits,” she says. “Try to keep to a balanced diet with fruit and veg, dairy, carbohydrates and protein.”
Maintaining a balanced diet will ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need. Healthy muscles and bones especially need calcium, vitamin D and protein. Calcium is what makes our bones (and teeth) strong and rigid, and vitamin D helps our bodies to absorb calcium.
Protein, meanwhile, is important for muscle strength. “Low protein has been linked with a higher risk of hip fracture in older people,” says Leyland.
Another reason to eat a balanced diet is that it will help you to maintain a healthy body weight. Being underweight is linked to a higher risk of fractures.
If your diet isn’t as good as it should be you may want to consider taking a dietary supplement. Go for one that contains calcium and vitamin D. Your GP or pharmacist can help you choose one that’s suitable for you.
Some medicines can affect your appetite. If you think a medicine you are taking may be affecting your appetite, perhaps because it makes you feel nauseous, talk with your pharmacist or GP. They may be able to suggest an alternative.
See more about food and diet for strong bones.
Vitamin D and older people
Vitamin D is important for both strong muscles and healthy bones. People aged over 65 are more likely to lack vitamin D. For this reason it’s recommended that people in this age group take a daily supplement containing 10mcg of vitamin D. “You can buy this cheaply over the counter or your GP can prescribe it,” says Leyland.
Some foods contain vitamin D. These include oily fish such as mackerel and salmon, eggs, and spreads fortified with vitamin D. However, it’s difficult to get enough vitamin D from food alone and as we get older our body's ability to absorb vitamins and minerals from food decreases.
The best natural source of vitamin D is summer sunlight. The action of sunlight on bare skin provides us with vitamin D. However, in the UK the sun is only strong enough to make vitamin D from May to September. About 10 minutes’ sun exposure once or twice a day without sunscreen on sunny summer days will help to keep your vitamin D levels topped up.
Taking a vitamin D supplement is particularly important if your diet is poor, you have darker skin, or you don’t get outside much. If you have osteoporosis, your GP may prescribe a calcium supplement, too.
See more about vitamin D.
Other ways to protect bones in over-65s
The older we get the more likely we are to experience broken bones, particularly fractures of the hip or spine. Each year there are about 300,000 fractures in the UK and most of these are in older people.
This is partly because older people are more likely to have osteoporosis but also because they are more likely to have falls.
To help prevent falls and fractures:
Get your eyesight and hearing checked – sight plays a vital role in balance and mobility so make sure you get your eyes tested at least once every two years. Eye tests are free for everybody over the age of 60 in the UK.
Ear problems can also affect your balance. See your GP if you think your hearing is getting worse or you are experiencing any dizziness.
Look after your feet – foot pain can make it difficult to stay active and can increase your risk of falls. See your GP promptly if you have painful feet.
Manage your medicines – some medicines, including some used to control blood pressure, can make you feel faint or dizzy. Regular medication reviews with your GP or pharmacist will ensure that the drugs you take are effective without causing unwelcome side effects.
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| 0.953082 | 1,583 | 3 | 3 |
Microbiology Exam 1 (lecture 3)
active/inactive form of enzyme are called
what activates an apoenzyme?
apoenzyme (protein only structure) needs to bind to either cofactor, coenzyme, or both.
CoA, NAD+ and FAD are all examples of
coenzyme (like a substrate)
pyruvic acid goes through_______ to become______ which combines with______ to make_______
decarboxylation, acetate, CoA, Acetyl CoA
what does oxidation reduction mean in terms of organic molecules?
oxidation: gaining Oxygen bonds (=losing H bonds)
reduction: gaining Hydrogen bonds (=Losing O bonds)
what is lithotrophs?
microbes that acquire e- from inorganic substances like Fe2+, H2.
2 starting reactants and 1 product in first stage of Kreb cycle
oxaloacetic acid, acetyl CoA, citric acid
definition of chemiosmosis
use of ion gradient to generate ATO
4 types of carrier molecules in ETC
flavoprotein, Ubiquionones (aka CoQ), Metal contatining proteins, cytochromes
is ETC a electrical or chemical graident?
neither, it is electrochemical gradient.
describe the glowing bacteria
From FMN (flavoprotein), and with LUCIFERASE, it goes through an alternate chain other than ETC to emit light (transfers e- to O2 during this process)
give the pencil lined paragraphs one last read
NAD+ to NADH is a oxidation or reduction?
in anaerobic respiration, what type of phosphorylation occurs?
both substrate level and oxidative
final e acceptor in fermentation is
cellular organic molecules
ATP produced per glucose in aerobic respiration
38 prokaryotes, 36 eukaryotes (eh this isn't exactly accurate)
THE process you need to remember for lipid catabolism and its product. how many products? what are they?
beta oxidation, 3, join cut off fatty acid with CoA to form Acetyl CoA, NADH,and FADH2
glycerol is converted to______ and enters
enzymes for beta oxidation are located where
cytosol for prok, mitochondria for euk.
describe 2 process in protein catabolism and the outcome
proteolysis with protease, and deamination. the products go to Kreb cycle and deanimanted amino groups are used or excreted
sucrose digested by sucrase yields, lactose digested by lactase yields
glucose, fructose. glucose,galactose
what happens to fructose? to galactose?
converted to F1P and more done, converted to G6p. Both enter glycolysis
uses H2S as source of H
uses succinate fatty acid as source of H
what is the final e- acceptor in alcoholic fermentation? what happens to it?
acetaldehyde, turns into ethanol
acetaldehyde is an example of
pyruvate derivative. the final e- acceptors of all fermentation is pyruvate or pyruvate derivative
two types of photosynthesis (anabolism)
uses something other than water as H source
what does green sulfur bacteria use as its H sourece? what about purple sulfur bacteria?
H2S, succinate (fatty acid)
sacs where bacteriophyll (chlorophyll-like structure for bacteria) located on the plasama membrane (remember prok don't have organized structure, no chlorophyll)
prok and euk example of oxygenic photosynthesizing organisms
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The Singularity is the hypothetical future creation of superintelligent machines. Superintelligence is defined as a technologically-created cognitive capacity far beyond that possible for humans. Should the Singularity occur, technology will advance beyond our ability to foresee or control its outcomes and the world will be transformed beyond recognition by the application of superintelligence to humans and/or human problems, including poverty, disease and mortality.
Revolutions in genetics, nanotechnology and robotics (GNR) in the first half of the 21st century are expected to lay the foundation for the Singularity. According to Singularity theory, superintelligence will be developed by self-directed computers and will increase exponentially rather than incrementally.
Lev Grossman explains the prospective exponential gains in capacity enabled by superintelligent machines in an article in Time:
“Their rate of development would also continue to increase, because they would take over their own development from their slower-thinking human creators. Imagine a computer scientist that was itself a super-intelligent computer. It would work incredibly quickly. It could draw on huge amounts of data effortlessly. It wouldn't even take breaks...”
Proposed mechanisms for adding superintelligence to humans include brain-computer interfaces, biological alteration of the brain, artificial intelligence (AI) brain implants and genetic engineering. Post-singularity, humanity and the world would be quite different. A human could potentially scan his consciousness into a computer and live eternally in virtual reality or as a sentient robot. Futurists such as Ray Kurzweil (author of The Singularity is Near) have predicted that in a post-Singularity world, humans would typically live much of the time in virtual reality -- which would be virtually indistinguishable from normal reality. Kurzweil predicts, based on mathematical calculations of exponential technological development, that the Singularity will come to pass by 2045.
Most arguments against the possibility of the Singularity involve doubts that computers can ever become intelligent in the human sense. The human brain and cognitive processes may simply be more complex than a computer could be. Furthermore, because the human brain is analog, with theoretically infinite values for any process, some believe that it cannot ever be replicated in a digital format. Some theorists also point out that the Singularity may not even be desirable from a human perspective because there is no reason to assume that a superintelligence would see value in, for example, the continued existence or well-being of humans.
Science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge first used the term the Singularity in this context in the 1980s, when he used it in reference to the British mathematician I.J. Good’s concept of an “intelligence explosion” brought about by the advent of superintelligent machines. The term is borrowed from physics; in that context a singularity is a point where the known physical laws cease to apply.
Neil deGrasse Tyson vs. Ray Kurzweil on the Singularity:
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The Meeting of Myth and History in the Landscape of Turtle Mountain
How strange it was that the settlers, my own people on both sides, too, could not see what was there all over the prairie. They’d used the stones to build dams and for foundations for their buildings, they’d picked them so they could farm “The circles always went first,” Peter said, “because they were so easy to see.” and yet, even knowing what they were doing, they didn’t see. Beyond seeing, there was recognizing. I couldn’t find a better word for what I meant; that a lot of people had lived here for a very long time, that they were not “picking rock” so they could farm, that they were dismantling the remains of a civilization. Every stone freighted with tears, with the weight of grief, they should have been too heavy to lift.
Sharon Butala, Wild Stone Heart. Toronto, Harper-Collins, 2000; p. 199
Table of Contents
The contents of this website are based on a presentation by James A. M. Ritchie to the ICOMOS-Canada Committee. Principal interpretive assistance contributed by Elder William Dumas, Cree. Astronomical interpretation based on work of Dr. John Eddy.
Research conducted at the Boissevain & Morton Regional Library and Community Archives on behalf of the Moncur Gallery. For information please contact the Moncur Gallery directly.
Copyright © 2002 Moncur Gallery. All Rights Reserved. Republished with permission.
This is document available from: http://turtlemountain.org/exhibits/mythandhistory/
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Parks and Recreation
Libraries and Museums
Holidays and Festivals
For Further Study
Mumbai, Maharashtra State, Republic of India, Asia
Location: Arabian Seacoast of Maharashtra, India, South Asia
Motto: Urbs Prima in Indis ("First City in India")
Time Zone: 5:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST) = noon Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Ethnic Composition: Maratha, more than 50%; Gujarati,18%; Marwari, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bohra, Khoja, Koli, and others, 32%
Latitude and Longitude: 18°58'N, 72°50E
Coastline: 36 km (23 mi), Bombay Island
Climate: Tropical monsoonal; warm temperatures all year, with heavy rainfall concentrated in the summer months
Annual Mean Temperature: 27°C (81°F); January 24°C (76°F); May 30°C (86°F)
Average Annual Precipitation: 180 cm (71 in)
Government: Municipal corporation
Weights and Measures: Metric; imperial measures also used; common numbers are one lakh (100,000) and one crore (10 million)
Monetary Units: Indian Rupee (Re)
Telephone Area Codes: 022
Postal Codes: 400001–400104
The city Mumbai, know as Bombay until 1995, is a great port city, situated on the west coast of the Indian peninsula. It is one of India's dominant urban centers and, indeed, is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world. Deriving its name from Mumba Devi, a goddess of the local Koli fishing peoples, Mumbai grew up around a fort established by the British in the mid-seventeenth century to protect their trading interests along India's western coast. The city's superb natural harbor provided a focal point for sea routes crossing the Arabian Sea, and Mumbai soon became the main western gateway to Britain's expanding Indian empire. The city emerged as a center of manufacturing and industry during the eighteenth century. Today, Mumbai is India's commercial and financial capital, as well as the capital city of Maharashtra State.
The city lies on Mumbai Island, located off the Konkan coast of western India.
Mumbai is approachable by land only from the north (National Highway 8) and east, where National Highways 3 and 4 converge and cross over from the mainland to Thane on Salsette Island. This route then continues southward into the city, where a single main road continues to Colaba Point, the southernmost tip of Mumbai Island. Bridges, such as the Thana Creek Bridge, link Mumbai to the suburbs of Greater Mumbai on the mainland.
Bus and Railroad Service
Mumbai is an important rail center. Trains with colorful names, such as the Frontier Mail and Deccan Queen, set out from the city's two main stations, Victoria Terminus (now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Mumbai Central, carrying passengers to distant parts of the country. The headquarters of India's Western Railway and Central Railway are located in the city. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and other State and private companies provide bus service to and from the city.
Mumbai's Sahar International Airport (recently renamed the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport), on Salsette Island, handles almost two-thirds of India's international air traffic. The airport is served by most major international carriers. Domestic flights use Santa Cruz Airport (also renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport), which shares the same runways but operates from separate terminals.
Mumbai's deepwater harbor and harbor facilities make it the largest port in western India, handling some 40 percent of India's total maritime trade. Catamaran and hovercraft services carry passengers from Mumbai to Goa, a major tourist destination.
Mumbai (Bombay) Population Profile
Population: Approximately 10 million
Area: Mumbai Island: 65 sq km (25 sq mi)
Nicknames: City of Gold; City of Dreams; Bollywood
Description: Area administered by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC)
Area: 437 sq km (170 sq mi)
World population rank 1: 3
Percentage of national population 2: 1.8%
Average yearly growth rate: 3.5%
Ethnic composition: Maratha, Gujarati, Marwari, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bohra, Khoja, Koli, and others
- The Mumbai (Bombay) metropolitan area's rank among the world's urban areas.
- The percent of India's total population living in the Mumbai (Bombay) metropolitan area.
Mumbai Island, the heart of Mumbai city, is only 65 square kilometers (25 square miles) in area and extremely congested. Six million people commute daily on Mumbai's public transportation system.
Bus and Commuter Rail Service
The most heavily used form of transport is the surburban electric rail system, with local trains—overflowing with passengers during peak commute hours—linking Mumbai's suburbs to the city. It is common during the rush hour to see commuters hanging on for dear life to the outside of trains as they travel to the work place. The municipally-owned BEST corporation operates a fleet of buses over an extensive route system covering Mumbai and its environs. Recent improvements in this service include the introduction of luxury and air-conditioned buses. Black-and-yellow painted taxis ply the streets of Mumbai; however, unlike in most Indian cities, three-wheeled auto rickshaws are banned from the city center.
Land transportation in Mumbai is supplemented by a ferry system, which carries passengers across Mumbai Harbor to the eastern suburbs of Greater Mumbai on the mainland. Traditional watercraft plying these routes have recently been augmented by speedboats and hovercraft.
Mumbai hosts a variety of major attractions for Indian natives, as well as visitors from overseas. The most popular of these attractions is the rock-cut temples on Elephanta Island in Mumbai Harbor. Many sightseers travel to the island by boat from Apollo Bunder, the location of another famous attraction, the Gateway of India arch. Other sites of interest include the Crawford Market, the bazaars of Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar, the Parsi Towers of Silence, and Haji Ali's Mosque.
With a population of 9.9 million people in the central city, Mumbai is the third-largest city in the world. Some 15.4 million live in Greater Mumbai (Mumbai and its suburbs). Though much of the city's population are Marathas, inhabitants of Maharashtra and speaking the Marathi language, Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city. Its inhabitants include diverse ethnic groups, such as Gujaratis, Marwaris, Sindhis, and people from other Indian states, as well as religious minorities, such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. Mumbai is home to the largest community of Parsis (Zoroastrians) in India, as well as a small population of Jews.
|City Fact Comparison|
|Population of urban area1||18,042,000||10,772,000||2,688,000||12,033,000|
|Date the city was founded||1668||AD 969||753 BC||723 BC|
|Daily costs to visit the city2|
|Hotel (single occupancy)||n.a.||$193||$172||$129|
|Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner)||n.a.||$56||$59||$62|
|Incidentals (laundry, dry cleaning, etc.)||n.a.||$14||$15||$16|
|Total daily costs (hotel, meals, incidentals)||n.a.||$173||$246||$207|
|Number of newspapers serving the city||31||13||20||11|
|Largest newspapaer||The Times of India||Akhbar El Yom/Al Akhbar||La Repubblica||Renmin Ribao|
|Circulation of largest newspaper||813,300||1,159,339||754,930||3,000,000|
|Date largest newspaper was established||1838||1944||1976||1948|
|1United Nations population estimates for the year 2000.|
|2The maximum amount the U.S. Government reimburses its employees for business travel. The lodging portion of the allowance is based on the cost for a single room at a moderately-priced hotel. The meal portion is based on the costs of an average breakfast, lunch, and dinner including taxes, service charges, and customary tips. Incidental travel expenses include such things as laundry and dry cleaning.|
|3David Maddux, ed. Editor&Publisher International Year Book. New York: The Editor&Publisher Company, 1999.|
Mumbai city has many distinctive neighborhoods. The southern tip of Mumbai Island, Colaba, is known for the Gateway of India, a yellow basalt arch built in 1924 to commemorate the British presence in India. Just to the north lies the Fort Area, the site of the old British fort around which Mumbai was built. Its Victorian gothic buildings, such as Victoria Terminus and the High Court, are monuments to the city's colonial past. Marine Drive, lined with high-rise apartments, runs along the shoreline of Back Bay from Nariman Point to Chowpatty Beach. Malabar Hill, an exclusive residential area, lies to the northwest of Back Bay. This neighborhood is known for the Hanging Gardens, as well as the Towers of Silence, where the Parsis lay out their dead to be consumed by vultures and crows. The crowded, bustling Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar bazaar areas north of Crawford Market were known as "Native Town" to Mumbai's early European inhabitants. Other well-known city landmarks are the Taj Mahal Hotel, Oval Maidan, Cuffe Parade, Horniman Circle, and Flora Fountain.
Bandra and Juhu Beach are prosperous residential areas just north of the Mahim Causeway. Further north are many large suburbs, including Andheri, Kandivili, and Borivali. New Mumbai and Nhava Sheva, on the mainland to the east of Mumbai Harbor and Thana Creek, form part of the Greater Mumbai area.
The area of the Konkan coast where Mumbai 1ies has been settled since prehistoric times. It later came under the control of several states that ruled western India. These included the Buddhist Mauryan Empire (fourth–third centuries B. C. ) and the Hindu Satavahana, Shaka, and Rashtrakuta dynasties. The Chalukyas (A. D. 550–750) built the magnificent cave temples on Elephanta Island in Mumbai Harbor. At the end of the thirteenth century, the Yadava rulers, who had their capital at Aurangabad, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the northeast, established a settlement at Mahim on one of Mumbai's original seven islands. This was in response to raids on their territory by the expanding Delhi Sultanate.
Mahim was captured by the Muslim ruler of Gujarat in 1348. The Portuguese reached India's western shores in 1498, Francisco de Almeida becoming the first Portuguese to enter Mumbai Harbor when he seized a Gujarati ship there in 1508. The Portuguese eventually forced Bahadur Shah, the sultan of Gujarat, to cede them Mumbai in 1534. Mumbai was acquired by the British in 1664 as part of Catherine of Branganza's dowry when the sister of Portugal's king married Charles II (1630–1685; r. 1660–1685) of England. In 1668, the British East India Company leased the islands from the Crown for the nominal rent of ten pounds per year.
Recognizing the potential of Mumbai and its harbor, the East India Company set about strengthening the settlement's defenses and soon shifted its administrative headquarters to Mumbai from Surat, in Gujarat. Mumbai's second governor, Gerald Aungier (d. 1677), laid the foundations for the city's future growth. Political stability, the promise of religious freedom, and land grants soon attracted large numbers of settlers, including Gujarati and Parsi merchants, to Mumbai. These, and later immigrants, contributed significantly to the growth of Mumbai as an important trading center. By 1676, Mumbai had a population of around 60,000. The very end of the seventeenth century saw the beginning of the construction of seawalls, breakwaters, and reclamation projects that eventually connected the original seven islands (Mahim, Worli, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island, Colaba, and Mumbai Island) into a single Mumbai Island.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Mumbai lagged behind Calcutta and Madras in importance. However, a series of events in the early and mid-nineteenth century propelled the city to a position of prominence. The continuing struggle for power between the Mughals (the Muslim rulers based in north India) and the Hindu Marathas created unstable political conditions in Gujarat and western India. Artisans and merchants fled to Mumbai for security, providing the stimulus for growth and expansion. This was further enhanced by the British defeat of the warlike Marathas and the expansion of trade both with the mainland and with Europe. In 1857, the first spinning and weaving mill was established in Mumbai, creating a cotton textile industry that was given a great boost by the American Civil War (1861–65), which cut off supplies of cotton to Britain. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 was another stimulus to Mumbai's growth, further enhancing its position as a major trade, commercial, and industrial center.
Mumbai's size and economic power are reflected in its role in India's modern political history. The city was an important center in India's struggle for independence from British colonial rule. The Indian National Congress, which led the nation's fight for freedom, was founded there in 1885. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948), the Mahatma, spiritual leader of the independence movement, launched his "Quit India" campaign against the British in Mumbai in 1942. Linguistic tensions between Mumbai's Marathi and Gujarati speakers resulted in violence in the city in the late 1950s. This led eventually to the separation of Gujarati-speaking areas from Mumbai state and the creation of Maharashtra State (1960).
During the early 1990s, communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai again shattered the myth of a tolerant, cosmopolitan city. Rioting led to the deaths of several hundred people (mostly Muslims) and culminated in the bombing (with numerous fatalities) of several buildings in March 1993. The Shiv Sena, a right-wing Maharashtra-based Hindu political party led by Bal Thackeray, was widely blamed for instigating Hindu violence against Muslims in the city. Subsequently elected to office, the Shiv Sena party in 1996 changed Mumbai's name to "Mumbai," the Maratha name for the city.
Mumbai is administered by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC), whose chief executive officer, the Municipal Commissioner, is appointed every three years by the state government of Maharashtra. The office of mayor is a primarily ceremonial one, with its occupant being elected annually by the BMC.
Some city services are administered by the state while others, such as communications, are the responsbility of India's central government. As the capital of Maharashtra, Mumbai is the site of the state government's headquarters.
The Mumbai Police Force, some 40,000 strong, is administered by the state government. Its head, the Police Commissioner, answers to the home secretary of Maharashtra State. Although Mumbai is a relatively safe city, it is renowned for its underworld. The dons, the leading figures of the Mumbai mafia, have become legendary figures in the city. Recently, organized crime has expanded its activities from smuggling, the black market, and drugs to infiltrate political and business circles. Kidnapping of wealthy citizens for ransom is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. City services include a Fire Brigade and ambulance service, as well as police.
Though once dominated by the cotton textile industry, Mumbai's economic base is now diversified. Textiles still remain important, but the city's industries include petrochemicals, automobile manufacturing, metals, electronics, engineering, food processing, and a wide range of light manufacturing. Mumbai is home to some of India's largest and wealthiest industrial conglomerates, such as the Aditya Birla Group, Godrej, and Tata & Sons. More specialized economic activities are diamond cutting, computers, and movie making (in sheer numbers, Mumbai, or "Bollywood," produces more movies than any other city in the world, including Hollywood).
In addition to manufacturing, Mumbai is a leading commercial and financial center. The city is home to the Reserve Bank of India, the Mumbai Stock Exchange, and a variety of other major financial institutions. The government and service sectors are also important in the city's economy.
Business in Mumbai has traditionally been dominated by Gujaratis and the Parsis, and Gujarati is the language in which most business is conducted. Mumbai's economic success, however, and its burgeonong population have created their own problems. The city is rated among the worst in India in terms of housing, cost of living, education, and health care.
Built on what is, in effect, a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, and with the backdrop of the hills of the Western Ghats, Mumbai occupies a site of natural scenic beauty. However, sheer numbers of people and rapid population growth have contributed to some serious social and environmental problems. Mumbai attracts immigrants from rural areas seeking employment and a better life. Despite government attempts to discourage the influx of people, the city's population grew at an annual rate of more than four percent a year. Many newcomers end up in abject poverty, often living in slums or sleeping in the streets. An estimated 42 percent of the city's inhabitants live in slum conditions. Some areas of Mumbai city have population densities of around 46,000 per square kilometer—among the highest in the world.
As a result of Mumbai's size and high growth rate, urban sprawl, traffic congestion, inadequate sanitation, and pollution pose serious threats to the quality of life in the city. Automobile exhausts and industrial emissions, for example, contribute to serious air pollution, which is reflected in a high incidence of chronic respiratory problems among the populace. Breathing Mumbai's air has been likened to smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day! The scale of such environmental problems, however, pales in light of a United Nations (UN) report that projects Mumbai's population to reach 27.4 million by the year 2015.
Mumbai is among the best shopping centers in all of India. It offers the shopper everything from modern, air-conditioned department stores to traditional bazaars and open-air, roadside stalls. Most modern shops, where prices are fixed, accept credit cards. In private handicraft shops, antique and curio shops, and on the street, prices are usually negotiable, and bargaining is part of the shopping experience.
As a major textile and fashion center, Mumbai is known for its fabrics and clothes. Boutiques at Kemp's Corner sell trendy western-style designer clothes though more traditional Indian clothes and fabrics may be found at Mangaldas Market in Kalbadevi, the nearby Mulji Jetha Market, and along M. Karve Road north of Churchgate Station.
Other shopping areas are Crawford Market (fruits and vegetables), Zhaveri Bazaar (jewelry), and Chor Bazaar ("Thieves' Market"), where everything from used car parts to furniture can be bought. Stalls along Colaba causeway sell handicrafts, watches, perfumes, clothes, jewelry, and leather goods. Many luxury hotels, such as the Oberoi and Taj Mahal, have exclusive (and exclusively priced) shops while a variety of traditional handicrafts can be purchased at government emporiums, such as those found in the World Trade Centre Arcade in Cuffe Parade.
Mumbai is a major center of learning and education. The University of Mumbai was founded in 1857 as an affiliating and examining body patterned after the University of London. Although it still has numerous constituent colleges, the institution has also taken on teaching functions. Other important educational and research institutions include SNDT Women's University, the Indian Institute of Technology (ITT-Mumbai), the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), and the National Center for Software Technology (NCST). The Haffkine Institute is an important center for research in medicine and allied sciences.
Mumbai municipality runs more than 1,000 primary and secondary schools for the city's children. Instruction is provided in the student's mother tongue (mainly Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, and English) though Marathi is a compulsory subject in all municipal schools. Education is free up to certain grades although parents pay for text books and school uniforms. Literacy rates in Mumbai are high (c. 82 percent in 1998) although school drop-out rates are also high.
Inadequate resources and declining standards in public institutions result in parents sending their children to the city's elite private secondary schools, such as Sophia College and St. Xavier's College. Many wealthier families look overseas for higher education.
13. Health Care
The city of Mumbai has around 1,000 health care centers to serve its population. Most of these are private hospitals and clinics with excellent doctors and medical staff, many of whom have been trained overseas. There are, however, 17 municipal hospitals that provide care which is affordable to the city's poor. Major health problems in the city include AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, chronic respiratory ailments, and gastro-intestinal diseases related to poor sanitation and hygiene. Numerous pharmacies ("chemists") supply a wide range of prescription and non-prescription drugs.
Both the Times of India and the Indian Express, two national papers, have Mumbai editions. Other local papers include Asian Age, the Free Press Journal, and the Economic Times. The List is a weekly guide to what's going on in Mumbai. In addition to these English-language papers, newspapers are also published in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, and Urdu (the language commonly spoken by India's Muslims).
All India Radio (AIR) and two local stations provide radio service to Mumbai. Several local TV stations provide programming in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, and English. BBC World, CNN, Star TV, and other international programming can be accessed by satellite cable.
Mumbai is the home of Indian cricket (a game played on a large field with a leather ball and a flat wooden bat by two teams of 11 players each), and international matches between India and other countries are held at Wankhede Stadium. Cricket games can be found at almost any time on Mumbai's maidans (open spaces). Soccer, field hockey, and kabbadi, a form of Indian wrestling, are also popular sports. Local beaches are available for swimming although the famous Juju Beach has serious problems with pollution.
Horse races are held from November to April at Mahalaxmi Race Course. Golf, tennis, swimming, badminton, and squash facilities are available at private clubs, such as the Breach Candy Club, Mumbai Gymkhana, and Willingdon Sports Club.
People in Mumbai enjoy strolling along beaches, such as Chowpatty Beach, or in the city's numerous parks. The Hanging Gardens (Pheroze Shah Mehta Gardens) and Kamala Nehru Park, in the residential neighborhood of Malabar Hill, provide interesting views of the city. The Mumbai Zoo is located in Jijamata Garden. Further afield, in northern Greater Mumbai, is the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The nearby Kanheri Caves, a complex of Buddhist caves dating to the second century, are a popular destination.
Moviegoing is a universal pastime in Mumbai. Film City in northern Mumbai is the center of India's movie industry, and the lives and activities of popular film stars are eagerly followed by fans all across the country. Visits to restaurants, clubs, pubs, and discos are popular among the city's westernized youth. Pool halls and cybercafes are a rapidly growing aspect of the Mumbai entertainment scene.
17. Performing Arts
At one time, Mumbai was a thriving center of live theater, with performances in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati. Many of the city's theaters have now been converted into movie houses. However, the National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA) at Nariman Point was established in Mumbai in 1966 to promote Indian music, dance, and drama. The NCPA stages performances ranging from concerts by visiting western classical music groups (Zubin Mehta regularly takes the Israeli Philharmonic to Mumbai) to regional Indian theater and Indian classical dance and music. The Prithvi Theater at Juhu Beach, founded by the actor Prithviraj Kapoor, provides a home for Hindi theater. Performances also include productions in Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, and English. The Prithvi also runs a summer theater workshop for children. Other venues for live theater and music performances include Nehru Centre (Worli), Shivaji Mandir (Dadar), Bhaisdas Hall (Vile Parle West), and Shanmukananda Hall (King's Circle).
Mumbai's imposing Town Hall, overlooking Horniman Circle, houses the Royal Asiatic Society of Mumbai's library, as well as the State Central Library, which is a repository for every book published in India. Other libraries in the city include the David Sassoon Library and the Max Müller Bhavan library, both in Kala Ghoda.
Built in the Indo-Saracenic style, the Prince of Wales Museum (also in Kala Ghoda) has sections on art, archaeology, and natural history and is known for its collection of Rajasthani and Deccani miniature paintings. The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum (Byculla), formerly the Victoria and Albert Museum, has exhibits relating mostly to Mumbai and western India. The Mumbai Society of Natural History is located in the Fort area.
The city's art galleries include the National Gallery of Modern Art, which houses both permanent and touring exhibits, and the Jehangir Gallery.
Mumbai is a destination for Indian tourists, as well as visitors from overseas. The rock-cut temples on Elephanta Island in Mumbai Harbor can be reached by boat from Apollo Bunder and are the city's major attraction. Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and dating to around the sixth century, the temples were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Apollo Bunder is also the location of the famous Gateway of India, the arch built to comemmorate the visit of King George V (1865–1936; r. 1910–1936) of England to India in 1911. Other tourist attractions include the city's impressive gothic architecture, Crawford Market, the bazaars of Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar, the Parsi Towers of Silence, and Haji Ali's Mosque.
Mumbai is also a departure point for excursions to the old Portuguese fort at Bassein, to the hill stations in the Western Ghats (Matheran, Lonavla, and Khandala), to Pune, and other attractions in western Maharashtra.
India uses a lunar calendar, and festivals may fall in different months in different years. The date of Muslim religious festivals falls about 11 days earlier in each succeeding year according to the western calendar.
Makara Sankranti (a Gujarati festival celebrated by kite-flying)
Banganga Festival (music festival held at Banganga Tank)
Elephanta festival (classical Indian music and dance performed on Elephanta Island)
Mahashivratri (Hindus worhip the god Shiva.)
Holi (spring festival of the Hindus)
Gudi Padava (Maharashtrian New Year)
Mahavir Jayanti (Jains celebrate birth of founder of Jainism.)
Muharram (Muslims comemmorate the martyrdom of Hussain, the Prophet's grandson.)
Parsi New Year
Ganesh Chaturthi (Images of Ganesh are immersed in the sea.)
Gokulashtami (Krishna's birthday)
Dussehra (nine-day festival celebrating Rama's victory over Ravanna, the demon king of Lanka)
Bandra Fair (Feast day of the Virgin Mary is celebrated at the Basilica of Mount Mary in Bandra.)
Diwali (The Festival of Lights marks the New Year for Jains and many Hindus.)
Nanak Jayanti (Sikhs celebrate the birthday of Guru Nanak, founder of their religion.)
Prithvi Theatre Festival
Christmas (celebrated by Christians December 25)
New Year's Eve (celebrated by Christians December 31)
Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting during daylight hours)
21. Famous Citizens
H. J. Bhabha (1909–66), nuclear physicist.
Madhuri Dixit (b. 1967), movie star.
S. M. Gavaskar (b. 1949), cricket-player.
Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy (1783–1859), Parsi businessman, social reformer, and philanthropist, the first Indian to be knighted (1847) by the British Government.
Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), English author.
Zubin Mehta (b. 1936), orchestral conductor.
Dom Moraes (b. 1938), writer.
Dr. Dhadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917), first Indian to become a Member of the British House of Commons and President of the Indian National Congress.
Salman Rushdie (b. 1947), Indian-born British writer.
J. N. Tata (1839–1904), industrialist and philanthropist.
Sachin Tendulkar (b. 1973), cricket-player.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), a leader of the "untouchable" Hindus widely regarded as the chief architect of the Indian constitution.
Amitabh Bacchhan (b. 1942), movie star.
W. M. Haffkine (1860–1930), doctor and discoverer of the plague vaccine.
M.F. Hussein (b. 1915), contemporary artist.
M. A. Jinnah (1875–1948), lawyer, Muslim political leader, and the father of the state of Pakistan.
Sir David Sassoon (1792–1853), Baghdadi-born Jew, business tycoon, and philanthropist.
Bombay Net. [Online] Available http://www.bombaynet.com (accessed February 5, 2000).
Mumbai Central. [Online] Available http://www.mumbai-central.com (accessed February 5, 2000).
Mumbai Net. [Online] Available http://www.mumbainet.com (accessed February 5, 2000).
The Mumbai Pages. [Online] Available http://www.theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/index.html (accessed February 5, 2000).
Rediff on the Net. [Online] Available http://www.rediff.com (accessed February 5, 2000).
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) BMC Building
Dr. D. Naoroji Rd.
Mantrayala (Maharashtra State Civil Service)
Madame Cama Road
Tourist and Convention Bureaus
Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Mackinnon Mackenzie Building
Ballard Estate, Shoorji Vallabhdas Marg
Government of India Tourist Office
123 Maharshi Karve Rd.
Maharashtra Tourism Development Office (Tours Division and Reservations Office)
CDO Hutments, Madame Cama Rd.
Indian Express (Bombay) Inc.
The Times of India
Times of India Building
Dr. D. Naoroji Road
Bhojani, Namas and Arun Katiyar. Bombay: A Contemporary Account of Mumbai. New Delhi: Harper Collins, 1996.
Collins, David. Mumbai (Bombay). Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications, 1999.
Contractor, Behram. From Bombay to Mumbai. Mumbai: Oriana Books, 1998.
Desai, Anita. Baumgartner's Bombay. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Dwivedi, Sharada and Rahul Mehrotra. Bombay: The Cities Within. Bombay: India Book House, 1995.
Edwardes, S. M. The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island. 3 vols. Bombay: Times Press, 1909–10 [reprinted 1977–78].
Mehta, Rina. Mumbai Mum's Guide. Bombay: Oxford and India Book House, 1999.
Moraes, Dom. Bombay. Amsterdam: Time-Life Books, 1979.
Patel, Sujata and Alice Thorner. Bombay: Metaphor for Modern India. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Patel, Sujata and Alice Thorner. Bombay: Mosaic of Modern Culture. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Rohatgi, Pauline, Pheroza Godrej and Rahul Mehrotra, eds. Bombay to Mumbai: Changing Perspectives. Mumbai: Marg Publications, 1997.
Rohinton, Mistry. Swimming Lessons, and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag. New York: Vintage, 1997.
Rohinton, Mistry. Such a Long Journey. New York: Vintage, 1992.
Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. New York: Knopf, 1995.
Rushdie, Salman. The Moor's Last Sigh. New York: Pantheon, 1995.
Tindall, Gillian. City of Gold: the Biography of Bombay. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1992.
Virani, Pinki. Once Was Bombay. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1999.
English-Language Movies Set In Bombay
Bombay 2000. Mira Nair, 1999.
Bombay Boys. Mani Ratnam, 1994.
Perfect Murder. Zafar Hai, 1988.
Salaam Bombay. Mira Nair, 1988.
"Mumbai (Bombay)." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cities. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (July 1, 2016). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3426000057.html
"Mumbai (Bombay)." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cities. 2000. Retrieved July 01, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3426000057.html
Mumbai (mōōmbī´, mŏŏm´bī), formerly Bombay (bŏmbā´), city (1991 pop. 3,175,000), capital of Maharashtra state, W central India, occupying c.25 sq mi (65 sq km) on Mumbai (Bombay) and Salsette islands on the Arabian Sea coast. Mumbai Island was created in the 19th cent. by reclamation projects that combined seven basaltic islets and is now a peninsula of the larger Salsette Island to the north. Salsette Island itself is connected to the mainland by causeways and railroad embankments.
Mumbai has the only natural deepwater harbor in W India, and is a transportation hub and industrial center. Manufactures include automobiles, machinery, clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, and refined petroleum. It is home to India's largest banks and financial houses and is also the center of India's domestic film and entertainment industry, the largest in the world. Shipbuilding and fish processing are also important industries. Although it contains vast slums, Mumbai is also a city of great wealth; most of India's tax revenues come from Mumbai. There is an extensive system of hydroelectric stations, and nearby at Trombay is a nuclear reactor.
The Univ. of Mumbai (founded 1857), the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, and the Indian Institute of Technology are among the educational, medical, scientific, and technical institutions in the city. The National Centre of Performing Arts and Jahangir Art Gallery are some of the many cultural attractions. The Victorian-style India Gate near the waterfront commemorates a 1911 visit by King George V. On Salsette Island are Buddhist caves, and the nearby small island of Elephanta is noted for its hewn-stone temples. Mumbai has many large suburbs, including Andheri, Thane, and Ulhasnagar, each with a population of more than 100,000, and the city itself has the largest community of Parsis in India. Along the city's Arabian Sea coast, a 3.5 mi (5.6 km) bridge, opened in 2009, connects Mumbai with its northern suburbs. A rail network also connects Mumbai with its suburbs, and a monorail began operations in 2014. Sanjay Gandhi National Park is nearby.
The area of the city was ceded (1534) to Portugal by the sultan of Gujarat. Mumbai, after it passed to Great Britain in 1661, was (as Bombay) the headquarters (1668–1858) of the East India Company in W India. During the American Civil War it expanded to meet the world demand for cotton and became a leading cotton-spinning and weaving center. Mumbai was the capital of the Bombay presidency and later Bombay prov., which became the state of Bombay. In 1960 the state was divided into Gujarat and Maharashtra states, and Mumbai became the capital of the latter.
The city was convulsed by anti-Muslim riots in 1993. In 1995 the city was officially renamed Mumbai (its name in the indigenous language, Marathi). Mumbai's prominence as India's financial capital has also made it a target for violence from criminal gangs and terrorists. In 1993 a Muslim gang, apparently in revenge for the 1993 riots, was the cause of some 250 deaths from bombings, and terrorists were suspected in the July, 2006, bomb attacks that killed some 200 people. In Nov., 2008, terrorists attacked several well-known sites in the city, killing more than 170 residents and foreigners; the attackers were Pakistanis who apparently had ties to militant groups.
"Mumbai." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2016. Encyclopedia.com. (July 1, 2016). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Mumbai.html
"Mumbai." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2016. Retrieved July 01, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Mumbai.html
"Mumbai." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (July 1, 2016). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Mumbai.html
"Mumbai." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved July 01, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Mumbai.html
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Can someone please explain in terms of the OSI (or TCP/IP) layers, what is the difference with what goes on when you tunnel IP or TCP, say over the ICMP protocol (although the latter doesnt really latter i dont think) ?
Tunneling is the process in which one layer is encapsulated in the payload of another layer. In the OSI model.
IP Tunneling: Suppose you tunnel an ip packet inside another ip packet. On the left you can see the packet to be encapsulated and on the right this packet is added as payload to another IP packet.
On the receiving end the process is reversed and the payload packet is sent to the higher layers of stack.
IP tunneling can be of many types ip over ip , ip6 over ip , ip over ip6.
In TCP tunneling the same process is done at TCP level.
TCP tunneling is generally used for port forwarding because traffic can be selectively forwarded based on destination port.
Here are some nice articles:
TCP Port Forwarding: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-tcp-port-forwarding/
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Depth range (m): 30 - 30
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
From 10 to 50 meters.
Habitat: demersal. Occurs in inshore waters. Taken as an incidental catch with other sillaginid species (Ref. 9679).
Molecular Biology and Genetics
Barcode data: Sillago asiatica
No available public DNA sequences.
Download FASTA File
Statistics of barcoding coverage: Sillago asiatica
Public Records: 8
Specimens with Barcodes: 10
Species With Barcodes: 1
Relevance to Humans and Ecosystems
The Asian whiting, Sillago asiatica, is a species inshore marine fish in the smelt whiting family, Sillaginidae, distributed along the Asian coastline from the Gulf of Thailand to Taiwan. The Asian whiting's appearance is very similar to other closely related species in the genus Sillago, with swim bladder morphology and ray counts of fins the most reliable identifying features. The species inhabits slightly deeper water than many of the sillaginid species its distribution overlaps, forming an important part of the whiting fishery in the countries within its range.
Taxonomy and naming
The Asian whiting is a species of the genus Sillago, one of three divisions of the smelt-whiting family Sillaginidae. The Sillaginidae are members of the Perciformes suborder Percoidei, with 67 other families.
The species was described and named Sillago asiatica by McKay in 1983 based on the holotype specimen taken from Chantaburi in the Gulf of Thailand in 1975, with paratypes from Taiwan also examined. The species had been known from a small sample of Sillago species taken from Thailand but was considered to be a subspecies of S. japonica by the biologists who first examined it. A review of the holotype by McKay led to the correct identification, with the author noting that the swim bladder morphology and vertebrae count were beyond any variation in S. japonica. The name is derived from 'Asiaticus', meaning Asiatic, which is also reflected in the species' common name.
The profile of the Asian whiting is typical of all members of the genus Sillago, possessing an elongate, slightly compressed body covered in ctenoid scales, tapering toward the terminal mouth. The head of the species is more dorsoventrally compressed that most other sillaginids, although more detailed analysis is needed to confirm the identity a specimen. The species has a known maximum size of 15 cm, making it one of the smaller smelt-whitings.
The first dorsal fin contains 11 spines while the second has one spine and 20 or 21 soft rays. The anal fin has 2 spines with between 21 and 23 soft rays posterior to the spines. The lateral line scales number between 67 and 70, while there are 34 vertebrae. The swim bladder morphology is also distinctive, with three anterior extensions, the middle one projecting forward and the anterolateral ones curving backward along the swim bladder. There is a single posterior extension toward the caudal region. A duct like process is present from the ventral surface to the urogenital opening.
The Asian whiting has a typical sillaginid colouring, with the body and head a pale sandy brown to light fawn, often with an indistinct pale midlateral band. The belly is paler than the body, occasionally white. The operculum is transparent with a crescentic patch of fine black-brown spots in a pigmented area. The fines are hyaline in appearance with the unpaired fins spotted with brown. The upper and lower margins of the caudal fins are shaded dark brown to black.
Distribution and habitat
The Asian whiting is distributed along the Asian coastline from the South of the Gulf of Thailand northward to upper Taiwan. The species may be even more widespread to the west into the Indian Ocean, however it is often confused with S. sihama. The Asian whiting inhabits slightly deeper water than many of the Sillago genus, living in water between 10 and 50m deep, venturing into larger estuaries on occasion. Very little else is known about the species' biology or ecology.
Relationship to humans
A number of smelt-whiting species are present throughout the range of the Asian whiting and are taken as food for local consumption. There is often no distinction between species and the total catch of the species is unknown, but it certainly makes up a proportion of the whiting taken. The most important fishery where the species is involved is in Taiwan.
- "Sillago asiatica". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
- McKay, R.J. (1985). "A Revision of the Fishes of the Family Silaginidae". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 22 (1): 1–73.
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2007). "Sillago asiatica" in FishBase. Jul 2007 version.
- McKay, R.J. (1992). FAO Species Catalogue: Vol. 14. Sillaginid Fishes Of The World. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organisation. pp. 19–20. ISBN 92-5-103123-1.
- Shao, K.T.; S.C. Shen & L.W. Chen. "A newly recorded Sandborer, Sillago (Sillaginipodys) chondropus Bleeker, with a synopsis of the fishes of family Sillaginidae of Taiwan". Bulletin of the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica 25: 1410–1502.
- Kuo, S.R.; K.T. Shao (1999). "Species Composition of Fish in the Coastal Zones of the Tsengwen Estuary, with Descriptions of Five New Records from Taiwan". Zoological Studies 38 (4): 391–404.
- McKay, R.J. (1999). Carpenter, K.E. and Niem, V.H. (eds.), ed. FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes: The Living Marine Resources Of The Western Central Pacific: Volume 4 Bony fishes, part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). Rome: Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations. pp. 2069–2790. ISBN 92-5-104301-9.
To request an improvement, please leave a comment on the page. Thank you!
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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Archeologists discovered footprints underneath an ancient mosaic in Israel.
The 1,700-year-old foot and sandal prints, including an imprint of a sole that resembles a modern sandal, were uncovered when the Lod Mosaic was removed for conservation.
The mosaic, one of the largest ever found in Israel, was exposed in the city of Lod in 1996 and was covered again when no resources could be found for its conservation.
With a recent contribution from the Leon Levy Foundation, the Israel Antiquities Authority is conserving and developing the site. The mosaic was re-excavated and exhibited to the public, and now is being being removed from the area for treatment in the IAA conservation laboratories.
It is believed the mosaic floor was part of a villa that belonged to a wealthy man in the Roman period.
"Based on the concentration of foot and sandal prints, it seems that the group of builders tamped the mortar in place with their feet,” said Jacques Neguer, head of the IAA Art Conservation Branch.
“The excitement here was great. It is fascinating to discover a 1,700-year old personal mark of people who are actually like us, who worked right here on the same mosaic. We feel the continuity of generations here.”
The revealed hand and foot prints will be removed from the area. They will be conserved and returned to the site together with the mosaic.
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| 0.969382 | 302 | 3 | 3 |
A gadget site Taste Test week wouldn't be complete without a hat tip to that fictional food-creating staple of the Star Trek universe, the replicator.
A replicator was a device that used transporter technology to dematerialize quantities of matter and then rematerialize that matter in another form. It was also capable of inverting its function, thus disposing of leftovers and dishes and storing the bulk material again. [Memory Alpha]
Yes, I know it's not real. We got that bit out of the way right up there in the lead. Now we can have some fun hypothesizing and waxing all futuristic like about how these fantastical infinite buffets could (stress could) be possible some day.
In fact, in the most primitive sense, there's a form of replication happening in manufacturing shops around the world right now. Called 3D printing, the technique isn't even that new, with roots extending back to the 1990s. They were really expensive then, of course, but today they're relatively ubiquitous in companies large and small. The technique is pretty simple. In layman's terms, a user creates or downloads a 3D model of real world object on their workstation, and then a special printer works to recreate that object using resin or plaster or plastic or whatever the material may be. Voila. Instant prototype, and you can have all the tchotchke trinkets your heart desires, on demand, beamed to you from anywhere in the world.
But you can't eat a resin hamburger. And you can't drive the mockup that just got spit out of your rapid prototyping rig. The replicator could do both these things.
What we need is something that physically assembles atoms and molecules into tasty shapes so we can tell some uber supercomputer with a soothing female voice to get us some Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. Oh, and it has to create a little glass cup for us to drink it in too (Quick trivia: What did Picard do with all those dirty dishes? Answer above!).
This is where things get a bit sticky (food!), exciting (recent discoveries!) and depressing (its a LONG way off!) all at once. Theoretically, people are debating and thinking about "molecular assemblers" right this instant. In fact, these hypothetical machines would implement some form of nanotechnology, which is already used in everyday items like batteries, fuel technologies and even bikinis. Hell, there's a Wikipedia page for molecular assemblers up right this instant—our replicator must be right around the corner, right?
Unfortunately, current nanotech implementations are almost what I'd call "dumb" deployments of the technology. We're just coating a material with some nano bits to repel liquid; or we're placing nanorods in a battery to improve efficiency... nothing, in other words, that would have Geordi doing a double take. Certainly not that Wesley Crusher kid either, for that matter (More asides: Wes, my man. Your replicators could produce anything you wanted—what the hell was up with that rainbow jumper?!).
But there is some hope. As recently as November, scientists had silver nanoparticles self-assembling into specific structures. Now, Guinan can't serve us up a plate of silver, so that doesn't really count as a replicator just yet, but it does drive our research in the right direction. The same direction that saw IBM scientists imaging molecular bonds for the first time ever on Thursday:
By "seeing" these bonds scientists think they can better understand how to manipulate them. For IBM scientists that means quantum processors and such in the far future. For guys and gals like you and me, it might mean snacks on demand as we start to understand why snacks look and feel the way they do on the molecular level.
While we're down at the molecular level, I'd be remiss not to mention the nano pinhole camera some enterprising Russian scientists created in June:
In their atom pinhole camera, the atoms act like photons in an optical pinhole camera, but instead of light traveling through a lens, it travels through a pinhole on a mask and creates a high-res inverted image on a silicon substrate. This camera is capable of resizing nanostructures down to 30 nm-10,000 times smaller than the original. So, a camera with say 10 million pinholes could produce large numbers of identical (or diverse) nanostructures simultaneously.
It's the most promising "replicator related" discovery in recent memory, but even so we joked that the Giz crew would probably be slurping pureed baby food and soiling our adult undergarments by the time it came to fruition. Then there's the matter of energy and resource consumption, both of which add an exponential level of complexity onto any replicator roadmap. That IBM discovery above, just as a quick example to wrap things up, took a solid 20 hours of unmoving observation with a specialized microscope just to get that one black and white image.
Still, the research is there, and every month IBM or the CERN folks or someone else who's much smarter than I am is firing off a new research paper about manipulating the world of the very, very small.
The replicator, in short, would be a paradigm shift the likes of which the world has never seen. It'd be worth the effort; the expense. Famine? Potentially gone forever. Shortages? See ya. Alinea? First place to get one. You and I? Optimistically speaking, we'll probably need some Depends by the time one comes along. Silver lining is we can crap to our hearts content and dispose of the mess in our replicator. Then it's lunch time!
Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.
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After your workout, recovery is required to make your body as strong as possible. Recovery gives your body plenty of time to strengthen itself and build muscles. Workouts are difficult and strenuous for your body, which is why it needs so much time to recover.
When you are exercising your body uses up energy. This will help you to lose weight. However, your body will also lose nutrients. You need to replace these nutrients after your workout to improve your health. By consuming the right nutrients, you can also make your workout much more effective.What Are Nutrients?
There are six main types of nutrients which are in our food: vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and water. It's vital that you find out how these nutrients affect your body. After your workout, these minerals will need to be replaced to help recovery.Water
Although water doesn't have any real nutritional value, it's still worth mentioning here. It's important to replace lost fluids to make sure your body can function properly. Without enough water, your body simply isn't able to recover. Water is used to remove waste, transport minerals and to regulate your body's temperature.Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are important type of nutrient because they provide your body with energy. There are many different types of carbohydrates, including lactose, maltose and sucrose. There are many sources of carbohydrates including vegetables, potatoes and beans.
For the first 90 minutes of exercise the body will use glycogen in your muscles. After this period, your body will then burn carbohydrates and fat reserves. You need to replenish carbohydrates soon after you start exercising. This will increase the amount of glycogen stored in your muscles, which will make physical workouts much easier.Protein
Proteins are some of the most useful minerals in your body, as these have a number of uses. They are a source of energy and also as building blocks for your body. Proteins will be burned to provide energy during your workout. It's important to replace these after your workout.
Proteins can be found in various foods. Some of the best sources include fish, poultry, meat and dairy products. These all contain useful amino acids, which helps your body to repair itself. There are also proteins available from rice, wheat and corn, however, these don't have all of the same benefits.Vitamins
Many people will take a multi-vitamin just before they start exercising. However, it's much better to take it just after you have finished your workout. Your body will be more receptive to vitamins when it is running low on them.
Many vitamins will be lost through sweat, which is why they need to be replaced. Ensure that the multivitamins you take are high quality and contain everything that you need.Chromium
Chromium is an important nutrient which is used to control the insulin in your body. By taking chromium polynicotinate within two hours of the end of your exercise, you can increase the amount of glycogen stored in your muscles.Antioxidants
Antioxidants are a useful nutrient which prevents premature aging. Vitamins C and E have antioxidant properties. These can be consumed in capsules or by eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.
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| 0.956106 | 663 | 2.9375 | 3 |
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