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Static postures (or "static loading") refer to physical exertion in which the same posture or position is held throughout the exertion. These types of exertions put increased loads or forces on the muscles and tendons, which contributes to fatigue. This occurs because not moving impedes the flow of blood that is needed to bring nutrients to the muscles and to carry away the waste products of muscle metabolism. Examples of static postures include gripping tools that cannot be put down, holding the arms out or up to perform tasks, or standing in one place for prolonged periods.
The effects on the body from doing tasks that require long reaches are exacerbated where the reaches must be maintained for more than a very few seconds. Holding extreme postures places very high static loads on the body, resulting in rapid fatigue. Not only do the static postures add to the muscular effort required to do the task, but the lack of motion impedes the blood flow that is necessary for tissue recovery.
The constricted blood flow reduces the supply of nutrients to the muscles and the removal of acids and other waste products away from the tissues. Reduced blood flow also slows down delivery of oxygen to the muscles.
The longer or more frequently static loading occurs, the greater the risk of injury due to overuse of muscles, joints and other tissues.
- Doing extensive repair work when the automobile is overhead on a vehicle lift
- Holding out the arm to use a mouse that is on a surface more than 15 inches from the body because the keyboard tray is not big enough to hold the mouse
When awkward working positions must be maintained (without support), it also increases the static loading of muscles and tendons. This causes the body to fatigue even more quickly.
- Working on a vertical drafting table
- Sitting at grinding bench where the grinding wheel is 24 inches above the floor
Tasks requiring employees to maintain the same position for an extended period increase the static loads/forces on muscles and other tissues. The longer postures must be maintained, the greater the loading of muscles and other tissues. This increased force contributes to fatigue and muscle-tendon strain.
Exposure to contact stress may be a by-product of prolonged static loading. When muscles become fatigued, employees look for ways to rest the affected areas. Sometimes employees may rest their arms or wrists on the hard surface and edges of the workstation. For example, computer operators may relieve static loading on their forearms and wrists by resting their wrists on the edge of the computer table. However, the blood flow and movement of their wrists may continue to be reduced because of the contact stress.
- Watching a computer monitor that is above eye level
- Holding a mouse that is located in front of the keyboard
In many jobs the work situation requires that the worker constantly hold the tool and does not allow the worker to put the tool down. As a result, the grasp muscles and other support muscles are constantly active or statically loaded. Tools that require the worker to maintain some level of exertion to achieve a steady flow or activity such as a glue gun or a frosting bag require the muscles to be constantly in tension/contraction and applying some level of force. When workers have to hold a tool without putting it down, they must maintain the muscles in contraction. Mouse users who grip a mouse constantly because their work requires so much click and drag also experience these low but constant forces. Over time, fatigue of muscles and inflammation of tendons occurs.
- Constantly holding knife used to trim chicken breasts in poultry plant
- Holding a wire wrap gun
Often when the body is used to position and hold an object, the clamping part of the body maintains the same posture (static posture). Static loading reduces blood flow because the muscles are not moving (contracting and relaxing). The constant muscle tension can lead to swelling and pressure on nearby nerves. Static loading and high forces can lead to tears in the muscle tissue. Static loading of the tendons can also lead to inflammation and swelling to the point where motion is restricted and the swelling may put pressure on (pinch) the nerves.
- Holding a pipe overhead while preparing a fitting
- Holding an uncooperative animal on the exam table | <urn:uuid:8f34c801-e4d4-4ba7-a65c-9e86e1253237> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ehs.iastate.edu/occupational/ergonomics/static-postures | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930756 | 853 | 3.609375 | 4 |
As evidence regarding the health benefits of consuming dark chocolate and cocoa mounts, there has been an increasing debate about which cocoa and chocolate products deliver the most beneficial compounds, known as flavanols, and if steps in cocoa and chocolate production diminish the levels of cocoa flavanols.
In a recently published paper, scientists reported on the effect of conventional production methods of cocoa beans on the levels of flavanols, natural antioxidants. The study, conducted by researchers at the Hershey Center for Health & Nutrition, investigated cocoa beans and cocoa powders and described production steps that retain naturally occurring flavanols and reported that alkali processing causes a loss of up to 98% of one important flavanol, epicatechin, in the final product.
The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, compared the effects of various common production methods on freshly harvested unfermented and naturally farm-fermented beans. Levels of epicatechin and catechin, a less active flavanol antioxidant, were compared in beans that were unfermented and in beans that underwent medium (about 5 days) and long fermentation (about 10 days). Long fermentation previously has been shown to impact the level of epicatechin in cocoa beans, and the authors reported loss of both flavanols as fermentation time increased. Beans were roasted to temperatures of 120oC and the researchers found that temperatures of 70C or higher caused some loss (up to 88% at 120oC) of epicatechin. Catechin levels, however, increased as roasting temperature increased. Additionally, natural cocoa powders and powders that had been treated with different levels of alkali also were measured. The study found that by far the greatest flavanol losses occurred during alkali processing. The results also suggested that epicatechin may be converted to catechin by alkali processing.
"This study is meant to address the impact of processing on the level of beneficial flavanol antioxidants found in cocoa beans" said Dr. Mark Payne, lead author of the paper. "We found that the processing step which causes the most loss in the flavanol epicatechin is the alkali processing step. Here the epicatechin, which is thought to be most beneficial, appears to be converted to catechin which has been shown to be less active in the body."
"Most of the world's cocoa beans undergo a natural, field fermentation on the farm and then roasting," said Dr. David A. Stuart, co-director of the Hershey Center. "Both steps are critical to the flavor development for chocolate and cocoa powder. It is important that we understand the balance in creating the wonderful flavor of chocolate with the health benefits of cocoa powder and dark chocolate. This study has gone a long way in furthering that understanding and is the first systematic study of the whole process, from bean to powder, that we are aware of."
|Contact: Mark J Payne|
The Hershey Company | <urn:uuid:834cd654-1017-46db-99be-491c665749d0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Study-clarifies-the-role-of-cocoa-bean-handling-on-flavanol-levels-18234-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955544 | 599 | 3.046875 | 3 |
1North American A warm quilt.
- That means placing baby on his back on a firm, flat mattress and not adding extra mattresses or any soft bedding, such as pillows, quilts or comforters.
- Find out everything you need to know about choosing the perfect blankets, pillows, bed linens, comforters, and other bedding here now.
- Don't use pillows, comforters, quilts, and other soft or plush items on the bed.
2A person or thing that provides consolation.
- Many people, it is true, are morbidly fascinated by deadlocks and stand-offs and cling to them as old friends and comforters.
- Credit the heroic firemen, police and rescue workers; praise hospitable friends and comforters.
- It was so hard to comfort the comforter; she already knew all the rules.
2.1 (Comforter) The Holy Spirit.
- Therefore the person of the Holy Spirit has got to be linked to the act of God on the Cross at least to the same extent that the Holy Spirit / Comforter is linked to the presence of God in experience.
- For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you.
- Consider the following statements he makes, the first in regards to who the Comforter is, and the second on Christ being saved from the cross.
For editors and proofreaders
Definition of comforter in:
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Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:011dadf6-69f2-4831-bb12-c8514176fe65> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/comforter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904744 | 342 | 2.734375 | 3 |
-- Robert Preidt
THURSDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Lower school grades among
depressed adolescents are linked to behavior problems, not their
depression, a new study finds.
Researchers examined data from thousands of U.S. teens who were
tracked through their middle and high school years and as they
moved into early adulthood.
Unlike students with depression, those with behavior problems
such as attention issues, delinquency or substance use had lower
GPAs than others. The study also found that delinquency and
substance use were associated with receiving lesser educational
degrees, while depression was not.
Students with two of these problems typically earned lower GPAs
and lesser degrees than those with one problem, and some
combinations of problems had more harmful effects than others,
according to the study, which was published in the December issue
Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
For instance, substance use worsened the educational risks
associated with depression, attention issues and delinquency.
Having depression did not, however, increase the educational risks
associated with attention issues, delinquency or substance use.
"Behavior problems including attention issues, delinquency and substance use are associated with diminished achievement, but depression is not," study lead author Jane McLeod, a sociology professor and associate dean at Indiana University, in Bloomington, said in a journal news release.
"Certainly, there are depressed youths who have trouble in school, but it's likely because they are also using substances, engaging in delinquent activities or have attention issues," she added.
"There's a fairly sizable literature that links depression in high school to diminished academic achievement," McLeod noted. "The argument we make in our study is what's really happening is that youths who are depressed also have other problems, and it's those other problems that are adversely affecting their achievement."
McLeod said the findings suggest that schools should reconsider
the approach they take to dealing with students with behavior
"Perhaps, they should think about moving away from punitive approaches toward approaches aimed at integrating these students into the school community," she suggested.
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about
child and teen mental health.
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:7f63f522-a236-4665-a313-0e66fcca16b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wkhs.com/Heart/Education/News.aspx?chunkiid=834062 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968411 | 561 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Please excuse any broken links that you might come across. As we revamp our website, we have been deleting a lot of old pages that are "past their use by date". Inevitably, we will break some links in the process. Our apologies, and we are working to fix these asap. Thank you for understanding.
For those of us that enjoy using roses for natural remedies and recipes, the wild varieties are what we turn to first. Wild (or species) roses are more hardy than their highly bred cousins, and with their abundance of big red hips, they are a foragers delight! And with their wafer thin petals, they make excellent rose petal tea, much better than any of the common garden roses.
Just because these are "wild", doesn't mean you can't plant a few in your garden, if you have the room. The Rugosa makes a wonderful garden plant, and has the benefit of cross breeding easily, and growing well from seeds and cuttings.
These native flowers can be found under many different names, including: Pasture Rose, Prairie Rose, Eglantine, Sweetbriar, and Scotch Briar.
The technical and scientific name for wild roses is the species rose. This means that its a naturally occurring breed, no hybidizing or cross breeding. So even though there are in excess of twenty thousand breed types, only slightly over 100 are wild. Authentic wild roses are single blooms, with only five petals. More petals means its a hybrid. They are mostly pink, although you will find some occasional white, yellow, and reds. They can be native to North America, Europe, and Asia.
Even those old roses you see on old farms are most likely not wild. They are just very hardy hybrids. You pretty much need to get out to some undeveloped countryside meadows to see native species.
One reason why wild roses are not as popular in gardens is because they tend to have limited bloom times. In most cases its only for about two weeks, in the early summer. While it can look spectacular when you are there, it makes your garden or meadow a little bare the rest of the year! Most meadow landscapers now cross breed with rugosa roses to get repeating blooms and hardy roses. One great version is the aptly named Nearly wild rose.
Here are some common natural species by area:
Rosa Carolina- T his is commonly called the Carolina Rose. Its frequently found in thickets and are small shrubs. More common on the East Coast, hence the name.
Rosa Palustris - This is often referred to as the Swamp rose, as it is often found in or near wetlands. It too is a shrub as well with the Carolina.
Rosa Arkansana - Very common in central North America. Also called the prairie rose
Rosa Virginiana - Also known as the Virginia rose. Its found on the East Coast mainly. It has great fruits but big thorns!
Rosa Blanda - This is often named as the Meadow Rose. Its a smaller shrub climber that goes from a light pink to a white as it blooms. Its more common in the central areas of the continent.
Rose Woodsii - A mountain rose, often called Wood's Wild Rose. Its found near the Rocky Mountains.
Rosa Nutkana - Also known as the Nootka rose, its seen in Alaska to California, down the Pacific Coast.
Rosa Californica - This, as the name would suggest, is common east of the Sierra Nevada mountains
Some roses are also found in North America, but are actually imports:
This rose originates from the east...Japan, Korea and China. It is exceptionally hardy, and will tolerate almost any conditions. It is also salt resistant, so makes a good choice for coastal properties.
The flowers have a sweet fragrance, and can be used to make pot-pourri. Very easy to hybridise and propogate.
Rosa Multiflora or also called the Multiflora rose, This is a small shrub with white blooms. It again is from the Orient, namely Japan and Korea. It was imported to the US as a border rose. However, it was soon found to be extremely invasive. It is commonly found along the East coast.
The flowers are very similar to the rugosa variety, and it is sometimes used as a rootstock for grafting.
Other breeds are often called nearly wild. These include the Carefree Beauty, Carefree Delight, and other monikers to show that these are easy care roses
Wild roses, Hybrids, climbers, miniatures and more. Make some sense of the multitude of rose varieties with our handy guides. | <urn:uuid:28e3185e-1013-4d74-ac48-eac584989706> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.love-of-roses.com/Wild-Roses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969239 | 987 | 2.625 | 3 |
Judge Dave Ryan thinks Sinatra is underachieving if he just wants to be flown to the Moon—he wants to go where it's really, really red.
For aeons, the Red Planet has held a unique grip on the imaginations of humans. So why aren't we there yet?
First Steps on Mars is a brisk and informative documentary made in 2000 covering the risks and rewards of a manned mission to the planet Mars. Although documentaries like this usually have the shelf life of an opened gallon of milk sitting on the porch, this one holds up surprisingly well, since very little has changed in the wake of the destruction of the Columbia and the complete halt to most manned spaceflight that followed.
What would it take to put a man (or woman) onto the red soil of Mars? Many things, the most important being "lots and lots and lots of money." For the most part, however, the proper technology exists today to build craft that could make the journey with a reasonable degree of safety. Few people are aware that NASA currently maintains a periodically-updated "reference mission" for Mars exploration—a complete and achievable plan, given current technology, for putting humans on the surface of Mars. This documentary shows us, via the use of a great deal of computer animation, the ins and outs of getting someone to Mars and back, drawing in large part on those NASA reference mission plans.
I was surprised to find this documentary confronting some touchy issues (for some Mars exploration proponents) head-on. For example, there's a strong argument that the re-exploration of the Moon should take priority over any Mars mission. First Steps on Mars calls in former Apollo 17 astronaut (and former Senator from New Mexico) Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmidt, a Ph.D. geologist, who explains in detail how a manned Moonbase could mine and process the rare Helium-3 isotope of helium. That particular isotope could be used as an efficient and powerful fuel for future fusion-powered spacecraft. The Moon would become, in effect, an interplanetary service station. (Sounds good to me, Jack!) Plus, the experience gained from living and working on the Moon—which is relatively close to home, in case any emergencies arise—would be invaluable to any Mars mission, which would be on its own in the void for over two years.
Another hot-button issue that's confronted directly is the "man vs. robot" question—why send humans if robotic explorers can do the same job without risk of life? Several manned spaceflight proponents, among them the then-current NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, argue in favor of the flexibility of humans, who can adapt to unexpected situations—but everyone admits that the robots have been doing a pretty good job so far. Since the title of the program implies human exploration, I don't think one could reasonably expect this documentary to fall on the side of the robots, but at least the issue (which is a very valid question) was broached.
I was very surprised to find James Cameron's name popping up repeatedly in this documentary. After a little research, I discovered that some of the graphical material used in the piece was generated not by NASA, but by the King of the World himself. Cameron has been working, off and on, on several Mars-related projects for some time now (including a failed investment in a firm that wanted to put two privately-funded rovers onto Mars); some of the computer-generated Mars spacecraft and on-the-ground activity animations we see in this documentary were apparently created as production aids for a planned TV miniseries. (In fact, I strongly suspect that the program itself may have been originally intended as a promotional tie-in to that miniseries, or possibly as a DVD extra. I have no proof of this…I just suspect it.)
First Steps on Mars strikes a nice balance with respect to its level of technicality: It's not so technical that the average person cannot understand it, but not so simplistic that it seems targeted at kindergarteners. It should be noted that the program focuses exclusively on manned Mars exploration—it doesn't, for example, contain any discussion of the successful Mars Pathfinder rover mission or any of the other recent robotic probes to Mars (other than bringing up robotic exploration in general as part of the man vs. robot discussion).
Sadly, the DVD's picture quality betrays its obvious source: a direct and unenhanced transfer from an earlier VHS version of the documentary. Some of the computer graphics are quite nice, and would have benefited from a digital touch-up. Overall, the program looks no better than a stock store-bought VHS tape would look. The audio (in Dolby Stereo) is adequate for the task. No extras are provided.
First Steps on Mars is as good a summary of the current state of planning and development for manned missions to Mars as one can get these days. Although old, it's not yet dated. But it's hard not to be left with a sense of sadness—although a Mars mission would be expensive, and there are many problems here on Earth that could be addressed with that money, I'd like to think that the romance and adventure that the exploration of an entirely new planet would bring to humanity would be of great benefit to the world in these troubled times. President George W. Bush broached the issue of a return to the Moon and a mission to Mars in a speech last January, and the Administration's subsequently proposed plan was realistic and achievable. However, as with so many things in the world of government, there were an insufficient number of public officials who could see potential political gain in the project, and the plan seems to have died a quiet death.
It will likely be a long (but not infinite) time before we see a human set foot into the soil of our neighbor planet. Until then, we can watch shows like First Steps on Mars…and dream.
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Scales of Justice
Review content copyright © 2004 David Ryan; Site design and review layout copyright © 2016 Verdict Partners LLC. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:477a9300-ed20-4cd5-8fc7-72900340aace> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/firststepsonmars.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962866 | 1,288 | 2.6875 | 3 |
January 17, 2012
Taking off from a dead tree limb strong enough to hold two sitting golden eagles, the eagle on the right takes flight to check out the lake for a possible early morning meal.
Stories this photo appears in:
The count is in — the Payson Christmas Bird Count, that is. Since 1900 the National Audubon Society has conducted bird counts throughout North America. Local birding enthusiasts conducted their eighth annual count on Dec. 30. There was beautiful, calm weather when the 17 participants headed out to spend the day identifying and counting all the birds they saw or heard in and around Payson. The good weather contributed to a record 99 species being observed as well as a record 4,376 birds. The count is a census of the birds found during a 24-hour period in a designated circle 15 miles in diameter. The Payson count circle is centered a little northwest of town. | <urn:uuid:18c43d33-8822-4976-9ee3-1bdb7099a150> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.paysonroundup.com/photos/2012/jan/17/43847/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958269 | 185 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The growing import of goods from abroad instead of manufacturing them here has fuelled an increase in carbon emissions, according to the government's climate change advisers.
Official figures show that Britain's carbon emissions have fallen by around 20% over the last two decades, partly as a result of manufacturing moving overseas. But this data does not include the emissions produced in the making and transportation of goods we import to the UK.
The Committee on Climate Change report found that when emissions 'embedded' in the goods we consume are taken into account, there has actually been a 10% rise since 1993.
The report concludes that official figures should continue to track only the emissions produced within UK borders since this is what other countries do, but that imports should also be monitored. | <urn:uuid:e50c5cd8-817d-4a93-81db-4a0d1e6ca7fa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-04-24/report-uk-outsources-large-chunk-of-carbon-emissions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963966 | 151 | 2.6875 | 3 |
ground squirrel, name applied to certain terrestrial rodents of the squirrel family. In North America the name refers to members of the genus Citellus and sometimes to the closely related genera Tamias (chipmunk), Cynomys (prairie dog), and Marmota (marmot and woodchuck). Citellus species are found in Asia, E Europe, and North America. In the Old World they are called sousliks. Other ground squirrel genera are found in Africa and S Asia. The approximately 30 North American species of Citellus are found W of Hudson Bay, from the Arctic Ocean to central Mexico. These ground squirrels have rounded heads, short ears and legs, and shorter, less bushy tails than tree squirrels. Their combined head and body length is 41/2 to 131/2 in. (11.4–33 cm) depending on the species; the tail is usually a third to two thirds as long. Most are gregarious, living in extensive underground burrows; they hibernate in colder parts of their range. Members of different species are found in prairie grasslands, arctic tundra, mountain meadows, open forest, desert, and scrub country. In some regions the ground squirrel is called gopher, a name more commonly applied to burrowing rodents of a different family. Primarily vegetarian in their diet, ground squirrels may become agricultural pests, but they destroy insects and mice as well as crops. Their tunnels cause landslides and erosion, but also serve to mix and aerate the soil. Ground squirrels are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Sciuridae.
See J. O. Murie and G. R. Michener, ed., The Biology of Ground-Dwelling Squirrels (1984).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:ef0440ec-d196-43db-aae5-b03cbc738eab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/ground-squirrel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942102 | 414 | 3.625 | 4 |
The Tone Scale is an extremely useful tool to help predict the characteristics and behavior of a person. But to do this well you must be able to recognize a person’s position on the scale at a glance.
The Tone Scale is very easy to apply on a casual basis for some acute tone. “Joe was on a 1.5 kick last night.” Sure, he turned red as a beet and threw a book at your head. Simple. Mary breaks into sobs, and grabs for the Kleenex, easily recognizable as grief. But how about a person’s chronic tone level? This can be masked by a thin veneer of social training and responses. Such is called a social tone. It is neither chronic, nor acute, but is a reflection of the person’s social education and mannerisms adopted to present himself to others. How sharp and how certain are you about that? Take a person that you are familiar with. What, exactly, is his chronic tone?
There is a word “obnosis” which has been put together from the phrase, “observing the obvious.” The art of observing the obvious is strenuously neglected in our society at this time. Pity. It’s the only way you ever see anything; you observe the obvious. You look at the isness of something, at what is actually there. Fortunately for us, the ability to obnose is not in any sense “inborn” or mystical. But it is being taught that way by people outside of Scientology.
How do you teach somebody to see what is there? Well, you put up something for him to look at, and have him tell you what he sees. An individual can practice this on his own or in a group situation, such as a class. One simply selects a person or object and observes what is there. In a classroom situation, for instance, a student is asked to stand up in the front of the room and be looked at by the rest of the students. An instructor stands by, and asks the students:
“What do you see?”
The first responses run about like this:
“Well, I can see he’s had a lot of experience.”
“Oh, can you? Can you really see his experience? What do you see there?”
“Well, I can tell from the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth that he’s had lots of experience.”
“All right, but what do you see?”
“Oh, I get you. I see wrinkles around his eyes and mouth.”
The instructor accepts nothing that is not plainly visible.
A student starts to catch on and says, “Well, I can really see he’s got ears.”
“All right, but from where you’re sitting can you see both ears right now as you’re looking at him?”
“Okay. What do you see?”
“I see he’s got a left ear.”
No guesses, no assumptions will do. For example, “He’s got good posture.”
“Good posture by comparison with what?”
“Well, he’s standing straighter than most people I’ve seen.”
“Are they here now?”
“Well, no, but I’ve got memories of them.”
“Come on. Good posture in relation to what, that you can see right now.”
“Well, he’s standing straighter than you are. You’re a little slouched.”
“Right this minute?”
The goal of such drilling is to get a student to the point where he can look at another person, or an object, and see exactly what is there. Not a deduction of what might be there from what he does see there. Just what is there, visible and plain to the eye. It’s so simple, it hurts.
You can get a good tip on chronic tone from what a person does with his eyes. At apathy, he will give the appearance of looking fixedly, for minutes on end, at a particular object. The only thing is, he doesn’t see it. He isn’t aware of the object at all. If you dropped a bag over his head, the focus of his eyes would probably remain the same.
Moving up to grief, the person does look “downcast.” A person in chronic grief tends to focus his eyes down in the direction of the floor a good bit. In the lower ranges of grief, his attention will be fairly fixed, as in apathy. As he starts moving up into the fear band, you get the focus shifting around, but still directed downward.
At fear itself, the very obvious characteristic is that the person can’t look at you. People are too dangerous to look at. He’s supposedly talking to you, but he’s looking over in left field. Then he glances at your feet briefly, then over your head (you get the impression a plane’s passing over), but now he’s looking back over his shoulder. Flick, flick, flick. In short, he’ll look anywhere but at you.
What a person does with his eyes can help you spot his position on the Tone Scale.
Then, in the lower band of anger, he will look away from you, deliberately. He looks away from you; it’s an overt communication break. A little further up the line and he’ll look directly at you all right, but not very pleasantly. He wants to locate you-as a target.
Then, at boredom, you get the eyes wandering around again, but not frantically as in fear. Also, he won’t be avoiding looking at you. He’ll include you among the things he looks at.
Equipped with data of this sort, and having gained some proficiency in the obnosis of people, a person can next go out into the public to talk to strangers and spot them on the Tone Scale. Usually, but only as a slight crutch in approaching people, a person doing this should have a series of questions to ask each person, and a clipboard for jotting down the answers, notes, etc. The real purpose of their talking to people at all is to spot them on the Tone Scale, chronic tone and social tone. They are given questions calculated to produce lags and break through social training and education, so that the chronic tone juts out.
Here are some sample questions used for this drill: “What’s the most obvious thing about me?” “When was the last time you had your hair cut?” “Do you think people do as much work now as they did fifty years ago?”
At first, the persons doing this merely spot the tone of the person they are interviewing-and many and various are the adventures they have while doing this! Later, as they gain some assurance about stopping strangers and asking them questions, these instructions are added: “Interview at least fifteen people. With the first five, match their tone, as soon as you’ve spotted it. The next five, you drop below their chronic tone, and see what happens. For the last five, put on a higher tone than theirs.”
What can a person gain from these exercises? A willingness to communicate with anyone, for one thing. To begin with, a person can be highly selective about the sort of people he stops. Only old ladies. No one who looks angry. Or only people who look clean. Finally, they just stop the next person who comes along, even though he looks leprous and armed to the teeth. Their ability to confront people has come way up, and a person is just somebody else to talk to. They become willing to pinpoint a person on the scale, without wavering or hesitating.
They also become quite gifted and flexible at assuming tones at will, and putting them across convincingly, which is very useful in many situations, and lots of fun to do.
Being able to recognize the tone level of people at a single glance is an ability which can give a tremendous advantage in one’s dealings with others. It is a skill well worth the time and effort to acquire. | <urn:uuid:c88ad200-dd99-42f4-ad1e-692336ac5464> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/tone-scale/sh4_3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975315 | 1,784 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Ten Little Fish Lesson Plan
Students create a counting photo book.
- Grades: PreK–K, 1–2
I use Ten Little Fish in our ocean unit and also to reinforce counting to ten and back to one. The students like the bright colors of the illustrations and counting the fish.
Students will learn to recognize different forms of poetry. Students will recognize patterns in language.
- Ten Little Fish by Audrey and Bruce Wood
- Digital cameras, one per student or student pair or group
- At least one computer with iPhoto
- Writing paper
Set Up and Prepare
- Have the students practice counting up to ten and back down to one.
Step 1: While reading Ten Little Fish aloud to students, call attention to the rhyming words. Let the students make observations about the illustrations.
Step 2: Have students work individually or in groups or pairs to take photos of sets of objects. These photos will be used in their counting books.
Step 3: Once students are done taking photos, help them import their photos into iPhoto.
Step 4: Create a counting photo book with text identifying the numerals and the objects in the photos.
Step 5: After students have completed their books, each student should pick one of the numbers or objects in their book and write a story about it.
Step 6: While students are writing their stories, print our their books and so they can take them home to share with family members.
Optional: Create one class iPhoto photo book with one or more photos from each student.
Supporting All Learners
This lesson is geared toward students who need practice in counting.
The students could use fluorescent tempera paint to make their own illustrations for the story. | <urn:uuid:f3e24961-a44a-4aac-89b7-ea6c1386baf4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/ten-little-fish-lesson-plan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924244 | 356 | 3.96875 | 4 |
The most cost effective way to serve young people and their families is to prevent problems before they start. It is crucial that services and interventions be available to youth and their families before they end up in the foster care, juvenile justice, or criminal justice systems.
For example, imagine a scenario (not at all uncommon) where a parent is at the end of her rope with her teenage daughter’s out of control behavior. They are fighting constantly and the fights get very intense because they both have many other stressors in their lives and few supports. When they threaten violence to one another, both mother and daughter realize that they need help. There are several possible risk scenarios that could play out if nobody intervenes:
(1) the mother could kick the daughter out of the home and she could become homeless (at which point Child Protective Services might eventually intervene)
(2) the daughter could get fed up and run away from home (which could also warrant CPS intervention)
(3) the fighting could get more physical and someone could get seriously injured (which could lead to the involvement of the foster care or juvenile justice systems, depending on who gets injured)
(4) the situation could escalate and the daughter could act out with criminal activities (and eventually end up in the juvenile or criminal justice system)
When these situations escalate to the point that social service agencies such as Child Protective Services or the juvenile or criminal justice system get involved, the costs of services increases dramatically and the results often fracture families permanently. It makes more sense to operate a program, such as the STAR program, that protects children and families by resolving conflicts before situations escalate to family separation. | <urn:uuid:3bc3b01b-f627-4a5e-a17e-124ed218cb9a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://tnoys.org/advocacy/return-on-investment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00129-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971401 | 336 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Africa faces more droughts and could have 25 per cent less water by the end of the century, scientists have warned.
The study predicted that changes to rainfall patterns mean many of Africa's rivers and lakes could run dry by 2100, meaning serious water shortages.
Areas in southern and western Africa are thought to be most at risk, according to climate experts.
Researchers predict water shortages could encourage nations to argue over rivers that cross borders.
The amount of rain a continent like Africa gets has a direct effect on its water supply and the people living there.
The University of Cape Town study backed other research which found that climate change will have a huge impact on Africa.
Rain shortages have already caused lots of problems there, and climate scientists are trying to predict how global warming will change rainfall patterns across the continent.
In East Africa, up to three million people face starvation this year because there hasn't been any rain there for months | <urn:uuid:6092821f-c7ce-49a4-ad8b-5e21f517179e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4770000/newsid_4771500/4771592.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95398 | 191 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Guiding Principles of Reflection
- Reflection is most effective when it is continuous - done before, during and after service activities.
- Utilizing a wide array of reflection strategies is the most effective way of engaging all students in learning from service.
- Post-service reflection needs to happen as soon after the service event as possible.
- Insights gained via reflection can be used to support learning in other contexts and long after the initial reflection session.
- Some of the most compelling reflection sessions actively involve people who are receiving the service as well as students who are doing the service.
- The environment and method of reflection should be appropriate for the given course (may not always be formal, may be conducted in the service setting, etc.)
- Reflection activities are most effective when they are challenging (pushing students to engage unfamiliar or even uncomfortable issues) AND "safe" (an environment is created in which learners feel confident that their contributions, backgrounds and feelings will be respected and appreciated).
"All those things that we had to do for the [community]
learning. Each one successively helped me to pull together what I'd
learned. As you're going along, you're not really seeing what
you're learning every minute. But, when you have to pull it all
together and really think about it, I think it helped me realize
what had taken place."
- University student | <urn:uuid:ddcc5414-6675-42b2-b3ed-e7d71e288e7d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sjsu.edu/ccll/faculty/curriculum/Reflection/principles/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963698 | 290 | 3.28125 | 3 |
[Note from Web Editor: in conjunction with the electronic version of this article, we are launching a service which allows users to create simple quizzes easily using a web form. Read on for details.]
As part of the process of establishing a set of web pages for each of the courses that I teach I have recently considered the idea of incorporating on-line quizzes to give the students immediate feedback on their understanding of course materials. Some economics course web pages that I have seen already do this, and it is an idea which was supported by Jane Leuthold in her recent article about how to build a Homepage for economics classes (Leuthold (1998)).
However, having considered the idea my next problem was how to go about it. Looking at examples of such web-based quizzes both in economics, and in other subjects, I could see that there are a variety of ways of going about the task. I decided to investigate the matter more systematically. This paper reports on some of the things I have discovered. I sought to answer the following questions:
There are comparatively few on-line economics quizzes on the web that I could find. Other subject areas seem to have many more such quizzes. It may be that economists are sceptical of their value, are not aware of the tools, which are now available to produce them, or just consider that the opportunity cost of spending time producing them is too high.
Some of the quizzes, which I did come across, are linked to textbooks. Publishers are increasingly creating Web sites for their textbooks, making available supporting materials such as datafiles, slide presentations and quizzes through this medium. Here again economics is not at the forefront of these developments, but there are some to look at. For example, the publishers of Manfred Gärtners new European Macroeconomics text have set up a web site with quiz questions to go with each chapter.
Sometimes authors create their own web sites to go with their books. For example, Steve Hackett has produced four on-line quizzes to go with his textbook Environmental and Natural Resources Economics
Roger McCain has lots of quiz questions as part of his on-line text Essential Principles of Economics: A Hypermedia Text [No longer on open access- Wed Editor]. There is also a large collection of multiple choice economics questions at the Amos World Economic Testing System site.
As I come across other examples of on-line quizzes in economics I shall place links to them on a special web page I have set up for this purpose.
On-line quizzes can be used as an instrument for providing feedback to students on the degree of their understanding of course material. Such quizzes can be used at the beginning of a course for diagnostic purposes to indicate any areas where prerequisite knowledge may be inadequate, during the course to measure progress in understanding, or at the end of a course to assist in revision.
Byrnes and Debreceny (1995) cite Ramsden (1992) in stressing the importance of high quality feedback on student work, where students are not only given an indication of how well they have done (by grade or mark) but also an indication of how they have gone wrong and explanations which can help them improve their understanding of the material.
When large numbers of students are taking a course it becomes impossible to mark and return regular tests and exercises. Properly designed on-line quizzes however allow students to test out their knowledge of a topic and get immediate feedback. Students appreciate this feature, and although there may be limits to the types of questions, which can be constructed for such quizzes, they can have important motivational role. There are of course dangers, in that students may mistake good performances on these quizzes for knowledge of a sufficient depth to deal with examination questions and coursework assignments. Students should be warned that while they might see such quizzes as a way of confirming that they have sufficient understanding of a topic (when they get all the answers right) it would be better if they thought of them more as a way of revealing areas of weakness where they have an incomplete understanding of the material (shown when their answers are wrong).
Multiple choice quizzes have, of course, been available for many years, very often even in computerized form to allow automatic marking. By placing such quizzes on the Web, however, a lecturer can potentially take advantage of all its facilities, expanding the types of questions which can be asked (possibly including not only on-line graphics but also full multi-media audio and video clips as the basis for the questions posed). Direct links to further material for the student to work through, depending upon the outcome of the test, can also be given as part of the feedback. With the quizzes placed on the Web students can try them whenever and where ever they like (provided of course that they have access to the Web).
Putting material on the Web also allows lecturers to benefit from sharing resources with each other. This is as true for quizzes as for other types of on-line material and lecturers can provide pointers to quizzes produced by other economists and placed on the Web (provided they have not restricted them to students at their own institution through password and user id screening). I should certainly like to encourage more sharing of on-line resources of this kind. One of the aims of the Netquest project reported on in CHEER Volume 11 Issue 2 (see Williams et al (1997)) is to construct fully indexed and searchable "questionbanks" from which questions can be drawn. This approach requires that lecturers donating questions conform to common standards.
For lecturers, if the system they are using contains mechanisms for tracking and analyzing student responses, it can help to identify students who are having problems, areas of common concern for students where further explanation is needed, or where badly designed questions need to be rewritten.
If the system also has built into it password and id screening, together with secure archiving of test results, it can be used for on-line end of topic or end of course examinations. Although people at a number of universities are piloting the use of such electronic examination systems, this has not been my primary interest in this study. My focus is more on informal on-line quizzes to facilitate the learning process.
Quizzes on the Web can, in principle, include questions of each of the following types (although it may not be possible to produce some types of questions using some development tools, and some question types may require special hardware or software on the students computer):
Some quiz setting systems will allow for the random selection of questions from a database, or in the case of numerical questions set randomized parameter values (different every time). Some will allow users to retry quizzes as many times as they wish and will deliver detailed explanations when an incorrect response is given. In such cases if the quiz is not used as a part of the assessment students might intentionally give an incorrect answer in order to see the full solution, using the test to elicit as much information as possible. Other systems can prevent users from taking a test more than once or restrict the amount of time available for them to answer each question.
Essentially there are two approaches to authoring on-line quizzes for the Web: (i) program them yourself, using a scripting language such as Perl or Java, or (ii) make use of a software tool which can automatically generate the code for you. An intermediate position is to cut, paste and edit code which has been produced by someone else, and which you can alter to suit your needs. Which approach you choose can depend upon the quantity, variety and purpose of the questions you want to produce, whether you want to integrate the quizzes directly into your web page or keep them as separate resources to which students may be directed, your experience and confidence with programming languages, whether you are working on your own or as part of a team, and the availability of funds to pay for software or programming time.
If you plan to code the questions yourself it makes sense to take a look at the way that other people have done it. Some quiz authors have gone out of their way to make their code accessible to others.
|Sample multiple choice question produced using Brian Tissues
Try the question
View the source of the question
If you want to link your question to a graphical image this too is reasonably straightforward. For example you could show a labelled diagram or a screen grab of an image you want the students to refer to by incorporating a link to the image source. Then you could pose the question and ask the user to choose the correct response from a list of choices. Making such a graphic a Hot Image, so that the user instead responds by pointing to a particular part of the image, is a little more complicated and requires more advanced programming skills.
If you are providing a set of questions to be answered you may wish to keep a tally of the students score. This can be achieved by adding in a scoring variable whose value is cumulated as the quiz progresses. The simplest scoring system would allocate one mark for every correct answer and a zero for each incorrect response. However, alternative scoring systems could be used, possibly even with negative scores for wrong answers to deter guessing. At the end of the quiz the student can be given a message to reflect their overall performance on the quiz; high marks could generate a congratulatory message and a suggestion that the student moves on to the next quiz. Poor marks could call forth a different message, which also points the student towards material, which should be studied before the test is tried again.
A possible weakness of this approach is that the source file contains the information about which response is correct. As it can be viewed on-line using the browser software, students could cheat and find out the right answer that way. This may not be an issue if, like me, your purpose is to provide quizzes as an interactive learning tool rather than for assessment. However, one way to retain such information on the server is to make use of a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program. This program will link the remote user to the database of your questions, answers and scoring information held in a directory on your server. When the user requests the question it will be displayed on their screen. When they choose a response the program will check back with the database and display an appropriate message for the user. The student never has direct access to the full set of questions and answers. This is the approach which is used in the NetQuest project (see their site for more details).
The NetQuest questions themselves have been produced using the Tutorial Mark-up Language (TML) which is a super-set of HTML. As Williams et al (1997) noted, this language was developed by Joel Crisp at the ILRT, building on some initial work undertaken by Neil Holtz at the University of Carleton in Canada.
Figure 1 shows a multiple choice question produced by biz/ed staff using this system to illustrate its potential for the construction of tutorial questions for A level economics. Instead of using radio buttons to select an answer, the user must use the mouse to point at the letter which corresponds to their choice. When the mouse is clicked the software finds and displays the message, which is linked to the relevant URL.
Although the TML software which was used to create the question illustrated in Figure 1 (TML version 4.0) can still be downloaded from the NetQuest web site, the project team has recently been concentrating on ensuring that their system is consistent with the standards that have been agreed by the World-Wide Web Consortium (WC3). As a result, a new version of the language TML 5.0 is being developed (and TML is now taken to stand for Tutorial Modelling Language). For more information contact Dan Brickley at [email protected].
A number of other projects of this type have been going on around the world, including the CASTLE Project at the University of Leicester and TRIADS (Tripartite Assessment Delivery System), a joint project involving the University of Derby, the University of Liverpool and the Open University. Links to sites for these and other projects can also be found on my special quiz links web page.
An alternative approach, which can be used to create on-line quizzes, is to purchase one of the growing numbers of commercial software tools. Several departments at Portsmouth are using Question Mark Perception to develop and deliver both self-assessment tests and formal computer-mediated exams. A variety of standard question types are supported including numeric response and diagram/hotspot response as well as multiple choice, multiple response and text based questions. Questions are authored off line using Question Manager and stored in a database. Questions can be enriched by linking them to multimedia (graphics, sound and video) files. You can also integrate your own customised question types through the Question Markup Language (QML) used by the program.
Session Manager enables you organise these questions into tests. You can select questions individually or have them extracted randomly from one or more topic groups. You then use Perception Server to deliver the tests over the Web (or an Intranet) to authorized individuals. Perception Manager provides extensive on-line security management of both assessments and users. A final component called Reporter can be used to analyze the answers and results.
Note: In order to install the Web-based server components of Question Mark Perception you must have an ISAPI compliant server. ISAPI (the Internet Server Application Programming Interface) is for Microsofts IIS (Internet Information Server). Several Web servers from companies other than Microsoft also support ISAPI. ISAPI enables programmers to develop Web-based applications that run much faster than CGI programs because they are more closely integrated with the Web server.
You can see examples of the kind of tests that can be produced using Question Mark Perception at Question Mark Computings web site. You can also download a fully working 30 day evaluation copy of the program. For further information contact Philippa Bean, the UK Sales Manager, Question Mark Computing Ltd. [Tel +44 (0) 171 263 7575; Fax +44 (0) 171 263 7555; E-mail [email protected]]
Another on-line testing system now available commercially is inQsit (Integrated Network Quizzing Surveying and Interactive Testing system). Developed at Ball State University, Indiana, a site licence for inQsit is only $499 for an educational or non-profit organization. The program supports a variety of question types (but not hot-spot graphics), uses cgi scripts, allows interfaces to other applications (including Excel), ensures password protected security and provides automatic analysis of results. A 30 day free trial version is available. For further details go to http://www.bsu.edu/inqsit/.
Web@ssessor from ComputerPREP is another recent product designed with Java to run on the Web. In addition to the usual range of question types, links to graphics, video clips, audio files, and animations, Web@ssessor allows tests to be authored or taken in any language. The web site gives examples of tests in both French and Spanish.
Other tools of this type which are available include QuizCenter, developed at the university of Hawaii; Top Class Test Assistant ; WebCT from the University of British Columbia and WinAsks Professional from SmartLite Software.
Last, but certainly not least, may I draw your attention to Quia! [http://www.quia.com/]. Like the commercial tools described above, Quia enables you to set up your own Web based quizzes without the need to know anything about programming. Once you have registered to use the service you can just log in, go to the Activity Manager part of the Quia web site and author your questions on-line. The system is quite easy to use. You can create quizzes of a variety of types, although for some types you must have a Java-enabled browser.
Quia differs from the other commercial tools described above in two important ways. First, authors do not store their questions and solutions on their own servers, but on Quias. This means that even if you dont have access to a server and your own Homepage you can still set up quizzes at Quia and then let your students know where to go for them. Even if you have your own server, you can save the space on it for other things when you store your quizzes at Quia. Secondly, and importantly, the service is free to quiz authors and quiz users. Paul Mishkin from Quia says Our goal is to provide powerful yet easy-to-use Internet tools for educators and learners at all levels. The services on Quia are all free, and will at some point be supported by advertising banners.
Quia are keen to encourage the sharing of quizzes. When you have created a quiz you are invited to have it added to the subject directory so that visitors to the Quia site can find it. If you just want to use the quiz with your own students you dont have to include it in the directory - but you will have to provide the students with the full URL. For example, I have created a brief simple regression quiz which I havent yet added to the directory. (I do plan to construct a number of these quizzes and then add them all to the directory but I want to try them out with my students first). In the meantime you can find this quiz through this link.
If you want to track the performance of your students as they take the quizzes you can create special quiz sessions based on your quiz questions. Students go to the session login page and enter your session name (a unique name that you picked when creating the quiz session). When the students answer the quiz questions and press submit, their scores are stored in a database. You can then examine the students performance, either individually, or as a group, obtaining information about:
You can also view the results by question, revealing information like:
Quiz questions are independent of quizzes, so you can create multiple questions for a single quiz if you have several different groups of students that you want to track separately. You can also create sessions for quizzes that others have authored. For example, suppose someone has created a series of quizzes to go with chapters in a specific textbook. If those quizzes are added into the Quia directory, other lecturers around the world who are using the same textbook can find them and create quiz sessions based on them to track their own students scores. Quiz sessions are private, so the original quiz author will not be able to see any sessions that others have created.
So far economists have not made much use of Quia. Currently there are only two economics quizzes in the directory, and they are on very basic material. However several other economists have experimented with Quia quizzes. Trudy Ann Cameron, for example, has some flash cards on Applied Regression Analysis. Quia are very keen to expand their economics section. Indeed they hope to be able to have specific micro, macro, econometrics etc. sections in their directory. This is a cheap (free!) and easy way of setting up web quizzes and I hope that CHEER readers will consider using the tools provided by Quia to author and store more quizzes in our subject area.
As I discovered when I started to try to create my own on-line web quizzes, the hardest part of the process is creating the questions themselves, not the stage where you put them up on the web. You should definitely not try to do this on-line, but think carefully about what it is you require students to know, and what common misconceptions there might be. Questions should be piloted with a small group of students first, or you should get a colleague to look at them to check that they are suitably phrased.
Although not specifically related to on-line quizzes there is a literature on the problems of using quizzes and multiple choice questions in economics; see, inter alia, Bresnock et al (1989), Bruno (1989), Walstead and Robson (1997). These papers examine whether or not gender, ethnic background or learning styles can affect student performance on multiple choice quizzes. Carlson and Ostrosky (1992) present evidence that student scores on a micro principles test may be affected by the order in which content is presented in the questions.
The Appendix to this article is on a separate page.
Bicanich, E., Slivinski, T., Hardwicke, S.B., and Kapes, J.T. (1997) Internet-Based Testing: A Vision or Reality? Technological Horizons in Education. September 1997. [http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A1918.cfm]
Bresnock, A.E., Graves, P.E. and White, N. (1989) Multiple-Choice Testing: Question and Response Position. Journal of Economic Education Vol 20 No3 (Summer) pp239-245.
Bruno, J.E. (1989) Using MCW-APM Test Scoring to Evaluate Economics Curricicula. Journal of Economic Education Vol 20 No1 (Winter) pp5-22.
Byrnes, R. and R. Debreceny (1995) The Development of a Multiple-Choice and True-False Testing Environment on the Web. Paper presented at AusWeb95. The First Australian WorldWide Web Conference. [http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw95/education3/byrnes/index.html]
Carlson, J.L. and Ostrosky, A.L. (1992) Item Sequence and Student performance on Multiple-Choice Exams: Further Evidence. Journal of Economic Education Vol 23 No3 (Summer) pp232-235.
Gartner, M. (1998) A Primer in European Economics. Prentice-Hall Europe.
Hackett, S. (1998) Environmental and Natural Resources Economics: Theory, Policy, and the Sustainable Society. M.E. Sharpe, Publisher.
Leuthold, J.H. (1998) Building a Homepage for your Economics Class. Journal of Economic Education, Volume (Summer 1998) pp247-261
Ramsden, P. (1992) Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge.
Walstead, W.B. and Robson, D. (1997) Differential Item Functioning and Male-Female Differences on Multiple-Choice tests in Economics. Journal of Economic Education Vol 28 No2 (Spring) pp 155-172.
Williams, J., Browning, P., Brickley, D. and Missou, H. (1997) The NetQuest Project: Question Delivery over the Web using TML Computers in Higher Education Economics Review Volume 11 Issue 2 pp 9 [http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/cheer/ch11_2/ch11_2p9.htm] | <urn:uuid:2a7e8c3d-ce01-4f08-9c09-ca27852e2d97> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/cheer/ch13_1/ch13_1p21.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936711 | 4,747 | 2.890625 | 3 |
The gravitational attraction which holds us to the Earth's surface has a
value of 10^3 cm sec^-2 = 1 g. A deceleration of a = 10^-2 g = 10 cm
sec^-2 is almost unnoticible. How much time, t, would Earth take to stop
its rotation if the resulting deceleration were unnoticible? Earth's
equatorial angular velocity is W = 2pi/P = 7.3 x 10^-5 radians/sec;
the equatorial linear velocity is RW = 0.46 km/sec. Thus t = RW/a = 4600
secs, or a little over an hour.
The specific energy of the Earth's rotation is:
E = 1/2 IW^2/M = (approx) 1/5(RW)^2 = (approx) 10^8 erg gm^1,
where I is the Earth's principle moment of inertia. Thes is less than the
latent heat of fusion of silicates, L = (approx) 4 x 10^9 erg gm^-1.
Thus Clarence Darrow was wrong about the Earth melting. Nevertheless, he
was on the right track: thermal considerations are in fact fatal to the Joshua
story. With a typical specific heat capacity of c = (approx) 8 x 10^6 erg
gm^-1 deg^-1, the stopping and restarting of Earth in one day would have
imparted an *average* temperature increment of dT = 2E/c = (approx) 100
deg K, enough to raise the temperature above the normal boiling point of
water. It would have been even worse near the surface and at low
latitudes; with v = (approx) RW, dT = (approx)v^2/c = (approx) 240 deg K.
It is doubtful that the inhabitants would have failed to notive so
dramatic a climatic change. The deceleration might be tolerable if
gradual enough, but not the heat (_Broca's Brain_, Appendix 2).
I have found this most amusing. Sagan seems to grant that God *could*
have slowed down the earth gradually enough so things didn't fly off into
space, but darned if he could do anything about the increased temperature! | <urn:uuid:a5bf9518-d58c-4ce7-9fde-2782c77ddccc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.asa3.org/archive/asa/199703/0171.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924358 | 503 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Copy, move, delete
|Working with Spreadsheets in OpenOffice.org Calc|
|Selection | Inserting | Deleting | Widths and heights | Entering data | Changing contents | Copy, move, delete | Shifting cells | Sorting data | Speeding data entry | Find and replace | Practice | Summary|
We've discussed how Calc will delete selected rows or columns. Now let's look at how to work with copying, moving, or deleting one or more cells, that may not be a whole row or column.
Copy the contents of a cell or cell range
This operation is essentially the same as copy and paste, a common task in word processing tools, like OpenOffice.org Write. Here we will be duplicating the content of a single cell as well as of a range of cells. Further we will be executing the operation in a single worksheet, between worksheets and between spreadsheets. The procedure throughout is as follows:
- Select the cell(s) whose contents are to be duplicated.
- Copy the contents to the clipboard, that is select Edit > Copy.
- Select the target, that is the cell(s) to which the content is to be copied.
- Select Edit > Paste. The data from the previous cell(s) will now appear in the target cell(s).
Note that when you paste data, the contents of the target cells will be overwritten.
Copy within a single worksheet
Note that a range of cells is denoted using the upper left cell, followed by a colon, and then the lower right cell: the cells A13, B14, C13 and D13 are written A13:D13.
Copy between worksheets
Recall that each spreadsheet contains three worksheets by default. You can move between worksheets of an open spreadsheet by clicking on the appropriate tab at the bottom of the work area.
Suppose you wish to copy a range of cells from Sheet 1 to a cell range in Sheet 2.
- Select the range of cells to be copied (in Sheet 1).
- Copy (Ctrl+C) the contents to the clipboard.
- Click on the Sheet 3 tab.
- Select the upper left cell in the target range
- Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of the clipboard.
Copy between open spreadsheets
It is possible to have several spreadsheets open at the same time. Note that spreadsheets are stored in different files whereas the worksheets of a particular spreadsheet are all stored in the same file. You can switch between spreadsheets by selecting Window on the menu bar, and then clicking on the particular file.
Suppose you have two spreadsheets open, XBudget.ods and YBudget.ods. You now wish to copy a range of cells from XBudget to YBudget.
- Select Window > XBudget.ods, to bring XBudget.ods into the workspace.
- Select the cells to be copied.
- Copy (Ctrl+C) the cell contents to the clipboard.
- Select Window > YBudget.ods
- Select the upper left cell in the target range.
- Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of the clipboard into the target range.
Move the contents of a cell or cell range
There are two ways to move cells in Calc: using the cut function or using drag and drop.
Using cut and paste to move cells
You can use the same procedure for moving the contents of cell(s) as for copying the contents of cell(s) except that instead of the copy function you use the cut function, followed by paste. Note that the cut function stores a copy of the cell contents on the clipboard for later use. The contents may be moved within the same worksheet, from one worksheet to the next within the same spreadsheet, or between different spreadsheets.
Using drag and drop to move cells
Drag and drop is a useful tool for quickly moving cell contents from one location to another:
- Highlight two or more cells that you would like to move.
- Click on either cell with the mouse and, keeping the left button depressed, drag the cell to its desired location.
|If you are not already proficient in using drag and drop in other applications, take a moment to try it out in an open spreadsheet file. Use the undo function to return the spreadsheet to its original content.|
Delete the contents of a cell or cell range
Data can be removed from a cell in several additional ways. These methods differ from using the cut function in that the deleted data is not copied to the clipboard for later use.
Removing data only
The data alone can be removed from a cell or range of cells without removing any of the formatting of the cell. Select the cell(s) and then press the Backspace key.
Removing data and formatting
The data and the formatting can be removed from a cell or range of cells at the same time.
The contents of the selected cell(s) are emptied. The cells themselves are not moved. | <urn:uuid:7ec15fbf-8e60-4e3d-947e-5b606f95e350> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wikieducator.org/OpenOffice/Calc_3/Working_with_and_in_cells/Duplicate,_move,_delete | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881864 | 1,058 | 3.015625 | 3 |
ENGS 16: Biomedical Engineering for Global Health
The past 20 years have seen an incredible amount of high-tech medical advances, but to what degree have these impacted the health of those living in the developing world? The potential for years of life gained through biomedical technology is tremendous in some of the world’s poorest regions, but appropriate design requires an understanding of the clinical, political, and cultural landscape, and a clean-slate approach to developing low-cost, effective tech.
This course offers an exciting opportunity to understand how to design solutions for the most important health challenges of the developing world. Learning goals will be achieved through hands-on experience, including: a laboratory component where we deconstruct, design, and build a low-cost medical device, case study discussions on successful global health innovations, and several “teardowns” of common medical devices. Lecturers from Thayer School, Tuck School of Business, The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, and Geisel School of Medicine will cover complimentary topics in clinical medicine, healthcare delivery, innovation, and medical imaging. A final project will bring everything together by addressing a real health problem with a prototype of a low-cost tech solution. Enrollment is limited to 40 students. | <urn:uuid:1c9b3734-899b-4c3b-9972-e90ea51ac31e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/academics/courses/engs16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93826 | 256 | 2.578125 | 3 |
A great many teachers feel a much stronger interest in the one or two scholars they may have in Surveying or in Latin than they do in the large classes in the elementary branches which fill the school. But a moment’s reflection will show that such a preference is founded on a very mistaken view. Leading forward one or two minds from step to step in an advanced study is certainly far inferior in real dignity and importance to opening all the stores of written knowledge to fifty or a hundred. The man who neglects the interests of his school in these great branches to devote his time to two or three, or half a dozen older scholars, is unjust both to his employers and to himself.
It is the duty, therefore, of every teacher who commences a common district school for a single season to make, when he commences, an estimate of the state of his pupils in reference to these three branches. How do they all write? How do they all read? How do they calculate? It would be well if he would make a careful examination of the school in this respect. Let them all write a specimen. Let all read, and let him make a memorandum of the manner, noticing how many read fluently, how many with difficulty, how many know only their letters, and how many are to be taught these. Let him ascertain, also, what progress they have made in arithmetic—how many can readily perform the elementary processes, and what number need instruction in these. After thus surveying the ground, let him form his plan, and lay out his whole strength in carrying forward as rapidly as possible the whole school in these studies. By this means he is acting most directly and powerfully on the intelligence of the whole future community in that place. He is opening to fifty or a hundred minds stores of knowledge which they will go on exploring for years to come. What a descent now from such a work as this to the mere hearing of the recitation of two or three boys in Trigonometry!
I repeat it, that a thorough and enlightened survey of the whole school should be taken, and plans formed for elevating the whole mass in those great branches of knowledge which are to be of immediate practical use to them in future life.
If the school is one more advanced in respect to the age and studies of the pupils, the teacher should, in the same manner, before he forms his plans, consider well what are the great objects which he has to accomplish. He should ascertain what is the existing state of his school both as to knowledge and character; how long, generally, his pupils are to remain under his care; what are to be their future stations and conditions in life, and what objects he can reasonably hope to effect for them while they remain under his influence. By means of this forethought and consideration he will be enabled to work understandingly. | <urn:uuid:37adbc6e-3abb-4f39-bda6-fa063340ee14> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/12291/40.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983053 | 578 | 2.96875 | 3 |
December 26, 2012
From Carbon Sink To Carbon Source, Bogs Lose Effectiveness Due To Increasing Shrub Cover
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
Bogs and mires are important ecosystems that also play an important role the storage of global atmospheric carbon emissions.According to a study in Nature Climate Change, the peat mosses, which are found in boglands and drive the production of peat, are being outcompeted by vascular plants, resulting in bog degradation.
In the study, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) closely observed four Swiss bog sites at different altitudes, from 1900 to 6200 feet, over a three-year period. They chose to monitor peat moss activity on an altitudinal gradient in an attempt to predict the various climate conditions in northern Switzerland by 2050.
The research team discovered that an increase of shrub cover and soil temperature has a direct correlation to a reduction of almost 50 percent in the production of new litter via the decomposing effects of peat mosses.
An analysis of the vascular plants that lived alongside the peat mosses showed that they were increasing the amount of soil nitrogen through certain chemical compounds in their leaves. As the plants utilize the nitrogen compounds for their growth through a symbiotic fungal relationship at root level, the researchers found the process becomes even more active as the soil temperature increases.
They also noted that vascular plants release a greater amount of organic matter into the soil through their roots as temperatures increased, stimulating the decomposition activity of microbes in the soil. This increased decomposition activity accelerates the decomposition of old peat. The result of less peat being the reduced storage of atmospheric carbon over time – transforming peatlands from carbon sinks into carbon sources, this contributing to the forces driving climate warming, the report said.
Peat, or Sphagnum, mosses are responsible for the accumulation of peat. They produce a litter that contains antibiotic properties that hamper the decomposing activity of soil microbes. The marshes where peat mosses thrive are excellent at retaining water, making them an ideal place for the tiny plants, which do not have roots. The marshy conditions also create anoxic conditions that reduce the decomposition of plant litter – allowing for peat mosses to dominate the area.
Peatlands have a unique place in the hierarchy of Swiss society, particularly because of the Rothenthurm Initiative. Passed in 1987, the initiative constructed a legal framework to protect the upland moor of Rothenthurm and other moors in Switzerland. An article adopted into the Swiss Constitution that same year was designed to save peatlands from destruction.
Besides being under threat from vascular plants, boglands have been decimated by human activity. Many of them are drained so that they can be used for agriculture or harvested for their peat. The peat drainage causes thousands of years of stored carbon to be released into the atmosphere. Draining of these wetlands occurs most frequently in developing countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
The drainage can also result in peat fires. Being high in carbon, drier peat readily ignites and can smolder for a long period of time, from weeks to centuries. These fires also contribute to global carbon emissions.
Image 2 (below): Long-term carbon accumulation in peatlands relies on peat mosses (reddish) more than on vascular plants (green). Photo: Luca Bragazza / WSL | <urn:uuid:251fc204-5709-4734-8704-87ecdc96421a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112754013/carbon-storage-of-bogs-lessened-by-increasing-shrubs-122612/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938274 | 721 | 3.921875 | 4 |
| HBS Case Collection
(Revised July 2007)
Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)
In 1991, Chile adopted a framework of capital controls focused on reducing the massive flows of foreign investment coming into the country as international interest rates remained low. Capital inflows threatened the Central Bank's ability to manage the exchange rate within a crawling band, which aimed eventually to lower Chile's rate of inflation to international levels. Until the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the Russian debt crisis of August 1998, the Chilean economy performed spectacularly under, or perhaps in spite of, these controls. In the aftermath of the Asian and Russian crises, Chile's economy began to suffer through both trade and financial channels. Chile's current account deteriorated not only because Chile relied on Asia as a market for one-third of its exports, but also as the price of cooper, Chile's largest export product, plummeted in the face of dwindling Asian demand. Financial flows to Chile, like to emerging markets in general, fell dramatically as investors panicked. By the end of 1999, Chile had experienced Latin America's most severe "sudden stop" of external capital flows. In this new economic environment, Chile was forced to reevaluate its system of capital controls. Many observers in the private sector blamed the controls for unnecessarily adding to the strain and demanded the controls be dismantled completely. Meanwhile, Chile's Central Bank continued to defend the controls and argued that they had helped insulate the country for worse contagion.
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies;
Business and Government Relations; | <urn:uuid:28209322-86b5-40c0-a72a-5935ff403101> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=32181 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947482 | 316 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Where It All Goes Down
It's not tough work imagining a setting for this poem. Our chimney-sweeping speaker is a young British boy in the late 18th century, and he has a lot of chimney-sweeping buddies. They're dirty, they live in squalor, and they have no way out. That's the bottom line.
But when you get into the nitty-gritty of the poem, things start to get a little more interesting. We don't know much about their location (except that they sleep in soot), but we do know what one of them dreams of—a "green plain" (15), "a river" and the "sun" (16). Sounds nice, right?
Right. And that's precisely the point. The contrast between the lovely natural imagery of Tom's dream and black chimneys in which they spend most of their waking life is enough to give anyone the blues. As with many other aspects of the poem, the dream setting highlights the huge gap between the innocence of these young boys and the harsh reality of their experience. | <urn:uuid:26eefc4c-b409-47d2-9ea4-175849e2f18b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/chimney-sweeper-innocence/setting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957451 | 225 | 3.046875 | 3 |
March 4, 2002—Atmospheric scientists have long suspected that microscopic aerosol particles from industrial processes increase the brightness of clouds, resulting in greater reflection of sunlight and cooling of Earth's climate. However, this supposition is based on model calculations rather than observations, and these model calculations are very uncertain.
Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Purdue University have combined satellite measurements of cloud brightness, water content, and other variables with model calculations of atmospheric aerosols to demonstrate the brightening effect. This effect, described in the February 19, 2002, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, should be accounted for in assessing the magnitude of global climate change, the researchers say.
"We're not saying that aerosols can counteract the greenhouse effect," said lead scientist Stephen Schwartz, an atmospheric chemist at Brookhaven, "but rather that we need to know how much of a cooling effect they have so we have a clearer picture of the greenhouse effect. To whatever extent aerosols are offsetting greenhouse warming, then the offset is the unseen part of the greenhouse 'iceberg,'" he said.
One difficulty in measuring the effect of aerosols is knowing their concentration. Aerosols such as sulfur compounds result from emissions by fossil-fuel-burning power plants and other industrial processes. They are typically found in the lowest three to four kilometers above Earth's surface and precipitate out of the atmosphere, typically in about a week. "Because of this short residence time, aerosols are highly variable as a function of location and time, which makes it tough to measure their concentrations on a global scale," Schwartz said.
Schwartz's team has been working for more than a decade to develop and refine a "chemical transport model" to calculate aerosol distribution. The model uses archived weather data and weather prediction models to track the distribution of aerosols from industrial sources to various parts of the atmosphere. "This model is the key to knowing where and when to look for the aerosol effect," Schwartz said.
By analyzing data from the model, the Brookhaven-Purdue team identified two one-week episodes during April 1987 when the modeled concentration of sulfate aerosol over the North Atlantic Ocean—far from any local sources of aerosol emissions—increased significantly and then decreased over the course of each week. These large variations in aerosol concentration and the fact that there were no high-atmosphere (obscuring) clouds during these events made them ideal episodes for studying the effect of aerosols on cloud brightening.
The next challenge was to get the data on cloud brightness for that area over the same time period. For this, the scientists retrieved satellite measurements of radiance (how much light the clouds reflect) and optical depth (a value related to how much light is transmitted through the cloud), and used these measurements to calculate the size of the cloud droplets and the liquid water path (the amount of liquid water in the cloud). They were also able to analyze how these variables were related to one another.
The findings show that, for a given liquid water path, cloud reflectivity was indeed higher on the days with higher aerosol content than on the days with lower aerosol levels. "If the effect is as widespread as we think it is, it would produce quite a substantial cooling effect on climate," Schwartz said. "This new study," he added, "provides a method of quantifying the phenomenon globally over the past 15 years using archived satellite data. Once this is done, we will have a much better idea of the true magnitude of the greenhouse effect."
Could aerosols be deliberately employed to offset the greenhouse effect? "This is an attractive thought," Schwartz said, "but it cannot work in the long run—because aerosols are so short-lived in the atmosphere, whereas greenhouse gases accumulate over time. An ever increasing amount of aerosols would be required. We'd never solve the long-term problem."
Also, says Schwartz, the aerosol effect may have a different geographical distribution from the greenhouse effect, and "the consequence of this mismatch is unknown." One key to assessing the overall impact of aerosols, he said, will be further development of the satellite-based measurements.
Media contacts: Karen McNulty Walsh, (631) 344-8350, [email protected], or Mona S. Rowe, (631) 344-5056, [email protected] Technical contact: Stephen Schwartz, Brookhaven Environmental Sciences Dept., Atmospheric Sciences Div, (631) 344-3100, [email protected]
Related Web Links
"Influence of anthropogenic aerosol on cloud optical
depth and albedo shown by satellite measurements and
chemical transport modeling," Schwartz S.E., Harshvardhan,
and Benkovitz C.M., Proc. Nat. Acad. U.S.,
February 19, 2002. [Abstract]
text - html]
Brookhaven National Laboratory
(http://www.bnl.gov) conducts research in the physical,
biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well
as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also builds
and operates major facilities available to university,
industrial, and government scientists. The Laboratory
is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited
liability company founded by Stony Brook University
and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology
Author: Karen McNulty Walsh, a
Senior Public Affairs Representative at Brookhaven
National Laboratory since September 1999, has an
MA in science journalism from New York University
and a BA in biology from Vassar College. She was
previously the editor of Science World, a science
magazine for middle-school children, and Zillions,
a kids' version of Consumer Reports. For more science
news, see Brookhaven
The Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. | <urn:uuid:4065ae8b-e68d-4eac-a3f8-dc1fd920c416> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2002-03/dnl-aaf061502.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930607 | 1,245 | 4.03125 | 4 |
UNIFORM MODEL OF THE ORGANIZATION AND REPRESENTATION OF DIGITAL TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS AND PLANS
Work with GIS demands qualitative digital topographical bases which make basis of a spatial data uniform infrastructure. Now there are different principles and methods of digital topographical map and plan compilation (DTMPC), and also various ways and forms for realization of these models. As a whole the situation with digital topographical bases in the Russian market is as follow:
- Existing data are diverse both on structure and on ways of coding the topographical information; therefore there is a problem of compatibility the data received from different sources;
- The approach to DTMPC as to simple reproduction of paper maps prevails. Such data are aimed first of all at reproduction of the paper original and do not consider to the full specificity of work in GIS.
- Digital topomaps and topoplans through display the same objects, are created by the different rules which often have been not coordinated with each other
In DATA+ works on creation of the unified objects model of vectorial DTMPC, orientated first of all on technical opportunities of work with such data in GIS for a number of years are conducted. On the basis of acting in given area domestic and international standards the logic model of data which defines principles of formal representation of terrain objects in GIS and rules of their description has been developed. By development of logic model we started with following positions.
1. The digital topographical basis represents digital model of terrain which stores the information on location, metric parameters and topological mutual relations of spatial objects, and also their semantic characteristics;
2. Digital maps and plans carry the information about the same objects with a different degree of a detail. It defines an opportunity and necessity of use uniform structure, dictionaries and libraries, including qualifier of objects;
3. The universal structure of DTMPC data includes a standard set of thematic layers with a standard set of attributes for all scale range. The database structure reflects accepted for topographical maps and plans division of objects into thematic groupings which are observed also in headings of the qualifier;
4. Terrain object coding comes true on the uniform qualifier basis. The object description in it is transferred by 8-unit codes. The same terrain object on different scale maps will differ with presence and number of specific attributes which are consolidated in classification code corresponding positions;
5. Topographic data storage with the certain level of spatial and thematic generalization is better for carrying out as uniform file in the form of seamless maps, instead of on nomenclature sheets;
6. DTCP is expedient to create and support in a compact vectorial format of data, it is preferable in the open formats accepted by the international standards;
7. DTCPs are necessarily accompanied by metadata which will allow to keep and build in the information on existence of these data on created state and world information servers;
8. Physically the structure of data is supported by the uniform model described in UML notation, patterns of geodata bases which are realized in a format of ArcGIS geodata bases and an exchange format of XML document .
The offered approach allows providing unequivocal representation, processing and interpretation of terrain objects at different levels of spatial generalization, that, in turn, creates a basis for correct overlapping the data received from different sources. The model is intended for realization in relational database and approved on maps of different scales. | <urn:uuid:b48b4fba-d674-44be-a75a-0f9ecd5c06ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://icaci.org/files/documents/ICC_proceedings/ICC2007/abstracts/html/7_Oral5_4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914438 | 716 | 2.84375 | 3 |
PowerPoint Presentation: diffusion Diffusion: Fick's laws Steady state diffusion Diffusion cell and applications Prepared by Dr.k.Jaya raj Kumar PowerPoint Presentation: Diffusion: mass transfer (individual molecule movement) from higher concentration to lower concentration through a Semipermeable membrane. Generally due to Brownian motion In absence of external force Drug through barrier – synthetic or natural membrane (film) Material undergoes transport (diffusant) PowerPoint Presentation: Application of diffusion Release of drugs from dosage forms is diffusion controlled (SR,CRDS) Molecular Weight of polymers can be estimated from diffusion process The transport of drugs (absorption) from gastro intestinal tract , skin etc… The diffusion of drugs into tissue and their excretion through kidneys Process such as dialysis, microfiltration, ultrafiltration,heamodialysis,osmosis …use principles of diffusion. PowerPoint Presentation: Diffusion is a direct result of Brownian motion . Molecule diffuse spontaneously from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration until diffusion Equilibrium is established Diffusant dissolved in a solvent and placed in donor compartment The vehicle is placed in a receptor compartment Diffusant gets transported from donor to accepter compartment Based on two laws of fick’s law PowerPoint Presentation: Steady state diffusion : Condition do not very with time (constant) Mass transfer remain constant with time dc/dt (or) dm/dt The concentration of solute in the donor and acceptor compartment must be Constant. Both compartment are connected to large reservoirs of solution are recirculated. Therefore, Conc gradient is maintained constant Mass transfer takes place at constant rate throughout the study donor receptor time concentration Steady state curve PowerPoint Presentation: Sink condition: Which the conc. in the receptor comportment is maintained at a lower level compared to its concentration in the donor comportment. donor receptor It is easy to maintain sink conditions rather than study state Un steady state diffusion : Condition very with time Withdraw of sample PowerPoint Presentation: In diffusion molecule (mass) get transported from one compartment to another compartment over a period of time. i.e Rate of mass transfer (dm/ dt ) – expressed as flux Flux is equal to the rate of mass transfer (dm/ dt ) across a unit surface area of a barrier (S). Flux J can be expressed as: 1 dm S Flux, J = dt * dm-change in the mass of material S-barrier surface area dt-change in time eqn.1 Fick’s first law PowerPoint Presentation: Fick’s first law state that the flux is directly proportional to the concentration gradient. Flux, J = -D dx dc dc- change in Conc. of material D- diffusion coefficient of a penetrant dx- change in distance eqn.2 Negative sign…decrease in conc. but flux is always positive…..increase continuously during process. the dx Perpendicular to the surface area of the barrier. PowerPoint Presentation: Combining equ…1 and 2 gives = -DS dx dc dm dt eqn.3 dc = change in Conc. D = Diffusion Coefficient of diffusant dx = change in distance D is affected by temperature,pressure,solvent properties and chemical nature of diffusant Fick’s first law extensively applied in pharmacy-SR and CRS Flux, J = -D dx dc 1 dm S Flux, J = dt * PowerPoint Presentation: FICK’S SECOND LAW Concentration of diffusing molecules change with time ,(∆C/∆t) flux or diffusing molecules changes with distance (∆J/∆x) in the x direction. eqn.4 ∆C/∆t= - ∆J/∆x Fick’s second law state that the Conc. with time in a particular region is proportional to the change in the Conc. Gradient at that point of time. The concentration is a function of both x and t. similarly flux is also a function of x and t. PowerPoint Presentation: Fick’s second law refers to change in concentration of diffusant with time , at any distance x y z PowerPoint Presentation: Flux, J = - D dx dc eqn.2 Consider fick’s first law expression i.e Differentiating equation- 2 with respect to x gives ∆J/∆X= - D ∆²c /∆x 2 eqn….5 Substituting the (∆C/∆t) in eqn (5) for ∆J/∆x, we get ∆C/∆t= D ∆ 2 C/∆x 2 eqn….6 Represents diffusion in x-direction only ∆C ∆t = D ∆ 2 C ∆ 2 C ∆ 2 C ∆x 2 ∆y 2 ∆z 2 eqn….7 Represents diffusion in x,y and z-direction only PowerPoint Presentation: donor acceptor Water bath 37ºc Horizontal transport cell To study the skin permeation of drugs Used as in vitro model for drug absorption. PowerPoint Presentation: Diffusion cells are made of glass, plexi glass, pyrex or plastic. Donor and receptor compartment assembled in Horizontal manner The cells are jacketed and thermostated in order to maintain the temperature. Barriers: Stripped skin of the forearm Buccal mucosa Human skin, cardavar skin (from dead bodies) Polyvinyl chloride (CRDDS) Polyvinyl acetate (CRDDS) Sampling: The diffusant in the form of a solution placed in donor compartment Ex. Ointment, gel, cream Solvent alone placed in accepter compartment Stirring rate and temperature are closely monitored at constant rate 37°c at 50 rpm Assemble: PowerPoint Presentation: During process, the diffusant penetrate through the membrane and reaches the solvent (horizontal position) The concentration of diffusant in the donor compartment decrease continuously and in the acceptor compartment increase. After some time ,equilibrium state reaches, wherein the concentration of diffusant remain same in both sides. (study state diffusion) Periodically samples are withdrawn from the receptor compartment and concentration of diffusant is analyzed by a suitable method. time concentration PowerPoint Presentation: donor acceptor Water bath 37ºc lid sample membrane (b) vertical transport cell PowerPoint Presentation: Sampling: The diffusant in the form of a solution placed in donor compartment Ex. Ointment, gel, cream Solvent alone placed in accepter compartment Stirring rate and temperature are closely monitored at constant rate 37°c at 50 rpm During process, the diffusant penetrate through the membrane and reaches the solvent (vertical position) The concentration of diffusant in the donor compartment decrease continuously and in the acceptor compartment increase. After some time ,equilibrium state reaches, wherein the concentration of diffusant remain same in both sides. (study state diffusion) Periodically samples are withdrawn from the receptor compartment and concentration of diffusant is analyzed by a suitable method. | <urn:uuid:49242747-05f2-45ea-a2d5-dca13ee6a033> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/jayaraj2775-1494498-diffusion-2003/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.861963 | 1,494 | 3.359375 | 3 |
In the United States, more babies die on the first day of life than in any other industrialized country, according to a new report.
Each year, about 11,300 U.S. babies die the day they're born, which is 50 percent more deaths than all other industrialized countries combined, according to the report from the charity organization Save the Children.
When the organization ranked countries by the rate of death on the first day of life, the United States placed behind 68 others, including Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The report ranked 186 countries in all. Somalia has the highest first-day death rate, with 18 deaths per 1,000 live births, while Luxemburg, Singapore and Sweden have among the lowest, with less than 0.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. The rate of first-day death in the United States is 2.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The relatively high rate of preterm birth in the United States compared to other industrialized countries contributes to the nation's high rate of first-day deaths, said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children.
And a lack of access to prenatal care for poor women contributes to the high rate of premature birth, Miles said. Women need access to proper prenatal care, in part to understand their risk of preterm birth and other pregnancy complications, Miles said.
Although overall mortality has dropped worldwide for children under 5 years old, from 12 million deaths in 1990 to 7 million yearly deaths today, less progress has been made in reducing newborn deaths. In 2011, 3 million babies died in the first month of life, one-third of whom died on the day they were born, Save the Children says.
Globally, India has the most first-day deaths, with more than 300,000 yearly, followed by Nigeria, with 90,000 a year, the report said.
In developing countries, simple solutions could reduce the rate of first-day deaths. More than 1 million babies could be saved each year with access to four low-tech products, costing between 13 cents and $6, Save the Children says. These products are: resuscitation devices to help babies breathe; the antiseptic chlorhexidine to prevent umbilical cord infections; injectable antibiotics to treat infections; and antenatal steroid injections to help preterm babies' lungs develop.
"It really it's about simple solutions," Miles said.
Pass it on: More than 1 million babies die yearly on their day of their birth, according to a new report. | <urn:uuid:59cd430d-a10c-4024-9b43-345fb7e1a8ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.livescience.com/36966-baby-first-day-deaths-rankings.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954 | 518 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Chimpanzees are one of the six remaining ape species
. There are two sub-species, the Common chimpanzee
and the Pygmy chimpanzee
What do these babies look like?
Your typical chimpanzee will grow up to 2.5 - 5 feet tall, with males usually being slightly taller than females. After reaching their full height, most wild chimpanzees weigh 80-120 pounds, but chimpanzees who grow up in captivity can weigh even more at up to 150-200 pounds. These apes have very broad and muscular bodies and resemble human beings in many ways. Once fully grown, a male chimpanzee's strength is often several times greater than that of a human's.
Instead of fur, these apes have a coat of black or brownish hair on their body. This coat covers most of the body with the exception of the palms, soles of the feet and face. Their arms are longer than their legs. When standing upright their arms reach down below the knees. These arms are extremely strong and a chimpanzee will use them to support its body when walking and climbing trees. Its hands and feet are similiar to human's, with nails on each digit and opposable thumbs and big toes. However, being opposable, the big toe is able to touch all other toes.
Chimpanzees communicate through a variety of facial expressions and their loose, flexible lips aid them in doing so. Their mouths contain 32 molars for chewing meat, fruit and green vegetables. Males have large canine teeth that they will use to defend themselves with when attacked. Once again, their round eyes are alike to human's in many ways. The eyesight of a chimpanzee is excellent and allows them to view many different colours, and the eye itself is forward looking. Unlike alot of other animals, the chimpanzee will rely on its sense of sight alot more than its sense of smell. The nostrils on a chimpanzee are rather small. Ears, on the other hand, are large and sensitive to sound, to help detect danger. Overall the facial features of a chimpanzee resemble our own.
What tasty treats do they eat?
As an omnivore, a chimpanzee will feed on plants, fruits, eggs, honey, insects, birds and mammals, although plants alone make up a significant portion of a chimpanzee's diet. Each day a chimpanzee will spend 6-8 hours looking for food with the rest of its group. Being the clever creatures they are, they will eat the aspilia plant when they get a tummy ache -- because they knows it will help make themselves feel better! Some chimpanzees even use sticks to hook termites out of mounds or stones as hammers when trying to crack open hard shelled nuts.
I'm going on an ape hunt! Where can I find me a chimp?
They live in Central Africa, from Senegal all that way to Tanzania. Chimpanzees prefer rainforests and woodland, but will live in open areas if there is decent access to fruit, and when so, they'll often co-exist with baboons. They nest in trees but spend alot of time on the ground looking for food during the day. Of course, if you don't want to travel to Africa you could probably find one at your nearest zoo.
Hey baby! Who's your daddy?
Because a female chimpanzee will mate with several males in a group, it is never certain who the father of her baby is. The father will never recognise his own young. Therefore, males don't play a part in raising the offspring. The mothers are left with this task.
What's it like for a chimp to grow up in this harsh, harsh world?
Well, eight and a half months after conception a female will give birth to her young. The baby will feed on its mother's milk. It will start travelling around on its mother's back at the age of 3-6 months.
At three or four years of age the chimp will change from a diet of mum's milk to one consisting of solid foods. From this time on it will start becoming more independant, yet the close bond between mother and baby remains intact. It is also at this age that baby chimps are most playful. This benefits them by allowing them to learn how to interact with other chimpanzee's their own age, develop life skills and develop itself physically. Naughty little chimpanzees are punished by adults with a slap or a soft bight.
A chimp reaches adolescence at around eight years. It then reaches adulthood at thirteen. A female begins to breed, giving birth to new young every five or so years. Males may leave to join other groups. Once 20-30 years old, the adult is in its prime. Most have a lifespan of 40-45 years.
It is the duty of an adult male to defend the territory of his group. Every member of a group has its own rank, with males always outranking the females and young. There is often one or two dominate males within a group, and, interestingly enough, they tend to be the most intelligent rather than the largest. Dominate males are always the first to mate with a female. Chimpanzees are social creatures and live in groups of 20-100 apes, but this large group often consists of smaller families.
They sound like clever monk... er... apes!
They sure are! Some scientists have even developed ways of effectively communicating with them. Because their vocal chords aren't quite as developed as ours, they wont ever be able to talk. But some chimpanzees have been taught how to use sign language and can recognise symbols.
Its also worth mentioning that the first thing America ever sent up to space was, infact, a chimpanzee!
Say, I heard somewhere that the Chimpanzee population is falling fast. Is this true?
Very much so. There are only 200,000 left in the wild today. Compare this with the millions that used to roam Africa 50 years ago.
One of the major reasons for this is the destruction of habitat. Many forests in Africa are being cut down for timber, leaving the chimps without homes and at increased risk to poachers. Another threat is the 'bushmeat trade'. Basically, local people are being forced by poverty to kill chimpanzees and other wild animals for food and profit. In areas around large amounts of chimpanzees it is not uncommon to find the meat of chimpanzees being sold at markets and served at restaurants.
These days it is against the law to own a chimpanzee in many countries. People often mistreat the animals when keeping them as pets, leaving them to die of malnourishment and disease. Some African countries have also created national parks and wildlife reserves in hope of protecting endangered species. | <urn:uuid:72c7a78c-d1e5-47e2-9f9c-4a88630fa3cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://everything2.com/title/Chimpanzee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960962 | 1,379 | 3.3125 | 3 |
The Puranas and other Hindu scriptures describe that Mother Goddess Shakti was consecrated in Asta Dasha Shakti Peethas (18 prominent temples). The origin or the story of Asta Dasha Shakti Peetha temples goes like this…..
Once, King Daksha Prajapathi wanted to perform a Yagna. Except Lord Shiva he invited all the Gods and Sages. Despite her fathers recklessness towards her husband, Goddess Dakshayani went to the Yagna and got insulted. With anger and shame, she jumped into the Yagnagunda (the sacred spot of Yagna) and sacrificed her life.
With knowing this Lord Shiva became very ferocious and carried Dakshayanis dead body on his arms. He performed ‘Ugrathandava or ‘Rudrathandava (a dance form of Lord Shiva when he is angry). Lord Shivas rudrathandava created a bit of deluge in all lokas.
To solve this great problem, Lord Vishnu slashed Goddess Dakshayanis dead body parts wqith his Sudrashana Chakra (the sacred discus). And the parts were fallen all over the places. The places where her body pars were fallen are worshipped as Astadasha Shakti Peethas (18 prominent temples of Mother Goddess – Shakti).
According to some Hindu Mythology books, the total number of Shakti Peethams is 108. And some more sacred texts describe that there are 51 prominet Goddess Shakti temples. But most people believe that the 18 Shakti temples are most auspicious Shakti Peethams, which are also referred as Astadasha Shakti Peethas.
List of 18 Most Auspicious Goddess Shakti Temples (Astadasha Shakti Peethas):
- Trincoli (Srilanka) – Shankari Devi … Read more about Trincomalee Shankari Devi Temple
- Kanchi (Tamilnadu) – Kamakshi Devi
- Pradyumnama (Hugli – Kolkatta ) – Shrunkala Devi
- Mysore (Karnataka) – Chamundi Devi
- Alampur (Andhra Pradesh) – Jogulamba
- Kolhapur (Maharashtra) – Malalakshmi Devi … Read more on Kolhapur Temple
- Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh) – Bramaramba Devi
- Mahoor (Maharashtra) – Ekaveera devi
- Ujjaini (Madhya Pradesh) – Mata Mahakali
- Pithapuram (Andhra Pradesh – Puruhuthika Devi … More on Pithapuram Puruhuthika Temple
- Jajpur (Orissa) – Girija Devi .. Read about Jazpur Girija Devi Temple
- Draksharamam (Andhra Pradesh) – Mata Manikyamba .. More on Draksharamam Manikyamba Temple
- Hari Kshetram (Assam) – Mata Kamarupika (Kamakhya Devi)
- Alahabad (Uttar Pradesh) – Madhaveshwari devi
- Jwala (Jammu Kashmir) – Vaishnavi devi … Festivals at Jwala Vaishnodevi Temple
- Gaya (Bihar) – Mangalya Gauri devi .. More about Gaya Mangala Gauri temple
- Kasi or Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) – Mata Vishalakshi
- Srinagar (Kashmir) – Mata Saraswati devi | <urn:uuid:db1a6856-8355-4931-8d28-2fe03cd0f229> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hindupad.com/the-legend-and-origin-of-asta-dasha-shakti-peethas-the-prominent-18-shakti-temples/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878863 | 755 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Juvenile vs. Adult Justice System
Locate a Local Criminal Lawyer
What Is the Juvenile Justice System?
The juvenile justice system is a separate subdivision of the general criminal justice system. Each state and county operates a juvenile court that handles criminal cases for persons who are not yet of legal age. In most states, the age of majority is 18 years old. So, the juvenile justice system handles cases for young persons up until they are of legal age. After that age, persons are tried in the normal criminal courts.
This difference is significant, because sentencing options are often different for minors than they are for adults. This separation also prevents the problems that would occur if younger minors were to be held in detention facilities with adults.
Who Is Considered a Juvenile?
A juvenile is a person between the ages of 10 and 18 years of age. Some states set the maximum juvenile age at 16. Anyone over the state's given age limit would be considered and tried as an adult. Sometimes, when a juvenile commits a very serious crime, they can be tried as an adult even though they have not exceeded the state's age limit.
What’s the Difference between the Juvenile vs. Adult Justice System?
There are significant differences between the juvenile system when compared with the normal adult criminal system. First of all, the overall "stance" or approach of the juvenile system is different from the adult system. With most state and county juvenile courts, the focus is more on rehabilitating the juvenile defendant and keeping them functional in the community.
Therefore, juvenile justice often focuses more on alternative sentencing options for minors, such as community service programs, diversion programs, and counseling options. These are all aimed at reforming the minor while keeping them out of jail or juvenile detention facilities.
Another major difference between the two systems is that the juvenile criminal system often handles more misdemeanors and charges that are less serious. While juvenile felonies do occur, they generally do not occur as commonly as in the adult system. Lastly, record sealing or expungement is often a different process for juveniles than for adults.
Finally, juveniles do not have the same constitutional rights that adults have. For example, judges hear juvenile court hearings. That means juveniles do not have the right to a trial by jury of their peers that adults have.
What are Juvenile Court Rulings or Dispositions?
After a case is adjudicated in juvenile court proceedings, the judge will decide the case's outcome or disposition. That means the judge will decide whether the juvenile is guilty or not guilty. The judge will then decide the penalty and sentencing. Judges must always act in the best interest of the child and follow certain guidelines when deciding the sentence. The focus of the sentence is to rehabilitate the juvenile so that he or she can live a productive adult life, rather than to punish the juvenile.
Can a Minor Ever Be Tried as an Adult?
Under certain circumstasnces, a minor can be tried as an adult. This usually happens for felony crimes, especially violent crimes. In most cases, there is a prerequisite that the minor understood the consequences of their actions, and acted with full knowledge of what they were doing. Some states enforce "once and adult, always an adult", wherein a minor is always charged as an adult after their first conviction as an adult.
Do I Need a Lawyer for Help with Juvenile Criminal Matters?
Juvenile crimes present some very unique legal issues and are often handled according to very specific regulations and principles. You may wish to hire a lawyer if you or a loved one needs help with juvenile criminal matters. A qualified criminal attorney can provide legal representation, and can determine whether there are any possible defenses to raise.
Consult a Lawyer - Present Your Case Now!
Last Modified: 08-06-2015 01:31 PM PDT
Link to this page | <urn:uuid:d3b0516c-e642-4400-98d0-54e4a5c0afcc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/juvenile-vs-adult-justice-system.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948664 | 793 | 2.671875 | 3 |
As discussed in a previous post, on April 30 we conducted a formal survey of our students regarding the team teaching approach we have taken up over the last 9 months. We had conducted informal surveys twice before, and tried to take into account the concerns and suggestions provided to make the experience more positive for the majority of the students. Here is part 2 of an anecdotal analysis of the formal survey. (Part 1 can be found here.)
Overwhelmingly, the positive responses outweighed the negative. Many students clearly understand and appreciate the learning experience we as teachers are trying to provide. They identified and commented on many of the specific items we outlined as goals of our team teaching:
- Students speak to one another, and as such it is very important that we are providing equitable instruction to all 100 students. Team teaching has enabled us to ensure that all of our students receive the same information and expectations. Gone are the days of “but their class is doing X”, and “why are they allowed to do Y but we are not?” The survey results showed that our students noticed and appreciated this consistency.
- Another positive is that students have realized that having two teachers allows them to access alternative sources when looking for formative assessment. This ability to access different perspectives is seen by many students as an asset as it allows for clarification when confused, or just a second “opinion” when required. Our students also commented that they have appreciated being able to go to the other teacher when one is not available for whatever reason.
- The ability for students to collaborate with more than just those in their homeroom was frequently identified by the students as a positive of joining classes. The option to work with someone new, or just someone different, allows for students access different opinions and strengths amongst their colleagues, and for them to make appropriate choices when forming collaborative learning teams.
- While we started the year with many students expressing concern about sharing ideas or participating in front of such a large group, that number has decreased. We were pleasantly surprised to many express that their confidence has increased when speaking in larger groups. While some are still struggling with this, it is important for our students to realize that as they continue in their academic career, many of them will be faced with class sizes much larger than 25, and soon 50 will seem small! The personal growth demonstrated by these students is very encouraging, as teachers are always looking for opportunities to work on the “hidden curriculum.”
The many positive, or even the indifferent comments, encourages us to keep this experiment going, with some modifications as outlined in the previous post. As always, we encourage your feedback as well! | <urn:uuid:45608771-000c-4a3d-bbfc-46c4f33d6f26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/2013/05/team-teaching-student-survey-results_22.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979675 | 543 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Archaeologists in Israel believe they may have uncovered the location where Jesus Christ taught and preached.
The discovery was made in the ancient town of Magdala -- thought to be the hometown of Mary Magdalene -- on the western shore of the sea of Galilee.
Jesus is believed to have spent most of his life in the area.
The Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic organization, bought land in the area, planning to build a hotel. An ancient temple was uncovered among the ruins in 2009.
Five years later, archaeologists are convinced that Jesus taught here, with relics seeming to support that theory. Among the historic treasures are a main hall with an elaborate mosaic floor; a limestone block carved with a menorah, the oldest ever found on stone; and Jewish ritual baths.
Father Juan Solana, founder of the Magdala Center, a spiritual center run by the Legionaries of Christ, said Jesus’ interactions in the area bolster the possibility that he taught at the site.
“Jesus was traveling many times with the boat, the fishermen and for sure I think he taught in that synagogue,” Solana said. “We can see Jesus surrounded by the people sitting on the benches of the synagogue, reading the Torah.”
Some of the artifacts were taken for the pope to see, the archaeologists said.
Work continues at the site, with 12 acres of the ancient city left to excavate. | <urn:uuid:d7fe33ea-ac9b-4d68-9d84-2ac9359f795a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://abcnews.go.com/International/archaeologists-found-location-jesus-christ-taught/story?id=27811605 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970924 | 294 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Most people inclined to protect themselves from the annual flu season by way of vaccination generally do so in the fall, although flu outbreaks generally occur a bit later.
This year, the flu season brings with it extra danger because a particularly deadly strain, H1N1, has resurfaced. It is estimated H1N1 killed more than 18,000 people between April 2009 and March 2010. About 88 million Americans were infected by that flu strain and almost 400,000 of them required time is a hospital.
Anyone who has not received a flu shot is encouraged to get one as soon as possible. The fact you haven’t been infected by now doesn’t mean you won’t be, and the flu season isn’t over.
As of Wednesday, the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics had recorded 16 deaths directly caused by the flu this season. That is far short of the 42 deaths recorded by this time last year, but the experts at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment should be taken seriously when they advise that it’s still wise to get vaccinated.
That local hospitals still are diagnosing cases of the flu is evidence that it is still active and circulating, which means anyone not vaccinated remains at risk.
Charles Hunt, state epidemiologist with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, says it isn’t unheard of for a flu strain to resurface. Flu is “tricky,” he says, in that it can evolve just enough to keep itself alive and transmit from person to person and trick the immune system.
The good news is that the current flu vaccine is effective on N1H1 and its damage won’t be as severe as it was in 2009 because people have some immunity to it.
That will be little consolation, though, to those who didn’t contact N1H1 during its first run and haven’t been vaccinated for this season.
When your health, and perhaps your life, is at stake, it’s better to be protected than to play the odds. | <urn:uuid:01069e8a-7f34-45dc-9b81-46becd6d425e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cjonline.com/opinion/2014-02-07/editorial-its-not-too-late-protect-against-flu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980665 | 423 | 2.859375 | 3 |
| A study and Critique of
the greatest Fairy Tales and Folklore in the world.
Welsh Folklore and Fairytales
|Fairy Tale Home
Fairytales from Wales
One can hardly think of Wales without a harp. The music of this most
ancient and honorable instrument, which emits sweet sounds, when heard
in a foreign land makes Welsh folks homesick for the old country and
the music of the harp. Its strings can wail with woe, ripple with
merriment, sound out the notes of war and peace, and lift the soul in
Usually a player on the harp opened the Eistedfodd, as the Welsh
literary congress is called, but this time they had engaged for the
fairies a funny little fellow to start the programme with a solo on
The figure of this musician, at the congress of Welsh fairies, was the
most comical of any in the company. The saying that he was popular
with all the mountain spirits was shown to be true, the moment he
began to scrape his fiddle, for then they all crowded around him.
"Did you ever see such a tiny specimen?" asked Queen Mab of Puck.
The little fiddler came forward and drawing his instrument from under
his arm, proceeded to scrape the strings. He had on a pair of moss
trousers, and his coat was a yellow gorse flower. His feet were clad
in shoes made of beetles' wings, which always kept bright, as if
polished with a brush.
When one looked at the fiddle, he could see that it was only a wooden
spoon, with strings across the bowl. But the moment he drew the bow
from one side to the other, all the elves, from every part of the
hills, came tripping along to hear the music, and at once began
Some of these elves were dressed in pink, some in blue, others in
yellow, and many had glow worms in their hands. Their tread was so
light that the flower stems never bent, nor was a petal crushed, when
they walked over the turf. All, as they came near, bowed or dropped a
curtsey. Then the little musician took off his cap to each, and bowed
There was too much business before the meeting for dancing to be kept
up very long, but when the violin solo was over, at a sign given by
the fiddler, the dancers took seats wherever they could find them, on
the grass, or gorse, or heather, or on the stones. After order had
been secured, the chairman of the meeting read regrets from those who
had been invited but could not be present.
The first note was from the mermaids, who lived near the Green Isles
of the Ocean. They asked to be excused from traveling inland and
climbing rocks. In the present delicate state of their health this
would be too fatiguing. Poor things!
It was unanimously voted that they be excused.
Queen Mab was dressed, as befitted the occasion, like a Welsh lady,
not wearing a crown, but a high peaked hat, pointed at the top and
about half a yard high. It was black and was held on by fastenings of
scalloped lace, that came down around her neck.
The lake fairies, or Elfin Maids, were out in full force. These lived
at the bottom of the many ponds and pools in Wales. Many stories are
told of the wonderful things they did with boats and cattle.
Nowadays, when they milk cows by electric machinery and use steam
launches on the water, most of the water sprites of all kinds have
been driven away, for they do not like the smell of kerosene or
gasoline. It is for these reasons that, in our day, they are not often
seen. In fact, cows from the creameries can wade out into the water
and even stand in it, while lashing their tails to keep off the flies,
without any danger, as in old times, of being pulled down by the Elfin
The little Red Men, that could hide under a thimble, and have plenty
of room to spare, were all out. The elves, and nixies and sprites, of
all colors and many forms were on hand.
The pigmies, who guard the palace of the king of the world
underground, came in their gay dresses. There were three of them, and
they brought in their hands balls of gold, with which to play tenpins,
but they were not allowed to have any games while the meeting was
In fact, just when these little fellows from down under the earth were
showing off their gay clothes and their treasures from the caves, one
mischievous fairy maid sidled up to their chief and whispered in his
"Better put away your gold, for this is in modern Wales, where they
have pawn shops. Three golden balls, two above the one below, which
you often see nowadays, mean that two to one you will never get it
again. These hang out as the sign of a pawnbroker's shop, and what you
put in does not, as a rule, come out. I am afraid that some of the
Cymric fairies from Cornwall, or Montgomery, or Cheshire, might think
you were after business, and you understand that no advertising is
In a moment, each of the three leaders thrust his ball into his bosom.
It made his coat bulge out, and at this, some of the fairies wondered,
but all they thought of was that this spoiled a handsome fellow's
figure. Or was it some new idea? To tell the truth, they were vexed at
not keeping up with the new fashions, for they knew nothing of this
latest fad among such fine young gallants.
Much of the chat and gossip, before and after the meeting, was between
the fairies who live in the air, or on mountains, and those down in
the earth, or deep in the sea. They swapped news, gossip and scandal
at a great rate.
There were a dozen or two fine-looking creatures who had high brows,
who said they were Co-eds. This did not mean that these fairies had
ever been through college. "Certainly the college never went through
them," said one very homely fairy, who was spiteful and jealous. The
simple fact was that the one they called Betty, the Co-ed, and others
from that Welsh village, called Bryn Mawr, and another from Flint, and
another from Yale, and still others from Brimbo and from Co-ed Poeth,
had come from places so named and down on the map of Wales, though
they were no real Co-ed girls there, that could talk French, or
English, or read Latin. In fact, Co-ed simply meant that they were
from the woods and lived among the trees; for Co-ed in Welsh means a
The fairy police were further instructed not to admit, and, if such
were found, to put out the following bad characters, for this was a
perfectly respectable meeting. These naughty folks were:
The Old Hag of the Mist.
The Invisible Hag that moans dolefully in the night.
The Tolaeth, a creature never seen, but that groans, sings, saws, or
The Dogs of the Sky.
All witches, of every sort and kind.
All peddlers of horseshoes, crosses, charms, or amulets.
All mortals with brains fuddled by liquor.
All who had on shoes which water would not run under.
All fairies that were accustomed to turn mortals into cheese.
Every one of these, who might want to get in, were to be refused
Another circle of rather exclusive fairies, who always kept away from
the blacksmiths, hardware stores, smelting furnaces and mines, had
formed an anti-iron society. These were a kind of a Welsh "Four
Hundred," or élite, who would have nothing to do with anyone who had
an iron tool, or weapon, or ornament in his hand, or on his dress, or
who used iron in any form, or for any use. They frowned upon the idea
of Cymric Land becoming rich by mining, and smelting, and selling
iron. They did not even approve of the idea that any imps and dwarfs
of the iron mines should be admitted to the meeting.
One clique of fairies, that looked like elves were in bad humor,
almost to moping. When one of these got up to speak, it seemed as if
he would never sit down. He tired all the lively fairies by
long-winded reminiscences, of druids, and mistletoes, and by telling
every one how much better the old times were than the present.
President Puck, who always liked things short, and was himself as
lively as quicksilver, many times called these long-winded fellows to
order; but they kept meandering on, until daybreak, when it was time
to adjourn, lest the sunshine should spoil them all, and change them
into slate or stone.
It was hard to tell just how much business was disposed of, at this
session, or whether one ever came to the point, although there was a
great deal of oratory and music. Much of what was said was in poetry,
or in verses, or rhymes, of three lines each. What they talked about
was mainly in protest against the smoke of factories and collieries,
and because there was so much soot, and so little soap, in the land.
But what did they do at the fairy congress?
The truth is, that nobody to-day knows what was done in this session
of the fairies, for the proceedings were kept secret. The only one who
knows was an old Welshman whom the story-teller used to meet once in a
while. He is the one mortal who knows anything about this meeting, and
he won't tell; or at least he won't talk in anything but Welsh. So we
have to find out the gist of the matter, by noticing, in the stories
which we have just read what the fairies did. | <urn:uuid:187cbdfd-6a33-44de-bdbd-5321029090a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.zeluna.net/welsh-fairytales-thefairycongress.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984797 | 2,225 | 2.71875 | 3 |
MACEDONIA - The ancient town of Ohrid, in Macedonia near the Albanian border, has winding streets and alleys full of Christian treasures, like the ninth-century St. Sophia Cathedral. But after decades of religious suppression under Communism and the breakup of Yugoslavia, Ohrid’s Catholic community was down to 100 or so faithful when a Catholic pastoral center opened in 2003. “So much remarkable history, yet we had dwindled to a handful of elderly believers,” recalled Stjepan Kusan, S.J., who has served as the center’s director from the start. With the strong support of the Croatian Province of the Jesuits in Zagreb, the Archdiocese of Skopje, Macedonia, and Catholic foundations like Renovabis in Germany, Father Kusan set out to revive the community.
The center is credited with bringing about a Catholic spiritual and cultural revival as well as reconciliation between religious groups in the region. In the Balkans, where tension between faiths is far more common historically than ecumenical dialogue, it is rare to find the level of cooperation between religious groups that now exists in Ohrid. Relations between the town’s Catholic and Orthodox churches have been described as excellent by observers ranging from local police officers to teachers, the most cordial and cooperative since the civil war fought between the government and ethnic Albanian insurgents ended in June 2001.
“The hatred and distrust fomented by the Balkan wars means that we, the churches and clergy, must find new ways to be together, identifying common ground which benefits the spiritual and educational development of all our people,” Father Kusan said. “Reconciliation must be premised on concrete activities taken up together,” he said.
The Church of Sts. Benedict, Cyril and Methodius sits between two wings of the pastoral center. The center also houses the Jesuit Refugee Service office covering Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Programs to benefit young Balkan land mine victims are held there each summer. The center has also helped several local Orthodox priests get scholarships to study abroad and has started a marriage encounter program with a local Orthodox parish to help improve communication between husbands and wives. Muslim couples have joined the program as well.
For the last three years, the most popular programs offered by the collaborating parishes are language classes in Albanian, English, German, Turkish and even Vlach. Support for an unusual language like Vlach underscores the balance sought by the center’s leadership: encouraging ethnic identity while guarding against conflict. The Vlachs were nomadic shepherds living in compact communities in Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey and Romania. They were the first ethnic group given cultural autonomy under the Ottoman Empire in 1905.
“We believe people should be able to keep their own language and culture,” Father Kusan said. “This allows freedom of expression and pride, without being separatist or aggressive.” More than 1,500 people have graduated from the courses since the program began. Approximately 65 percent of Macedonia’s population belongs to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Muslims comprise 33 percent of Macedonians, while other Christians make up less than 1 percent of the population.Avery Dulles Dead at 90
NEW YORK - Avery Dulles, a Jesuit theologian who was made a cardinal in 2001, died Dec. 12 at the Jesuit infirmary in the Bronx, New York. He was 90 years old. Cardinal Dulles was born Aug. 24, 1918, in Auburn, N.Y., the grandson of a Presbyterian minister. He entered the Catholic Church in 1941 while a student at Harvard University. He served in the Navy in World War II, then entered the Jesuits after his discharge in 1946. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1956.
Cardinal Dulles had been the Laurence J. McGinley professor of religion and society at Fordham University in New York since 1988. He also had taught at Woodstock College, now part of Georgetown University, from 1960 to 1974, and at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., from 1974 to 1988. He had been a visiting professor at many Catholic, Protestant and secular colleges and universities.
The most famous of his 27 books on theology was his groundbreaking 1974 work Models of the Church. Past president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society, Cardinal Dulles served on the International Theological Commis-sion and also served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.
Cardinal Dulles was the son of Janet Avery and former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who served under President Eisenhower. Dulles had two other relatives who served as U.S. secretary of state: his great-grandfather John W. Foster and his great-uncle Robert Lansing. The cardinal’s uncle, Allen W. Dulles, served as Director of Central Intelligence for Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.Bishops Appeal to U.S. for Help With Peace Accord
CONGO- Congolese church officials appealed to the United States to help implement a foundering peace accord among warring militias and Congolese troops. Calling the conflict in eastern Congo the worst since World War II, Bishops Fulgence Muteba Mugalu of Kilwa and Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Bokungu said on Dec. 9 that the United States must help implement the Amani Program, the peace process set up as part of the January cease-fire signed in Goma, capital of the North Kivu administrative region. “The average Congolese thinks that Rwanda is behind the conflict and that the United States backs Rwanda,” said Bishop Muteba. The average Congolese thinks his or her “misfortune is the fault of the United States. Right or wrong, but that is the perception of the average Congolese,” added Bishop Muteba, who is also president of the Congolese bishops’ social communications commission. “It is important that U.S. diplomacy” show this is not the case, he said. The bishops and Marie-Bernard Alima, a member of the Society of St. Joseph who is executive secretary of the Congolese bishops’ justice and peace commission, were on a tour through Canada, the United States, France and Belgium.U.S. Group: Iraq Violates Religious Freedom
A U.S. watchdog group monitoring international religious freedom said Iraq should be named one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. In a report released Dec. 16, the U.S. Commission on Inter-national Religious Freedom said Iraq deserved the designation “in light of the ongoing, severe abuses of religious freedom and the Iraqi government’s toleration of these abuses, particularly abuses against Iraq’s smallest vulnerable religious minorities.” The commission said Chaldean Catholics and other Christians face dire circumstances. “These groups do not have militia or tribal structures to protect them and do not receive adequate official protection,” it said. “Their members continue to experience targeted violence and to flee to other areas within Iraq or other countries, where the minorities represent a disproportionately high percentage among Iraqi refugees.” The commission, an independent body, makes its recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress. Four commissioners out of nine voting members dissented from the decision to name Iraq as a country of particular concern, saying that government inaction or complicity with such abuses had not been sufficiently established.Archbishop to Convene Education Summit
In the wake of declining enrollment and increasing financial challenges, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of Baltimore is convening an education summit of priests in January to help strengthen Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Parents and other supporters of Catholic education also will be invited to participate in the process, Archbishop O’Brien said. The archbishop announced the summit in his weekly column in the Nov. 27 issue of The Catholic Review, Baltimore’s archdiocesan newspaper, while also outlining recent enrollment and financial trends in archdiocesan schools. He previously shared the data with his closest advisers during a November meeting of the priests’ council. In conjunction with the summit, the archbishop formed an education-related pastors’ advisory committee to help him plan for the future. Members of the advisory committee met twice among themselves and once with the priests’ council. In his column, Archbishop O’Brien reported that enrollment is down 5 percent this school year—twice the average rate of decline over the previous five years.
Retired Bishop George M. Kuzma of the Byzantine Eparchy of Van Nuys, Calif., died Dec. 7 at Mount Macrina Manor in Uniontown, Pa. He was 83. An announcement from the eparchy about his death said Bishop Kuzma’s “deep love and dependence on the Holy Spirit [was] a recurring theme of his priestly and episcopal ministry.” Bishop Kuzma was born July 24, 1925, to Ambrose and Anna (Martin) Kuzma of Windber. He served in the navy during World War II and then began his studies for the priesthood.News briefs
The Catholic Church in Wisconsin is reaching out to the more than 5,000 families who will be affected by the impending closure of a General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis. • Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit emphasized on Dec. 17 the need for urgent government action to help Detroit’s automakers stay afloat. • John P. Foley, S.J., executive chairman of the Cristo Rey Network of inner-city schools was among the 24 people awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal on Dec. 10 by President George W. Bush. • The University of San Francisco has angered some Catholics by giving Irish President Mary McAleese an honorary degree despite her public support for gay rights and the ordination of women. • Robert Kearns, S.S.J., known as Rocky, former superior general of the Josephites, died in an Alabama hospital Dec. 6 from complications of cancer. He was 72. • Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock is believed to be the first U.S. Catholic bishop to join the popular Web site Facebook. As of Dec. 11, he had 894 friends worldwide and counting. | <urn:uuid:518400c8-ee6b-4fcb-be07-507a4c10b1e1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://americamagazine.org/print/issue/682/news/signs-times | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967373 | 2,146 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Diabetes is the No. 6 leading causes of deaths in the United States, according to 2001 data from the United States National Center for Health Statistics.
Type 1 Diabetes Cure
Diabetes News: Finding the Causes of Diabetes, Medicinal Herbs Used in China Are Shown to Lower Glucose Levels. Please also read Yu Xiao San 8805 on Type I and Type II Diabetes and Hypoglycemic Effects of Selected Ingredients
In response to the growing health burden of diabetes mellitus (diabetes), the diabetes community has three choices: prevent diabetes; cure diabetes; and take better care of people with diabetes to prevent devastating complications. All three approaches are actively being pursued by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are involved in prevention activities. The NIH is involved in research to cure both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, especially type 1. CDC focuses most of its programs on being sure that the proven science is put into daily practice for people with diabetes. The basic idea is that if all the important research and science are not made meaningful in the daily lives of people with diabetes, then the research is, in essence, wasted.
Several approaches to "cure" diabetes are being pursued:
Each of these approaches still has a lot of challenges, such as preventing immune rejection; finding an adequate number of insulin cells; keeping cells alive; and others. But progress is being made in all areas.
(From the National Institute of Health)
Diabetes Type 1: One Step Closer To A Cure - Interview
Patrick Perry, Saturday Evening Post
Will successful islet cell transplantation spell the end of Type 1 diabetes for millions?
To some, it is nothing short of a miracle.
"I remember thinking, If someone could give me a present, I would ask for just one day that I wasn't diabetic," said junior-high-school teacher Mary Anna Kralj-Pokerznik, 30. "Now I've had 13 months. It's like being released from a prison you've been in for years and years."
The teacher was one of seven patients who received a revolutionary treatment for Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
News of the successful islet cell-transplant procedure for Type 1 diabetes spread to every news program and newspaper in the world. And diabetes researchers tout the treatment as a major step forward in treating the disease; some even hail it as a "cure."
Certainly, the islet cell-transplant procedure, known as the Edmonton protocol, ushers in an era of renewed hope for the more than one million people with Type 1 diabetes. Patients with the disorder must constantly monitor their blood sugars and endure multiple insulin injections daily just to survive.
The islet cell transplant procedure was pioneered in clinical trials at the University of Alberta, and the antirejection protocol was designed by James Shapiro, M.D., director of the clinical islet transplant program.
The novel protocol departs from previous attempts at islet cell transplant in that it uses a novel steroid-free combination of three drugs to prevent rejection of the transplanted cells, a procedure that appears to prevent the autoimmune diabetes from returning.
Like many great medical discoveries, the new approach came to Dr. Shapiro as a hunch. While sitting in a hotel room on a rainy day in Baltimore, he sat down and wrote the protocol. He had been asked to return to the University of Alberta after a hiatus at the University of Maryland--and needed to come up with a new method of forcing the human body to produce its own insulin.
"I told myself I was going to give it one last try," said Shapiro, who with many other researchers from around the world had tried repeatedly to transplant islets to severe insulin-dependent patients with little success.
Using the steroid-free protocol, seven of seven patients in the trial--some of whom were administering up to 15 injections a day--are now insulin-independent, free of daily insulin injections and constant worry. The results of the trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"My life has totally changed," said Robert Teskey, a Type 1 diabetic who was part of the landmark trial. "Gone is the need to think about how much insulin to take at every meal. Gone is the need to test my blood endlessly. Gone is the need to mentally calculate the nutritional, and particularly the complex-carbohydrate and simple-sugar, content of every meal or snack. Most of all, gone is the fear of an incapacitating insulin reaction."
The research team, led by a 28-year veteran of islet cell transplant, Ray Rajotte, Ph.D., will now teach the Edmonton Protocol to centers around the world. Clinical trials in the United States and Europe will begin shortly.
To learn more about the breakthrough, we spoke with Jonathan Lakey, Ph.D., director of the Human Islet Isolation Laboratory at the University of Alberta and coauthor of the NEJM study, about the innovative transplant procedure.
Q: Could you tell us about the successful clinical study of islet transplantation for Type 1 diabetics?
A: The results showed that islet transplantation can reverse the hyperglycemia experienced in Type 1 diabetes and that islet transplantation is now a viable option for the treatment of diabetes. In the clinical trial reported in the NEJM, we had a series of seven patients who received islet cells isolated from donor pancreases. The cells were transplanted into these patients through the hepatic portal vein. The transplanted islets flowed through the vein up to the liver, where they were engrafted and are now secreting insulin. Basically, all patients are totally off insulin. Their hemoglobin A1C, which is a marker for glucose function, is normal and has remained normal for all follow-up visits. The longest patient has been insulin-free about 15 months; the average is about 12 months.
Q: Were you surprised by the results of the trial?
A: We were very surprised. But it is what we hoped we would see. When we did the first transplant about 15 months ago, we were ecstatic. The second transplant helped confirm what we were seeing in the first patient, as did the third, fourth, and fifth. It developed faster than we had hoped.
Q: Why the portal vein in the liver, since islet cells normally would reside in the pancreas?
A: The liver still provides portal blood drainage, meaning that the islets--if in the pancreas and still functioning--would be secreting insulin, and the insulin would be going through the portal system up through the liver. So you still get portal vein drainage. The reason that we didn't transplant into the pancreas is that putting a needle into the portal vein is much simpler than trying to go into the pancreas.
Q: How are these islet cells able to take residence in the liver and reproduce?
A: Basically, the liver is like a big filter, so the transplanted cells flow into the liver and get clogged, in the small bed of the liver. Once there, they start secreting insulin from that point on and develop a whole new blood supply as well. There has been some work in animal models showing this. It is really quite amazing.
Q: Previous attempts at islet cell transplantation have been somewhat disappointing. What did your research team do differently in this trial?
A: In the laboratory--and this is my area--we have been able to develop techniques to improve the recovery of both the number of islets and the functional viability of human islets. We changed the traditional method of isolating islets and developed newer techniques that deliver more viable cells for transplant. We accomplished that in a number of different ways. First, we worked with industry to develop a product, an enzyme blend called Liberase, that is used to help digest the donor pancreas into its tissue components. We have also developed a method to load that enzyme into the pancreas, using a regulated perfusion system that controls the flow of the temperature and the pressure. We feel that this method allows maximal delivery of the enzyme into the pancreas.
The second step was the dissociation. Using enzymes and mechanical methods, we break the pancreas apart, then separate the islets from the exocrine tissue based on differences in their density. That method has worked very well and consistently. We have also eliminated animal products. Typically, fetal calf serum is added during various steps of the islet isolation process to inactivate enzymes, as well as to provide nutrients.
Q: Does eliminating animal products reduce the possibility of rejection?
A: We think that it might. In the past, the islets have all been isolated with fetal calf serum. This fetal calf serum could be coding the islets and act like a big red flag to the body to destroy these cells when injected. We hope that by not using animal serum, we will not elicit such an active immune response.
Q: What immunosuppressants did you use?
A: Typically, all islet transplants in the past have used steroids. We eliminated steroids from our transplant protocol. We are using two new drugs; one is called Rapimmune, made by Wyeth-Ayerst, and the other is Tacrolimus, or FK506. Tacrolimus has been around for a while, but we are using it at a much lower dose. Typically, these two drugs would never be used together, because they both are going after the same binding proteins on molecules. We are finding that there is a real synergistic relationship between the two drugs.
Q: What was the source of the islet cells?
A: For each patient, we have used islets from two donor pancreases. Our goal is to improve the way in which we isolate islets, so that we can transplant islets from one donor to one recipient. That is happening already.
Q: This once again underscores the need for organ donation.
A: It certainly underscores the need to improve donor education and increase the number of organ donors in Canada and around the world. However, there are other issues related to finding an unlimited source, and we are working on alternative ways as well. One possibility is to develop an islet that we can grow in culture. There has been some press recently about a beta cell line growing in culture. Those cells are like cancerous cells in a way; they keep growing and producing insulin. I don't think that is the long-term goal, because that is only one cell. Islets are multicellular tissues that contain multiple cell types. Cells that secrete insulin are one of the types, but there are also cells that secrete a substance called glucagon. It is the relationship between the insulin and the glucagon that provides people with good, stable control of their glucose. The two act on each other. And there are other cells, such as the hormone somatostatin, that control both insulin and glucagon secretion. We are transplanting the whole machinery in an islet transplant, as opposed to just one single cell type.
Xenotransplantation is also an area that we are working on. We have some models here with Drs. Korbutt and Rajotte, who have developed some pig models that are providing what we think is a good source. But there ate immunological problems as well as ethical issues related to xenotransplantation.
Q: We have worked with Novartis in the past, one of the leaders in this field of pig organ transplant. They published a study recently on the porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) and its transmission in patients who had received pig transplants of various kinds over many years, and none had experienced the virus expression.
Q: Do you think that use of xenotransplant tissues, such as islet cells from pigs, might occur soon?
A: I think it is years away, unfortunately.
Q: How long will patients be on the antirejection drugs?
A: These patients are on the immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives. We are working on alternative drug therapies so that we can possibly transplant them and give patients a short course of new agents or antibodies--something for which humans can eventually develop a tolerance.
Q: Was the transplant procedure complicated?
A: No, transplant was the easy part. The difficult part is the islet isolation to get enough cells to transplant.
Q: And that is what you do?
A: That is my focus. That procedure takes four to five people six hours to retrieve the purified islets from the pancreas for transplant. The actual islet-transplant procedure is very simple.
We work with the interventional radiologist here at the University of Alberta. They transhepatically go through the liver with a very small needle into the portal vein, inserting a small catheter. We then collect the islets in a 60 cc syringe and inject them. The patient is awake, and the procedure takes about 15 minutes. It is becoming a one-day procedure, and patients are going home the next day.
Q: Have all patients returned to work?
A: Certainly. We have transplanted lawyers who are back practicing. The first couple of patients were teachers, and they couldn't teach, because their diabetes was so bad that they were basically bedridden. They are now healthy and productive members of society. That is very, very rewarding to know that we have made a significant impact on the lives of these people.
Q: Were the people in the study severe cases of Type 1 diabetes?
A: Yes, these are people with very "brittle" diabetes. By that, I mean that they cannot control their blood sugars despite optimal insulin therapies. They were measuring their blood glucose levels 10 to 15 times a day and injecting insulin three or four times a day or more. While trying their best, their bodies are just not reacting, and they are experiencing wide fluctuations. They also experience hypoglycemic unawareness, having lost that sensation of becoming low--and that situation is very scary. If driving or cooking, for example, they could basically black out as a result of their diabetes and not be aware of it.
Q: How quickly did you notice the results?
A: After the islet transplant, the results came very quickly. The sustained insulin independence we are watching now. They are all doing great. The one-year oral glucose tolerance test in our first patient is completely normal. That shows us we transplanted enough viable cells that they are doing well; the cells are not falling off, and you are not seeing an immunological destruction.
Q: The breakthrough has been described as a miracle.
A: Certainly, people keep throwing the word "cure" around. As scientists, we know that we are no way near a cure. There is still much work that needs to be done. But these patients talk about cure. And certainly for them, it is a cure. Their lives are totally changed. Instead of diabetes controlling them, they are controlling their diabetes.
Q: The first question that people with Type 1 diabetes will ask is, "How can I become a part of a clinical trial?"
A: We are now screening and enrolling patients who meet our criteria--brittle diabetes and hypoglycemic unawareness--into our trial here in Edmonton. There are also centers being selected for trials in the United States. The Immune Tolerance Network is funding four transplants in each of these different centers. Their goal is to duplicate what we have been able to accomplish here in Edmonton.
Q: And that is called the Edmonton protocol at this point?
A: Yes. The Edmonton Protocol. It contains the protocol that we have been discussing--from the way we isolate islets to the immunosuppressant agents used to the selection criteria for patients.
Q: Does the Immune Tolerance Network have a Web site where people can learn more about the trial?
A: Yes. You can access their Web site at www.paramount.bsd.uchicago.edu, or immunetolerance.org.
Q: The side effects of the procedure were minor, mainly mouth sores.
A: Yes, and they resolved themselves. We were using a liquid formulation of one of the drugs, and by changing it to a pill formulation, we no longer have seen that side effect.
Q: And you are working with additional patients in your trial?
A: Yes, the NEJM talked about 7. James Shapiro, M.D., reporting on the trial in Chicago, talked about 8. But we have done 11 now.
Q: In reading the NEJM study, I noticed that you administered vitamins E, [B.sub.6], and A in the regimen. What was the significance of this?
A: We were trying to cover all our bases by providing enough vitamins.
Q: Were these three vitamins specific to Type 1 diabetic deficiency?
A: No. They are just general vitamins that we thought important. A group in Germany has used a vitamin cocktail for a while.
Q: Will the vitamins continue to be part of the protocol?
A: I believe so, yes.
Q: Since diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, did you learn anything about autoimmune disorders during the course of the trial?
A: Our focus right now is restoring euglycemia, or normal blood glucose concentration, in these patients. We hope that immunological and autoimmune destruction of the islets will not occur using this type of immunosuppression. We, along with collaborators here at the university, are working on a vaccine to prevent diabetes.
Q: When will islet cell transplantation be widely available?
A: As the centers in Europe and the United States begin their trials, the momentum will increase and mushroom out to other centers in the U.S. and Canada. It is coming. For the very first time, we have been able to show that islet transplants do work. That is what the field needed. In the past, there was an 8 percent success rate; it was really more anecdotal than clinical success.
Q: This is amazing. The procedure will have a profound impact on Type 1 diabetes.
A: Yes, as long as we address the issue of having adequate sources of the tissue, which is the biggest challenge for us right now. And we must continue to improve the way we isolate the islet so that we can use one donor pancreas to one recipient. If we accomplish that, right off the bat we have doubled the number of transplants that we can do. And if we work with organ-donor organizations to educate others, we can increase donations, and that will have a big impact as well. Everyone knows someone with diabetes.
Q: We hope that our readers will help you through organ donations.
A: Thank you very much.
If you would like to contact the Islet Transplant Program for more information.
Islet Transplant Program University of Alberta Hospital 8440-112th Street Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7 Email: [email protected] Website: www.med.ualberta.ca/ research/groups/islet/
If you are interested in participating in U.S. trials, you can contact the Immune Tolerance Network for more information.
Immune Tolerance Network Suite 200 5743 South Drexel Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 Email: [email protected] Website: www.immunetolerance.org
RELATED ARTICLE: One Patient's Story: "Nothing Short of a Miracle"
The Post spoke with Robert Teskey, one of the first seven patients in the Edmonton trial. Since age 14, Robert has been dealing with the daily struggles that people with Type 1 diabetes face.
POST: How are you feeling?
TESKEY: I am feeling great.
POST: What was your life like prior to the islet cell transplant procedure?
TESKEY: I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1960, so I have been diabetic for almost 40 years. I was on insulin the entire time. In the early days, I started with one injection a day, then later on two, followed by three, then four injections a day. Over 40 years, I probably had 40,000 injections--a number that gets people's attention. Most people identify the difficulty with Type 1 diabetes as being "on the needle." The fact is that for most diabetics, injections aren't the big issue; they get pretty used to it after that many times around the block. For me, the real difficulty was that I was beginning to run into long-term, significant complications of diabetes.
In my case, I had heart blockages that had to be reamed out with angioplasty. Coupled with cardiovascular problems, I had low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. With low blood sugar, your brain just shuts down. If you are fortunate enough to be able to anticipate and predict when these situations are going to occur, you can fix them easily by consuming some sugar. But I was running into situations when I didn't feel them coming on. By the time others around me noticed that there was a problem, I was pretty far gone. In the community, we call that insulin reaction.
I began complaining to my specialist about my problems. With traditional insulin therapy, there is not a whole lot than can be done. They can do some fine-tuning, but the reality is that these are issues that are not easily resolved under traditional insulin therapy. About 15 months ago, I received a call telling me that a research team at the University of Alberta was going to try islet cell transplant again, and they asked me if I would be interested in becoming part of the test group.
POST: What happened in the procedure?
TESKEY: The procedure itself is very straightforward if you set aside all of the tests and aspects that relate to the research study. They take donor pancreases and, through a complex process, separate the islet, or insulin-producing, cells from the rest of the pancreatic tissue. The islets are a very small part of the total pancreas tissue mass. They end up with a couple of teaspoons of a cloudy yellow liquid that they inject into the main vein going into the liver. The vein carries the cells to the liver where the cells root, then start doing their thing.
POST: How long was it before you began noticing a difference?
TESKEY: Immediately, within a day.
POST: How often did they check your insulin levels after the transplant?
TESKEY: During those first days, probably every hour or hour and a half. The first procedure that I had, my insulin requirement dropped to about 35 percent of what it had been previously, and that effect was immediate.
POST: How many injections were you taking each day?
TESKEY: Four injections a day and a total of about 80 units of insulin.
POST: How did this dramatic shift feel?
TESKEY: It was amazing. You can hardly believe it. You keep expecting that something will reverse itself quickly. But it happened very quickly, and there was no turning back. After the last transplant, I have not had one injection of insulin.
POST: How long ago was that?
TESKEY: In August 1999.
POST: The implications of this procedure for people like you with Type 1 diabetes are very profound.
TESKEY: "Profound" is a very good choice of words. I view it as nothing short of miraculous.
POST: Do you feel that you are any different from other Type 1 diabetics in the same situation?
TESKEY: No. I feel some sense of guilt because I know that there are literally hundreds of thousands of other people around the world and North America whose situation is no different than mine. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and fortunate enough to be in this study.
POST: Have you experienced any complications or side effects?
TESKEY: Since the first transplant, I have not had a low blood sugar episode. Part of what the cells do is to monitor the insulin level in the blood. They pump out insulin, but perhaps even more than that, they determine how much you need and simply provide it exactly when required in the exact amount you need. Even though I was taking some insulin, the cells then started to take that externally supplied insulin into account in terms of how much they pumped out.
POST: Could you tell me how your life has changed since the transplant? Were you and your family on any kind of special diet that may have changed since the procedure?
TESKEY: Certainly, my diet is significantly more relaxed. I was never quite as rigid in following a sugar-free diet as some people are. I am now in a position where I can eat anything. If I choose not to eat, I have that choice as well. For many diabetics, it is not so much about not eating as it is being required to eat because you have to be taking, in food to use up the insulin injected externally.
There is a dramatic difference in my life--having the ability not to have to eat, following a strict timetable during the day, not having to test my blood sugar levels, not having to take injections of insulin, and being able to sleep in. And most of all, not always trying to have to predict or anticipate when one of these low-blood-sugar episodes might be on the horizon.
POST: What drugs are you taking at this time?
TESKEY: I am on two antirejection drugs, which are key to the success of the program. Both drugs have not traditionally been used. Cyclosporine, or a derivative of cyclosporine and steroids, is what has usually been used. The drugs that we are using are different from other families of drugs, achieve the necessary immunosuppressive effect, are taken in very low doses, and have very few side effects.
POST: What side effects have you experienced?
TESKEY: The side effects are small compared to the benefits. Almost everyone in the study experienced mouth sores in the initial stage. But as they got the drug levels to the appropriate dose, those went away and were certainly not a permanent problem. The other side effect is so minor that it is embarrassing to note. The fingernails get thin, so you lose your ability to use them in the traditional way. They are just not strong enough anymore to pull things or pick things up.
POST: Are you back at work?
TESKEY: I worked throughout the whole procedure. Some of the patients had been in a serious enough condition that they had been off work for a long time. I was able to return to work within a day after discharge from the hospital, which gives a sense of the relatively minor nature of the procedure.
POST: What does your family think about the success?
TESKEY: I am a widower. My wife was killed a couple of years ago by a drunk driver. But I do have two children at home--18 and 21.
POST: Do either of your children have diabetes?
POST: What do your kids think?
TESKEY: They are even more amazed. After my wife was gone, they were the people who had to worry about whether I was going to pass out in the night. For them, it has also been a great relief.
POST: To date, all the transplants have been successful. The first patient has been out of the trial for about 1 1/2 years.
TESKEY: Not quite a year and a half. The first one, Brian Best, had his transplant in late March 1999. Two others occurred in the following two months. I was number four, and I had mine in June of last year.
POST: We hope the Edmonton protocol reaches people with Type 1 diabetes around the world. It would save lives.
TESKEY: It really would. There are two very important messages in this story. One is clearly the need for more organ donations. Everyone knows at least one other person who is an insulin diabetic and would benefit from this treatment. My fondest hope is that sharing my story will raise awareness of the need for people to donate their organs. In terms of major roadblocks, it is the supply of donors. There may be ways that this can be solved other than getting more donors, but right now donors are key.
Of course, the other issue equally important is medical research funding. These developments just don't happen. A number of centers in the United States--Miami, Minnesota, Chicago--have been working on islet cell transplants. But research costs money.
POST: When the procedure becomes more widely available, do you think it will be expensive?
TESKEY: I think that ultimately it will be very inexpensive. If they are able to clone the cells and not have to rely on organ donations and get over the need for antirejection drugs, my hope is that any youngster diagnosed as a new diabetic would simply turn up at their doctor's office, get their injection, go home, and that would be the end of the matter. It would be less traumatic than, say, having a serious cold.
POST: That would have made a big difference in your life, wouldn't it?
TESKEY: It really would. I have been fortunate in that I have not let diabetes stand in the way of a full and fulfilling life. But the reality is that it is only when you have been freed as I have that you begin to realize how much difference not having all of this diabetic management makes in your life.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Saturday Evening Post Society | <urn:uuid:6b1eaa07-0444-49a8-b525-9305de3c0ced> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/diabetes-type-1-cure.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970605 | 6,227 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Throughout an organisms’ life, the expression of genes, regulated by the biotic and abiotic environment, gives rise to traits that determine how fast it can run or how tall it can grow. Many traits also affect species interactions; for example, are you fast enough to outrun predators? Do you look tasty to herbivores? Most traits (e.g., running speed) cease to be important once an organism dies, but some traits linger and have “afterlife” effects on the environment. A prominent example of afterlife effects can be found in decomposing plant material, which is a crucial part of nutrient cycling. Microbes and fungi are critical to many stages of nutrient cycling, such as the mineralization of organic matter and the nitrification of NH4+, which plants cannot use, to NO3-, which is usable by plants. However, microbes and fungi can be “picky eaters” in a sense, as they prefer substrates with labile simple sugars instead of defensive molecules such as lignin. Simple sugars have carbon and nitrogen supplies that are easily accessible, while larger, more complex molecules require degradation by energetically-costly enzymes. Therefore, genetic and environmental influences on the chemical composition of plant material can persist after a plant sheds its leaves and affect how quickly its nutrients are cycled.
Afterlife effects aren't a new concept; exposure to herbivores and ozone has been shown to indirectly affect decomposition by altering leaf chemistry. However, we recently documented a new type of afterlife effect by showing that genotypic variation in a focal plant’s neighbors could affect the chemical composition of the focal plants litter. Although we don’t have the mechanism completely nailed down, it appears that focal-plant biomass allocation (putting carbon into roots vs. rhizomes vs. stems, and so on) is affected by neighbor-plant genotypic variation, and that shifts in focal-plant biomass allocation are correlated with focal-plant litter quality (specifically, lignin:N). This type of afterlife effect can also be considered an indirect genetic effect (technically, an interspecific indirect genetic effect because the neighboring plants belonged to different species), through which the expression of genes in one individual affects the phenotype of a different, heterospecific individual.
Solidago altissima, one of the study's focal species, along the TN-NC border.
We (Jen Schweitzer, Joe Bailey, and me) were curious whether genetically-based afterlife effects were unique. Do they have consequences that, for example, ozone-driven afterlife effects would not? Ultimately, we started to think about ecosystem processes (productivity, nutrient cycling, among many others) and the basic drivers of these processes. We argue that ecosystem processes are the “gene-less products of genetic interactions”, meaning that the plant, animal, and microbial traits that interact to create ecosystem processes all have a genetic basis, although the expression of that genetic basis may change depending on how an organism’s genes interact with the biotic and abiotic environment. So, you may ask – “What does this mean?” We’d argue that the “ecosystem processes are gene-less products” perspective allows us to put ecosystems in an evolutionary framework. We can then ask questions like: How might nitrogen cycling or plant productivity change as natural selection acts on the genes that are the most basic drivers of these processes?
If you’re interested in the research behind this post, head to http://www.plosone.org/article/related/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0053718. | <urn:uuid:f94a5eef-a9d7-43d6-bbb7-96b6bd4b82b6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ecoevoevoeco.blogspot.ca/2013/05/throughout-organisms-life-expression.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931381 | 763 | 3.75 | 4 |
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) November 30, 2012
The holiday season is approaching and it is time for individuals to break out the festive holiday decorations. Christmas lights are one of the most popular holiday decorations and can be placed on just about anything. The most popular and traditional item to be adorned with Christmas lights, however, is the Christmas tree. Although it may look pretty, this decoration can become a serious fire hazard. To reduce the risk of a fire this holiday season, Go Green LED Bulbs offers LED Holiday String Lights that emit far less heat than traditional Christmas lighting.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), between the years 2005 and 2009, the U.S. Fire Department responded to an average 240 home fires per year that were caused by Christmas trees. 13 percent of these fires involved decorative lights. Once trees are cut down to be sold to households, they can dry out rather quickly. The heat produced from home furnaces during the coldest months of the year also allow trees to dry out rapidly. A dry Christmas tree is extremely flammable. Artificial Christmas trees can also be flammable, unless sprayed or made with flame retardant materials. According to research completed by the Building & Fire Research Laboratory, Christmas tree fires may not occur as often as other household fires, but when they do, they tend to be more severe than any other type of home fire. The Building & Fire Research Laboratory also found that it only takes three seconds to ignite the tree. Within a minute, the entire tree can catch fire, producing large, untamed flames and dangerous amounts of smoke throughout the rest of the home.
Most Christmas tree fires take place because of faulty Christmas lights. Incandescent Christmas lights produce more heat than they do light. Holiday Lights that use LED technology use their energy to emit a brighter light rather than wasting energy on producing heat. This makes LED lights a simple solution to decorating Christmas trees without the high risk of a fire. Also, incandescent Christmas lights will only allow consumers to attach three strands together before it becomes a serious safety hazard, while LED Christmas lights can connect up to over 40 strands together. Also, since they consume less energy, households will lower their electric costs, and save money on replacement costs because LED Holiday Lights will last for years rather than one season.
With the drought that occurred this summer and early fall in the upper Midwest, the trees have become dry. Christmas tree buyers in this area should be extremely cautious when taking care of their trees this year. LED Holiday Lights on Christmas trees will allow owners to worry less about their tree becoming a fire risk and more on the joy of the season.
ABOUT GO GREEN LED BULBS
Go Green LED Bulbs is a leading distributor of energy efficient products including LED light bulbs, exit signs, LED Christmas lights, flashlights and more. Located in Round Lake Beach, IL, Go Green LED Bulbs works hard to inform the consumer so they can make the best decision on what LED lighting products are right for their residential or commercial space. | <urn:uuid:d0c241e1-59ce-4cc2-837a-decdd6e5d566> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/11/prweb10186213.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948469 | 619 | 2.75 | 3 |
It is possible that the main title of the report Fabry Disease is not the name you expected. Please check the synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and disorder subdivision(s) covered by this report.
- alpha-galactosidase A deficiency
- Anderson-Fabry disease
- angiokeratoma corporis diffusum
- angiokeratoma diffuse
- ceramide trihexosidase deficiency
- GLA deficiency
- hereditary dystopic lipidosis
Fabry disease is a rare genetic disorder of fat (lipid) metabolism characterized by a deficiency of the enzyme alpha-galactosidase A (previously known as ceramide trihexosidase). The disorder belongs to a group of diseases known as lysosomal storage disorders. Lysosomes function as the primary digestive units within cells. Enzymes within lysosomes break down or digest particular compounds and intracellular structures. Alpha-galactosidase functions to remove the terminal galactose moieties from complex sugary-fat molecules termed glycosphingolipids. Absence or less than 1% of the alpha-galactosidase A enzyme results in the classic subtype of Fabry disease due to the abnormal accumulation of a specific sugary-fat material (termed globotriaosylceramide, GL-3 or Gb3) in various organs of the body, particularly in the blood vessels. Symptoms of classic Fabry disease typically include onset in childhood or adolescence, the appearance of clusters of rash-like discolorations on the skin (angiokeratomas), excruciating pain in the hands and feet, and abdominal pain, absent or markedly decreased sweating (anhidrosis or hypohidrosis), and specific changes in the cornea of the eye (corneal dystrophy) that do not affect vision. Later in the course of the disease, kidney failure, heart disease, and/or strokes cause life-threatening complications.
Individuals with alpha-galactosidase A levels greater than 1% of normal have a somewhat milder or attenuated, later-onset subtype of the disease, and typically do not have the early-onset symptoms including the skin lesions, eye changes, decreased sweating, and pain in the extremities. They develop kidney, heart, or cerebrovascular (i.e., stroke) disease in adult life.
Fabry disease, which is inherited as an X-linked trait, affects males and females. Males are more uniformly affected whereas females have variable affects and may be asymptomatic or as severely affected as males.
CLIMB (Children Living with Inherited Metabolic Diseases)
176 Nantwich Road
Crewe, CW2 6BG
National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association, Inc.
2001 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02146-4227
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
1275 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
International Center for Fabry Disease
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Fifth Avenue at 100th Street
New York, NY 10029
NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
P.O. Box 5801
Bethesda, MD 20824
Canadian Society for Mucopolysaccharide and Related Diseases, Inc.
PO Box 30034
British Columbia, V7H 2Y8
Fabry Support & Information Group
108 NE 2nd Street
P.O. Box 510
Concordia, MO 64020-0510
Genetic and Rare Diseases (GARD) Information Center
PO Box 8126
Gaithersburg, MD 20898-8126
Instituto de Errores Innatos del Metabolismo
Carrera 7 No 40 - 62
Hide & Seek Foundation for Lysosomal Disease Research
6475 East Pacific Coast Highway Suite 466
Long Beach, CA 90803
National Fabry Disease Foundation
4301 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 404
Washington, DC 20008-2369
Proyecto Pide un Deseo México, i.a.p.
Altadena #59-501 col. Napoles
delegacion Benito Juarez
03810 Mexico D.F.
Tel: 55 5543-2447 | <urn:uuid:9c0a1590-92b7-47c8-a93e-f0f4da9bc895> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/children/fabry-disease-11101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.687356 | 911 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Kuk Swamp is an archaeological site in New Guinea. Evidence for early agricultural drainage systems was found here, beginning about 9,000 years ago. In 2008, it was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Evidence has been found of irrigation draining ditches going back to 9,000 years, with a number of plants including taro grown, at what would have been the edge of its cultivable limit in the highlands. From 6,900 - 6,400 years ago further evidence has been found for the cultivation of bananas and sugar cane. This makes it one of the earliest sites for the development of agriculture in the world". | <urn:uuid:a2100c47-ac87-4a45-bd49-3592af62b4f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.touristlink.com/papua-new-guinea/kuk-swamp/overview.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974534 | 128 | 2.875 | 3 |
Steven H. Woolf (MD, MPH), Director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health and Professor of Family Medicine and Population Health, addressed a large group of William & Mary faculty and students, as well as staff of Williamsburg area nonprofits on March 20, 2014. Dr. Woolf’s talk focused on how tackling social factors -- inadequate education, poverty, and unemployment -- would have a far greater impact on improving our nation’s health than would medical technological advances.
Citing a 2013 National Research Council and Institute of Medicine report which he edited, Dr. Woolf stated that although the U.S. spends more per person on health care than other high-income countries, Americans generally do not live as long and are not as healthy. The probability of survival to age 50 in the U.S., for example, is among the lowest of 21 high-income countries, noted Dr. Woolf. The U.S. also has relatively high mortality rates from diseases and injuries, when compared to 16 other “peer” countries. For deaths from non-communicable diseases, only Denmark has a higher rate.
In examining some of the factors that might explain the U.S.’s poor health outcomes, Dr. Woolf remarked that the health care system, such as trips to the doctor’s office, is itself responsible for only a small part of a nation’s health and well-being. Dr. Woolf argued that health care accounts for only about 10 – 20 percent of health outcomes while individual health and illness is affected much more by social factors, including personal health behaviors, the “built” environment, education, employment, and income level.
Focusing on education as an example, Dr. Woolf reported that the amount of education a person receives is “closely tied” to a person’s life expectancy. People with higher educational attainment are less likely to report having fair or poor health and to have a lower level of disease, such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. Dr. Woolf observed that solving the high school dropout problem would have a significant effect on improving our nation’s health and that addressing educational disparities alone would avert far more deaths than would new biomedical advances, such as new technology or drugs.
Dr. Woolf was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2001, served as member and science advisor to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and authored the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice textbook. In addition to writing in academic journals, Dr. Woolf has testified before the U.S. Congress, consulted with government agencies in the U.S. and Europe, and written editorials in major newspapers.
Dr. Woolf’s lecture was co-sponsored by William & Mary’s Schroeder Center for Health Policy and the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, together with the Williamsburg Health Foundation.
View lecture here. | <urn:uuid:cc0bee70-5553-4301-9b5d-ca8b11fa020f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wm.edu/as/publicpolicy/schroedercenter/news/woolf-lecturebeyond-healthcare--strategies-for-improving-health-and-lowering-costs.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965765 | 615 | 2.625 | 3 |
Graphology or handwriting analysis is a scientific study of handwriting used to analyze an individual's personality. Your handwriting tells a lot about your personality and helps you come to know yourself better; it tells you about your nature, your positive and negative traits, your behavior and much more.
In 1830 Abbé Michon became interested in handwriting analysis. The term Graphology is derived from the Greek word ‘Graph’ which means ‘writing’ and ‘Ology’ which means ‘study’.
Factors such as placing of i-dots, t-bars, angles / slant, size, speed, margins, heights, ending strokes, pressure, upper, lower, and middle zones, word spacing, letter spacing and even flourishes and many other factors are considered for a complete graphology analysis and accurate examination.
Graphology has its basis in an inexact science that reflects the changing nature and behavioral pattern of human beings. Human personality and behavior, changes on a daily basis. Thus, for the purpose of obtaining accurate results about your nature and / or changing personality, you should monitor your handwriting carefully. The results may also vary depending on such factors as your changing mood, environment, business, living condition.
However, one should note that despite the variance in handwriting the basic characteristics (some of them mentioned above) of the handwriting do not change just like your own character. Hence, this also serves as an indicator of current moods and emotions. You can also try this EQ Test (Emotional Intelligence), it is fun and simple.
Advancements in Graphology today also help and is used for diagnosis of diseases. Medical Graphology can be an useful psychological / scientific tool to analyze handwriting for diagnosing both physical and mental illnesses. It is also often used for forensic analysis.
Did you know changing your handwriting can be used for self-improvement? Changing your handwriting features can alter your personality - this is called Graphotherapy.
However, one of the most common applications of a Graphology, is behavior and personality evaluation. Graphology is believed to be one of the most accurate personality test and easily ranks amongst the most popular tools along with Dr. Max Lüscher's color test, Enneagram to name a few.
Try it to believe it! Take a Graphology Test right now and find out stuff you probably don't or didn't know about yourself.
Leave A Comment - Help Us Improve Our Services And Win Prizes | <urn:uuid:40dff926-0977-454b-ae3b-b21fe0bac9da> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mysticscripts.com/personality-test/graphology/graphology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95033 | 507 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Leave it alone, please
Self control is one of the most critical skills a dog needs to learn, and it is a skill that is required multiple times a day. Dogs are expected to refrain from picking up something forbidden when it appears within reach. Some examples that come to mind include: dropped medication, chicken bones, the hamster, dead birds, Granny's hearing aid, Susie's favorite stuffed toy, the last remaining baby soother...
Many people train "off" as a command with its associated threat: "Leave it or else." The trouble is, once the dog has swallowed the light bulb (I am not making this up), or the $3000 hearing aid, the ensuing "or else" does not do much to remedy the situation. It is not as if you can dock the dog's allowance or extract an IOU to pay for the costs of his transgression. Experienced clicker trainers, especially those whose training goals require an exceptional degree of reliability (those who work with guide dogs, service dogs, bomb detection dogs, etc.), know that training cues rather than commands produces a dog that can be counted on even in very difficult situations.
Cue vs. command
It is important to understand the difference between a cue and a command. A command implies a threat: "Do it or I will make you." A command is given before the behavior is learned, and it can be enforced if the dog does not comply. For example, a trainer may teach "sit" by pushing down on the dog's rump while saying sit, repeating the word and action over and over until the dog figures out that the word sit goes with the action of sitting, and that sitting fast enough will prevent the rump pushing. In the early stages of this kind of training, the dog associates the command "sit" with all kinds of stimuli and with actions that have nothing to do with the dog sitting on its own.
"Off" is commonly trained as a command by placing a temptation near the dog and holding him back, or tugging on his leash and saying "off" in a stern tone of voice. If the dog does manage to grab the prohibited item, the command is repeated while the item is forcibly removed from the dog's mouth. This method is stressful for the dog, and he may not learn much. In many cases, the command approach may place the trainer at risk of being bitten, too.
A cue is completely different from a command. There is no threat implied with a cue. A cue is like a green light that tells the dog that now is the time to execute a behavior for the chance of reinforcement.
A cue is attached to a specific behavior only after the dog is offering the behavior on his own. The "sit" cue, for example, is only given once the dog has learned to sit, and, therefore, the cue is not associated with anything other than the act of sitting. If the dog does not respond to a cue, a trainer knows that further training is required. The trainer does not assume that the dog is intentionally misbehaving and must be forced or helped to do the behavior.
Getting the behavior
A common and very reasonable question about teaching cues is, "How do you get the dog to sit or demonstrate the goal behavior in the first place, so that you can click/treat and eventually add a cue?"
There are many ways to get behavior without using any force or coercion. Using "sit" as the example, one of the easiest ways to get a dog to sit is simply to wait for it to happen! Capture the sit with a click followed by a treat. After two or three accidental sits followed by a click and treat, the dog will get the idea to offer a sit deliberately. Alternatively, a sit can be induced by holding a treat over a dog's nose and moving it back until he sits. A dog can also be taught to touch a target with his nose, and then the target can be used to induce a sit.
Regardless of the method used to get the dog to offer a sit, the cue is not added until the dog offers the sit without any prompts or lures. The cue should be associated with a freely offered sit, so that the dog associates the cue "sit" with the action of sitting, free from other stimuli. The clearer the association is between the cue and the action, the better the dog will learn the cue.
Steps to "off"
How do you get the dog to offer the "off" behavior so that you can click/treat and eventually add a cue? A popular method is to hold a treat in your closed fist and allow the dog to sniff, lick, paw it—whatever he wants to do to try to get the treat. Keep your fist closed until he backs off for just a fraction of a second, then click and open your hand to give him the treat. Alternatively, you can click when he backs off, and give him a better treat from your other hand. Avoid the temptation to say anything—no scolding or otherwise telling him not to pester your hand. The dog learns best if he figures it out for himself without fear of reprisal.
If the dog is too frantic to get at the treat, use something less tantalizing to start. If the dog loses interest and does not try to get the treat, use something more tantalizing.
Raise criteria gradually so that the click/treat comes only when the dog is deliberately moving his head back several inches from your hand. Raise criteria again so that the click/treat comes only when the dog makes eye contact with you after moving away from your hand. Gradually require longer periods of eye contact, until the dog backs off from your hand and maintains eye contact for three seconds. Now is the time to add the cue "off."
Show the dog your fist containing the treat. When he looks away from it and toward you, say "off," click, offer the treat, and say "take it." Teaching opposite cues in pairs like this is a really effective approach. From now on, always say "take it" when you give a treat after the dog responds to the "off" cue.
Practice with increasingly smelly treats. Add difficulty by holding your fist in different ways: out to the side, higher, lower, on the ground, on the table, etc. Once you have a reliable cue response (the dog looks at you right away and maintains eye contact when you hold out your fist and say "off"), it is time to increase the difficulty again.
Hold a low value treat in your fist so that just a little of it shows. Try giving the "off" cue. If the dog backs off and gives you eye contact, click and treat. If he licks at the treat, ignore him and repeat the steps described above. The dog may get some satisfaction from licking at the treat, but will give up eventually in favor of winning the chance to eat the whole thing (or the better treat from your other hand). Do not give the cue until the behavior is once again solid. When the dog will respond to the "off" cue with a little of the treat showing, increase the difficulty by using a tastier treat.
Practice in different locations with increasing levels of distraction until the dog responds to the "off" cue when you offer food partially exposed from your closed fist under any circumstances.
Making it harder
If you have reached this point, when you give the dog the "off" cue he will back off from your fist containing a partially exposed high value treat and give you three seconds of eye contact. The behavior is reliable even when you show him the fist placed in any position, and when you give the "off" cue in any location inside and outside of your house—no matter what is going on around him. You are ready to make it harder. The next steps should go quickly, since the dog now understands the "off" cue.
Hold a treat tightly between your thumb and forefinger. Ask your dog to sit. Show him the treat and give the cue "off" before he gets a chance to get up and come to investigate. If you do not think he is ready for this, separate yourself from him with a fence or baby gate so there is no chance of him snatching the treat. Give the cue "off" and click/treat when he looks at you. Gradually increase the duration of the eye contact until you are back up to three seconds. Increase the difficulty incrementally as before by using bigger and better treats, by holding the treat in different positions, and by training in difference locations.
It may be tempting to try offering a treat in your open hand or placing a treat on the floor to see if the dog will respond to the "off" cue, all the while ready to cover the treat if the dog tries to grab it. This is not a good idea, and you run the risk of having to start all over if the dog snatches the treat. You do not want to teach the dog that it is a race to get the treat and if he is fast enough he might (and probably will) win. Your goal is to have a dog that looks at you calmly, waiting for direction if temptation appears, and not a dog waiting with anticipation to race you to the treat. Your dog needs to be firmly convinced that if temptation comes along, the best way for him to win is to ignore temptation and to look at you for guidance.
"Off" with more valuable items—even your shoes!
Until now there has been no chance for the dog to anything more than (maybe) lick at the treat. By this point in the training he will have no interest in trying to go for the treat, since looking away from the food and at you has won him a click/treat every time.
It's time to move to training "off" with items that are on the floor or table, or otherwise more available to the dog. Start with a neutral item that your dog will not care about—a small box is a good example.
Let the dog sniff the box to see that it is of little interest. Ask the dog to sit. Place the box on the floor out of reach, give the "off" cue, and click/treat when the dog looks at you. Push the box closer and repeat. Increase the difficulty by repeating this process with objects of greater and greater interest to the dog. The more interesting the item, the further away from the dog it should be placed to start. Try putting a treat or toy in the box to make it more interesting, without giving the dog access to the treat or toy.
When you are ready to use the dog's favorite toys or your best leather shoes as training objects, guard against mistakes by putting the object under a clear plastic tub, on the other side of a baby gate, or out of reach with the dog on leash. Use a leash to prevent the dog from moving close enough to the temptation; the leash should not be used to tug or correct the dog. Ideally, the difficulty is increased for the dog in small enough increments that he will never bother to go to the end of the leash and the leash will remain loose at all times during this training. Be creative—come up with ways to prevent the dog from making mistakes and grabbing the item, while at the same time giving him the best chance to succeed in responding to your "off" cue.
Once you have progressed through an array of objects on the floor, table, and counter, and the dog will reliably respond to the "off" cue even with high value items, repeat the process using food. Start with the food at a distance and covered, and move toward uncovered food at close range, raising criteria in baby steps as before. By this time the dog will most likely have become conditioned and will intentionally ignore any temptation by looking away from it and toward you, even before you give the cue. Training will go very quickly at this point.
Do it your way
You may structure your training differently from what is described in this article, as these instructions and example are only meant as a guide. Keep in mind that the goal is to make it as easy as possible for the dog to get it right and win a click/treat.
Establish a very strong reinforcement history with the "off" cue. The more times you click/treat, the more reliable the behavior will become. At the same time, set things up so that the dog does not get a chance to snatch the treat and earn reinforcement for an undesirable behavior. Avoid situations where you need to race the dog to cover the food or use physical force to stop him from getting it. The best way to avoid these problems is to increase your criteria in baby steps, and to develop a strongly offered behavior or a strong response to the "off" cue before increasing the level of difficulty.
Some trainers add the cue early in the process and some wait until the dog shows the ability to back off from a high value treat in plain sight. This is a matter of personal preference and individual training style, and also depends on the personality of the dog. Some dogs do better with direction and some dogs do better if they figure it out on their own. If the dog shows signs of frustration—barking, lying down, scratching, yawning, or excessive lip licking—then you have made things too difficult. The dog cannot learn well when he is stressed and anxious. Reduce your criteria, make it easy for the dog to win a click/treat, end the session, and start your next session at a point where you know the dog can succeed.
Invest for the future
Teaching "off" with positive reinforcement may seem like a lengthy process, requiring more time and effort than simply giving the dog a good yank and yelling "off" at him. Certainly, careful step-by-step training without shortcuts is more time-consuming than any quick-fix method. Reliability comes with consistency, raising criteria in baby steps, and establishing a very deep reinforcement history.
Training with clicks and cues is fun for you and the dog, and helps build a strong bond of trust. Each cue that you teach lays a foundation for future training; the dog will learn each subsequent cue more quickly than the last. The time and effort you put into training "off" and other cues will pay off over and over. You'll enjoy life with a well-adjusted, reliable dog that looks to you for guidance when temptations appear. | <urn:uuid:8d4582cf-aefc-4f51-8e11-4e7f02d0fd46> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1785 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961258 | 2,987 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Governments, particularly those led by Gladstone, increasingly took control of the railway companies because of their cavalier attitudes. The nation was fed up with independent timetables, non-connecting trains and practices of no help to passengers. By 1890, ''competition'' was a dirty word, and the first National Railways Board was formed. Waterloo was then a terminus for five companies, each with its own ticket office and timetables; and one company, the LSWR, was in minute-by-minute conflict with the GWR operating from Paddington. Similar rivalry between the LNWR and the GNR led to dangerous races from Euston and King's Cross to Scotland, and rolling stock designed more for speed than comfort.
Those seeking the next turmoil need look no further than how the inter-war governments regulated to relieve the bus chaos. Then at why London's citizens created the Metropolitan Board of Works, forerunner of the London County Council and Greater London Council. It was because too many uncontrolled contractors were digging up the streets. Also worth considering is why all the original gas, light and coke companies were municipalised in the 1890s.
We are reliving the frustrations of the past through a government eschewing research because the results would interfere with its dogma. Most of what it pursues has failed before, and we will have to revert to all the previous alleviations, and pay for them again.
In the meantime, will someone tell us what will happen should one of these choice bits of private property go bankrupt? Particularly the one owning the Forth bridge. | <urn:uuid:7a0b3fb9-c10d-47bd-936d-4e9775e90fd3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letter-private-railways-did-not-work-1439984.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975581 | 323 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Scientists R Us
Kids are scientists – every day. Some kids make major discoveries. A few kids win science fairs and get to meet the president!
Amazing But True!
- Caroline Moore is a citizen scientist. She was 15 years old when she made an important scientific discovery.
- Taylor Wilson built a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage when he was 14.
With the links below, learn more about two young scientists. Then answer the following questions.
- NOVA Ed, Caroline Moore – Teen Astronomer (video, watch to 3:20): http://video.pbs.org/video/1445097912/
- TED, Yup I built a nuclear fusion reactor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B0PaSznWJE
- What did Caroline Moore discover?
- How did Caroline Moore make her discovery?
- What are the two points that Taylor Wilson wants everyone to know?
- What does Taylor Wilson’s nuclear fusion reactor do?
- Does it Taylor Wilson’s reactor do everything that a nuclear fusion reactor should do to become an energy source? | <urn:uuid:8215d415-fd78-482c-9b76-a8b82f2e77e6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ck12.org/earth-science/Branches-of-Earth-Science/rwa/Scientists-R-Us/r2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922774 | 238 | 3.484375 | 3 |
IPCC (1996) provided time-series plots and global maps depicting trends of precipitation and temperature. This Annex extends and updates these records for a broader number of contiguous regions.
Two data sets are used to represent near-surface air temperature change. Over land this includes a near-surface air temperature data set developed by Jones (1994), and over the oceans a sea-surface temperature data set developed by Folland and Parker (1995). Both of these data sets provide the basis for calculating global temperature change as reported in the IPCC Second Assessment Report (1996). Parker et al. (1994) describe the methodology used to aggregate land and ocean temperatures for grid cells that span both regions.
Precipitation changes are also calculated from two data sets. Land-surface precipitation data are derived and updated from Hulme (1991) and from Eischeid et al. (1995); the latter is referred to as the GHCN (version 1) data set in IPCC (1996). Both data sets were available with a resolution of 5°x5°. Since two data sets were used, a procedure was needed to integrate the data. A simple equal weighting scheme was used when both data sets had data available. For some grid cells, data were available from only one data set, and this provided additional coverage relative to the use of a single data set.
In Figures A-1 and A-2, the magnitude of the trends of precipitation and temperature for each 5°x5° grid cell is given by the area of circle centered in each cell; brown and blue circles reflect decreasing trends, and green and red circles increasing trends. Trends are given in %/century for precipitation and °C/century for temperature. Precipitation trends are expressed in percent relative to the 1961-90 average precipitation.
Time-series plots of the annual anomalies of precipitation and temperature (relative to 20th century averages) are depicted for each of the various regions delineated in Figure A-3. For those regions where a 5°x5° grid cell spanned two or more regions, the anomalies for that grid cell were used more than once-once for each region that intersected the grid cell. The time series depicted in Figures A-4 through A-13 show the anomalies from the 1961-90 means. Longer term variation of these annual anomalies are emphasized by a smooth curve using a nine-point binomial filter.
Time-series plots of precipitation are not provided for Antarctica, due to
very poor spatial coverage and large data uncertainties. The trends of temperature
for the small island states include both land and ocean sea-surface temperature
trends for grid cells that include both land and ocean.
|Figure A-1: Precipitation-Annual 1901-1995.|
|Figure A-2: Temperature-Annual 1901-1996.|
|Figure A-3: GIS mask used to define the 10 regions covered in this Special Report.|
|Figure A-4: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Africa region.|
|Figure A-5: Observed annual precipitation [top (Arctic)] and temperature [middle (Arctic) and bottom (Antarctica)] changes for the Arctic/Antarctica region.|
|Figure A-6: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Australasia region.|
|Figure A-7: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Europe region.|
|Figure A-8: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Latin America region.|
|Figure A-9: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Middle East/Arid Asia region.|
|Figure A-10: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the North America region.|
|Figure A-11: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Caribbean island component of the Small Island States region.|
|Figure A-11 (continued): Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Pacific island component of the Small Island States region.|
|Figure A-12: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Temperate Asia region.|
|Figure A-13: Observed annual precipitation (top) and temperature (bottom) changes for the Tropical Asia region.|
Eischeid, J.K., C.B. Baker, T.R. Karl, and H.F. Diaz, 1995:
The quality control of long-term climatological data using objective data analysis. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 34, 2787-2795.
Folland, C.K. and D.E. Parker, 1995:
Correction of instrumental biases in historical sea-surface temperature data. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 121, 319-367.
Hulme, M., 1991:
An intercomparison of model and observed global precipitation climatologies. Geophysical Research Letters, 18, 1715-1718.
Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group I to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Houghton, J.J., L.G. Meiro Filho, B.A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg and K.Maskell (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 572 pp.
Jones, P.D., 1994:
Hemispheric surface air temperature variations: A reanalysis and an update to 1993. Journal of Climate, 3, 1794-1802.
Parker, D.E., P.D. Jones, C.K. Folland, and A. Bevan, 1994:
Interdecadal changes of surface temperature since the late 19th century. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99, 14373-14399.
Other reports in this collection | <urn:uuid:549427c6-38f4-411d-8d35-55c0ec7fed5e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/regional/305.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.825231 | 1,273 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Volume 10, Number 7—July 2004
Echinococcus multilocularis in Northern Hungary
To the Editor: Echinococcus multilocularis infection is one of the most dangerous zoonoses in the Northern Hemisphere and causes more human death than rabies in Europe. Recent data indicate that E. multilocularis infection is spreading geographically and is being transmitted at an increasing rate in Europe (Figure). Since 1995, the parasite has been found in Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Belarus, Hungary, and Romania; infections in humans have been increasing in frequency in central eastern Europe since the late 1990s (1–4). Since the 1990s, similar infection trends in foxes and humans have been observed in central western European countries, including eastern Austria, northern Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium (1,2,5
In the second half of 2003, carcasses of red foxes were sent to the Central Veterinary Institute in Budapest for examination in connection with the rabies immunization and control program in seven counties (Vas, Győr-Sopron, Komárom-Esztergom, Pest, Nógrád, Heves, and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) that bordered or were near the border of Austria and the Slovak Republic. These foxes were included in the current study. Methods of transporting and storing the carcasses, examining the intestinal tracts, and identifying parasites have been described previously (2).
Of 150 foxes examined, 19 animals from four counties (Győr-Sopron, Komárom-Esztergom, Pest, and Nógrád) harbored 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 14, 22, 31, 51, 54, 114, 130, 200, 250, 300, 400, 800, and 1,300, and 5,500 mature worms of Echinococcus. On the basis of the most important morphometric guidelines and the results of the species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, the parasites were identified as E. multilocularis. The examined foxes were found from 5 to 70 km from the known disease-endemic areas of the Slovak Republic, Austria, and Hungary, and from 5 to 50 km from the northern border of the country. On the basis of this information and the previous study (2), the overall prevalence rate of infection was 16% (24/156) in the five northern counties of Hungary (Győr-Sopron 30%, Nógrád 26%, Komárom-Esztergom 7%, Pest 6%, and Borsod -Abaúj-Zemplén 5%). This prevalence rate is similar to those observed elsewhere in the region; since 1995, 24 human cases have been reported in southern Belgium, 16 in Poland, and 2 in the Slovak Republic (3–6).
In Germany, infected foxes were more frequently found near water (7), which indicates a water-related natural cycle of the parasite. The spatial aggregation analysis of the parasite in intermediate hosts demonstrated that areas with humid conditions are at high risk for human exposure (8). In Europe, the most important water-related intermediate host of E. multilocularis is the water vole (Arvicola terrestris) (9). The prevalence of E. multilocularis in water voles can be as high as 39% in disease-endemic areas (10). Areas with high water-vole densities yielded a 10-fold higher risk for alveolar echinococcosis in humans compared to areas with low densities (10). These data indicate that water voles may play an important role in the epidemiology of E. multilocularis. All infected foxes included in this and the previous study (2) were found near permanent natural waters, i.e., in those areas where water vole populations exist, such as Lake Fertő, the River Danube, the River Ipoly, the River Rába, and several streams connected to the watershed area of the River Danube. E. multilocularis might have spread in the northern part of Hungary along the watershed area of the River Danube, coming from the known disease-endemic areas of Austria and the Slovak Republic. Similar spreading of the parasite along waterways was also observed in the Slovak Republic (11).
In the historically known E. multilocularis–endemic mountain areas, both fossorial and aquatic water voles exist (12). The density of these populations can be 10-fold greater than that of aquatic populations in other European countries (12). On the basis of the long incubation period of the parasite in humans (5–15 years) and the dates of the first human cases reported outside the historically known area (Figure), foxes might have reached the population density needed (13) to maintain the parasite cycle in low water-vole density areas in Europe from the 1980s (Figure). Although the parasite crossed the border of several countries that surrounded the known area, further spreading was not observed in those countries where A. terrestris is an endangered species (the Netherlands, northern Italy) or where water voles are absent from the fauna (western and southern France) (12).
The River Danube and several small streams crossing Budapest, the capital of Hungary with a population of 2 million, create ideal circumstances for urbanization of the life cycle of a parasite that involves water voles and red foxes. Urbanization of the life cycle of E. multilocularis was recently observed in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic with a population of 1 million and similar hydrographic features (14); therefore, occurrences of this zoonosis should be continuously monitored in Budapest. Further studies are necessary to monitor the possible spread of the parasite in other regions that are thought to be currently free of the infection.
The regulatory, veterinary, and public health authorities of the European Union mobilized considerable financial and human resources to control rabies and paid less attention to alveolar echinococcosis in the 1990s, although incidence data indicate that alveolar echinococcosis is increasing and became an emerging infectious disease in Europe. In the Directive 2003/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council repealing Council Directive 92/117/EEC, alveolar echinococcosis has been added to the list of zoonoses to be monitored in the European Union countries. Effective methods to control E. multilocularis are unavailable; however, the zoonosis should be monitored and evaluated, and control programs should be intensified.
We thank Lajos Tekes and Vilmos Pálfi for supporting our studies and Károly Andi and Zsolt Tóth for their help in sample collection.
- Kern P, Bardonnet K, Renner E, Auer H, Pawlowski Z, Ammann RW, European Echinococcosis Registry: Human alveolar echinococcosis, Europe, 1982−2000. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:343–9.
- Sréter T, Széll Z, Egyed Z, Varga I. Echinococcus multilocularis: an emerging pathogen in Central Eastern Europe and Hungary? Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:384–6.
- Kolárová L. Echinococcus multilocularis: new epidemiological insights in Central and Eastern Europe. Helminthologia. 1999;36:193–200.
- Dubinský P, Várady M, Reiterová K, Miterpaková M, Turceková L. Prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in Red foxes in the Slovak Republic. Helminthologia. 2001;38:215–9.
- Losson B, Kervyn T, Detry J, Pastoret PP, Mignon B, Brochier B. Prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in the Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in southern Belgium. Vet Parasitol. 2003;117:23–8.
- Myjak P, Nahorski W, Pietkiewicz H, von Nickisch-Rosenegk M, Stolarczyk J, Kacprzak E, Molecular confirmation of human alveolar echinococcosis in Poland. Clin Infect Dis. 2003;37:121–5.
- Staubach C, Thulke HH, Tackmann K, Hugh-Jones M, Conraths FJ. Geographic information system-aided analysis of factors associated with the spatial distribution of Echinococcus multilocularis infections of foxes. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2001;65:943–8.
- Hansen F, Jeltsch F, Tackman K, Staubach C, Thulke HH. Processes leading to a spatial aggregation of Echinococcus multilocularis in its natural intermediate host Microtus arvalis. Int J Parasitol. 2004;34:37–44.
- Viel JF, Giraudoux P, Abrial V, Bresson-Hadni S. Water vole (Arvicola terrestris) density as risk factor for human alveolar echinococcosis. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1999;61:559–65.
- Gottstein B, Saucy F, Deplazes P, Reichen J, Demierre G, Busato A, Is high prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in wild and domestic animals associated with disease incidence in humans? Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7:408–12.
- Dubinský P, Miterpaková M, Hurniková Z, Tomasivicová O, Reiterová K, Várady M, The role of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) at spreading helminthozoonoses. Slovensk Vet Casopis. 2003;28:29–32.
- Saucy F. The water vole as a pest: ecological variation, demography and population dynamics. In: Cowand DP, Feare CJ, editors. Advances in vertebrate pest management. Fürth, Bavaria: Filander Verlag; 1999. p. 25−42.
- Chataun M, Pontier D, Artois M. Role of rabies in recent demographic changes in Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations in Europe. Mammalia. 2000;64:391–410.
- Martínek K, Cerveny J. Echinococcus multilocularis in populations of the Czech urban foxes. Helminthologia. 2002;39:177.
Suggested citation for this article: Sréter T, Széll Z, Sréter-Lancz Z, Varga I. Echinococcus multilocularis in Northern Hungary [letter]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet] 2004 Jul [date cited]. Available from: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/7/03-1027
- Page created: January 27, 2011
- Page last updated: January 27, 2011
- Page last reviewed: January 27, 2011
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)
Office of the Director (OD) | <urn:uuid:c9509208-3cd7-47a3-86b7-c0aa3238cb94> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/7/03-1027_article | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.865763 | 2,441 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Welcome to the Big6
You can do BIG things with Big6 Skills! Big6 is a six-stage model to help anyone solve problems or make decisions by using information. Some call it information literacy, information communication, or ICT skills, or a process, but we call it the Big6.
Using the Big6 information literacy process, you will identify information research goals, seek, use, and assemble relevant, credible information, then to reflect— is the final product effective and was my process efficient. The Big6 information literacy process is completely transferable to any grade level, subject area, or workplace. Big6, state and national instructional standards, and your curriculum all work together hand-in-hand.
Please direct any questions or purchasing inquireies to info(at)big6(dot)com
I've been thinking a lot about developing citing/creditng skills among elementary students.
This can and should be fun - creating a "culture of crediting" in a school with classroom teachers, teacher-librarians, technology teachers, administrators and even parents modeling for students by continually crediting and citing sources - in coversation, teaching, on paper, and electronically.
We also talk about having the very youngest begin to learn citing by using rubber stamps or stickers to give credit -
Here are examples of the Super3 Sam citing stickers -
At a workshop last week (in Puerto Rico), I was asked about when and how to transition to an accepted format - such as APA or MLA. At what age should the kids be using APA or MLA? Good question. I answered that by middle school, grade 6 or 7, students can start to cite formally - BUT, they should use a citing tool such as NoodleTools, RefWorks, EasyBib or one of the others.
That got me thinking further - what's in between? What can we do across the elementary grades to make it easy and common for students to credit/cite?
The answer - a simplified, but standard style that builds on the rubber stamp/sticker/graphic approach but encourages students to enter more information. Let's call this format "Super3 Crediting".
Here are the elements of Super3 Crediting style -
Type - the format of the resource used, e.g., book, computer, people, self. These can be indicated by a graphic/icon/picture or by word or phrase.
TItle - the name of the item (item = page, article, person, etc.).
Author - the creator of the item. There can be multiple authors-creators.
Date - the date created.
Location - where to find the resource - the web url, or other locator if available.
The point is to add various elements at different grade levels. These are suggested grade levels. Adjust as appropriate, but don't try to do too much too soon. Make it easy, quick, and fun! I also tried to make the order of elements logical and easy for the kids. When you ask them, "what resource did you use," they will usually answer with the type of source (a book, or a website) and then the title if you ask. The author, date, and location may require a bit more digging.
PreK - 1: Just identify the type of source - Book, Computer, People, Me - and use a graphic approach (e.g., picture, stamp, icon, sticker).
1 - 2: In addtion to the graphic, add the name of the type of source (Book, Computer, People, Me). Add additional types of sources - website, article. Also, have the students identify the Title - the name of the item.
2 - 3: Add Author and drop the graphic. So, now the style is Author Title, Type, . Here's an example: Michael Eisenberg, The Big6, Website.
3 - 4: Add Date, as in Author, Title, Type, Date. Here's an example: Michael Eisenberg, The Big6, Website, 2011.
5 - 6: Add Location, as in Title, Type, Author, Date, Location. Here's an example: Michael Eisenberg, The Big6, Website, 2011, www.big6.com
[revised April 17]
I would love to hear reactions to this proposed new Super3 Crediting Style and the suggested ways to use it. Please comment here!
Last changed: Apr 18 2012 at 11:49 AMBack to Overview
©2014 by Big6 | <urn:uuid:3d6f3d46-ef81-46ab-9977-7d153cd29097> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://big6.com/pages/posts/citing---for-the-very-young-super3-style-33.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911934 | 943 | 3.1875 | 3 |
The Pledge of Allegiance is as iconic to the United States as the flag and the founding fathers, however, it may be surprising that the Pledge is neither as old as the flag, nor was it written by a prominent or influential founding father. Instead, it was created by Francis Bellamy, a Rome, New York resident in 1892. Bellamy, an editor for the educational publication, The Youth’s Companion, wanted the country’s public schools to commemorate that year’s Columbus Day by reciting a collective verse.
Appearing in the September 8th issue of The Youth’s Companion, the Pledge was recited by an estimated ten million schoolchildren Bellamy’s original Pledge read: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands – one nation indivisible – with liberty and justice for all.” Bellamy also included that the Pledge should be accompanied with a salute. Starting with a military salute and end with the arm extended towards the flag.
At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” At the words, “to my Flag,” the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.
The Youth’s Companion, 1892
He originally intended for the Pledge to be recited once, but its popularity turned it into an annual Columbus Day tradition. Soon, it became a daily recitation. During World War II, the salute was seen to resemble the Nazi salute too much. So, on June 22, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved House Joint Resolution 303. This resolution arranged the existing rules that governed the flag and how the Pledge of Allegiance was to be delivered. According to the statue the person “should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.”
The wording of Bellamy’s pledge has been adjusted twice over the years. In 1923, “my flag” was changed by the United States Flag Association into “the Flag of the United States of America.” It was not until 1954, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, did the religious addition of “under God” become part of the pledge. Bellamy’s granddaughter objected to this addition and stated that her grandfather was against changing the “my flag” stanza and would not want “under God” inserted as well.
Charles Panati, Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, New York: Harper, 1989, 250-251.
John R. Luckey, “The United States Flag: Federal Law Relating to Display and Associated Questions,” Senate.gov., February 7, 2011. | <urn:uuid:67614536-61b8-4d64-977a-e8d97f1fddab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.historybyzim.com/2012/06/pledge-of-allegiance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95337 | 665 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Two alcoholic beverages a day may improve heart health, according to a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center. Binge drinking, however, appears to have the opposite effect.
Led by John Cullen, a research associate professor, the study found that moderate drinking – two drinks a day – decreased atherosclerosis, or the hardening and narrowing of arteries. Atherosclerosis can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Binge drinking – seven drinks a day across a two day period – increased the development of atherosclerosis, indicating that drinking in moderation is really the best course of action.
“People need to consider not only how much alcohol they drink, but the way in which they are drinking it,” said Cullen.
“Research shows that people have yet to be convinced of the dangers of binge drinking to their health; we’re hoping our work changes that.”
Using mice, Cullen and his research team used three groups to observe the impacts of alcohol consumption and cholesterol. The first group received the ethanol equivalent of two drinks every day while a second group received seven drinks across a two day period.
A third group received a cornstarch mixture to serve as a comparison to the other two.
Mice in all three groups were fed a diet high in fat and cholesterol to encourage the development of atherosclerosis.
The levels of bad cholesterol dropped 40 percent in the two drinks a day group while it rose by 20 percent in the binge drinking group when both were compared to the cornstarch mixture group.
Both ethanol groups saw a small jump in good cholesterol levels, but Cullen considered this a short-term effect.
The plaque that builds up in arteries as a result of fatty diets also decreased in the moderate drinking group while it went up for the binge drinking group.
“This evidence is very interesting because it supports a pattern of drinking that is emerging in clinical studies as both safe and seemingly most protective against heart disease – frequent consumption of limited amounts of alcohol,” said Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the study.
Cullen intends to build on these findings by studying genes that may turn on or off as a result of alcohol consumption to determine if they are the influencing factors.
The study was published in the journal Atherosclerosis.
The study was funded in part by the Founders Affiliate of the American Heart Association and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health. | <urn:uuid:6ab4c1a7-d681-4d14-b945-a97a77d2b71e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/stories/study-two-alcoholic-drinks-a-day-beneficial | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00012-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959775 | 516 | 2.984375 | 3 |
There exists a complex debate within the mathematics community regarding how mathematics should be taught in our schools. Representatives from school districts, individual schools, universities, and the private sector are organizing open forums, focus groups, and discussions regarding the efficacy of mathematics education. The traditional viewpoint supports procedural approaches, which may include memorization, drill, and practice of rules and definitions as the optimum way to teach and learn mathematics. On the other hand, nontraditional approaches, such as the constructivist point of view, suggest that students should utilize their innate abilities to formulate their own algorithms in order to gain ownership of the specified mathematical topic.
Mathematics educators have argued these and similar concerns for many years. In addition, these debates have been spurred by the results of the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), where American 8th graders were average and 12th graders’ scores were deficient when compared with similar age groups in other countries.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has continually supported the idea that mathematics should be conceptually taught (i.e., teachers should teach mathematics for understanding and should make mathematics more functionally relevant to the student’s life). However, even NCTM has encountered resistance from educators who support more traditional approaches.
The NCTM Standards 2000 document presents a vision that includes a framework of ideas that may contribute to the future landscape of mathematics education in the next several decades. However, whether the NCTM Standards are embraced or not, professional discussion and debate must continue. Curriculum committees, local school boards, professional forums, working groups, and parent-teacher teams must have ongoing dialogue and develop the habit of reflective practice.
The methodologies for teaching and learning secondary school mathematics are an ever-changing process based on scientific advances and societal needs. Therefore, developing the habit of reflection can provide insight and guidance, and help facilitate positive systemic change in mathematics education and the mathematics classroom.
© ______ 2006, Allyn & Bacon, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher. | <urn:uuid:a283d54a-597d-441f-8746-0bce203b04aa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.education.com/reference/article/mathematics-debate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949922 | 451 | 3.328125 | 3 |
How much information is stored inside a human? Not as much as you think. All you need is a mere 1.5 gigabytes to fit your entire genetic code. Veritasium did the math in his latest brain tapping video and cooked up that number using bits to understand the molecules that make up a person's genetic code.
Of course, we have a lot of cells in our body (around 40 trillion) and each of those cells contain the full 1.5 GB of our genetic code. So a real person has about 60 zettabytes (60 with 21 zeroes after) of information in total. Thats huge. Veritasium says that in the year 2020, all the digital information in the world will only tally up to 40 ZB. So turns out, there's a lot of information necessary to make a person.
But! 99.9% of our genetic information is shared with everyone else on Earth. What makes us unique is much, much smaller than a ZB. In fact, it takes less than a megabyte to make a person different from the next.
So there it is. A reasonable 1.5GB of information for our genetic code. A ridiculous 60ZB flowing in all our bodies. And an embarrassingly tiny megabyte that makes us believe we're a unique snowflake. | <urn:uuid:d206215c-270b-4899-927c-fde07cfa089c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sploid.gizmodo.com/and-500-mb-of-my-existence-is-totally-useless-sports-tr-1600125323 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921136 | 271 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Creating a virtual services machine is not all that difficult, however, more than fundamental knowledge is required. This document is not a primer to how to fully configure a Linux machine.
In order to understand this HOWTO document it is assumed that you are thoroughly familiar with the following:
If you are uncertain of how to proceed with any of the above it is STRONGLY recommended that you use the html links provided to familiarize yourself with all packages. I will NOT reply to mail regarding any of the above. Please direct your questions to the appropriate author of the HOWTO.
The purpose of virtual services is to allow a single machine to recognize multiple IP addresses without multiple network cards. IP aliasing is a kernel option that allows you to assign each network device more than one IP address. The kernel then multiplexes (swaps between them very fast) in the background and to the user it appears like you have more than one server.
This multiplexing allows multiple domains (www.domain1.com, www.domain2.com, etc.) to be hosted by the same machine for the same cost as hosting one domain. Unfortunately, most services (FTP, web, mail) were not designed to handle muliple domains. In order to make them work properly you must modify both configuration files and source code. This document describes how to make these modifications in the setting up of a virtual machine.
A deamon is also required in order to make virtual services function. The source for this daemon (virtuald) is provided later in this document.
This document will expand as packages are updated and source or configuration modifications change. If there are any portions of this document that are unclear please feel free to email me with your suggestions or questions. So that I do not have to go searching through the entire HOWTO please make certain that all comments are as specific as possible and include the section where the uncertainty lies. It is important that all mail be addressed with VIRTSERVICES HOWTO in the subject line. Any other mail will be considered personal and all my friends know that I do not ever read my personal mail so it will probably get discarded with theirs.
Please note that my examples are just that, examples and should not be copied verbatim. You may have to insert your own values. If you are having trouble, send me mail. Include all the pertinent configuration files and the error messages you get when installing and I will look them over and reply with my suggestions.
Fixed error in Virtual Web Section
Fixed the date
Updated html links.
New Sendmail option.
New Qmail section.
Virtuald default option.
New SAMBA section.
Changed all paths to /usr/local.
Added virtuald VERBOSELOG compile option.
Fixed setuid/setgid bug in virtmailfilter.
Fixed execl bug in virtmailfilter.
Fixed capitialization bug in virtmailfilter.
Fixed environment variable sanity check in virtmailfilter.
Removed mbox code from virtmailfilter/virtmaildelivery.
Added tcpserver.init pop section for Qmail.
Added alias domain name question to the FAQ.
Fixed virtmailfilter to send home directory to virtmaildelivery.
This document is Copyright (c) 1997 by The Computer Resource Center Inc.
A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similiarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however please notify Computer Resource Center of any such distributions.
Excerpts from the document may be used without prior consent provided that the derivative work contains the verbatim copy or a pointer to a verbatim copy.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, I do wish to retain copyright on this HOWTO document, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute this HOWTO.
Hosting by: Hurra Communications Ltd.
Generated: 2007-01-26 17:57:57 | <urn:uuid:807a9dc8-8bb6-4624-92e3-539c9a3e0642> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.docmirror.net/en/linux/howto/apps/Virtual-Services-HOWTO/Virtual-Services-HOWTO-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.882734 | 885 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The breast is the upper ventral region of an animal’s torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. The breasts of a female primate’s body contain the mammary glands, which secrete milk used to feed infants.
Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. However, at puberty female sex hormones, mainly estrogens, promote breast development, which does not happen with men. As a result women's breasts become more prominent than men's.
Subscribe to rss feed | <urn:uuid:79521cb5-8192-48a0-bbe5-5553cb7eb946> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://medicalxpress.com/tags/breast+tissue/sort/liverank/1w/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949664 | 107 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Dark Keeps Flowing
"Expansion of the Universe is not uniform. Individual motions of galaxies can oppose the Hubble flow, like trout swimming upstream. The Milky Way and thousands of other galaxies are falling at 600 km/sec toward an unseen mass called the Great Attractor. This object has the mass of 10^16 Suns or 100,000 galaxies! It may be a true Black Hole, so monstrously massive that nothing can escape. There is evidence of another Great Attractor some 700 million years away.
"These monsters could be common, yet they are not counted in mass surveys. The missing 2/3 ascribed to "dark energy" may be hidden from us. It is foolish to think that humans know all that is out there. That is like Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius not realising that he is falling into an abyss.
In September 2008 a paper by Alexander Kashlinsky of Goddard Space Flight Center reported a mysterious Dark Flow, drawing galaxies toward it. Huge clusters were reported moving at 600 km/sec in direction of the constellations Centaurus and Vela. Kashlinsky's results remain controversial; physicists Ned Wright claimed to find flaws in their analysis.
A month later another research group led by Mike Hudson from University of Waterloo reported that our region of the Universe is not expanding uniformly. One half of the sky appears to be expanding faster than the other half. Hudson's group concluded that massive, unseen structures exist in the Universe. These great attractors would not lie outside the Universe, but beyond our local group of galaxies. The tired old cosmological model can not account for such huge structures. Consistently Large Flows on Scales of 100 Mpc/h: A Challenge for the Standard LCDM Cosmology.
Last month Kashlinsky and colleagues published data indicating that the Dark Flow extends even further into Space. The new paper makes a strong claim that Dark Flow is real. Already it has led to speculation that the source of attraction is outside our Universe! Dark Flow can easily be explained by considering light.
Because the early speed of light was much larger, primordial Black Holes formed to immense size. These ultra-massive Holes cleared immense dark voids in Space. Today they would invisibly attract galaxies toward them, exactly as has been observed. Models can precisely predict the 71.62% proportion of this dark mass, precisely the amount found by WMAP. Though the dead old "LCDM" model can notaccount for Dark Flow, it can be explained in a Universe with a changing speed of light. | <urn:uuid:aaa9cf58-078d-4f52-b8d8-b993e8bdc76e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://riofriospacetime.blogspot.com/2010/04/dark-keeps-flowing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942231 | 524 | 2.671875 | 3 |
This paper presents a comparative study of two different drainage designs in a 10,930-ha new town development of The Woodlands, Texas. Open surface drainage by shallow grassed swales was used in the first two subdivisions that were developed with ecological approaches. Open surface drainage mimics the natural flow regime and is regarded to mitigate development impacts on watershed. In other later subdivisions, the drainage design shifted back to a conventional stormwater drainage system, that is, curb and gutter, drop inlet, and underground piping, known to concentrate stormwater and lead to downstream flooding. The objective of this study is to compare The Woodlands’ two drainage systems on their correlation with downstream floods. Two sub-watersheds within The Woodlands that used different drainage designs were compared. U.S. Geological Survey stream data from the gauge station at the outlet of each sub-watershed were used for analysis. Geographic Information System was used to quantify the development conditions. Correlation analysis was performed using measured precipitation and streamflow data. Results show that open drainage watershed generated less storm runoff than the conventional drainage watershed, given the similar impervious area in both watersheds. Furthermore, the open surface drainage watershed responded to rainfall in a way similar to its predevelopment natural forest conditions, indicating effective flood mitigation post development. In contrast, in the conventional drainage watershed, the precipitation–streamflow correlations increased enormously after development. The open drainage system presents an advantage over the conventional drainage one in mitigating flood problems in urban development.
Yang, B., Li, M.-H. (2010). Ecological engineering in a new town development: Drainage design in The Woodlands, Texas. Ecological Engineering, 36 (12), 1639–1650 | <urn:uuid:24680664-505a-4cf6-952e-0e0e070341d1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/laep_facpub/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924029 | 352 | 2.625 | 3 |
The concept of Zen and the nonexistence of God
There is important aspects of wisdom that we can evoke when we get closer to the fact that the Bible is just a tool of mind-control on the western world.
We know the kind of interest Zen has evoked even outside specialized disciplines, since being popularized in the west by D.T. Suzuki through his books Introduction to Zen Buddhism and Essays in Zen Buddhism.
Thi popular interest is perhaps due to the paradoxical encounter between East and West.
The ailing West perceives that Zen has something "existential" and surrealistic to offer. But Zen's notion of a spiritual realization, free from any faith and any bond, not to mention the mirage of an instantaneous and somehow gratuitous "spiritual breakthrough", has exercised a fascinating attraction on many Westerners.
However, this is true, for the most part, only superficially. There is a considerable difference between the spiritual dimension of the "philosophy of crisis", which has become popular in the West as a consequence of its materialistic and nihilist development, and the spiritual dimension of Zen, which has been rooted in the spirituality of the Buddhist tradition. Any true encounter between Zen and the West, presupposes, in a Westerner, either an exceptional predisposition, or the capability to operate a metanoia. By metanoia I mean an inner turnabout, affecting not so much one's intellectual "attitudes", but rather a dimension which in every time and in every place has been conceived as a deeper reality.
As far as the spirit informing the tradition is concerned, Zen may be considered as a continuation of early Buddhism. Buddhism arose as a vigorous reaction against the theological speculation and the shallow ritualism into which the ancient Hindu priestly caste had degraded after possessing a sacred, lively wisdom since ancient times.
Buddha mad tabula rassa of all this: he focused instead on the practical problem of how to overcome what in the popular mind is referred to as "life's suffering". According to esoteric teachings, this suffering was considered as the state of caducity, restlessness, "thirst" and the forgetfulness typical of ordinary people. Having followed the path leading to spiritual awakening and to immortality without external aid, Buddha pointed the way to those who felt an attraction to it.
It is well known that Buddha is not a name, but an attribute or a title meaning "the awakened One", "He who has achieved enlightenment", or "the awakening". Buddha was silent about the content of his experience, since he wanted to discourage people from assigning to speculation and philosophizing a primacy over action.
Therefore, unlike his predecessors, he did not talk about Brahman (the absolute), or about Atman (the transcendental Self), but only employs the term nirvana, at the risk of being misunderstood. Some, in fact, thought, in their lack of understanding, that nirvana was to be identified with the notion of "nothingness", an ineffable and evanescent transcendence, almost bordering on the limits of the unconscious and of a state of unaware non-being. | <urn:uuid:484d9e75-790b-4891-ab4c-9dcea9c0333b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clubconspiracy.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20887 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963688 | 642 | 2.59375 | 3 |
|Arrest · Warrant|
|Evidence (law) · Extradition|
|Grand jury · Habeas corpus|
|Indictment · Plea bargain|
|Statute of limitations|
|Double jeopardy · Jury|
|Rights of the accused|
A grand jury is a type of jury, in the common law legal system, part of criminal procedure, which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. Grand juries carry out this duty by examining evidence presented to them by a prosecutor and issuing indictments, or by investigating alleged crimes and issuing presentments. A grand jury is traditionally larger and distinguishable from a petit jury, which is used during the trial.
As a body of qualified individuals who hear complaints of an offense and ascertain if there is prima-facie evidence for an indictment, the grand jury offers valuable service to society. In this system, the value of a judgment by one's peers is acknowledged through recognizing the rationality and maturity of human beings and their quest to make a valuable contribution beyond themselves to their community and world.
A grand jury is part of the system of checks and balances, preventing a case from going to trial on a prosecutor's bare word. The grand jury, as an impartial panel of ordinary citizens, must first decide whether there exists reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. The grand jury can compel witnesses to testify before them. Unlike the trial itself, the grand jury's proceedings are secret; the defendant and his or her counsel are generally not present for other witnesses' testimony. The grand jury's decision is either a "true bill" (meaning that there is a case to answer) or "no true bill." Jurors typically are drawn from the same pool of citizens as a petit jury, and participate for a specific time period.
The first grand jury was held in England in 1166. The grand jury was recognized by King John in the Magna Carta in 1215, on demand of the people. Its roots stretch back as early as 997 C.E., when an Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelred the Unready, charged an investigative body of his reign that it should go about its duty by accusing no innocent person, and sheltering no guilty one.
Grand juries are today virtually unknown outside the United States. The United Kingdom abandoned grand juries in 1933, and instead uses a committal procedure, as do all Australian jurisdictions. In Australia, although the State of Victoria maintains provisions for a grand jury in the Crimes Act 1958 under section 354 Indictments, it has been used on rare occasions by individuals to bring other persons to court seeking them to be committed for trial on indictable offenses. New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. Canada abolished it in the 1970s. Today approximately half of the states in the U.S. employ them, and only twenty-two require their use, to varying extents. Most jurisdictions have abolished grand juries, replacing them with the preliminary hearing at which a judge hears evidence concerning the alleged offenses and makes a decision on whether the prosecution can proceed.
Charges involving "capital or infamous crimes" under federal jurisdiction must be presented to a grand jury, under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This has been interpreted to permit bypass of the grand jury for misdemeanor offenses, which can be charged by prosecutor's information.
Unlike many other provisions of the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court has ruled that this requirement does not pertain to the state courts via the Fourteenth Amendment, and states therefore may elect to not use grand juries.
California and Nevada have what are known as civil grand juries. In California, each county is required by the state constitution to have at least one grand jury empaneled at all times. Most grand juries are seated on a fiscal cycle, namely, July to June. Most counties have panels consisting of 19 jurors, some have as few as 11 jurors. All actions by a grand jury require a two-thirds vote. Jurors are usually selected on a volunteer basis.
These county level grand juries primarily focus on oversight of government institutions at the county level and lower. Almost any entity which receives public money can be examined by the grand jury, including county government, cities, and special districts. Each panel selects the topics which it wishes to examine each year. A jury is not allowed to continue an oversight from a previous panel. If a jury wishes to look at a subject which a prior jury was examining, it must start its own investigation and independently verify all information. It may use information obtained from the prior jury but this information must be verified before it can be used by the current jury. Upon completing its investigation, the jury may, but is not required to, issue a report detailing its findings and recommendations. This report is the only public record of the grand jury's work; there is no minority report. Each published report includes a list of those public entities which are required or requested to respond. The format of these responses is dictated by law, as is the time span in which they must respond.
Civil grand juries develop areas to examine by two avenues: Juror interests and public complaints. Complaints filed by the public are kept confidential. The protection of whistleblowers is one of the primary reasons for the confidential nature of the grand jury's work.
The law governing grand juries may differ in Nevada.
A grand jury is part of the system of checks and balances, preventing a case from going to trial on a prosecutor's bare word. The grand jury, as an impartial panel of ordinary citizens, must first decide whether there exists reasonable cause or probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. The grand jury can compel witnesses to testify before them. Unlike the trial itself, the grand jury's proceedings are secret; the defendant and his or her counsel are generally not present for other witnesses' testimony. The grand jury's decision is either a "true bill," (meaning that there is a case to answer), or "no true bill." Jurors typically are drawn from the same pool of citizens as a petit jury, and participate for a specific time period.
Grand juries are today unknown outside the United States. The United Kingdom abandoned grand juries in 1933 and instead uses a committal procedure, as do all Australian jurisdictions. New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. Canada abolished it in the 1970s. Today fewer than half of the states in the U.S. employ them. Most jurisdictions have abolished grand juries, replacing them with the preliminary hearing at which a Judge hears evidence concerning the alleged offenses and makes a decision on whether the prosecution can proceed.
Within some criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing (evidentiary hearing, often abbreviated verbally as a "prelim") is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutor, to determine whether, and to what extent, criminal charges and civil cause of actions will be heard (by a court), what evidence will be admitted, and what else must be done (before a case can proceed). At such a hearing, the defendant may be assisted by counsel, indeed in many jurisdictions there is a right to counsel at the preliminary hearing. In the U.S., since it represents the initiation of "adversarial judicial proceedings," the indigent suspect's right to appointed counsel attaches at this point. Contrast this with some jurisdictions in the United States, where a person may be charged, instead, by seeking a "true bill of indictment" before a grand jury; where counsel is not normally permitted. The conduct of the preliminary hearing as well as the specific rules regarding the admissibility of evidence vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Should the court decide that there is probable cause, a formal charging instrument (called the Information) will issue; and the prosecution will continue. If the court should find that there is no probable cause, then typically the prosecution will cease. However, many jurisdictions allow the prosecution to seek a new preliminary hearing, or even seek a bill of indictment from a grand jury.
In law, a committal procedure is the process by which a defendant is charged with a serious offense under the criminal justice systems of all common law jurisdictions outside the United States. The committal procedure, sometimes known as a preliminary hearing, replaces the earlier grand jury process.
In most jurisdictions criminal offenses fall into one of three groups:
There are less serious summary offenses which are usually heard without a jury by a magistrate. These are roughly equivalent to the older category of misdemeanors (terminology which is now obsolete in most non-U.S. jurisdictions).
There are intermediate offenses which are indictable (equivalent to an old-style felony) but which can be heard summarily. For instance, theft is usually a serious offense. If, however, the charge is that the defendant stole a packet of biscuits worth only a very small amount, it would probably be heard by a magistrate.
Finally, there are serious matters which must be dealt with in the higher courts, usually before a jury. When one is charged with an offense of the third type, a preliminary hearing is first held by a magistrate to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant committing the defendant for trial. That is, whether there is sufficient evidence such that a properly instructed jury could (not would) find the defendant guilty. It is a very low-level test, although stricter than the grand jury procedure. The majority of committal proceedings result in a committal to trial.
Some argue that the grand jury is unjust as the defendant is not represented by counsel and/or does not have the right to call witnesses. Intended to serve as a check on prosecutors, the opportunity it presents them to compel testimony can in fact prove useful in building up the case they will present at the final trial.
In practice, a grand jury rarely acts in a manner contrary to the wishes of the prosecutor. Judge Sol Wachtler, the disbarred former Chief Judge of New York State, was quoted as saying, "A grand jury would indict a ham sandwich." As such, many jurisdictions in the United States have replaced the formality of a grand jury with a procedure in which the prosecutor can issue charges by filing an information (also known as an accusation) which is followed by a preliminary hearing before a judge, at which both the defendant and his or her counsel are present. New York State itself has amended procedures governing the formation of grand juries such that grand jurors are no longer required to have previous jury experience.
In some rare instances, the grand jury does break with the prosecutor. It can even exclude the prosecutor from its meetings and subpoena witnesses and issue indictments on its own. This is called a "runaway grand jury." Runaway grand juries sometimes happen in government corruption or organized crime cases, if the grand jury comes to believe that the prosecutor himself has been improperly influenced. They were common in the nineteenth century but have become rare since the 1930s.
In all U.S. jurisdictions retaining the grand jury, the defendant has the right under the Fifth Amendment not to give self-incriminating testimony. However, the prosecutor can call the defendant to testify and require the defendant to assert the right on a question-by-question basis, which is prohibited in jury trials unless the defendant has voluntarily testified on his own behalf. Other evidentiary rules applicable to trials (such as the hearsay rule) are generally not applicable to grand jury proceedings.
All links retrieved January 8, 2014.
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The Theme of Unity and Diversity in Prokaryotes
One of the major themes in biology is how we can be really alike in lots of ways and really different in others. For example, we share a huge amount of our DNA with mice, and in lots of ways we’re similar, but in lots of ways we’re really different too. One way in which humans are all kind of the same, but also a little different from each other is in the population of microflora, the microbes that live in and on us all.
As we talked about earlier, our guts are full of microbes that are digesting the bits of food we can’t digest ourselves. In return for this food supply, these microbes are making some useful vitamins for us. The same thing is going on in other mammals, including mice. By and large humans and mice have some of the same types of bacterial strains resident in them. But, relatively small, shifts in bacterial populations among different humans and among different mice can have outcomes on traits including weight.
Our guts contain high numbers of bacteria from two bacterial phyla, the Bacteroidetes, which are Gram-negative, and Firmicutes, which are Gram-positive. Scientists observed that obese humans had a higher percentage of Firmicutes relative to Bacteroidetes than leaner humans did.
Firmicutes are a little better at making use of the extra food going through the intestines than the Bacteroidetes bacteria are.
It makes sense that obese individuals’ microbiota might be better at getting extra energy from food. Since the bacteria are making compounds that get used by their human hosts, humans harboring extra Firmicutes might indeed be expected to have more weight. What wasn’t clear was which came first, the obese human, or the fattening bacteria. In order to investigate, scientists at Washington University in Saint Louis looked at similar bacteria in normal and obese mice. If you’ve never seen an obese mouse, here you go:
What these scientists saw was that the normal and obese mice had the same shifts in Bacteroidetes relative to Firmicutes that humans had. They were then able to do an experiment.
In the first step, they took some bacteria from both obese and lean mice. Then, they got some "germ-free mice" that didn’t have any bacteria in their guts at all. They inoculated the germ-free mice with the bacteria from either obese or lean mice and studied the development of the (formerly) germ-free mice. They saw that mice inoculated with bacteria from the obese mice became fatter than mice that had gotten bacteria from leaner mice.
These experiments underline how even though we all have, similar types of bacteria in our system small differences can lead to noticeable changes. | <urn:uuid:c265fa5e-d48c-4882-94cb-46b6516013e3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/prokaryotes/unity-diversity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96146 | 586 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Objective 4 of the Texas Education Code (TEC) states: A well-balanced and appropriate curriculum will be provided to all students. Chapter 28 of the TEC states, “Each district shall ensure that all children in the district participate actively in a balanced curriculum designed to meet individual needs.”
All the courses in the Required Curriculum, which includes Fine Arts, are necessary for a child to receive a well-balanced, meaningful education. The word "Required" in the TEC means that "each school district that offers kindergarten through grade 12 shall offer this curriculum."
The State Board of Education will identify the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for all subjects of the Required Curriculum. The TEKS define what students should know and be able to do in each academic subject area and each grade level. TEKS are currently in place for all Fine Arts disciplines.
English language arts, math, science, and social studies are called Foundation courses because the TEC’s academic objectives identify these courses as the foundation of a well-balanced and appropriate education. These subjects will continue to be assessed on the state level.
Fine Arts courses are a part of the Enrichment Curriculum, a component of the Required Curriculum. By definition, enrich means "to make richer, to add greater value or significance." It does not mean "extra," "not necessary," "elective," or "optional." These courses are an integral part of the educational process and in many cases are the courses that give meaning and substance to a child's education and to his or her life. By law, school districts, as a condition of accreditation, must utilize the TEKS in delivering instruction in all subjects of the Required Curriculum - not just in Foundation courses.
Under state law, all three graduation plans require one credit of Fine Arts for graduation. Fine Arts is defined as an “academic core component” in each of these plans.
State Board rule (19
Beginning with students who enter grade 6 in the 2010-2011 school year, each student must complete one TEKS-based fine arts course in grades 6, 7, or 8.
High schools must offer at least two of the four state-approved fine arts subjects (art, dance, music, theatre). | <urn:uuid:6608c638-7e61-44f5-80bd-6a1d9bbbb741> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eisd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=17466&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=19555&PageID=15550 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948796 | 473 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Bleuler was born in Zollikon, a small town near Zürich in Switzerland. He studied medicine in Zürich, and later studied in Paris, London and Munich after which he returned to Zürich to take a post as an intern at the Burghölzli, a university hospital.
In 1886 Bleuler became the director of a psychiatric clinic at Rheinau, a hospital located in an old monastery on an island in the Rhine. Rheinau was noted at the time for being backward, and Bleuler set about improving conditions for the patients resident there.
Bleuler is particularly notable for naming schizophrenia, a disorder which was previously known as dementia praecox. Bleuler realised the condition was neither a dementia, nor did it always occur in young people (praecox meaning early) and so gave the condition the name from the Greek for split (schizo) and mind (phrene).
According to the Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis by Charles Rycroft, it was Bleuler who introduced the term 'ambivalence', in 1911; the Oxford English Dictionary states that he also named 'autism' in a 1912 edition of the American Journal of Insanity.
Interestingly, and against the Kraepelinian view popular at the time, Bleuler did not believe that there was a clear separation between sanity and madness.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:be02ea6c-4273-4102-88c4-6c4b0be8d841> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Paul_Bleuler | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957593 | 318 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Growth of Carbon Capture and Storage Stalled in 2011
|Funding for carbon capture and storage is by and large targeted as fossil fuel plants. (Photo credit: VXLA via Flickr)|
Global funding for carbon capture and storage technology, a tool for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, remained unchanged at US$23.5 billion in 2011 in comparison to the previous year, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. Although there are currently 75 large-scale, fully integrated carbon capture and storage projects in 17 countries at various stages of development, only eight are operational—a figure that has not changed since 2009.
Carbon capture and storage, more commonly known as CCS, refers to the technology that attempts to capture carbon dioxide from a human-created source—often industry and power generation systems—and then store it in permanent geologic reservoirs so that it never enters the atmosphere. The United States is the leading funder of large-scale CCS projects, followed by the European Union and Canada. The new Worldwatch report, part of the Institute’s Vital Signs Online series analyzing key global trends, discusses a variety of new CCS projects and facilities throughout the world. Among these is the Century Plant in the United States, which began operating in 2010.
Although CCS technology has the potential to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions—particularly when used in greenhouse gas-intensive coal plants—developing the CCS sector to the point that it can make a serious contribution to emissions reduction will require large-scale investment. Capacity will have to be increased several times over before CCS can begin to make a dent in global emissions. Currently, the storage capacity of all active and planned large-scale CCS projects is equivalent to only about 0.5 percent of the emissions from energy production in 2010.
The prospects for future development and application of CCS technology will be influenced by a variety of factors, according to the report. This March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. As a result, U.S. power producers would soon be unable to build traditional coal plants without carbon-control capabilities (including CCS). The technology will likely become increasingly important as power producers adjust to the new regulations.
Globally, an international regulatory framework for CCS is developing slowly, and the technology has been factored into international climate negotiations. Its classification as a Clean Development Mechanism—a measure created through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that allows industrialized countries to gain credit for emissions reductions they achieve through funding development projects in developing countries—has raised objections, however, from those who argue that it risks prolonging the use of carbon-intensive industries.
- There are now seven large-scale CCS plants under construction worldwide, bringing the total annual storage capacity of plants either operating or under construction to nearly 35 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
- According to the International Energy Agency, an additional $2.5–3 trillion will need to be invested in CCS between 2010 and 2050 in order to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.
- On average, $5–6.5 billion a year will need to be invested in CCS globally until 2020 for the development of this technology.
- About 76 percent of global government funding for large-scale CCS has been allocated to power generation projects.
READ MORE AT VITAL SIGNS ONLINE | May 08, 2012
Homepage image: To date, oil reservoirs have received greater investment than other means of CCS. (Photo credit: Roy Luck)
You may also be interested in: | <urn:uuid:b8e59b35-9f3e-4799-bc64-6eaf5f8e21d5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.worldwatch.org/growth-carbon-capture-and-storage-stalled-2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943064 | 742 | 3.125 | 3 |
|Issue 4, Winter 2003-04|
A Haven for Wildlife…and Trash
Boundless desert surrounds you in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Here, seven rugged mountain ranges cast shadows over barren valleys once swept by lava. Saguaros loom in stark profile above the baked earth. Imagine the state of Rhode Island without any people and only one wagon track of a road. Cabeza Prieta NWR is that big, that wild, and also incredibly hostile to those who need an abundance of water to live. Yet, within a landscape at once magnificent and harsh, life thrives in a variety of captivating flora and fauna species. More than 90 percent of the refuge was designated as wilderness as part of the 1990 Arizona Wilderness Act, making it the largest refuge wilderness administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the lower 48 states.
In the Cabeza, a 56-mile, shared border with Sonora, Mexico, has been called the loneliest international boundary in the country. But this shared border is putting pressures on the refuge and other border wildernesses unlike those facing other protected public lands in the U.S. interior.
The thousands of undocumented immigrants who cross this border area from Mexico into the United States daily are taking a heavy toll on wildlife habitats and the species that live in southern Arizona, especially in our most critical wild lands, say natural resource managers.
While definitive studies on wildlife and habitat haven't been done to show the quantitative and qualitative effects of illegal border activities, much documentation regarding impacts does exist. Biologists say that general off-road traveling and hundreds of miles of illegally crated roads and trails are the most damaging.
Biologists say animals such as deer, javelina, endangered Sonoran pronghorn, other mammals such as bobcats and ringtails, and certain species of bats and birds are most at risk where undocumented immigrants cross and/or congregate. Other threatened, endangered, and sensitive species of animals and plants are suffering as well. The lesser long-nose bats, for example, whose caves have been used by illegal immigrants for shelter, are being driven from their maternity roosts by activities of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers on the Cabeza Prieta.
Destruction of habitat and disturbance of wildlife are only part of the problem. Illegal crossers leave behind large amounts of litter, such as empty water jugs, old clothes, cans and bottles, and paper. Some border areas simply look like city dumps.
Compounding the problem if trash is the large amount of human biological waste that accumulates in staging areas or pickup points, especially near riparian zones. The resulting pollution and risks to legitimate users of these streams and river beds are of a major concern to land managers who state that some areas have such large accumulations of waster that they are bio-hazard sites and must be treated accordingly for cleanup. Even cleaning these trash heaps and waste sites is problematic because they are soon returned to pre-cleanup levels by the large number of illegal immigrants continuing to cross the border.
Estimates made on the Tohono O’Odum Indian Reservation that borders Mexico for 73 miles have indicated that approximately 8 pounds of trash is left behind by each immigrant and drug runner who crosses border lands, including the Cabeza. The scattered and accumulated trash in Arizona border wilderness areas and other public lands amounts roughly to a staggering 1 to 2 million pounds each year.
In more remote areas of border wilderness such as the Cabeza Prieta, illegal vehicular traffic causes more extensive damage to the delicate desert microbiotic soils and leads to the destruction of plants, alters drainage patterns, and disturbs wildlife. At any given time, there are 20-25 broken down or abandoned vehicles in the wilderness portion of the Cabeza that are left by smugglers. Staff efforts to remove the vehicles cannot keep up with the accumulation and their removal further damages refuge resources.
Approximately 140 miles of illegal roads have been created on the Cabeza in the last 3 years. The impacts of this network are compounded by the needs of law enforcement that must engage in the interdiction of drug and people smugglers and conduct search and rescue operations by both ground and air. Efforts are made to keep excess off-road travel to a minimum and maintain wilderness character, but too often there is no other alternative than cutting across wilderness lands, especially when lives are at stake, says refuge manager Roger Di Rosa. Lives are often at stake in these remote desert areas where summer temperatures can soar to 115 degrees and higher.
“The Cabeza doesn’t stand alone in efforts to protect and manage its wilderness resources against these new threats,” says Di Rosa. “The whole Arizona border has become a battle zone for law enforcement officers and resource managers.”
Di Rosa says that sensors on the Cabeza have indicated that 4,000-6,000 illegal immigrants a month cross the eastern portion of the refuge each spring. Their neighbor, the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, estimates that 300,000 illegal individuals cross there over the course of a year’s time. The monument has just commenced building a vehicle barrier long the border, which could only increase the number of illegals using the Cabeza border wilderness areas.
“Those of us trying to manage public lands on the border have now found our mission expanded to things that we rarely considered in the past,” says Di Rosa. “Now our heightened concerns and responsibilities include homeland security on a remote international border, high intensity drug and people intervention, and escalating risks to staff and visitors. These aren’t your parents’ borderland parks and refuges anymore.”
You Can Take Action!
The Cabeza Prieta is currently engaged in completing a Comprehensive Conservation Plan, which will be a refuge management plan, wilderness management plan, and Environmental Impact Statement in one package. It will guide refuge managers on future priorities and establish goals for protecting and managing species and their ecosystems within the Cabeza Prieta.
Draft action alternatives for wildlife habitat, recreation, and wilderness management are tentatively scheduled for public review by March 2004. Public hearings will be held and comments on the draft document will be accepted through June 2004.
For more information about the refuge and the planning effort, visit http://southwest.fws.gov/refuges/arizona/cabeza.html, or contact the refuge by phone: 520-387-6483. Stay connected with the Arizona Wilderness Coalition for more details about the Cabeza this spring. | <urn:uuid:1f4faf4a-7afe-4d99-9b32-0e2b697dee48> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.azwild.org/newsletter/2003_04_wildwatch.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938011 | 1,356 | 3.171875 | 3 |
1). What are the five common elements in the definition of Public Relations?
1. Management Function
2. Two way Communication
3. Planned Activity
4. Researched Based Social Science
5. Socially Responsible
2). How is PR related to the concept of relationship management
Well managed organizations know they must have good relationship with publics important to their success. Good relationships can reduce threats such as litigation, regulation, boycotts, or lost revenues.
3). Hunt-Gruing models of PR are? Why are they important?
1. Press/ Publicity model – Coverage, Or Publicity
2. Public Info Model – Accurate information
3. Two Way Asymmetrical – influencing a particular point
4. Two Way Symmetrical – two way communication of conflict resolution
They are important because they help predict the future. Organizations that practice PR correctly are said to be successful but the organizations who don’t fail. This is important in deciding what organization to work for if you specialize in relationship management.
4). How do PR and Marketing differ.
Marketing- Process of researching, creating, refining, and promoting a product or service and distributing that product or service to targeted consumers.
PR- management of an organization’s relationships with its publics.
5). Four steps it traditional PR.
6). Why is PR considered a dynamic process?
It is a critical thinking process involving a constant analysis and reevaluation of information. What was true yesterday is not true today.
7). Describe the role values play in PR.
Values are the fundamental beliefs and standards that drive behaviors and decision making. | <urn:uuid:22138d65-546d-43e9-9bdc-971587167865> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nonprofitmindset.blogspot.com/2007/03/basic-elements-on-public-relations.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898737 | 342 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Adult stem cells are within each of us
We all have them.
Adult stem cells exist within every human body and hold the untapped
potential to rescue tissues and organs that have been injured by disease.
These cells can be collected from excess fat, bone marrow, hair follicles,
dental pulp, skeletal muscle and other sources. Cord blood provides yet another
source of adult stem cells; these cells have been successfully used to treat
many conditions. Scientists are perfecting the ability to prepare donated stem
cells to be injected into patients to repair damaged and diseased tissue.
It's already working.
Research from adult stem cells has already produced successful therapies
for certain cancers. The clinical applications of adult stem cells are years
ahead of embryonic stem cell research; however, the true healing power of adult
stem cells has yet to be fully realized because of insufficient funding. | <urn:uuid:76984c75-e9c5-4ba8-b5b8-6ed54f77b677> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.celltherapyfoundation.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944895 | 181 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Technology That Will Save Billions From Starvation
The American Enterprise
Today, most people around the world have access to a greater variety of nutritious and affordable foods than ever before, thanks mainly to developments in agricultural science and technology. The average human life span--arguably the most important indicator of quality of life--has increased steadily in the past century in almost every country. Even in many less developed countries, life spans have doubled over the past few decades. Despite massive population growth, from 3 billion to more than 6 billion people since 1950, the global malnutrition rate decreased in that period from 38 percent to 18 percent. India and China, two of the world's most populous and rapidly industrializing countries, have quadrupled their grain production.
The record of agricultural progress during the past century speaks for itself. Countries that embraced superior agricultural technologies have brought unprecedented prosperity to their people, made food vastly more affordable and abundant, helped stabilize farm yields, and reduced the destruction of wild lands. The productivity gains from G.M. crops, as well as improved use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, allowed the world's farmers to double global food output during the last 50 years, on roughly the same amount of land, at a time when global population rose more than 80 percent. Without these improvements in plant and animal genetics and other scientific developments, known as the Green Revolution, we would today be farming on every square inch of arable land to produce the same amount of food, destroying hundreds of millions of acres of pristine wilderness in the process.
Many less developed countries in Latin America and Asia benefited tremendously from the Green Revolution. But due to a variety of reasons, both natural and human, agricultural technologies were not spread equally across the globe. Many people in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia continue to suffer from abject rural poverty driven by poor farm productivity. Some 740 million people go to bed daily on an empty stomach, and nearly 40,000 people--half of them children--die every day of starvation or malnutrition. Unless trends change soon, the number of undernourished could well surpass 1 billion by 2020.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expects the world's population to grow to more than 8 billion by 2030. The FAO projects that global food production must increase by 60 percent to accommodate the estimated population growth, close nutrition gaps, and allow for dietary changes over the next three decades. Food charity alone simply cannot eradicate hunger. Increased supply--with the help of tools like bioengineering --is crucial.
Although better farm machinery and development of fertilizers, fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides have been extremely useful, an improved understanding of genetic principles has been the most important factor in improving food production. Every crop is a product of repeated genetic editing by humans over the past few millennia. Our ancestors chose a few once-wild plants and gradually modified them simply by selecting those with the largest, tastiest, or most robust offspring for propagation. Organisms have been altered over the millennia so greatly that traits present in existing populations of cultivated rice, wheat, corn, soy, potatoes, tomatoes and many others, have very little in common with their ancestors. Wild tomatoes and potatoes contain very potent toxins, for example. Today's cultivated varieties have been modified to produce healthy and nutritious food.
Hybridization, the mating of different plants of the same species, has helped us assimilate desirable traits from several varieties into elite specimens. And when desired characteristics were unavailable in cultivated plants, genes were liberally borrowed from wild relatives and introduced into crop varieties, often of different but related species. Wheat, rye, and barley are regularly mated with wild grass species to introduce new traits. Commercial tomato plants are commonly bred with wild tomatoes to introduce improved resistance to pathogens, nematodes, and fungi. Successive generations then have to be carefully backcrossed into the commercial cultivars to eliminate any unwanted traits accidentally transferred from the wild plants, such as toxins common in the wild species.
Even when crop and wild varieties refuse to mate, various tricks can be used to produce "wide crosses" between two plants that are otherwise sexually incompatible. Often, though, the embryos created by wide crosses die before they mature, so they must be "rescued" and cultured in a laboratory. Even then, the rescued embryos typically produce sterile offspring. They can only be made fertile again by using chemicals that cause the plants to mutate and produce a duplicate set of chromosomes. The plant triticale, an artificial hybrid of wheat and rye, is one such example of a wide-cross hybrid made possible solely by the existence of embryo rescue and chromosome doubling techniques. Triticale is now grown on over 3 million acres worldwide, and dozens of other products of wide-cross hybridization are common.
When a desired trait cannot be found within the existing gene pool, breeders can create new variants by intentionally mutating plants with radiation, with chemicals, or simply by culturing clumps of cells in a Petri dish and leaving them to mutate spontaneously during cell division. Mutation breeding has been in common use since the 1950s, and more than 2,250 known mutant varieties have been bred in at least 50 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A relatively new mutant wheat variety, made to be resistant to a commercial herbicide, was put on the market in the U.S. as recently as July 2003.
Recombinant DNA (rDNA) methods are a recent extension of the myriad techniques that have been employed to modify and improve crops. The primary difference is that modern bioengineered crops involve a precise transfer of one or two known genes into plant DNA--a surgical alteration of a tiny part of the crop's genome compared to the traditional sledgehammer approaches, which bring about gross genetic changes, many of which are unknown and unpredictable.
Leading scientists around the world have attested to the health and environmental safety of agricultural biotechnology, and they have called for bioengineered crops to be extended to those who need them most--hungry people in the developing world. Dozens of scientific and health associations, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, the U.K.'s Royal Society, and the United Nations Development Programme, have endorsed the technology. Nearly 3,500 eminent scientists from all around the world, including 24 Nobel laureates, have signed a declaration supporting the use of agricultural biotechnology. And a review of 81 separate research projects conducted over 15 years--all funded by the European Union--found that bioengineered crops and foods are at least as safe for the environment and for human consumption as conventional crops, and in some cases even safer.
Crops enhanced through modern biotechnology are now grown on nearly 143 million acres in 16 countries. More important, more than three quarters of the 5.5 million growers who benefit from bioengineered crops are resource-poor farmers in the developing world. Unremarkably, most commercially available biotech plants were designed for farmers in the industrialized world. They include varieties of corn, soybean, potato, and cotton modified to resist insect pests, plant diseases, and to make weed control easier. However, the increasing adoption of bioengineered varieties by farmers in developing countries over the past few years has shown that they can benefit at least as much as, if not more than, their industrialized counterparts. The productivity of farmers everywhere is limited by crop pests and diseases --and these are often far worse in tropical and subtropical regions than the temperate zones.
About 20 percent of plant productivity in the industrialized world, and up to 40 percent in Africa and Asia, is lost to insects and pathogens, despite the ongoing use of copious amounts of pesticides. The European corn borer destroys approximately 7 percent, or 40 million tons, of the world's corn crop each year-- equivalent to the annual food supply for 60 million people. So it comes as no surprise that, when they are permitted to grow bioengineered varieties, poor farmers in less developed nations have eagerly snapped them up. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, farmers in less developed countries now grow nearly one quarter of the world's bioengineered crops on more than 26 million acres.
Bioengineered plants have also had other important benefits for farmers in less developed countries. In China, where pesticides are typically sprayed on crops by hand, some 400 to 500 cotton farmers die every year from acute pesticide poisoning. Researchers at Rutgers University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that using bioengineered cotton in China has lowered the amount of pesticides by more than 75 percent and reduced the number of pesticide poisonings by an equivalent amount. Another study by economists at the University of Reading in Britain found that South African cotton farmers have seen similar benefits.
The reduction in pesticide spraying also means that fewer natural resources are consumed to manufacture and transport the chemicals. In 2000 alone, U.S. farmers growing bioengineered cotton used 2.4 million fewer gallons of fuel and 93 million fewer gallons of water, and were spared some 41,000 ten hour days needed to apply pesticide.
Soon, many bioengineered varieties that have been created specifically for use in underdeveloped countries will be ready for commercialization. Examples include insect resistant rice for Asia, virus-resistant sweet potato for Africa, and virus-resistant papaya for Caribbean nations. The next generation of bioengineered crops now in research labs around the world is poised to bring even further improvements for the poor soils and harsh climates that are characteristic of impoverished regions. Scientists have already identified genes resistant to environmental stresses common in tropical nations, including tolerance to soils with high salinity and to those that are particularly acidic or alkaline.
The primary reason why Africa never benefited from the Green Revolution is that plant breeders focused on improving crops such as rice, wheat, and corn, which are not widely grown in Africa. Also, much of the African dry lands have little rainfall and no potential for irrigation, both of which played essential roles in the success stories for crops such as Asian rice. Furthermore, the remoteness of many African villages and the poor transportation infrastructure in landlocked African countries make it difficult for African farmers to obtain agricultural chemical inputs such as fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides--even if they could be donated by charities, or if they had the money to purchase them. But, by packaging technological inputs within seeds, biotechnology can provide the same, or better, productivity advantage as chemical or mechanical inputs, and in a much more user-friendly manner. Farmers would be able to control insects, viral or bacterial pathogens, extremes of heat or drought, and poor soil quality, just by planting these crops.
Still, anti-biotechnology activists like Vandana Shiva of the New Delhi-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and Miguel Altieri of the University of California at Berkeley, argue that poor farmers in less developed nations will never benefit from biotechnology because it is controlled by multinational corporations. According to Altieri, "Most innovations in agricultural biotechnology have been profit-driven rather than need-driven. The real thrust of the genetic engineering industry is not to make Third World agriculture more productive, but rather to generate profits."
That sentiment is not shared by the thousands of academic and public sector researchers actually working on biotech applications in those countries. Cyrus Ndiritu, former director of the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute, argues, "It is not the multinationals that have a stranglehold on Africa. It is hunger, poverty and deprivation. And if Africa is going to get out of that, it has got to embrace" biotechnology.
Biotechnology also offers hope of improving the nutritional benefits of many foods. The next generation of bioengineered products now in development is poised to bring direct health benefits to consumers through enhanced nutritive qualities that include more and higher-quality protein, lower levels of saturated fat, increased vitamins and minerals, and many others. Bioengineering can also reduce the level of natural toxins (such as in cassava and kidney beans) and eliminate certain allergens from foods like peanuts, wheat, and milk. Many of these products are being developed primarily or even exclusively for subsistence farmers and consumers in poor countries.
Among the most well known is Golden Rice--genetically enhanced with added beta carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A in the human body. Another variety developed by the same research team has elevated levels of digestible iron. The diet of more than 3 billion people worldwide includes inadequate levels of essential vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin A and iron. Deficiency in just these two micronutrients can result in severe anemia, impaired intellectual development, blindness, and even death. Even though charities and aid agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization have made important strides in reducing Vitamin A and iron deficiency, success has been fleeting. No permanent effective strategy has yet been devised, but Golden Rice may finally provide one.
The Golden Rice project is a prime example of the value of extensive public sector and charitable research. The rice's development was funded mainly by the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation, which has promised to make the rice available to poor farmers at little or no cost. Scientists at public universities in Switzerland and Germany created it with assistance from the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute and from several multinational corporations. Scientists at publicly funded, charitable, and corporate research centers are developing many other similar crops. Indian scientists, for example, have recently announced that they would soon make a new high-protein potato variety available for commercial cultivation.
Research is already under way on fruits and vegetables that could one day deliver life-saving vaccines--such as a banana with the vaccine for Hepatitis B, and a potato that provides immunization against diarrheal diseases.
It is true that certain aspects of modern farming have had a negative impact on biodiversity and on air, soil, and water quality. But biotechnology has proven safer for the environment than anything since the invention of the plow. The risk of cross-pollination from crops to wild relatives has always existed, and such "gene flow" occurs whenever crops grow in close proximity to sexually compatible wild relatives. Yet, breeders have continuously introduced genes for disease and pest resistance through conventional breeding into all of our crops. Traits, such as stress tolerance and herbicide resistance, have also been introduced in some crops with conventional techniques, and the growth habits of every crop have been altered. Thus, not only is gene modification a common phenomenon, but so are many of the specific kinds of changes made with rDNA techniques.
Naturally, with both conventional and rDNA-enhanced breeding, we must be vigilant to ensure that newly introduced plants do not become invasive and that weeds do not become noxious because of genetic modification. Similarly, we must ensure that target genes are safe for human and animal consumption before they are transferred. But, while modern genetic modification expands the range of new traits that can be added to crop plants, it also ensures that more will be known about those traits and that the behavior of the modified plants will be, in many ways, easier to predict.
The biggest threats that hungry populations currently face are restrictive policies stemming from unwarranted public fears. Although most Americans tend to support agricultural biotechnology, many Europeans and Asians have been far more cautious. Anti-biotechnology campaigners in both industrialized and less developed nations are feeding this ambivalence with scare stories that have led to the adoption of restrictive policies. Those fears are simply not supported by the scores of peer reviewed scientific reports or the data from tens of thousands of individual field trials.
In the end, over-cautious rules result in hyper-inflated research and development costs and make it harder for poorer countries to share in the benefits of biotechnology. No one argues that we should not proceed with caution, but needless restrictions on agricultural biotechnology could dramatically slow the pace of progress and keep important advances out of the hands of people who need them. This is the tragic side effect of unwarranted concern.
In 2002, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa rejected some 23,000 metric tons of food aid in the midst of a two-year-long drought that threatened the lives of over 2 million Zambians. President Mwanawasa's public explanation was that the bioengineered corn from the United States was "poisonous." Other Zambian government officials conceded that the bigger concern was for future corn exports to the European Union, which observes a moratorium on new G.M. foods.
Zambia is not unique. European biotechnology restrictions have had other, similar consequences throughout the developing world. Thai government officials have been reluctant to authorize any bioengineered rice varieties, even though it has spent heavily on biotechnology research. Uganda has stopped research on bioengineered bananas and postponed their introduction indefinitely. Argentina has limited its approvals to the two bioengineered crop varieties that are already permitted in European markets.
Even China, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding advanced biotechnology research, has refused to authorize any new bioengineered food crops since the European Union's moratorium on bioengineered crop approvals began in 1998. More recently, the International Rice Research Institute, which has been assigned the task of field-testing Golden Rice, has indefinitely postponed its plans for environmental release in the Philippines, fearing backlash from European-funded NGO protestors. Still, the E.U. moratorium continues to persist after five long years, despite copious evidence, including from the E.U.'s own researchers, that biotech modification does not pose any risks that aren't also present in other crop-breeding methods.
Of course, hunger and malnutrition are not solely caused by a shortage of food. The primary causes of hunger in some countries have been political unrest and corrupt governments, poor transportation and infrastructure and, of course, poverty. All of these problems must be addressed if we are to ensure real, worldwide food security.
But during the next 50 years, the global population is expected to rise by 50 percent--to 9 billion people, almost entirely in the poorest regions of the world. And producing enough to feed these people will require the use of the invaluable gift of biotechnology.
C. S. Prakash is professor of plant biotechnology at Tuskegee University, Alabama and president of the AgBioWorld Foundation. Gregory Conko is director of Food Safety Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and vice president of the AgBioWorld Foundation. | <urn:uuid:b7c747db-9a61-4715-a900-024e5be896fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/agbio-articles/save-billions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952847 | 3,787 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Despite what Muammar Gaddafi would have you believe, Libya is not a homogenous nation but rather boasts a multicultural heritage evidenced by its rich historical sites and artifacts. The Amazigh, often referred to as Berbers, are an integral part of this legacy, although, during Gaddafi’s rule, they have endured relentless state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing. The plight of the Amazigh under Gaddafi’s regime is but one example of the oppression used by the state against the Libyan people to silence any and all opposition to his continued rule.
The Amazigh are the native inhabitants of North Africa, having settled Libya long before the arrival of Arab populations in 642 AD. Ethnically distinct from the Arabs and speaking the ancient language of Tmazight, Amazigh leaders played an important part in Libyan history, and were integral to the independence movement against Italy during the early part of the 20th century.
There are no official numbers defining the percentage of Amazigh within the Libyan population, as Gaddafi has refused to treat the Amazigh population as a separate and distinct ethnic group for purposes of national statistics. Nonetheless, experts estimate that nearly 10% of the population is of Amazigh origin, including the Tuaregs living in southern Libya, residents of the western cities of Ghdammes and Ghat, and those living in the western highlands of Jabel Nafousa and the coastal town of Zuara.
Treatment of the Amazigh under Colonel Gaddafi’s Rule
Much like other political and religious groups in Libya, the Amazigh have endured repressive treatment under the Gaddafi regime. In his quest to rid Libya of a collective identity that could threaten continued rule, Gaddafi has attempted to erase Berber identity from Libyan history, by denying their very existence, eliminating their cultural and historical resources, and physically targeting and imprisoning Amazigh-rights proponents.
According to Gaddafi, the Berbers are of Arab origin and Arabic is the only language spoken in Libya, with the Tmazight language described as “merely a dialect”. Gaddafi also has prohibited the registration of non-Arab names, which included Amazigh names. Amongst one of his most blatantly fictitious claims, Qaddafi has argued that the Amazigh are a product of colonialism, created by the West to divide Libyans. His claims, while deliberately misrepresenting reality, are par for the course for the most notorious of the Arab leaders, who has made a habit of blaming the West for anything perceived as a threat to his control.
In 1973, Gaddafi declared a “Cultural Revolution” in which any publications deemed contrary to the principles espoused in his Green Book, including books mentioning the Amazigh, were destroyed. By ridding the nation of these books and replacing them with his own narrative, Gaddafi sought finally to erase Berber heritage from Libya’s part, present, and future. Under the guise of the Cultural Revolution, Libya’s first Amazigh association was disbanded and its members arrested for the creation of what was perceived as a political party. Since then, Gaddafi has continued to prohibit Amazigh cultural activities and associations in Libya.
In a 2008 cable released by Wikileaks, the US Embassy in Tripoli detailed an incident where the Libyan government strictly forbade embassy personnel from visiting the town of Zuara to discuss Libya’s Amazigh heritage with various officials and representatives of the community. The Gaddafi regime went so far as to threaten the safety of embassy personnel if they continued with the trip, claiming that it could put a strain on U.S.-Libya relations. The cable also noted that according to a contact from Jadu, a town in Jabel Nafusa, Gaddafi warned Amazigh leaders to “call yourselves whatever you want inside your homes – Berbers, children of Satan, whatever – but you are only Libyans when you leave your homes”.
Gaddafi’s regime has also conducted a relentless campaign, which continued up until the beginning of the current uprising, to eliminate Amazigh activists. On December 16, 2010, two brothers, Mazigh and Madghis Bouzakhar, were arrested and allegedly tortured for their involvement in activities promoting Amazigh culture. At about the same time, two Moroccan researchers disappeared after entering Libya to study Amazigh culture.
As with most dictators, Gaddafi fears diversity. For him, a departure from his picture of a homogenous Libya constitutes a threat to his regime. Any group, whether ethnic, political, or religious, that allows Libyan citizens to identify with each other in a manner that is not sanctioned by the regime is crushed immediately. This practice has been captured by a mantra often chanted by his supporters, “God, Muammar, and Libya only”.
Amazigh Hopes for the Libyan Revolution
In Libya, groups opposing Gaddafi have always included prominent and outspoken figures of Amazigh origin– for example, several Amazigh-Libyans participated in the daring but unsuccessful attack on Bab Al-Azizyah, Gaddafi’s headquarters, in 1984. It came as no surprise, then, that when the current Libyan uprising began on February 15th, Amazigh towns in the western region of Libya were quick to join the movement against the Gaddafi regime. Nalut, a strategic Amazigh border town, was one of the first places in western Libya to join the revolution and to be liberated by the opposition forces. Despite Gaddafi’s attempts to create tensions between Arab and Amazigh Libyans, including unfortunate instances of reverse discrimination documented in prominent Amazigh areas, these towns were quick to declare allegiance to the Libyan Interim Transitional National Council. which was established to usher Libya into a new era of government. The Council is composed of 31 members representing various regions in Libya, including members from Nalut.
The Amazigh people are united with their Libyan brethren in their quest for freedom and dignity. In the shade of a successful revolution, they finally have the opportunity to reconnect with their identity and language, without fear of repression. | <urn:uuid:2da9d83d-abd8-4080-9505-204f4ecde5d8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://muftah.org/denied-existence-libyan-berbers-under-gaddafi-and-hope-for-the-current-revolution/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971034 | 1,261 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Although the oceans play a critical role in regulating our climate and providing food and other services, less than 4% are formally protected compared to some 15% of our terrestrial areas.
Never before has the health of the oceans been more fragile, and more essential to our wellbeing.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a critical tool not only to address many of the threats to marine and coastal ecosystems, but also to meet a wide range of human needs including education, fisheries management, recreation, income generation and research. MPAs are an important tool for fisheries management.
The efficiency of MPAs at building up spawning stocks of commercially important species within their boundaries and increasing catches for local fisheries outside their boundaries has been well documented. MPAs are not only useful tools for effective fisheries management and species protection, they also provide significant benefits in the form of ecosystem services such as coastal protection, waste assimilation and flood management. If properly designed and managed, MPAs can play vitally important roles in protecting marine habitats and biodiversity through.
Managed by provincial conservation agencies, from CapeNature to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, there are 24 marine protected areas in South Africa which include a range of ‘no-take’ zones (where no fishing is allowed) and ‘controlled’ areas (where limited fishing activities are allowed). Each of these areas plays a different role in protecting critical habitats or species and/ or providing pristine areas for eco-tourism and research. The most recent and biggest of which is South Africa’s first offshore marine protected area, the Prince Edward Islands in the Southern Ocean.
We need more of these protected areas in the right places, where the conservation need is most urgent and where the potential for their contribution – for both humans and wildlife – is at its highest. However, marine protected areas are not without their challenges and it is important to ensure that they deliver meaningful long-term benefits for all members of society.
Through initiatives like the MPA Forum and creating the Guidelines for Integrating Human Dimensions into MPA Planning and Management, WWF is working with government, local communities and other stakeholders to develop co-operative and collaborative management approaches which recognise the challenges of balancing all the different user’s need.
This 50 page report provides a summary of water stewardship initiatives in the second phase of WWF’s Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Project.21 Jun 2016 Read more »
Safeguard our Seabed Coalition: Factsheets on seabed mining15 Jun 2016 Read more »
South Africa is host to abundant fish species that are the lifeblood of many and diet of even more. If we fail to protect migratory species, we could ...19 May 2016 Read more »
The South African Deep Sea Trawling Industry Association has teamed up with WWF South Africa to dramatically improve the management of at least 12 ...18 May 2016 Read more »
Our marine environment holds great economic value, with coastal goods and services contributing significantly to South Africa’s gross domestic product. Read more here.
The seafood supply chain, from where it was caught to where it is eventually eaten, includes everything from catching, transporting, trading, processing, and packaging to selling of seafood through retailers and in restaurants. Read more here.
WWF-SASSI was initiated in collaboration with networking partners in 2004 to educate those in the seafood trade from wholesalers to restaurateurs through to seafood lovers about what sustainable seafood is. This is primarily achieved through the development of a seafood sustainability ‘traffic light’ system that divides species into Green-list (sustainable choice), Orange-list (think twice) and Red-list (avoid). Read more here.
Our oceans are becoming ever more crowded spaces, and with this growing pressure come a number of environmental and social impacts as well as complex challenges. Read more here. | <urn:uuid:89c6731e-548c-4cc3-b0db-b772b6e551dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wwf.org.za/what_we_do/marine2/oceanstewardship/protected_areas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947231 | 789 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Mystery Number Riddles
Investigation Class Book
This is a cover you can print and have students color, for use with the
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Following are links to Internet resources for students to use while working on the
The National Numismatic Collection
The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution has a large collection of coins and paper money. Of particular interest are the Surviving Images, Forgotten Peoples exhibit of early American paper money and Recent Donations of Outstanding U.S. Rarities. You may access the rest of the museum's Web site from this page, including the not just for kids and virtual exhibitions pages, by using the links at the bottom.
Curioscape - Directory for Antiquing and Collecting
Search this site to find collectors and dealers of all sorts of objects. You may be surprised to know that many other people have the same interests in collecting as you do! Students may want help deciding how to classify their collections, or in finding out where to look for information about what they collect.
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You may download, print and make copies of the Investigation Class Book for use in your classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown on that page on all such copies.
Copyright © 1998 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms and Conditions of Use. | <urn:uuid:1efbc3da-4bda-4c2b-8c60-233a401afc07> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eduplace.com/math/mathcentral/grade2/201i.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89439 | 298 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The vast majority of young women with breast cancer are being tested for mutations in the cancer-susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, a new study led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators suggests, and many of them are using the results of those tests to guide their treatment.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, provides encouraging evidence that patients are largely following National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines that women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 50 or younger undergo genetic testing. At the same time, however, the researchers found that many patients who don’t carry BRCA1 or 2 mutations are choosing to have both breasts removed, even though their risk of cancer in the unaffected breast is no higher than average.
“Inheriting a mutation in BRCA1 or 2 significantly increases a woman’s risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer, as well as certain other cancers,” says the paper’s first author, Shoshana Rosenberg, ScD, MPH, of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber. “While BRCA testing is recommended for young women with breast cancer, there has been little research into how widely these recommendations are being followed, and how concerns about genetic risk affect treatment decisions.”
In the paper, Rosenberg and her colleagues analyzed data from nearly 900 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger. All were participants in the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Study, a Dana-Farber-led project that is tracking the treatment, tumor biology, and psychosocial concerns of 1,300 young women diagnosed with breast cancer since 2006.
The researchers found a notable increase in testing for BRCA mutations. Among young patients diagnosed in 2006, 77 percent had a BRCA test. By 2013, the figure had risen to 95 percent.
Nearly 30 percent of these patients said that knowing about, or being concerned about, genetic risk influenced their decisions regarding treatment. Among these patients, 86 percent of those who carried BRCA mutations, and 51 percent of those who don’t, chose to have a bilateral mastectomy, the surgical removal of both breasts.
Researchers say the gratifyingly high percentage of young patients who opt for BRCA testing may be a result of increased media attention to the subject, particularly the well-publicized decision by actress Angelina Jolie to have a double mastectomy after learning she carried a BRCA mutation. “Greater public awareness may have made women more likely to bring up the issue of genetic risk with their physicians, possibly resulting in more testing,” Rosenberg says.
Among the women who had not been tested, some may have not done so because they had more immediate concerns, or gave a higher priority to other decisions about their treatment, the study authors write.
As to why patients who didn’t carry BRCA mutations often chose to have a bilateral mastectomy – even though they didn’t have an elevated risk of developing a new cancer in the unaffected breast – it may be to relieve their anxiety about the disease and provide more peace of mind, the authors suggest.
“We know that developing breast cancer can be especially anxiety-provoking in young women,” Rosenberg remarks. “They may have a sense that because they weren’t ‘supposed’ to develop breast cancer at such an early age, they want to feel that they’re doing everything possible to prevent another occurrence.”
The fact that so many non-BRCA carriers had a bilateral mastectomy “might indicate a need for better communication of their relatively low risk of developing cancer in the other breast,” Rosenberg suggests.
The senior author of the study is Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, a senior physician in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber. Co-authors are Shari Gelber, MS, MSW, Bryce Larsen, MA, and Judy Garber, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber; Kathryn Ruddy, MD, MPH, of the Mayo Clinic; Rulla Tamimi, ScD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Lidia Schapira, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital; Steven Come, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Virginia Borges, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Funding for the study was provided by Susan G. Komen for the Cure; the National Institutes of Health (R25 CA057711); and The Pink Agenda. | <urn:uuid:5896324b-2b74-4a04-8dd2-7c09af52eb54> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/testing-for-brca-mutations-reaches-high-level-among-young-women-with-breast-cancer-study-finds.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00078-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956746 | 962 | 2.671875 | 3 |
How to Specify a Rotary Ball Spline
A ball spline consists of three components: a grooved shaft, a spline nut and ball bearings. The grooves on the shaft are linear rather than helical like those of a ballscrew. The balls travel along the grooves, recirculating inside the spline nut. This prevents the nut from rotating on the shaft, enabling transfer of torque through the shaft to the nut or vice versa.
In a typical application, either the shaft or the nut is mounted to a fixed structure. With a fixed shaft, the ends of the shaft can be turned down to accommodate the mounting of radial bearings to support rotation. With a fixed nut, however, the radial bearing must be mounted on the outer diameter of the nut, which can make the overall assembly bulky. The nut cannot be as easily modified as the shaft to accommodate various bearing sizes.
That’s when the rotary ball spline becomes efficient and economical. With a rotary ball spline, a radial support bearing is built into the spline nut, so the engineer does not have to find, source and integrate one. This saves not only time and expense, but also space. The rotary spline nut is more compact than a standard spline nut with an added radial support bearing.
The first step in specifying a rotary ball spline is to determine the parameters for stroke length, velocity, applied load, mounting space, duty cycle, required life, dimensions, installation direction, environment and accuracy. From there, you can make decisions about specific design elements, such as preload and bearing style.
Importance of Preload
When a force causes rotation of either the shaft or the spline nut (not the radial support bearing), the two will rotate together because the nut’s ball bearings are secured by the grooves.
If the ball bearings aren’t preloaded, there can be some wiggle room between the spline nut and the shaft. So, when you want to move a load by rotating the shaft, the nut doesn’t immediately follow or it moves over a little due to the slight clearance. That is angular backlash, and it’s detrimental to accurate positioning.
Of course, there is a trade-off. The higher the preload, the tighter the balls are in the grooves and the more friction is produced. Thus, it’s important to select the appropriate preload for the application to maintain smooth movement and to maximize product life, rigidity and accuracy.
Preload can also increase the rigidity of the spline by reducing assembly deformation under load in the application. Because the initial deformation amount is much greater on steel, pre-deforming the components by inserting larger diameter balls can reduce the amount of deformation when the spline assembly is loaded for an application. As a result, the assembly will be more rigid and more accurate.
The torque rating of a rotary ball spline is determined by the number of grooves on the shaft and the number of points of ball contact in the grooves. Shafts with four grooves will have higher torque ratings than those with three grooves.
Likewise, grooves shaped like gothic arches, which provide four points of ball contact, have higher torque ratings than circular grooves, which provide two points of ball contact. The Gothic arch design eliminates any clearance that could lead to deflection. This makes the ball spline more precise. Four-point contact also increases load capacity and rigidity.
Though different ball splines might be exactly the same size, they can have different torque ratings based on the total number of contact points between the shaft and the spline nut. A ball spline with four grooves and four-point ball contact provides 16 total contact points between the shaft and the spline nut. A ball spline with three grooves and two-point ball contact provides just six contact points between the shaft and nut.
Spline shafts can be drawn, ground or precision-ground. The base material can also vary. Shafts are ranked according to such characteristics as material grade, shaft diameter tolerance, perpendicularity to the end face, and concentricity of the part-mounting section in relation to the support section.
Increasing the symmetry of the spline shaft will increase its maximum rotational speed and stability.
Machining precise, straight linear grooves on a spline shaft will make it highly accurate, but also more expensive. Drawn spline shafts are less expensive, but also less accurate.
Manufacturers typically assign spline shafts one of three accuracy ratings: precision (meaning their highest precision), high (meaning their standard grade, usually a stock item), and normal or commercial (often a non-ground shaft). However, one manufacturer’s top grade can be another’s standard grade. The only way to truly assess a spline shaft is to compare measures of shaft diameter tolerance, straightness, perpendicularity and concentricity.
If a lesser degree of accuracy is acceptable, then a drawn, non-ground spline shaft may be the best choice. Some drawn shafts can use the same spline nuts as ground shafts, but their load capacity will be less because the nut is traveling in a non-ground raceway. However, they are less expensive and can be as long as 5 meters, making them appropriate for material handling applications.
Balls or Rollers?
The rotary ball spline’s radial support bearing can be a crossed roller bearing or an angular contact bearing with two rows of balls. Crossed roller bearings are like ball bearings, except that they’re cylindrical rather than spherical. The rollers crisscross each other at a 90 degree angle and move inside V-shaped raceways ground into the outer diameter of the spline nut and the inner diameter of the rotary flange.
Whereas ball bearings provide single points of contact, crossed roller bearings provide lines of contact. As a result, crossed rollers can carry heavier loads than ball bearings. They also provide more rigidity, less deformation and more accuracy than balls.
Both angular contact bearings and crossed roller bearings can support the axial and radial loads that are typically encountered in ball spline applications. Where the angular contact bearing achieves this with two rows of balls, the crossed roller bearing does it with one row of rollers, but with some disadvantages, such as speed and wear.
Compared with the angular contact bearing, the crossed roller bearing is more compact. The spline nut itself is the same size either way.
Crossed roller bearings are best-suited for high-load applications where space is at a premium and continuous rotation is not required. For example, a crossed roller bearing is a good choice for rotating a gripper in a pick-and-place operation.
In applications that require continuous rotation, crossed rollers wear out more quickly than ball bearings. For example, an angular contact bearing is a better choice for driving a grinding spindle, a conveyor belt or a wire winder.
For high-speed applications, angular contact bearings are more advantageous than crossed roller bearings. On a standard spline shaft 16 millimeters in diameter, a crossed roller bearing can reach a top speed of 1,080 rpm, while an angular contact bearing can reach 4,000 rpm.
Most existing rotary ball spline applications use angular contact bearings. Crossed roller bearings are relatively new for rotary ball splines. As a result, it can be difficult and expensive to retrofit crossed roller bearings into an existing application with angular contact bearings. Most rotary ball splines supported by angular contact bearings are interchangeable, at least from a size perspective. | <urn:uuid:836fcaef-47bb-4b1c-94bb-98c5b4fac58b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/90451-how-to-specify-a-rotary-ball-spline-?WT.rss_f=Robotics+Assembly&WT.rss_a=How+to+Specify+a+Rotary+Ball+Spline+&WT.rss_ev=a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920577 | 1,590 | 2.875 | 3 |
1 Answer | Add Yours
Beowulf is an altruistic hero, unusual for the warriors of the day. In his exploits, Beowulf usually fought for others, not for his own glory; while he understood that his glory would be remembered, that was not the main goal of his adventures. In his final battle against the dragon, Beowulf is again fighting for his people, not for himself; he knows that the dragon is too mighty even for an army, and so he faces it with only eleven men, all of whom save Wiglaf flee in the face of real danger.
Beowulf spake then,
Boast-words uttered -- the latest occasion:
"I braved in my youth-days battles unnumbered;
Still am I willing the struggle to look for,
Fame-deeds perform, folk-warden prudent,
If the hateful despoiler forth from his cavern
Seeketh me out!"
(Hall, Beowulf, gutenberg.org)
Because he loves his people more than his own life, Beowulf is willing to die in their defense. In fact, he strives to die in battle, not of old age, because he wishes to give his life to his people as fully in his his death as he did in life. Despite the inevitability of Beowulf's personal glory becoming greater because of this battle, this is not his intended goal; instead, Beowulf fights the dragon in the defense of his land and countrymen, knowing that he alone (and Wiglaf, as it turns out) have the power to keep the dragon from burning the whole land.
We’ve answered 327,783 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question | <urn:uuid:18c99383-afd1-4920-8660-4bd70d4d6b71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/beowulfs-final-battle-fought-his-protection-his-424740 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982576 | 363 | 3.078125 | 3 |
by Staff Writers
Windhoek (AFP) April 18, 2012
Southern African countries on Wednesday agreed to launch a centre to tie together climate change studies across the region.
South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration to launch the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management in the Namibian capital Windhoek.
Set up with 50 million euros in German aid, the centre will streamline regional scientific research on climate change trends and on managing natural resources to deal with them.
"This initiative will bring knowledge, data, information and services generated by our own scientists with support of their colleagues from Germany," Zambian science minister John Phiri said at the launch.
Research institutions of all the countries will study climate and its impact on water resources, forests, agriculture and wildlife.
The centre will coordinate the research and sharing of information, with a secretariat based in Windhoek.
"We want to define the priority areas where knowledge is needed to adapt to climate change and to mitigate its effects, to provide sound recommendations freely available to all interested parties," said German science minister Annette Schavan, who attended the launch.
A similar centre was recently set up among 10 West African countries, also supported and funded by Germany.
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation
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Climate Change Boosts Then Quickly Stunts Plants, Decade-long Study Shows
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 18, 2012
Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research results. The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but then begin to deteriorate quickly. "We were really surprised by the pattern, where the initial boost in growth just went away," sai ... read more | <urn:uuid:06f84ad0-a90f-4b09-9338-0e4295026a63> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Southern_Africa_to_build_climate_change_study_centre_999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924063 | 402 | 2.53125 | 3 |
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust by a series of symbolic events on the theme “From Words to Genocide – Antisemitic Propaganda and the Holocaust,” on 27 January 2016.
”This day goes to the heart of UNESCO’s identity, to the core of our action for peace. UNESCO was born in the wake of the Second World War, in response to the destruction and the genocide of the Jewish people carried out by the Nazi regime,” she declared on this occasion.
UNESCO was fully engaged in events to mark this international day. Alongside French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belcakem, Irina Bokova witnessed the signing of a Convention on education against antisemitism and for global citizenship at the Shoah Memorial in Paris. “Teaching the history of the Holocaust is more important than ever, to fight against youth radicalization and overcome violent extremism. We must leave nothing pass us by. Let us share intelligence and dignity against barbarity. This is our way of honoring the memory of the dead and alerting the living,” she underlined.
Two exhibits were inaugurated at UNESCO Headquarters on Nazi propaganda. “A for Adolf,” organized with the Wiener Library in London, analyses the role of Nazi propaganda in the education of young children, and is presented on the fences of UNESCO until 28 February 2016. “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda,” an exhibit organized in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, presents an illustrated analysis of the propaganda mechanisms of the Nazi state. This exhibition, inaugurated by the Director-General and Ms Sara Bloomfield, Director of the Museum, resonates with the mandate of UNESCO to build the defenses of peace and give every person the tools to respond to lies and the falsification of history through education, knowledge of history and of the means of mass manipulation. This exhibit runs at UNESCO Headquarters through 11 February. UNESCO and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are further reinforcing their partnership in the framework of a global programme for teaching the history of the Holocaust, with a series of conferences and teacher training workshops.
The ceremony in memory of the victims of the Holocaust featured interventions by Mr Eric de Rothschild, President of the Shoah Memorial and longstanding partner of UNESCO, H.E. Mr Carmel Shama Hacohen, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Israel to UNESCO, and the evening’s guest of honor, Mr Roman Kent, survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. In a poignant account of the dehumanization and inferno of the camps, he declared, « Indifference and silence: this is why the Holocaust happened. The response to tyranny is engagement. We must all remember, we have the obligation to instruct future generations what happens when prejudice and hatred are allowed to flourish. We must teach tolerance and understanding at school and at home. No one should be a bystander. This should be an 11th Commandment.” The ceremony was organized with the support of the World Jewish Congress, the Memorial of the Shoah and Member States including Germany, Austria, France, Israel, Latvia, Monaco and the United States.
On this occasion, the Director-General also announced the launch of a new research project in partnership with the European Commission and the George Eckert Institute to conduct a detailed analysis of the content of textbooks and pupils’ perceptions of the Holocaust across all European countries.
Echoing Mr Kent’s appeal to vigilance, Irina Bokova said “Prevention is about learning to foil propaganda traps, to dismantle the criminal logic behind the discourse of denial and the relativizing of the genocide. It is about helping to compare, to put in perspective, to anticipate and detect the early signs of violence. It is to see that there exists a specific and persistent hatred towards Jews, and to understand that the history of the Holocaust can help us to fight against all forms of racism today,” she concluded. | <urn:uuid:63852189-cb11-43fa-aa6e-2cebcda91e56> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-highlights-responsibility-educate-history-holocaust | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940663 | 849 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Human Space Flight and Inspiring a New Generation of Space Explorers and Visionaries
To be human is to explore. Iconic space programs such as Apollo and the space shuttle have taken people beyond Earth’s gravity and propelled humanity toward the stars, captivating generations, expanding scientific knowledge and triggering technological advances on Earth.
The capabilities we’ve pioneered have led to startling advancements in diverse areas such as communications, transportation, climate studies, national security, economics, medicine, learning and so many more. They have also brought the world closer together.
We are now developing advanced capabilities to usher in a new era of human space exploration. Humans will travel deeper into space, where greater discoveries await and where future generations will be inspired.
The Benefits of Human Space Flight
One person with a connection to both the Apollo and space shuttle programs is Rick Hieb, vice president of exploration and mission support programs at Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems and Global Solutions business. The Apollo program inspired Hieb to become a NASA astronaut, where he flew three space shuttle missions.
According to Hieb, human space flight is critical for enhancing knowledge and sparking innovations leading to technological breakthroughs that impact life on Earth. For him, the Space Lab work he engaged in during space shuttle missions serves as a good illustration of how space efforts translate to human benefits.
“If there’s something that’s changed your life from a space shuttle mission, it’s almost certainly because of something we did on the Space Lab,” said Hieb. “That’s where science was being done, whether it was medical, physics, material science; that is where the science was being done to allow us to make the next advances.”
Beyond the space shuttle program, a wide range of scientific, space-based research continues today aboard the International Space Station, an orbiting laboratory that enables studies on human health, life and physical science, Earth and space science and future exploration.
Technicians power on the Orion crew module at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Orion – the next generation of human space exploration
With the space shuttle program retired, NASA is now pursuing the next-generation of human space exploration – the Orion program.
The Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, being developed for NASA by Lockheed Martin, will carry astronauts farther, beyond low-Earth orbit, to various destinations, such as asteroids, the Moon and Mars.
Just as Apollo rose to iconic cultural status, officials involved with Orion say the program holds the same potential to define and energize a generation.
“The Orion program will take astronauts deeper into space, to destinations human beings have never been before,” said Mark Geyer, NASA’s Orion program manager. “Orion has the power to re-invigorate a new generation with excitement over the prospect of human deep space travel. It can also serve as the catalyst to attract tomorrow’s space explorers, engineers and researchers.”
For Cleon Lacefield, Orion program manager at Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems business, partnering with NASA to make that vision a reality is a personally rewarding experience and career highlight.
“It is an incredible privilege to be associated with the Orion program and to be able to support NASA’s vision to take people deeper into space, to places we’ve yet to go, to learn things we’ve yet to discover,” said Lacefield. “The passion we put into this program is a manifestation of humanity’s enduring drive to explore and to chase the horizon. I can’t wait to see where Orion will take us one day and how future missions will grow our capacity to explore even deeper.”
The concept of Orion serving as the means to take humankind deeper and farther, leading ultimately to still greater possibilities and destinations, is one Hieb embraces.
“My view of humankind is that Earth isn’t the only place for us,” said Hieb. “We are going to continue to take humankind beyond Earth to Mars, leave the solar system and continue to spread humankind across the galaxy. You’ve got to start with that one little step.”
Young astronaut hopefuls, renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lockheed Martin engineers who are building our nation's new Orion spacecraft all share their perspectives on the importance of exploring our universe.
April 14, 2014 | <urn:uuid:854b8c4d-09c0-46bb-9403-1e28cc3cc6fd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2014/going-beyond.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914223 | 922 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Johannesburg - The government said on Tuesday that exploration for shale gas will begin in the next 12 months, ending years of speculation over the project.
South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region is believed to hold at least 485 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, but drilling has been delayed by environmental and economic concerns.
"One area of real opportunity for South Africa is the exploitation of shale gas," the government said in a statement.
"Exploration activities are scheduled to commence in the next financial year."
The government has said that shale gas could be the answer to the country's energy challenges, as coal-fired power stations battle to meet the rising demand for electricity.
But the process of fracking used to capture the gas has been opposed by environmentalist who argue that it has the potential to poison the Karoo's underground water supply.
Fracking involves digging wells up to four kilometres (2.5 miles) deep, before pumping in a cocktail of water and chemicals to crack the shale rock and release the gas.
In 2012, the government lifted an 18-month moratorium on hydraulic fracturing to weigh the environmental and economic implications of the process.
Anglo-Dutch energy firm Shell is one of the companies that have shown interest in the gas exploration, and have expressed concern at the lack of progress in the project.
The company had said it planned to spend $200m for the first exploration phase of six wells if granted a licence to drill.
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24.com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24. Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication. | <urn:uuid:2fc3ff51-a067-408b-9031-0c17c215dfb4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fin24.com/Economy/karoo-fracking-to-begin-in-12-months-govt-20160308 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93982 | 339 | 2.59375 | 3 |
1) Why did God set down two seperate standards for Jews and non-Jews to follow?
Why not one standard for everyone?
Actually He did but because we have free will, most did not. There was I think about ten generations between Noah and Abram, and as usual people did as they saw fit. Abram who's grandfather spoke Hebrew (remember Babel) still taught some of these basic oral laws. Abram was a Gd fearer and merited his generations to be blessed. Generations later, they kept these oral laws, traditionally sent their sons (patriachs) to a Yeshivah by Shem (son of Noah) to learn the covenants and oral traditions. Fast forward time to Mt. Sanai, the Torah and oral laws were given to the Jewish people and the 70 nations. Because the Jewish people accepted the Torah without hesitation, and kept the oral traditions of their forefathers...they merited the priesthood and to be an example to all nations both Jew and non Jews. The separation between us Jew and non Jew is that Jews are priviledge to the Torah and are born into it. For the non Jew you are not obligated to perform certain mitzvots but it is a priviledge to do so.
And why are the obligations to these standards for the most part, hereditary?
Jewish people made that commitment "we will do, and we will follow" Moses came and told the people all the words of God. The people responded with one voice and said, 'All the words that God has spoken, we will do.' Moses wrote down all the words of God. He arose early in the morning and built an altar beneath the mountain, and also twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent youths of the Sons of Israel and they offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed oxen as peace offerings to God. Moses ... then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the ears of the people. They said, 'All that God has spoken, we will do and we will hear.' (Exodus 24:3-7) | <urn:uuid:f045519b-e20b-467a-853f-11f8f4dbd95b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://community.beliefnet.com/go/thread/view/43861/28615943/?pg=last | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979941 | 429 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The 30 rocket scientists waited around the launch pad, counting down until launch.
Would the rocket launch? Would it stay on course? Would it explode on the pad?
At zero, with a pop, the rocket shot through the sky, then landed in a tree.
To the sixth- through eighth-grade students at Central Washington University’s 2013 Quest Math and Science Camp, the air-pressure powered water bottle rocket launches Tuesday were a rousing success, and a cool way to spend the day.
Read the entire Ellensburg Daily Record article, by Andy Matarrese, here.
Photo by Brian Myrick, Ellensburg Daily Record
ELLENSBURG — An unsettling rattling filled the air, coming from a large plastic bin. Across the laCWU Accounting Professor Receives National Distinguished Service Award
Based, in part, on his research on identity theft and security breaches, Central Washington UniversiEnrollment Up Dramatically For CWU WorldCats Summer Institute
Central Washington University’s WorldCats Summer Institute will experience an enrollment increase | <urn:uuid:c1eae1f5-ff9c-4a71-95c5-50d1de01ee25> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cwu.edu/node/3730 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90022 | 221 | 2.578125 | 3 |
1. Nobody really knows how to do it
2. If you think you have a reliable system for doing it, you're probably doing the computer's job
December 14, 2010 03:07
(Foreshadowing: I found a bug in MacOS X 10.6's fcntl(F_SETLK) locking that could cause corruption of sqlite databases. To see if your system has the bug, compile and run locky.c.)
I've never previously had the (mis)fortune of writing a program that relied on file locking. Well, I've used databases and gdbm and whatnot, and they "use" file locking, but they've always hidden it behind an API, so I've never had to actually lock my own files.
I heard file locking is terribly messy and arcane and varies wildly between operating systems, even between different Unix systems; even between different versions of the same system (like Linux). After some experimentation, I can confirm: it really is that arcane, and it really is that variable between systems, and it really is untrustworthy. I'm normally a pessimist when it comes to computers, but Unix file locking APIs have actually outdone even my own pessimism: they're worse than I ever imagined.
Other than simple lockfiles, which I won't go into (but which you might just want to use from now on, after reading this article :)), there are three Unix file locking APIs: flock(), fcntl(), and lockf().
flock() is the simplest sort of lock. According to my Linux man page, it dates back to BSD. It is *not* standardized by POSIX, which means that some Unix systems (probably SysV-related ones, I guess) don't support flock().
flock() locks an entire file at a time. It supports shared locks (LOCK_SH: multiple people can have the file locked for read at the same time) and exclusive locks (LOCK_EX: only one person can make an exclusive lock on the file; shared and exclusive locks are not allowed to coexist). If you learned about concurrency in textbooks, flock() locks are "reader/writer" locks. A shared lock is a reader lock, and an exclusive lock is a writer lock.
According to the Linux man page for flock(), flock() does not work over NFS.
Upgrading from a shared flock() lock to an exclusive one is racy. If you own a shared lock, then trying to upgrade it to an exclusive lock, behind the scenes, actually involves releasing your lock and acquiring a new one. Thus, you can't be guaranteed that someone else hasn't acquired the exclusive lock, written to the file, and unlocked it before your attempt at upgrading the lock returns. Moreover, if you try to upgrade from shared to exclusive in a non-blocking way (LOCK_NB), you might lose your shared lock entirely.
Supposedly, flock() locks persist across fork() and (unlike fcntl locks, see below) won't disappear if you close unrelated files. HOWEVER, you can't depend on this, because some systems - notably earlier versions of Linux - emulated flock() using fcntl(), which has totally different semantics. If you fork() or if you open the same file more than once, you should assume the results with flock() are undefined.
POSIX standardized the fcntl(F_SETLK) style of locks, so you should theoretically find them on just about any Unix system. The Linux man page claims that they've been around since 4.3BSD and SVr4.
fcntl() locks are much more powerful than flock() locks. Like flock(), there are both shared and exclusive locks. However, unlike flock(), each lock has an associated byte range associated with it: different byte ranges are completely independent. One process can have an exclusive lock on byte 7, and another process can have an exclusive lock on byte 8, and several processes can have a shared lock on byte 9, and that's all okay.
Note that calling them "byte ranges" is a bit meaningless; they're really just numbers. You can lock bytes past the end of the file, for example. You could lock bytes 9-12 and that might mean "records 9-12" if you want, even if records have variable length. The meaning of a fcntl() byte range is up to whoever defines the file format you're locking.
As with all the locks discussed in this article, these byterange locks are "advisory" - that is, you can read and write the file all day long even if someone other than you has an exclusive lock. You're just not supposed to do that. A properly written program will try to acquire the lock first, at which time it will be "advised" by the kernel whether everything is good or not.
The locks are advisory, which is why the byte ranges don't have to refer to actual bytes. The person acquiring the lock can interpret it however you want.
fcntl() locks are supposedly supported by NFSv3 and higher, but different kernels do different random things with it. Some kernels just lock the file locally, and don't notify the server. Some notify the server, but do it wrong. So you probably can't trust it.
According to various pages on the web that I've seen, fcntl() locks don't work on SMB (Windows file sharing) filesystems mounted on MacOS X. I don't know if this is still true in the latest versions of MacOS; I also don't know if it's true on Linux. Note that since flock() doesn't work on NFS, and fcntl() doesn't work on SMB fs, that there is no locking method that works reliably on all remote filesystems.
It doesn't seem to be explicitly stated anywhere, but it seems that fcntl() shared locks can be upgraded atomically to fcntl() exclusive locks. That is, if you have a shared lock and you try to upgrade it to an exclusive lock, you can do that without first releasing your shared lock. If you request a non-blocking upgrade and it fails, you still have your shared lock.
(Trivia: sqlite3 uses fcntl() locks, but it never uses *shared* fcntl() locks. Instead, it exclusively locks a random byte inside a byterange. This is apparently because some versions of Windows don't understand shared locks. As a bonus, it also doesn't have to care whether upgrading a lock from shared to exclusive is atomic or not. Update 2010/12/13: specifically, pre-NT versions of Windows had LockFile, but not LockFileEx.)
fcntl() locks have the handy feature of being able to tell you which pid owns a lock, using F_GETLK. That's pretty cool - and potentially useful for debugging - although it might be meaningless on NFS, where the pid could be on another computer. I don't know what would happen in that case.
fcntl() locks have two very strange behaviours. The first is merely an inconvenience: unlike nearly everything else about a process, fcntl() locks are not shared across fork(). That means if you open a file, lock some byte ranges, and fork(), the child process will still have the file, but it won't own any locks. The parent will still own all the locks. This is weird, but manageable, once you know about it. It also makes sense, in a perverse sort of way: this makes sure that no two processes have an exclusive lock on the same byterange of the same file. If you think about it, exclusively locking a byte range, then doing fork(), would mean that *two* processes have the same exclusive lock, so it's not all that exclusive any more, is it?
Maybe you don't care about these word games, but one advantage of this absolute exclusivity guarantee is that fcntl() locks can detect deadlocks. If process A has a lock on byte 5 and tries to lock byte 6, and process B has a lock on byte 6 and tries to lock byte 5, the kernel can give you EDEADLK, which is kind of cool. If it were possible for more than one process to own the same exclusive locks, the algorithm for this would be much harder, which is probably why flock() locks can't do it.
The second strange behaviour of fcntl() locks is this: the lock doesn't belong to a file descriptor, it belongs to a (pid,inode) pair. Worse, if you close *any* fd referring to that inode, it releases all your locks on that inode. For example, let's say you open /etc/passwd and lock some bytes, and then call getpwent() in libc, which usually opens /etc/passwd, reads some stuff, and closes it again. That process of opening /etc/passwd and closing it - which has nothing to do with your existing fd open on /etc/passwd - will cause you to lose your locks!
That behaviour is certifiably insane, and there's no possible justification for why it should work that way. But it's how it's always worked, and POSIX standardized it, and now you're stuck with it.
An even worse example: let's say you have two sqlite databases, db1 and db2. But let's say you're being mean, and you actually make db1 a hardlink to db2, so they're actually the same inode. If you open both databases in sqlite at the same time, then close the second one, all your open sqlite locks on the first one will be lost! Oops! Except, actually, the sqlite guys have already thought of this, and it does the right thing. But if you're writing your own file locking routines, beware.
(Update 2014/06/09: the primary sqlite developer emailed me to say that they recently found a problem with the technique sqlite uses. They use global variables to make sure lock objects are shared across all sqlite databases, even if you have two open on the same inode, even if that inode has more than one filename, so that they can bypass this insanity. But this mechanism is defeated if you manage to link your program with *two* copies of sqlite which can't see each other (eg. in two shared libraries with no sqlite symbols exported) and which access the same database. Don't do that.)
So anyway, beware of that insane behaviour. Also beware of flock(), which on some systems is implemented as a call to fcntl(), and thus inherits the same insane behaviour.
Bonus insanity feature: the struct you use to talk to fcntl() locks is called 'struct flock', even though it has nothing to do with flock(). Ha ha!
lockf() is also standardized by POSIX. The Linux man page also mentions SVr4, but it doesn't mention BSD, which presumably means that some versions of BSD don't do lockf().
POSIX is also, apparently, unclear on whether lockf() locks are the same thing as fcntl() locks or not. On Linux and MacOS, they are documented to be the same thing. (In fact, lockf() is a libc call on Linux, not a system call, so we can assume it makes the same system calls as fcntl().)
The API of lockf() is a little easier than fcntl(), because you don't have to mess around with a struct. However, there is no way to query a lock to find out who owns it.
Moreover, lockf() may not be supported by pre-POSIX BSD systems, it seems, so this little bit of convenience also costs you in portability. I recommend you avoid lockf().
Interaction between different lock types
...is basically undefined. Don't use multiple types of locks - flock(), fcntl(), lockf() - on the same file.
The MacOS man pages for the three functions proudly proclaim that on MacOS (and maybe on whatever BSD MacOS is derived from), the three types of locks are handled by a unified locking implementation, so in fact, you *can* mix and match different lock types on the same file. That's great, but on other systems, they *aren't* unified, so doing so will just make your program fail strangely on other systems. It's non-portable, and furthermore, there's no reason to do it. So don't.
When you define a new file format that uses locking, be sure to document exactly which kind of locking you mean: flock(), fcntl(), or lockf(). And don't use lockf().
Stay far, far away, for total insanity lies in wait.
Seriously, don't do it. Advisory locks are the only thing that makes any sense whatsoever. In any application. I mean it.
Need another reason? The docs say that mandatory locking in Linux is "unreliable." In other words, they're not as mandatory as they're documented to be. "Almost mandatory" locking? Look. Just stay away.
Still not convinced? Man, you really must like punishment. Look, imagine someone is holding a mandatory lock on a file, so you try to read() from it and get blocked. Then he releases his lock, and your read() finishes, but some other guy reacquires the lock. You fiddle with your block, modify it, and try to write() it back, but you get held up for a bit, because the guy holding the lock isn't done yet. He does his own write() to that section of the file, and releases his lock, so your write() promptly resumes and overwrites what he just did.
What good does that do anyone? Come on. If you want locking to do you any good whatsoever, you're just going to have to acquire and release your own locks. Just do it. If you don't, you might as well not be using locks at all, because your program will be prone to horrible race conditions and they'll be extra hard to find, because mandatory locks will make it *mostly* seem to work right. If there's one thing I've learned about programming, it's that "mostly right" programs are *way* worse than "entirely wrong" programs. You don't want to be mostly right. Don't use mandatory locks.
Bonus feature: file locking in python
python has a module called "fcntl" that actually includes - or rather, seems to include - all three kinds of locks: flock(), fcntl(), and lockf(). If you like, follow along in the python source code to see how it works.
However, all is not as it seems. First of all, flock() doesn't exist on all systems, apparently. If you're on a system without flock(), python will still provide a fcntl.flock() function... by calling fcntl() for you. So you have no idea if you're actually getting fcntl() locks or flock() locks. Bad idea. Don't do it.
Next is fcntl.fcntl(). Although it pains me to say it, you can't use this one either. That's because it takes a binary data structure as a parameter. You have to create that data structure using struct.pack(), and parse it using struct.unpack(). No problem, right? Wrong. How do you know what the data structure looks like? The python fcntl module docs outright lie to you here, by providing an example of how to build the struct flock... but they just made assumptions about what it looks like. Those assumptions are definitely wrong if your system has 64-bit file offset support, which most of them do nowadays, so trying to use the example will just give an EINVAL. Moreover, POSIX doesn't guarantee that struct flock won't have other fields before/after the documented ones, or that the fields will be in a particular order, so even without 64-bit file offsets, your program is completely non-portable. And python doesn't offer any other option for generating that struct flock, so the whole function is useless. Don't do it. (You can still safely use fcntl.fcntl() for non-locking-related features, like F_SETFD.)
The only one left is fcntl.lockf(). This is the one you should use. Yeah, I know, up above I said you should avoid lockf(), because BSD systems might not have it, right? Well yeah, but that's C lockf(), not python's fcntl.lockf(). The python fcntl module documentation says of fcntl.lockf(), "This is essentially a wrapper around the fcntl() locking calls." But looking at the source, that's not quite true: in fact, it is *exactly* a wrapper around the fcntl() locking calls. fcntl.lockf() doesn't call C lockf() at all! It just fills in a struct flock and then calls fcntl()!
And that's exactly what you want. In short:
- in C, use fcntl(), but avoid lockf(), which is not necessarily the same thing.
- in python, use fcntl.lockf(), which is the same thing as fcntl() in C.
Bonus insanity feature: instead of using the C lockf() constants (F_LOCK, F_TLOCK, F_ULOCK, F_TEST), fcntl.lockf() actually uses the C flock() constants (LOCK_SH, LOCK_EX, LOCK_UN, LOCK_NB). There is no conceivable reason for this; it literally just takes in the wrong contants, and converts them to the right ones before calling fcntl().
So that means python gives you three locks in one! The constants from flock(), the functionality of fcntl(), and the name lockf(). Thanks, python, for making my programming world so simple and easy to unravel.
I learned all this while writing a program (in python, did you guess?) that uses file locking to control concurrent access to files. Naturally, I wanted to pick exactly the right kind of locks to solve my problem. Using the logic above, I settled on fcntl() locks, which in my python program means calling fcntl.lockf().
So far, so good. After several days of work - darn it, I really hate concurrent programming - I got it all working perfectly. On Linux.
Then I tried to port my program to MacOS. It's python, so porting was pretty easy - ie. I didn't change anything - but the tests failed. Huh? Digging deeper, it seems that some subprocesses were acquiring a lock, and sometime later, they just didn't own that lock anymore. I thought it might be one of the well-known fcntl() weirdnesses - maybe I fork()ed, or maybe I opened/closed the file without realizing it - but no. It only happens when *other* processes are locking byteranges on the same file. It appears the MacOS X (10.6.5 in my test) kernel is missing a mutex somewhere.
I wrote a minimal test case and filed a bug with Apple. If you work at Apple, you can find my bug report as number 8760769.
Dear Apple: please fix it. As far as I know, with this bug in place, any program that uses fcntl() locks is prone to silent file corruption. That includes anything using sqlite.
Super Short Summary
- don't use flock() (python: fcntl.flock()) because it's not in POSIX and it doesn't work over NFS.
- don't use lockf() (python: does not exist) because it's not in BSD, and probably just wraps fcntl().
- don't use fcntl() (python: fcntl.lockf()) because it doesn't work over SMB on MacOS, and actually, on MacOS it doesn't work right at all.
Are we having fun yet? I guess lockfiles are the answer after all.
I bet you're really glad you read this all the way to the end.
Update 2010/12/15: Via cpirate, an interesting article
by Jeremy Allison of the samba project that discusses a bit of how
Unix's insane locking came to be standardized.
June 9, 2014 18:07
...is djb redo.
There are only two problems. In order of increasing difficulty:
1. you've never heard of it.
2. it doesn't exist.
Well, I just solved problem #1. Progress!
Problem #2 is a lot tougher. You see, the page linked above talks about a theoretically great build system, which perhaps D. J. Bernstein (djb), maker of qmail and djbdns, has implemented part of. But he doesn't link to an implementation, probably because his own code isn't up to his (rather exacting) standards yet, or he's gotten busy with other things and hasn't finished thinking through all the details.
I would like to tell you, in a concise way, exactly why redo is literally the most amazingly groundbreaking build system since the original invention of 'make', but I don't know how. So lacking conciseness, I'll just make a few grandiose claims:
- it can do everything make can do;
- with no baked-in assumptions about what you're building;
- with much less code;
- with much greater parallelism;
- with finer-grained dependencies;
- with much less syntax (actually nothing but /bin/sh);
- while supporting recursion and full dependency information simultaneously (no Recursive Make Considered Harmful crap);
- yet build scripts are highly modular and readable;
- and you can checksum your targets instead of using timestamps;
- and your build scripts run linearly instead of an orderless "ruleset";
- with no implicit rules required;
- and implementing C header autodependencies is completely sane;
- and dependency checks involve no forking or parsing so it's crazy fast;
- and you can incrementally convert parts of your project;
- because it can play well with other build systems;
- including jobserver compatibility with make -j;
- oh, and you can write a plug-compatible toy
implementation in 100 lines of shell.
So I wrote it
Yes. djb's design is so simple that I thought I could do it in a couple of days. Actually I did have a working version in a couple of days. And normally, I'm a big fan of "release early, release often." But when it comes to build systems, well, you know, it's kind of a crowded market. I figured I'm only going to get one chance to convince you that this is the most fabulous thing ever.
That's why I've spent more than a month - days, evenings, and weekends - of my so-called vacation1 working on this stupid thing. It has man pages. It has a ridiculously huge README+FAQ. It has an installer. It has parallelism. It has unit tests, oh god, the unit tests. It has locking. In fact, it has so much parallelism and locking that it uncovered a race condition in MacOS X's fcntl(). It has a GNU make compatible jobserver, so that 'redo -j5' and 'make -j5' can call each other recursively and "just work." It has a few extensions that djb didn't talk about, like checksum-based dependencies. For testing, I converted a pretty huge build system (one that builds the Linux kernel and a bunch of libraries for two different target platforms), with some of my targets depending on more than 12000 files. redo can check every single fine-grained dependency in the whole project in about 4 seconds.
Version 0.01 actually delivers on every one of those grandiose claims.
As I'm writing this, it's 1574 lines of python. That's a lot smaller than the source for GNU make.
And for fun, I also wrote a super-stripped-down "forwards compatible" implementation (without support for actual dependencies; it just assumes everything is always dirty) in 100 lines of shell. That's less than 2 kbytes, and it works with any input file that works with full-sized redo (modulo any as-yet-undiscovered bugs), because djb's design is that awesome.
And you know what? I almost certainly still, after all that effort, screwed up and it probably still won't work for you. Dammit. That's why I paranoidly called it version 0.01 instead of 1.00. But please give it a try:
(The super oversized README is visible at that link. Or you can read the man pages.)
Because redo is currently written in python (and it does a lot of fork-exec calls), it runs a little slower than I would like. Someday rewriting it in C would make it faster - probably at least 10x faster. But it's reasonably fast already, and the increased parallelism and faster dependency checking often makes up for the slowness.
The non-optimal performance is the only significant flaw I'm aware of at the moment... but I'm sure you'll try it out and tell me otherwise, right?
You should join the redo mailing list
You can find the mailing list on Google Groups at http://groups.google.com/group/redo-list.
Of course the mailing list archives are currently empty, because this is the first time I've announced it.
It might not look like it, but yes, you can subscribe without having a Google Account. Just send a message here: [email protected].
1 I told the guard at the U.S./Canada border that I was "between
jobs." He offered his sympathies. I said, "No, I mean, literally." He
said, "Oh, normally people use that as a euphemism." Anyway, it's now
painfully clear that I suck at vacations.
December 14, 2010 11:34
I followed a random link today that led me to the complete email archive of the discussion, following Theo de Raadt's expulsion from NetBSD in 1994, that led to the creation of OpenBSD.
Check out this quote:
- I want _EVERYONE_ working on NetBSD to behave in a professional
manner, in public _AND_ in private. Obviously, the latter can't be
enforced, but if people complain about "unprofessional" behaviour,
then it doesn't rightly matter _where_ it occurred.
-- a NetBSD core team member
The entire email chain - from both sides - is totally pointless politics. But it's educational, because it reminds us of a few things programmers have learned since then:
- enforced professionalism sounds scarily draconian;
- the best programmers are not the best company representatives, and expecting them to be is silly;
- withholding technical stuff (CVS access) in exchange for political stuff (an apology) just results in angst and wasted time;
- accepting/refusing code based on anything other than technical merits (and valid licensing, I suppose) is stupid;
- when you give a "core team" special powers, they abuse those powers;
- you can hold emotional power over a programmer by controlling whether their work is used or not used, and that power needs to be used responsibly.
What would happen if you tried to kick Linus Torvalds off the "Linux core team?" He would laugh at you. There is no core team. There is nothing to kick him off of. There is no CVS commit access to revoke. He can be as much of a bastard as he wants, and a bunch of self-appointed "project representatives" can't stop him from giving us all the awesome code he wants to.
Of course, Linus is synonymous with Linux; if anyone was going to be "kicked out", it would be anyone or everyone but him. So it's even more funny that he's the guy who wrote git, the tool that makes it impossible to block anybody. Now he can be even more of a bastard, because even if people hate him and quit, they'll still share their code with the world, including him.
As far as I know, all the BSDs still use CVS. Of course they do. Switching away from that would be like admitting their whole world view is wrong.
- that is what the above is. if it has anger in it, then that is what
is in it. it is an honest and open sharing of ideas and feelings. those
feelings include anger, hurt, apprehension, loss. but i'm trying to
find a way to forget about that past stuff, and you're not making it
-- Theo de Raadt
December 22, 2010 07:53 | <urn:uuid:4dae1bc4-545e-44bc-bdbe-ccc665f85de2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://apenwarr.ca/log/?m=201012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956987 | 6,209 | 2.578125 | 3 |
This section of Theoi.com describes the basileis or kingdoms of Greece as they existed in the time of myth, or more specifically in the days of the Trojan War.
The map (right) is based on the catalogue of Greek troops in Homer's Iliad, using the towns and cities mentioned and other geographical landmarks to define the territories. Some is naturally guess-work or rough estimations, especially for the various kingdoms of Thessalia's broad plain.
N.B. Regarding Ithaka & Doulikhion (Dulichium): I have not followed the Greek georgrapher Strabo's somewhat confused identifications of these western Islands (an ancient error that has been handed down to the present day). Ithaka, as it is described in the Iliad and the Odyssey, is most likely the western-most spur of the island of Kephallenia (and indeed there are ruins of an ancient Mykenian town facing the harbour). Doulichion is probably the southernmost island now named Zakynthos, and Zakynthos modern-day Leucas.
<< Click on MAP above for enlarged view >>
ATTIKA & MEGARIS
"The men who held Athenai, the strong-founded citadel, the deme of great-hearted Erekhtheus ... of these men the leader was Peteos' son Menestheus ... Following along with him were fifty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.546
"Out of Salamis Aias brought twelve ships and placed them next to where the Athenian battalions were drawn up." - Homer, The Iliad 2.557
ARGOS (SOUTH), TROIZENOS & AIGINA
"They who held Argos and Tiryns of the huge walls, Hermione and Asine lying down the deep gulf, Troizenos and Eionai, and Epidauros of the vineyars, they who held Aigina and Mases, sons of hte Akhaians, of these the leader was Diomedes of the great war cry, with Sthenelos, own son to high-renowned Kapaneus, and with them as a third went Euryalos, a man godlike, son of Mekisteus the king, and scion of Talaos; but the leader of all was Diomedes of the great war cry. Following along with these were eighty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.559
ARGOS (NORTH), KORINTHOS & SIKYON
"The men who held Mykenai, the strong-founded citadel, Korinthos the luxurious, and strong-founded Kleonai; they who dwelt in Orneai and lovely Araithyrea, and Sikyon, where of old Adrestos had held the kingship; they who held Hyperesia and steep Gonoessa, they who held Pellene and they who dwelt about Aigion, all about the sea-shore and about the wide headland of Helike, of their hundred ships the leader was Agamemnon." - Homer, The Iliad 2.569
"They who held the swarming hollow of Lakedaimon, Pharis, and Sparta, and Messe of the dove-cotes, they who dwelt in Bryseiai and lovely Augeiai, they who held Amyklai and the seaward city of Helos, they who held Laas, and they who dwelt about Oitylos, of te=hse his brother Menelaos of the great war cry waws leader, with sixty ships marshalled apart from the others." - Homer, The Iliad 2.581
Messenia sent no independent contingent to the Trojan War. The presumed heirs to the throne of Messenia were the twins Idas and Lynkeus who were slain by the Dioskouroi just prior to the War. The kingdom may have then been incorporated into that of King Nestor's neighbouring Pylos.
"They who dwelt about Pylos and lovely Arene, and Thryon, the Alpheios crossing, and strong-built Aipy; they who lived in Kyparisseeis and Amphigeneia, Pteleos and Helos and Dorion ... the leader was the Gerenian horseman, Nestor, in whose command were marshalled ninety hollow vessels." - Homer, The Iliad 2.592
"They who held Arkadia under the sheer peak, Kyllene, beside the tomb of Aipytos, where men fight at close quarters, they who dwelt in Orkhomenos of the flocks, and Pheneos, about Rhipe and Stratia and windy Enispe; they who held Tegea and Mantineia the lovely, they who held Stymphalos, and dwelt about Parrhasia, their leader was Angkaios' son, powerful Agapenor. Sixty was the number of their ships, and in each ship went many men of Arkadia, well skilled in battle." - Homer, The Iliad 2.603
"They who lived in Bouprasion and brilliant Elis, all as much as Hyrmine and Myrsinos the uttermost and the Olenian rock and Alesion close between them, of these there were four chieftains, and with each man ten swift vessels followed, with many Epeian men on board them. Of two tens Thalpios and Amphimakhos were leaders, of Aktor's seed, sons one of Kteatos, one of Eurytos. Ten more were led by Amaryngkeus' son, strong Diores, and of the fourth ten godlike Polyxeinos was leader, son of lord Agasthenes, of the race of Augeias." - Homer, The Iliad 2.615
The kingdom of Olenos was conquered by the Aitolians just prior to the Trojan War and so its troops participated as a part of the Aitolian contingent.
"They who held Euboia, the Abantes, whose wind was fury, Khalkis, and Eretria, the great vineyards of Histiaia, and seaborne Kerinthos and t he steep stronghold of Dion, they who held Karystos and they who dwelt about Styra, of these the leader was Elephenor, scion of Ares, son of Khalkodon and lord of the great-hearted Abantes. And the running Abantes followed with him, their hair gown long at the back, spearmen furious with the outreached ash spear... Following along with him were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.536
"Swift Aias son of Oileus led the men of Lokris, the lesser Aias, not great in size like the son of Telamon, but far slighter ... These were the dwellers in Kynos and Opoeis and Kalliaros, and in Bessa, and Skarphe, and lovely Augeiai, in Thronion and Tarphe and beside the waters of Boiagros. Following along with him were forty black ships of the Lokrians, who dwell across from sacred Euboia." - Homer, The Iliad 2.527
"But they who lived in Aspledon and Orkhomenos of the Minyai, Askalaphos led these, and Ialmenos, children of Ares ... With these two there were marshalled thirty hollow vessels." - Homer, The Iliad 2.511
"Leitos and Peneleos were leaders of the Boiotians, with Arkesilaos and Prothoenor and Klonios; they who lived in Hyria and in rocky Aulis, in the hill-bends of Eteonos, and Skhoinos, and Skolos, Thespeia and Graia, and in spacious Mykalessos; they who dwelt about Harma and Eilesion and Erythrai, they who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon, with Okalea and Medeon, the strong-founded citadel, Kopai, and Eutresis, and Thisbe of the dove-cotes; they who held Koroneia, and the meadows of Haliartos, they who held Plataia, and they who dwelt about Glia, they who led the lower Thebes, the strong-founded citadel, and Onkhestos the sacred, the shining grove of Poseidon; they who held Arne of the great vineyards, and Mideia, with Nisa the sacrosanct and uttermost Anthedon. Of these there were fifty sips in all, and on board each of these a hundred and twenty sons of the Boiotians." - Homer, The Iliad 2.494
"Skhedios and Epistrophos led the men of Phokis, children of Iphitos, who was son of great-hearted Naubolos. They held Kyparissos, and rocky Pytho, and Krisa the sancrosanct together with Daulis and Panopeus; they who lived about Hyampolis and Anamoreia, they who dwelt about Kephisos, the river immortal, they who held Lilaia beside the well springs of Kephisos. Following along with these were forty black ships, and the leaders marshalling the ranks of the Phokians set them in arms on the left wing of the host beside the Boiotians." - Homer, The Iliad 2.511
Dryopia (the region later known as Ozolian Lokris) did not contribute any troops to the Trojan War. The kingdom was ruled by the Herakleidai (sons of Herakles) at the time of the War - see Thessalian Doros below (which was their main holding).
"Thoas son of Andraimon was leader of the Aitolians, those who dwelt in Pleuron and Olenos and Pylene, Kalydon of the rocks and Khalkis beside the sea-shore, since no longer were the sons of high-hearted Oineus living, nor Oineus himself, and fair-haired Meleagros had perished. So all the lordship of the Aitolians was given to Thoas. Following along with him were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.638
KEPHALLENIA, ITHAKA & ZAKYNTHOS
"Odysseus led the high-hearted men of Kephallenia, those who held Ithaka and leaf-trembling Neriton, those who dwelt about Krokyleia and rugged Aigilips, those who held Zakynthos and those who dwelt about Samos, those who held hte mainland and the places next to the crossing. All thse men were led by Odysseus, like Zeus in counsel. Following with him were twelve ships with bows red painted." - Homer, The Iliad 2.631
"They who came from Doulikhion and the sacred Ekhinai islands, where men live across the water from Elis, Meges was the leader of these, a man like Ares, Phyleus' son, whom the rider dear to Zeus had begotten, Phyleus, who angered with his father had settled Doulikhion. Following along with him were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.625
Thesprotia did not send any troops to the Trojan War. It was ruled by Queen Kallidike at the time.
MALIS, PHTHIOTIS & DOLOPIA
“Now all those who dwelt about Pelasgian Argos, those who lived by Alos and Alope and at Trakhis, thos who held Phthia and Hellas the land of fair women, who were called Myrmidones and Hellenes and Akhaians, of all these and their fifty ships the lord was Akhilleus.” - Homer, The Iliad 2.681
“They who held Phylake and Pyrasos of the flowers, the precinct of Demeter, and Iton, mother of sheepflocks, Antron by the sea-shore, and Pteleos deep in the meadows, of these in turn fighting Protesilaos was leader while he lived … Yet these, longing as they did for their leader, did not go leaderless, but Pokarkes, scion of Ares, set them in order, child of Iphikles, who in turn was son to Phylakos rich in flocks, full brother of high-hearted Protesilaos.” - Homer, The Iliad 2.695
"They who lived by Pherai beside the lake Boibeis, by Boibe and Glaphyrai and strong-founded Iolkos, of their eleven ships the dear son of Admetos was leader, Eumelos, born to Admetos by the beauty among women Alkestis, loveliest of the daughters of Pelias." - Homer, The Iliad 2.711
"They who lived about Thaumakia and Methone, they who held Meliboia and rugged Olizon, of their seven ships the leader was Philoktetes ... yet he himself lay apart in the island, suffering strong pains, in Lemnos the sacrosanct, where the sons of the Akhaians had left him in agony from the sore bite of the wicked water snake ... Yet these did not go leaderless, but Medon, the bastard son of Oileus, set them in order, whom Rhene bore to Oileus the sacker of cities." - Homer, The Iliad 2.716
"They who held Trikke and the terraced place of Ithome, and Oikhalia, the city of Oikhalian Eurytos, of these in turn the leaders were two sons of Asklepios, good healers both themselves, Podaleirios and Makhaon. In their command were marshalled thirty hollow vessels." - Homer, The Iliad 2.729
"They who held Ormenios and the spring of Hypereia, they who held Asterion and the pale peaks of Titanos, Eurypylos led these, the shining son of Euaimon. Following along with him were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.734
At the time of the Trojan War the kingdom of Doros was ruled by the Herakleidai (sons of Herakles). They did not take part in the Trojan War since the Heraklid suitor of Helene, Tlepolemos, had been exiled to the island of Rhodes.
"They who held Argissa and dwelt about Gyrtone, Orthe and Elone and the white city of Oloosson, of these the leader was Polypoites, stubborn in battle, son of Peirithoos whose father was Zeus immortal, he whom glorious Hippodameia bore to Peirithoos on that day when he wreaked vengeance on the Pheres [the Centaurs] and drove them from Pelion ... Following in the guidance of these were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.738
Capital: Kyphos, Dodona
"Gouneus from Kyphos led two and twenty vessels, and the Enienes and the Perrhaibians stubborn in battle followed him, they who made their homes by wintry Dodona, and they who by lovely Titaressos held the tilled acres, Titaressos, who into Peneios casts his bright current: yet he is not mixed with silver whirls of Peneios, but like oil is floated along the surface above him." - Homer, The Iliad 2.748
"Prothoos son of Tenthredon was leader of the Magnesians, those who dwelt about Peneios and leaf-trembling Pelion. Of these Prothoos the swift-foted was leader. Following along with him were forty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.756
Pieria did not send any troops to the Trojan War. The country was usually described in myth as a non-Greek land ruled by Thrakian kings.
"Idomeneus the spear-famed was leader of the Kretans, those who held Knosos and Gortyna of the great walls, Lyktos and Miletos and silver-shining Lykastos, and Phaistos and Rhytion, all towns well established, and other who dwelt beside them in Krete of the hundred cities. Of all these Idomeneus the spear-famed was leader, with Meriones, a match for the murderous Lord of Battles. Following along with these were eighty black ships." - Homer, The Iliad 2.645
"Herakles' son Tlepolemos the huge and mighty led from Rhodes nine ships with the proud men of Rhodes aboard them, those who dwelt about Rhodes and were ordered in triple division, Ialysos and Lindos and silver-shining Kameiros." - Homer, The Iliad 2.653
"Nireus from Syme led three balanced vessels, Nireus son of Aglaia and the king Kharopos, Nireus, the most beautiful man who came beneath Ilion." - Homer, The Iliad 2.671
KOS, NISYROS, KARPATHOS, KASOS
"They who held Nisyros and Krapathos and Kasos, and Kos, Eurypylos' city, and the islands called Kalydnai, of tehse again Pheidippos and Antiphos were the leaders. In their command were marshalled thirty hollow vessels." - Homer, The Iliad 2.676
Melos sent no troops to the Trojan War. Its king at the time was Polyanax.
Delos sent no troops to the Trojan War. Its king at the time was Anios.
Lemnos sent no troops to the Trojan War. Its king at the time was Euneus.
Skyros sent no troops to the Trojan War. Its king was Lykomedes who had Akhilleus' son Neoptolemos in his care. The island was probably merely a vassal of Malis-Pthiotis.
SAMOS, KHIOS, NAXOS, PAROS, SAMOTHRAKE, THASOS
None of these island kingdoms participated in the Trojan War. | <urn:uuid:429cddde-ad94-4567-bd87-5a18651ba0d6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theoi.com/Basileis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954569 | 4,004 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Edward Lawrie Tatum was born on
December 14th, 1909, at Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. He was the
eldest son of Arthur Lawrie Tatum, Professor of Pharmacology at
the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and Mabel
Webb Tatum. After the death of his mother, his father married the
former Celia Harriman.
Tatum was educated at the University of Chicago and Wisconsin, taking his A.B. degree in Chemistry in 1931, his M.S. degree in Microbiology in 1932 and his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 1934. For the Ph.D. degree his thesis was on work on the nutrition and metabolism of bacteria which he had done under the direction of Edwin Broun Fred and William Harold Peterson. This work no doubt laid the foundations of his later work with George Wells Beadle, which was to earn for their book, in 1958, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
After taking his doctor's degree, Tatum studied for a year at the University of Wisconsin and then was awarded a General Education Fellowship at the University of Utrecht, Holland. He then joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, California, where he was Research Associate from 1937 until 1941, and Assistant Professor from 1941 until 1945. From 1945 until 1948 he was successively Assistant Professor of Botany and Professor of Microbiology at Yale University. In 1948 he returned to Stanford University as Professor of Biology and later became Professor of Biochemistry there. It was during this period of his life and work at Stanford University that he collaborated with George Wells Beadle, who was Professor of Biology (Genetics) at that University until 1946.
Tatum's research has been concerned primarily with the biochemistry, nutrition and genetics of microorganisms and of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. During his fruitful collaboration with George Wells Beadle he took charge of the chemical aspects of their joint work on the genetics of eye-colour in Drosophila and, when he and Beadle decided to give up their work on Drosophila and to work instead with the fungus Neurospora crassa, it was Tatum who discovered that biotin was necessary for the successful cultivation of this fungus on simple inorganic media and thus provided these two workers with the genetic material that they needed for the work which gained them, together with Joshua Lederberg, the Nobel Prize.
In 1953, he received the Remsen Award of the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Foundation and has served on research advisory panels of the American Committee of the National Research Council on Growth. He also served for 10 years on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. He is now a member of the Editorial Board of Science and of Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.
Tatum is married to Viola Kantor. He has two daughters, Margaret and Barbara, born to him and his first wife, June Alton.
From Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Edward Tatum died on November 5, 1975.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1958
Try to save some patients and learn about human blood types!
All you want to know about the Medicine Prize!
Read more about the Medicine Prize during the past century | <urn:uuid:b6033b2b-d4fc-4980-803a-9f1e625148dc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1958/tatum-bio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978297 | 755 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Previous Table of Contents "New C Standard" commentary
569 The representations of all types are unspecified except as stated in this subclause.
570 Except for bit-fields, objects are composed of contiguous sequences of one or more bytes, the number, order, and encoding of which are either explicitly specified or implementation-defined.
Values stored in unsigned bit-fields and objects of type
Values stored in non-bit-field objects of any other object type
consist of n ×
The value may be copied into an object of type
574 the resulting set of bytes is called the object representation of the value.
575 Values stored in bit-fields consist of m bits, where m is the size specified for the bit-field.
576 The object representation is the set of m bits the bit-field comprises in the addressable storage unit holding it.
577 Two values (other than NaNs) with the same object representation compare equal, but values that compare equal may have different object representations.
578 Certain object representations need not represent a value of the object type.
579 If the stored value of an object has such a representation and is read by an lvalue expression that does not have character type, the behavior is undefined.
580 If such a representation is produced by a side effect that modifies all or any part of the object by an lvalue expression that does not have character type, the behavior is undefined.41)
581 Such a representation is called a trap representation.
582 40) A positional representation for integers that uses the binary digits 0 and 1, in which the values represented by successive bits are additive, begin with 1, and are multiplied by successive integral powers of 2, except perhaps the bit with the highest position.
583 (Adapted from the American National Dictionary for Information Processing Systems.)
A byte contains
585 41) Thus, an automatic variable can be initialized to a trap representation without causing undefined behavior, but the value of the variable cannot be used until a proper value is stored in it.
586 When a value is stored in an object of structure or union type, including in a member object, the bytes of the object representation that correspond to any padding bytes take unspecified values.42)
When a value is stored in a member of an object of union type, the
bytes of the object representation that do not correspond to that
member but do correspond to other members take unspecified
590 Where an operator is applied to a value that has more than one object representation, which object representation is used shall not affect the value of the result.43)
591 Where a value is stored in an object using a type that has more than one object representation for that value, it is unspecified which representation is used, but a trap representation shall not be generated.
592 Forward references: declarations (6.7), expressions (6.5), lvalues, arrays, and function designators (184.108.40.206).
Created at: 2008-01-30 02:39:40
The text from WG14/N1256 is copyright © ISO
Created at: 2008-01-30 02:39:40 The text from WG14/N1256 is copyright © ISO | <urn:uuid:80f37064-df31-4682-86c8-d39aa46b9193> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://c0x.coding-guidelines.com/6.2.6.1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891695 | 662 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Environmental health is the study of how environmental factors can harm human health and how to identify, prevent, and control such effects.
Environmental health professionals work to:
- maintain a safe supply of food and drinking water
- discover mechanisms of diseases caused by environmental exposures
- treat and dispose of solid and toxic wastes
- reduce air, water, food, and noise pollution
- control workplace hazards
Environmental exposures cause hundreds of thousands of illnesses each year, including asthma and cancers. This interdisciplinary program addresses public health issues associated with exposures to human-caused and naturally occurring chemical and microbial contaminants in air, water, soil, and food. Graduates become professionals who work to identify, evaluate, and control exposures to environmental contaminants.
The program offers two degrees: | <urn:uuid:315b1db1-2f37-4ae3-820a-a49263c3c0d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://deohs.washington.edu/eh | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922494 | 155 | 2.984375 | 3 |
- Pilots are trained to execute "go-arounds" when landing conditions aren't quite right
- It's unnerving for passengers, but the maneuver is routine and shows caution, author says
- Pilots usually announce go-arounds after the plane is back in the flow of traffic
You're finally getting home after a grueling business trip. Your flight is just about ready to land. The landing gear is down, and then all of a sudden, you aren't descending anymore. The gear comes back up and the nose points skyward.
For many travelers, this is a nerve-racking experience. But a "go-around," as it's called, is actually nothing to be concerned about. If you're going around, it means the pilot is exercising better-safe-than-sorry caution.
Certainly it's not a comfortable feeling for passengers, and pilots know it.
"We realize go-arounds are startling for passengers, simply because they are so unusual and are a dramatic change from a normal landing. But really they are similar and no more dangerous than a standard takeoff, and are something we practice routinely in simulators," explains Mark Rogers, a pilot with a major U.S. airline.
"It's best to think of a go-around as a takeoff begun in the air, and since more altitude and airspeed are both good things in aviation, there's really no cause for alarm," he says.
Put that way, it doesn't sound half bad. But why do go-arounds happen? There are a few different reasons.
For example, an airplane is not allowed to land if there's another airplane on the runway. Even if it's way at the other end, about to pull off onto a taxiway, you still can't land.
At crowded airports, airplanes are lined up one after another, landing as often as possible. Sometimes, however, an airplane is slow getting off the runway, and that means your airplane can't land. So you go around.
Another scenario for a go-around might be because of bad weather. You might be just about ready to land when a big gust of wind hits, or maybe you're just a bit higher or faster than you should be to land properly. The pilot might be able to continue landing safely, but pilots are trained to know that if the approach isn't stable, it's best to try again.
That's why go-arounds are actually good things. It's generally better to try again than it is to push forward and land when things might not be quite right.
Of course, the sensation of the engines spooling up and the nose pointing up can be a bit jarring. It doesn't seem right, and isn't it dangerous to go against the normal flow of traffic?
No -- because there are specific go-around procedures that every pilot knows to follow. It's a maneuver that puts your airplane right back into the flow of traffic so a landing can be tried again.
That's not to say it doesn't keep the pilots busy. When a go-around is executed, there is a lot that needs attention. That's why you usually won't hear an announcement about it right away. The pilots need to make sure that everything is done properly to get them safely back into the traffic pattern.
When the pilots are free to address passengers, they'll make an announcement and tell you what's going on. So sit tight and stay calm. The pilots know what they're doing. | <urn:uuid:768484da-c047-4ec4-aa14-7a9c9d0dc3bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/31/travel/flight-go-arounds-snyder/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8 | 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 | 0.974421 | 721 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Professional Abseillers to Help Regenerate
In a first for the Ballina shire, professional abseillers (Industrial Abseiling) will be used to kill the noxious weed bitou bush and help restore native Kangaroo grass on the cliff faces of Lennox Headland.
James Brideson, Natural Resource Extension Officer for the Ballina Council, said that because of the 64m high steep cliff face, environmental regeneration work is very difficult.
"Using people who can abseil is one of the only ways to undertake specific regeneration work on Lennox Headland," he said.
"The professional abseillers will be spraying parts of the headland cliff face with a specific herbicide designed to target bitou bush but not harm the remaining native grass. They will also undertake plantings of the kangaroo grass (Themeda grassland) at the same time on the cliff face ledges," Mr Brideson said.
"Bitou bush is such an invasive species. It chokes the native grasses growing on Lennox Headland," he said.
"The native grass, which is part of the Themeda grasslands community on sea cliffs and coastal headlands on the NSW North Coast, is listed as an endangered ecological community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, so this project is very important to help reinstate the original vegetation of the headland," Mr Brideson said.
"This bitou bush control and grassland and littoral rainforest restoration project is part of the Ballina Council's plan to restore the vegetation on Lennox Headland and also a part of the NSW Bitou Bush Threat Abatement Plan.
"We have researched and found a sketch from the NSW State Library from 1860 by the artist and surveyor Edward Forde, which shows a wall of littoral rainforest from Skennars Headland through to the Lennox Headland with large sections of grassland on the cliff tops and faces of Lennox Headland. These grassland areas match up with our current mapping of the Themeda grassland community.
"The sketch is the oldest record we have of what the original vegetation composition looked like and we are using that as a guide in our restoration project," Mr Brideson said.
Funding for this project has come from the Ballina Council and the Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority through the NSW Bitou Bush Threat Abatement Plan.
"We are hoping to secure future funding to be able to do similar weed eradication and regeneration work on Skennars Headland," Mr Brideson said.
Weather permitting the professional abseiling team will start work on Lennox Headland on Friday 12 June. | <urn:uuid:5cefdeb1-f99c-4de1-8906-db2dec318b4c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://industrialabseiling.com.au/documents/news.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921021 | 560 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Nightly News | September 27, 2013
>>> now to the big headline from climate scientists tonight. the u.n. international panel on climate change says we are hurtling toward the day when climate change could be irreversible with catastrophic consequences, they say. this group is now 95% sure that humans are responsible, and it's only going to get worse if we don't take drastic measures.
>>> our report tonight from our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson .
>> reporter: we're warming our world by burning coal, oil and fossil fuels. today the world's leading climate scientists warn it will get worse, with fewer very cold days and more hot ones. heat waves will be more grent and last longer. rising sea levels already altering this nation's coast and making storms like sandy more destructive could go up nearly three feet by the end of the century swamping parts of new jersey and dramatically changing florida's coast. and glaciers, a key source of drinking water for parts of the world are losing ice everywhere but new zealand.
>> we've seen an increasing number of regions over the decades starting to lose ice, but this is the first time we've seen it almost globally.
>> reporter: most ominously, the report says we are in real danger of exceeding our carbon limit of 1 trillion tons. scientists say that would warm the earth more than 3 1/2 degrees fahrenheit making the impact much more dangerous. how much longer can we go?
>> the rate of emission has been accelerating. at this rate we've got 30 or 40 years before we have to completely stop and go to zero.
>> reporter: there are ways to slow the damage. increasing energy efficiency , usy renewable such as solar and wind and setting limits on carbon pollution can all lower emissions. but if we persist, scientists say the real challenge will be taking the global warming gases out of the atmosphere and no one has come up with a workable solution for that yet. anne thompson , nbc news, new | <urn:uuid:185e56a5-b990-4e24-a4d3-3eea03f0d926> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/53127670 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942875 | 415 | 2.8125 | 3 |
In-Class Activity 1- Mars AnalogsJulia Kahmann-Robinson PhD and Marjorie Chan PhD, University of Utah Department of Geology & Geophysics
Observe and rank potential Earth analogs for Mars planetary study.
1. Print off student exercise
2. Use .ppt image file for class
Intro to Mars Image File
What is an analog?
1. Discuss definitions students come up with for the term analog
2. Present a modern reptile "analog" to a dinosaur. Ask students to explain why this is an analog.
Present the following regions as potential analogs for Mars (via Intro to Mars Image File (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 47kB Oct8 13)):
· Atacama Desert
· Death Valley, CA
· John Day Formation, Oregon
· Southern Utah
Ask students to consider the criterion by which they are deciding whether or not a region is a good analog. Discuss varying criteria as a class and determine the most appropriate definition of a good analog.
Have students investigate "vital statistics" of Mars via the internet (see Image File examples) such as: ambient temperature ranges, atmospheric composition, mineralogy, depositional environment, the absence of life, water, and geomorphic features.
Other example references: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html
As students discuss the various regions, have them provide the Earth data/statistics (similar to Mars) of these regions for comparison to Mars.
Rank their criterion for "best analog" by most to least important attribute
Example: (1-most important, 5-least important)
1. depositional environment
2. geomorphic features
3. type of and presence of water
4. ambient temperature range
6. type of life (extremophile or not)
7. atmospheric composition
Rank their analog sites by 1- best site, 5- most unlike Mars | <urn:uuid:cf04bec5-aff7-4d37-b7ee-3b00e9facdc8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://serc.carleton.edu/marsforearthlings/examples/mars_analogs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.762305 | 414 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Esther Dermott examines the relationship between gender, age and living arrangements in Britain over the period of 1999-2012. Her analysis finds that older women have gone from being one of the poorest groups to being relatively advantaged. Meanwhile, men living alone are an emerging poor group in Britain.
As we approached the new millennium, the relationship between gender and poverty was clear – being a woman in Britain meant you were more likely to be poor. In 1999 the Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) survey found a significant 6 per cent gap between poverty rates for men and women in Britain. But just over a decade later this gap had almost disappeared; the 2012 results showed a non-significant difference between men and women’s levels of poverty.
To explain this change we need to look beyond the headline finding to examine the relationship between gender, age and living arrangements. Older women who were the big cause for concern in the past no longer stand out as an especially poor. In fact their situation has so substantially improved that they have gone from being one of the poorest groups to being relatively advantaged. Meanwhile solo-living men are emerging as a new poor group. Hardly noticeable a decade ago, they now stand out for their high rates of poverty compared both to other men and solo-living women.
Nine per cent of older women are now living in poverty, a huge reduction compared to the figure of 28 per cent recorded in 1999. In the earlier period there was also a large gap in poverty rates between older men and women (10 per cent) but this has almost disappeared by 2012. The improvement in poverty rates for older women can be explained by a combination of policy, and a cohort effect which means that the older women of today are fundamentally different in terms of current and historical employment, and relationship patterns to those being surveyed in the later 1990s.
New Labour responded to concerns over pensioner poverty with a raft of measures designed to promote the financial security of older people: means-tested Pension Credit guaranteed a minimum level of income regardless of individual’s national insurance contributions for those aged 60 and over, but there were also winter fuel payments and free TV licences and off peak travel cards. The current government has continued this commitment with the ‘triple lock’ on the value of the state pension guaranteeing that it will be increased at the higher of inflation (Consumer Price Index), average earnings, or a minimum of 2.5 per cent. The impact of these measures will be gendered. The simple presence of more older women in the population means that they will improve the lives of more women. Yet since it is the relative risk of poverty that has changed, the critical point is the extent to which women may have proportionately benefited from such policies. As women are more reliant on a basic state pension than men the improved value of means tested social security payments should have benefited them more.
But there are other significant shifts too. In 1999, just over 2 per cent of women aged over 64 were in employment, but by 2012 this figure had risen to 11 per cent in response to recent economic pressures, the rising age of official retirement, and improved life expectancy. This means that there is a substantial group of older women who are now accessing their own independent income, which supplements or replaces reliance on other sources. In addition, this cohort of older women, has had greater involvement in paid labour across the life-course and therefore increased opportunities to accrue private pensions, and acquire savings and other assets. We know that pooling resources and sharing costs by living together leads to increased living standards so maintaining a single household is more expensive. Over the last decade higher rates of cohabitation and remarriage among older people in the UK mean that there are now fewer older women living alone, so this too may have contributed to women’s improved situation.
In previous research on gender and poverty, the situation of men has rarely been discussed as they have not appeared especially vulnerable to poverty. Our new analysis identifies men living alone as an emerging poor group in Britain. The 2012 data from the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey shows that men living alone are the poorest and most deprived male group. Moreover, they are much poorer than women in this category; one in three men living alone is living in poverty compared to one in five women. Unpacking the explanation for this phenomenon is not straightforward but there are plausible reasons. First though to discount the possibility that this rise is due to the marginalised position of young adults – especially men – who are experiencing educational and labour market disadvantage. It is not youth poverty which explains the existence of this group as very few young men are living alone.
Instead, men living in single adult households have a distinct combination of socioeconomic characteristics. For men, not working full-time, having poor general health, and having non-resident children (in addition to living alone) were all significant for increased rates of poverty. The solo-living poor men seem to be a mixture of older, widowed, retired men; men who have withdrawn from the labour market prematurely due to permanent sickness; and middle aged fathers who do not live with their children. Of single household men who had dependent children living in other households, 67 per cent were living in poverty, suggesting that men’s experiences as non-resident parents until they re-partner may entail economic hardship.
The bigger picture in thinking about the relationship between gender and poverty (indeed for understanding poverty in general) is that the situation isn’t static, we need to look at men as well as women when we think about gender and policies really can make a difference, as do shifts in how we organise our living arrangements and involvement in paid work.
This article draws on ‘Gender and Poverty in Britain: changes and continuities between 1999 and 2012’ in the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice by Esther Dermott and Christina Pantazis.
Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the British Politics and Policy blog, nor of the London School of Economics. Please read our comments policy before posting. Featured image credit: Nikos Koutoulas CC BY 2.0
Esther Dermott is Reader in Sociology at the University of Bristol. She tweets from @estherdermott | <urn:uuid:f082d521-28b8-4a0b-b4f2-37783148d2f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-evolution-of-gender-and-poverty-in-britain/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969481 | 1,279 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Let S be a set with 2n+1 elements. Partition S into n pairs of elements, with one single element left over. We want to choose a set of n elements from S. From each pair of elements we can select 0, 1 or 2 elements. Also, we can either select or not select the single element.
Start by selecting k pairs to choose one element from. There are ways of doing this ( ways of choosing which pairs, and 2 ways of choosing which element in each pair). To bring the total number of selected elements up to n, we then need to select both elements from exactly half of the remaining n-k pairs, if n-k is even. If n-k is odd then we have to select both elements from of them, together with the single element of S. In either case, there are ways of doing this.
That shows that . | <urn:uuid:c3dda7de-3538-4bb4-8114-a0a55bcca3b3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/discrete-math/59205-binomial-identity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903938 | 182 | 3.46875 | 3 |
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Out of Asia: How Monkey and Ape Ancestors Colonized Africa
This week, I'm going to consider origin stories that go deeper into primate history than questions of when Homo sapiens evolved or when two-legged apes, or hominids, emerged.
Today, let's go really far back, to a time some 40 million years ago known as the Eocene. Monkeys and apes weren't even around yet, although their common ancestor was. But where? The discovery of a new species of Eocene primate is helping address that question.
Until about 20 years ago, the answer seemed obvious: Africa. That's where the earliest fossil evidence was found, mainly from Egypt's Fayum Depression. Starting in the 1990s, however, relevant fossils started popping up in Asia. Paleoanthropologists now consider a 45-million-year-old primate discovered in China, called Eosimias, to be the earliest anthropoid, the group of primates that includes monkeys, apes and humans. Eosimias was tiny, weighing less than half a pound. But it possessed certain dental and jaw characteristics that link it to living anthropoids. | <urn:uuid:46b2b1e9-8c36-482e-b2ef-44fec41c2688> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.americanscientist.org/science/id.15781,content.true,css.print/science.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951245 | 244 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Mountain History & Landmarks in Sunshine's Growth An early Sunshine Fan Remembers Prehistory Sunshine meadows used to be deeply buried by glaciers. Signs of men’s presence around Sunshine go back towards the end of the ice age. The Sunshine area was a route between the territories of neighboring Indian tribes. Circa 1800-1850. Beginning of European contact. 1841. The Shuswap Indians used the Shuswap Pass to trade with the Stoney Indians in the lower Bow Valley. Sir George Simpson is the first European to travel through the Pass while on trek around the world. European contact George Simpson’s journal remains the first written record of the Sunshine area. Since the Indians had no written language we have no written records of their lives and history. 1857-1860. The Palliser Expedition led by Capt. Palliser explored the Banff region to look for feasible areas to settle. Eugene Bourgeau, after who Mt. Bourgeau is named, is the botanist of the expedition. 1859. The Shuswap Pass is renamed Simpson Pass by James Hector of the Palliser Expedition, to honor the accomplishments of Sir George Simpson. Hector made mention of the Hot Springs. 1883. The Great Canadian Railway reached Banff vicinity. A few buildings are thrown together and are referred to as siding 29. Soon after, the Hot Springs are officially discovered by two railway workers and will soon attract visitors. 1885. The government established the Banff Hot Springs Reserve (10 sq. miles). 1886. J.J. MacArthur drew first map of Sunshine area while doing topographic survey for the Government. It’s the first known documentation of Sunshine. 1887. The Government of Canada established the Rocky Mountain Park (260 sq. miles), which later becomes Banff National Park. It included Banff and the Hot Springs and over the years, the boundaries have expanded and shrunk as policies have changed. CP Railway provided the main source of transportation. 1888. In Banff, CP Rail built the Banff Spring Hotel and created grand scale facilities and services for wealthy people to enjoy, in order to offset the cost of the railway through the Rockies. In time, the flagship of the railway’s hotel chain became one of the most famous hotel around the world. Guides and packers hired by the railway stayed on to work in the hotels and guide guests in the wilderness. Swiss guides were imported to guide guests on more adventurous outings up to the summit of surrounding peaks. Eventually the area became a destination place and business flourished. John Brewster established the first dairy in Banff and his sons became well acquainted to the wilderness of the area through numerous exploration excursions. 1899. Walter Wilcox was the first tourist to travel through Sunshine while on his way to attempt Mt. Assiniboine for the second time; he took the first photograph of Sunshine area. 1902. The Park enlarged to 4,900 sq. miles. 1911. The Park is reduced to 1,800 sq. miles and became the responsibility of the Department of Forestry. 1913. Bill Peyto joined the Warden Service and patrolled the Sunshine/Healy Creek area. 1920. A.O. Wheeler surveyed the Continental Divide between the US border and Mount Robson. He was the first president of the Alpine Club of Canada and developed “Walking and Riding Tours” from Banff to Mount Assiniboine. Tee Pee Town Meadow got its name because of the tee pees that Wheeler set up at his semi-permanent campsite there. Early 1920’s. Most of Banff was boarded up. Not many lived in the town all year round. Only a few Europeans, usually guides and mountaineers working in the park in the summer stayed to ski over the winter. In those days it wasn’t a fashionable thing to do. A party led by Pat Brewster found Wheeler’s campsite but decided to move on to another location for camping and found the site now known as Sunshine Village. Founding years 1927-28. CP Rail built a cabin for the Trail Rider’s of the Canadian Rockies on the site of the present day Old Sunshine Lodge. March 1929. Cliff White and Cyril Paris were the first ones, but not the last ones, to ski the sunshine Meadows after an adventurous Citadel Pass crossing. They missed the cabin due to a white out and were forced to camp out in the open. 1930. Rocky Mountain Park became Banff National Park (2,564 sq. miles). 1932. Pat, Jim and Dell Brewster, together with Austin Standish skied from Hillsdale Meadows through to Egypt Lake and all the way to Sunshine. On another occasion Pat Brewster and Dick Smith on an excursion through the Sunshine area were force to stay at the CPR cabin due to an accident. While in the area, the Brewsters noticed and were convinced that Sunshine would be the perfect place for a ski resort development. 1933. The Brewsters set out on a ski trip through the Sunshine area to seriously evaluate it’s potential as a ski resort. 1934. Jim Brewster, president of Brewster Transport Company, leased the C.P.R. cabin and in February Sunshine hosted its first paying winter guests. 1935. CPR published it’s first ski publicity folder about the ski areas including Sunshine. 1936. Brewster Transport bought the CPR cabin for roughly 300 dollars, including the national park lease for the quarter acre plot it stood on; built a two-story addition then another two-story addition in 37-38. Summer mountaineering guides were hired as winter ski instructors. Customers paid $5.00/night or $30.00/week to stay at the Sunshine Lodge and it included food and guides. 1938. Extension of Healy Creek warden road, 3 miles of skiing in order to get up to the Lodge. Radio communication was established with the Mt. Royal Hotel in Banff. The Canadian National Ski Championships were held at Sunshine. Skiing was becoming very popular and skiers were wishing to spend more time going down and less time climbing up. 1940. Further work was done on the warden road. Only one mile of skiing was needed to get to the Lodge. The first generator was installed. 1942. A portable ski rope tow was installed on Strawberry without approval from national parks, causing considerable controversy. The lift was only used for the later part of the day. Skiers went out in the morning with guides and used seal skins to make their way uphill. They would ski out into the meadows and ski down to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon, the lift would operate briefly so skiers could practice their turns. 1945. A permanent one-inch rope tow, powered by a Mercury V8, was installed on Strawberry. 5% of the gross profit was paid to the National Park. But an overwhelming increase in the popularity of downhill skiing did not happen overnight. Sunshine suffered some tough time while gradually developing an international reputation. The late 1940s were especially unprofitable. 1946-48. The resort was managed by Frank Hayes. 1950. A promotional Snow Train carrying skiers from the east was discontinued. 1952. Brewster Transport decided Sunshine was too expensive to maintain and sold the venture to George Encil, principal of the Banff Chairlift Corporation, which owned the Mt. Norquay Ski Area. It is Encil who gave Sunshine its “Village” name. 1953. 2 diesel engine generators were installed. 1957. A platter pull was built on Strawberry, acting as an extension of the rope tow. Modern era Spring 1960. Sunshine Village was sold to Cliff White and his wife Beverly. Cliff was the first owner to attract skiers to Sunshine as early as November. 1962. Sunshine Village installed its second lift, the Wawa T-bar. It changed the whole nature of the ski area, attracting crowds with its high capacity of 1,200 person per hour. In those days and for nearly 20 years, skiers were brought up from Bourgeau parking lot via Brewster buses on a very wild and winding Sunshine road. Miraculously and thanks to the expertise of the bus drivers, there never was a fatal accident. Summer use was promoted. 1963. The Power Corporation of Canada purchased Sunshine when the Whites elected to sell the bulk of their shares to finance necessary hotel expansion and other improvements. The Strawberry T-bar was built to replace the rope tow and platter pull. The Whites stayed on as managers. 1965. The lodge closed while the Sunshine Inn was built. Electricity was installed. The Standish Chair was built. Cliff White changed Sunshine Village forever and made it a world class resort with his effort to provide great facilities and services. 1969. Sunshine sold again to Warnock Hersey International, which at the time acquired an impressive list of holdings. Cliff White remained to watch over the growing reputation of the resort. Angel Chair was built and Standish Chair rebuilt. Banff was designated an international winter resort with the opening of the Banff Springs through the winter. 1970. Great Divide chair lift was built. Sunshine management began to work on a master plan for the area’s development that would take in consideration environmental concerns raised by all. For the next 7 years, Cliff White worked with Parks Canada, gradually gaining approval for new lifts and facilities that doubled the size of the ski area. 1974. The present Strawberry Triple Chair was built. 1977. Laryx, Mountainholm, and Sunburst staff accommodations were built. With the future of the master plan worked out, Cliff White finally retires. John Gow, a former guide and mountaineer with extensive experience in the Rockies, takes over the management position. Gow took on one of Cliff’s vision and soon started consultation with a Swiss Company to design a gondola system that could bring 1,800 skiers per hour from Bourgeau to the village. 1978. Assiniboine T-Bar and Tee Pee Town Chair were built. Wawa T-bar was rebuilt. 1979. Construction began on the 12 million-dollar gondola installation. The Fireweed T-bar, Arnica staffs accommodation and Sewage Treatment Plant were built. 1980. The gondola opened for operation and it terminated the Brewster bus service, which was becoming increasingly stressed out by the growing popularity of the Sunshine’s expending facilities. Brewster Transport graciously wound down a schedule that took skiers to Sunshine by horse, car and bus for more than 40 years. The road was converted into a ski-out and the gondola became the only means of transportation up to the village. 1981. Ninga Enterprises owned by the Scurfield family, purchases Sunshine Village for roughly $24 million. Ralph D. Scurfield, a lawyer and avid skier, becomes president. John Gow leaves after 17 years of service. The Day Lodge was renovated, the Nordic Center opened and the Rental Shop situated in the Old Sunshine Lodge moved to Bourgeau Base. For a decade, skiers had been venturing into Delirium Dive, but due to an alarming number of accidents, the Park Service responsible for the area’s avalanche control decided to ban skiing there and violators faced a $500 fine. 1983. The Summer Use Plan, a tri-party agreement between Parks Canada, BC Parks and Sunshine was signed. A self-guided interpretive trail for summer use was constructed. 1984. Sunshine celebrated its 50th Anniversary. The Wheeler chair was built. The gondola operated for the first time in the summer. Inauguration of the Interpretive Center and Rock Isle self-guiding interpretive trail. The Inn was reopened after having been closed during construction of the trail. Ninga Enterprises changed its name to “Sunshine Village Corporation”. The name was changed to emphasize a concentration of its resources on the operation and development of the resort. 1985. Standish chair was rebuilt. The Women’s World Cup Downhill was held at Sunshine. More summer trails were built. 1986. The Women’s World Cup Downhill returned to Sunshine. Again, more summer hiking trails were built. The Long-Range Development Guidelines Agreement was signed. 1987. The Sunshine Inn renovations were completed. 1988. Angel high-speed quad chair was built. 1995. Goat’s Eye Express high-speed quad chair was built. Trailers were installed to provide shelter, cantina and toilets. 1996. The Executive Office building was constructed at the Bourgeau Base. 1997. Great Divide Chair was rebuilt. 1999. Delirium Dive reopened after Parks Canada and Sunshine Village agreed that Sunshine would be responsible to control and patrol the area, also providing rescue service if necessary. 2000. Goat’s Eye Garden tent was erected. Cosmetic renovations were done throughout the Sunshine Inn. New Beaver Tails concession at Bourgeau Base. 2001. Renovations at Bourgeau Base in the Executive and Gondola buildings. New Ticket Sales windows, Guest Services desk and Pass processing area below rentals. New Creekside Restaurant and bathrooms below Gondola. Wheeler Chair replaced by Wolverine High-Speed Quad Chair, and Fireweed T-bar replaced by Jackrabbit High-Speed Quad Chair. New magic carpet installed at the Ski School Learning Area beside Strawberry Chair, and also at the Daycare playground area beside Gondola terminal. Trapper’s kitchen was enlarged and renovated. Beaver Tails concession relocated where the Village rental shop use to be, and rentals are now in the Dynastar performance tent. | <urn:uuid:d322e751-7fa8-4e83-8703-22237c9152bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.skibanff.com/sunshine-village/sunshine-history/landmarks-in-sunshines-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970582 | 2,772 | 3.75 | 4 |
Definition of Perodicticus potto
1. Noun. A kind of lemur.
Generic synonyms: Lemur
Group relationships: Genus Perodicticus, Perodicticus
Perodicticus Potto Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Perodicticus Potto Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Perodicticus Potto
Literary usage of Perodicticus potto
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Reports on Zoology for 1843, 1844 by Andreas Johann Wagner, Franz Hermann Troschel, Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson, Carl Th. Ernst Siebold (1847)
"2 is the figure of perodicticus potto, and on tab. 3 that of Licha- notus Avahi. The internal structure of the Loris has been illustrated by a comprehensive ..."
2. Catalogue of Monkeys, Lemurs, and Fruit-eating Bats in the Collection of the by John Edward Gray (1870)
"Ann. Mva. xvii. p. 114; xix. p. 115. Hob. Sierra Leone, West Africa. Skull and skeleton in British Museum. Fig. 18. Xj perodicticus potto. (Huxley.) 15. ..."
3. The Geographical Distribution of Animals: With a Study of the Relations of by Alfred Russel Wallace (1876)
"In a tree overhead is the potto (perodicticus potto), one of the curious forms of lemur confined to West Africa. On the left is the remarkable Pota- mogale ..."
4. The New International Encyclopædia by Daniel Colt Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby (1903)
"A small brownish- gray West African lemur (perodicticus potto) of the loris group, remarkable for having a distinct though rudimentary tail and distinct ..."
5. The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology by Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1885)
"In the curious West African potto (perodicticus potto), the relations of the muscle and ligament are very intimate, and nearly resemble those of the gibbon. ..." | <urn:uuid:acf12033-a796-4a74-bf01-fff2e3f8b47e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/perodicticus_potto | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.777086 | 495 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Toussaint L'Ouverture (1745?-April 1803) was a former slave from Haiti. He served as a medical officer in the slave uprising of 1791. He became a general in 1793 when he established an army of his own. He became famous for guerrilla warfare. By 1801, he was dictator of the entire island. Although he declared that Haiti was merely a protectorate of France, he was the real ruler.
In 1802, Napoleon sent 30,000 troops, under command of his brother-in-law, to retake Haiti. However, yellow fever and malaria decimated his men. Combined with fierce guerrilla warfare waged by the Haitians, the French lost nearly 24,000 men. That year, Toussaint was captured by the French general by treachery. He died in France in 1803 of ill-treatment. His followers continued to fight, however, and finally the French were forced to surrender. | <urn:uuid:12175626-985f-4be6-bfa4-974110b0d5d0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.conservapedia.com/L'Ouverture,Toussaint | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992308 | 197 | 3.234375 | 3 |
After being captured by the English in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, Menorca became, with the occasional break, an English possession. until it was finally ceded back to Spain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. The British influence can still be seen in some of the architecture with elements such as sash windows. known locally as boinders. Another English influence is gin. It was initially produced to satisfy the demands of British troops but eventually the local population took a taste to it, modifying the drink slightly with their own infusion of Mediterranean herbs. Today it is both popular as a drink and as a sign of their cultural identity. Xoriguer (meaning Kestrel) is the most popular brand.
Menorquí, a variant of Catalan, still retains a few English loan words from the occupation such as “grevi” (gravy – sauce), “xumaquer” (shoemaker), the aforesaid “boinder”, xoc” (chak) and “sarg” (bully) from sergeant, who no doubt used to throw their weight around. I was told by a Menorcan friend that when she was a little girl she used to play a game of cards with her grandmother, one of the rules of which involved having to count to ten in English in a Menorcan accent. | <urn:uuid:89f3f2de-863b-4987-9bfb-a83fa47accc1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://iberianature.com/spain_culture/category/balearic-islands/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98461 | 288 | 2.671875 | 3 |
France after the Revolution
Inspired in part by the American Revolution the French Revolution in 1789 overthrew the oppressive class and economic structures of the old order. Absolute monarchy, unchallenged power, and privilege of the ruling class, or aristocracy were swept away by the revolution. Though they enlisted the help of the rural peasantry and the urban artisans in the challenge to the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie rather than the poor were the beneficiaries of the revolution. Contemporary historians like Roger Magraw point out, however, that the ‘‘triumph of the bourgeoisie was both incomplete and precarious.’’ Much of the land and power that the aristocracy and the church conceded, was regained in subsequent years of governmental change and instability. In Magraw’s words: ‘‘Yet if the nobles were, along with the clergy, the clear losers from the revolution, French history in the nineteenth century is incomprehensible if one fails to appreciate the strength which they retained.’’
Though the Revolution accomplished the goal of social change and increased economic opportunity (at least for some), political stability remained elusive. Since the goal of the revolution was to destabilize and decentralize power, revolutionary leaders found it difficult to decide on and install alternative systems of government. Though they had in mind the British model of a constitutional government controlled by a parliament,...
(The entire section is 471 words.) | <urn:uuid:df063532-4529-4bf1-b738-85b006463a0f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/topics/la-grande/in-depth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954589 | 283 | 4 | 4 |
Lawrence D Schall
Key issues in financial management using both analytical and case study illustrations. Valuation of public and private companies; cost of capital estimation; investment complications, such as taxes, inflation, risk, project interdependencies, and financing-investment interactions; leasing; mergers; spin-offs and carve-outs. Prerequisite: FIN 350; either B. ECON 300 or ECON 300. Offered: AW.
Students will learn advanced financial analysis techniques that are widely used widely in practice. Valuation of a company (public and private), subsdiary, or division, taking into account financing, employee stock options, taxes, and other factors. Estimation of a discount rate (cost of capital). How to address common problems in capital budgeting, including inflation, investment interdependencies, capital rationing, transfer pricing, and risk analysis. Leasing versus purchasing of an asset; the key role of taxes in leasing. Business reorganizations, including merger analysis, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs, carve-outs, and split-ups.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
For each topic, a presentation of the appropriate analytic technique, with examples and real world cases to illustrate concepts. Group valuation projects. Informal style, with questions and discussion welcomed.
At a minimum, Finance 350 and a basic financial accounting course. Preferably, at least one finance elective other than Finance 454.
Class assignments and grading
Group valuation projects. Midterm exam and final exam. Extra credit for case presentation. This course is relatively challenging, and involves a substantial time commitment.
Valuation project, midterm, final, and extra credit. | <urn:uuid:538b5f6f-96f5-4b45-babb-adefa5e60a1c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.washington.edu/students/icd/S/finance/454lschall.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886506 | 345 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Ever wonder what those squiggly words are that you have to spell in order to get past security on many websites? They're called CAPTCHAs, and Mike Pope, a technical writer and editor at Microsoft, has the full story on them.
Odds are good, I'd venture, that you've tried to register for a website or enter a comment somewhere, only to be stymied by something like this:
If you're like me, you might have wondered whether they have to make it that hard to read. Well... yes. In fact, for this example the reason you see these wonky words is precisely because they're hard to read.
Let's back up. This challenge is generically referred to as a CAPTCHA. It's supposed to ensure that someone using a website (registering or commenting, say) is a person and not an automated process — a bot. For example, a spammer might use bots to try to sign up for many email accounts in order to send spam, or to leave blog comments that direct readers to the spammer's website. CAPTCHAs are supposed to thwart this.
The term CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," coined at Carnegie-Mellon University. It's helpful to know that a Turing test derives from Alan Turing's philosophical work in artificial intelligence and his Imitation Game, in which someone tries to guess whether they're interacting with a human or a machine. (Technically, CAPTCHA could just be CAPT, since "to tell Computers and Humans Apart" is the point of a Turing test. But the term CAPTCHA was intended to invoke the word capture, so it's something of a backronym.) Interestingly, the university originally wanted to trademark the term, but has given up on that.
Speaking linguistically, most CAPTCHAs rely on people's ability to be able read even highly distorted text. (Consider our remarkable ability to read the vast range of people's handwriting and their idiosyncratic letterforms.) CAPTCHAs will use many ways to distort text in order to disguise it. Here are a couple more examples:
The primary reason why CAPTCHA text is so distorted is that spamming software is pretty good at reading text, even in images. (For example, a page on the web describes the success that some academics have had in devising CAPTCHA-cracking software.)
The example I have at the beginning is a special type of CAPTCHA known as a reCAPTCHA. In a reCAPTCHA, the reason for the distortion is, in effect, the opposite of the usual reason. In reCAPTCHAs, the text isn't distorted so that optical-character recognition (OCR) software can't read it; it's distorted because OCR software can't read it.
Basically, the reCAPTCHA project is helping scan old books and newspapers. The story is this: Google has been steadily working to digitize old texts. During the scanning process, words are identified that might not have been scanned correctly. (In older texts, for example, up to 20% of the words might be misread during scanning.)
The reCAPTCHA software picks words from among these "suspicious" terms and presents them (after some additional protective distortion) as part of a CAPTCHA, as you can see in the example earlier. The test contains a control word (in the example, "any"), which users have to get right; the other is an unknown term that users are helping to decipher. The same unknown words are presented to multiple users, and if several humans agree on a word, the word is marked as known in the database.
It's an ingenious way to harness humans' ability to decipher text in the service of what's generally considered a good cause. According to the reCAPTCHA people, after one year, the project had deciphered 440 million terms, and one number I found suggests that reCAPTCHA presents 60 million words to users every day. (You can read more technical details about the reCAPTCHA process in a paper (PDF) that was published in Science magazine back in 2008.)
Text-based CAPTCHAs are not without their problems, however. The most obvious one is that although we readers have astounding abilities to make out text, sometimes the text is simply too distorted. To solve this problem, most CAPTCHAs let you click a button to get a new word.
Another problem is that text-based CAPTCHAs are not very accessible – that is, they're not usable by people with sight disabilities. (Government entities are generally obliged to create websites that meet strict accessibility standards.) A common workaround is to offer an audio alternative. For example, reCAPTCHA will read four words out loud, with background noise as a kind of audio version of the text distortion, and you pass the test if you type the words correctly.
There's also internationalization. Many text-based CAPTCHAs have an English bias. In practice, this is not a huge problem, because the challenge words are for all intents and purposes random characters. Still, non-English users do have a slightly more trouble with distorted English words than native speakers. And effectiveness aside, website owners do occasionally ask whether the words being presented by CAPTCHAs could be in their own language. (For reCAPTCHA and its database of scanned words, the answer is no.)
A less serious problem is that any randomly chosen sequence of letters or words will sooner or later produce terms that range from amusing to suggestive to downright offensive. (I once was presented with the words "continuing waffling," which I decided not to take as commentary on my personality.) If your sense of humor inclines that way, you might want to search the web for "funny captcha fail," which reveals a number of websites devoted to tittering at poor choices for CAPTCHA text.
Text is the most common basis for CAPTCHAs, but it's not the only one. There are CAPTCHAs based on simple arithmetic tests, on matching text to pictures (same problem with accessibility), on identifying pictures of dogs and cats, on using the mouse to draw, and many more.
I did find that understanding the purpose and challenges for CAPTCHAs, and especially the work being done in the reCAPTCHA project, has made me a lot more tolerant of the wacky text that I am asked to transcribe. Now whenever I hear someone complain about how hard the CAPTCHA is, I respond with "Say, do you know about this digitizing project? Let me explain..." | <urn:uuid:c225a550-a2d5-4f30-a96c-db5e56b64711> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wc/halt-who-goes-there/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961574 | 1,386 | 3.40625 | 3 |
An analytical paper contains primary of source material that is compared within a theoretical framework devised either by the author or by an established expert in a field.
See title page template.
Maximum 150 words, written in single line format without indentations, summarizing the thesis and main points of the paper.
In the introductory part of your analytical paper the analysis of the thesis needs to be considered from an existing analytical model, or one proposed by the author. In the thesis regarding Capote's In Cold Blood, the analysis of how journalistic bias would need to be based on a model that has already been accepted by experts in the literary field and this model can be mentioned in the paper's introductory paragraph. Normally, introduction for almost all types of papers should include:
Remember this rule and you will likely never have problems with writing good introductions to your papers.
Here, depending on your word count, you will need a minimum of four paragraphs, each one supported by a topic sentence and a transition sentence so that the thoughts in the analysis flow in a logical manner. In the case of an analysis essay based on Clare's thesis each paragraph should include direct quotations from the book to support the analysis point made, and if commentary from other researchers can also be used to support your claims that Capote's descriptions were biased by personal opinion then this should also be included in the relevant paragraph topics.
In several words, you need the following be included in your analytical paper:
It is possible in an analytical paper that the information presented in the paper doesn't support the original thesis and if this is the case then it is perfectly acceptable for you to say so in your concluding paragraphs, provided you explain why your analysis does not support the thesis. | <urn:uuid:e037e31b-408c-4556-8f3b-8b8db92a0415> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.personal-writer.com/blog/template-of-an-analytical-paper | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958363 | 348 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Adding a Network Connection to Your Computer
Adding a network connection can be easily done by using map network drive in Network Neighborhood or My Computer, but it can be useful to be able to do this in Visual Basic. In this example you will learn how to create the connection using the Windows API and how to delete a connection as well.
- Start a new Standard-EXE project, form1 is created by default
- Add a standard module and add a command button to form1
- Type the following in the standard module.
Option Explicit Declare Function _ WNetAddConnection Lib _ "mpr.dll" Alias _ "WNetAddConnectionA" _ (ByVal lpszNetPath As String, _ ByVal lpszPassword As String, _ ByVal lpszLocalName _ As String) As Long Declare Function _ WNetCancelConnection _ Lib "mpr.dll" _ Alias "WNetCancelConnectionA _ " (ByVal lpszName _ As String, ByVal bForce As Long)_ As Long Const WN_SUCCESS = 0 ' _ The function was successful. Const WN_NET_ERROR = 2 ' _ An error occurred on the network. Const WN_BAD_PASSWORD = 6 ' _ The password was invalid. Function AddConnection _ (MyShareName As String, _ MyPWD As String, UseLetter _ As String) As Integer On Local Error GoTo _ AddConnection1_Err AddConnection = _ WNetAddConnection(MyShareName, _ MyPWD, UseLetter) AddConnection_End: Exit Function AddConnection_Err: AddConnection = Err MsgBox Error$ Resume AddConnection_End End Function Function CancelConnection _ (DriveLetter As String, _ Force As Integer) As Integer On Local Error GoTo _ CancelConnection_Err CancelConnection = _ WNetCancelConnection(DriveLetter, _ Force) CancelConnection_End: Exit Function CancelConnection_Err: CancelConnection = Err MsgBox Error$ Resume CancelConnection_End End Function
- to add a connection call by:
varible = AddConnection _ (<SharePath>, _ <Password>, _ <DriveLetter>)
- To cancel a connection type:
varible = CancelConnection _ (<SharePath, <Force>)
Run the project. | <urn:uuid:ab51530c-baf4-4b00-a441-372d11a9773f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.developer.com/net/vb/article.php/1540511/Adding-a-Network-Connection-to-Your-Computer.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.756556 | 495 | 2.5625 | 3 |
As temperatures increased above 50°F (10°C) in several large U.S. cities, risk of kidney stones also increased significantly researchers said.
A study of 60,433 privately insured patients across five cities -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia -- found that the maximum risk for kidney stone presentation occurred within 3 days of a high daily temperature and was likely mediated by an effect on patients' hydration.
The risk was statistically significant in all cities except Los Angeles, according to the paper, published online in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Cumulative relative risks for a mean daily temperature of 86°F (30°C) versus 50°F were:
- Atlanta (1.38, 95% CI 1.07-1.79)
- Chicago (1.37, 95% CI 1.07-1.76)
- Dallas (1.36, 95% CI 1.10-1.69)
- Los Angeles (1.11, 95% CI 0.73-1.68)
- Philadelphia (1.47, 95% CI 1.00-2.17)
The five cities represent climates in which 30% of the world's population lives, according to study author Gregory Tasian, MD, MSc, at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues.
Using a time series design and distributed lag nonlinear model, researchers collected private health insurance claims data from 2005-2011 as well as weather data for the selected cities. Tasian and colleagues examined presentation for kidney stones within a 20-day window of temperature exposure.
Cases tended to occur within a few days after episodes of extreme temperature, with a first peak at about 2 to 3 days and a second at 4 to 6 days.
"We were expecting to find a short lag time between heat and presentation, so it wasn't really surprising that the lag time was detected within a week," Tasian told MedPage Today.
Tasian and colleagues hypothesized that dehydration is the causal mechanism between the effect of heat and stone presentation. When patients who are already at risk get dehydrated, calcium and uric acid become more supersaturated, and calcium stones begin to form, they said.
"It's all linked to fluid. Saying heat leads to fluid loss would be the direct link," said Allan Jhagroo, MD, a professor of nephrology at the University of Wisconsin who was not associated with the study.
The researchers also hypothesized that the hotter weather may have led to stone formation in patients exposed to hotter weather who would have normally developed stones at a future time.
Colder weather was associated with a relative risk in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia, perhaps because patients stay indoors where it can be hotter. It's also conceivable that hydration may suffer during extremes of cold (when indoor humidity, which was not measured in the study, is usually low) as well as hot weather.
Outdoor humidity was measured, but was not found to be a predictor for kidney stones.
The researchers also suggested that the number of hot days in a year is probably a better indicator of kidney stone risk than mean annual temperature. Atlanta, for example, had almost twice the rate of kidney stones compared with Los Angeles but had a similar mean temperature. It had, though, on average 53 days a year in which the daily mean temperature was higher than 80°F. Los Angeles had only 10.
Dallas had 324 days hotter than 86°F during the period, 20 times more than such days in Atlanta, the next closest city. But it had the same risk increase. Tasian and colleagues suggested that the population of Dallas may have adapted to the local climate, spending more time indoors and drinking more fluids. They also noted that their data were sparse for extreme weather, and their statistical methods may have flattened the associations somewhat.
A previous study reported by MedPage Today found that, as temperatures across the U.S. increase because of climate change, the prevalence of kidney stones may be expected to grow. Tasian said that more research needs to be done to see how the risk of kidney stones may change with temperature increases.
The authors acknowledged several limitations to the study. They had no data on individuals' actual exposure to outdoor temperatures, which would vary. All the patients had commercial insurance and may spend more time indoors, with air conditioning, than those with public or no insurance. It is also possible that temperature differentially affects subgroups such as older versus younger patients.
Additionally, the research was concerned only with presentation at the hospital and not stone formation.
Jhagroo suggested that this left open the question of whether "warmer weather leads to passage, or warmer weather leads to both formation and passage."
The study was funded by grants from the NIH.
The authors disclosed no relevant relationships with industry.
- Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | <urn:uuid:95248464-9ff3-4e7d-a4da-f537ee5007b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/Nephrology/GeneralNephrology/46718 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971284 | 1,019 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Okay, so there are probably about a million ways how to write a poem, but the five methods below help me when I’ve been stuck in a rut. If you have other ways to get those poems started, then feel encouraged to share in the comments below.
Here are 5 ways how to write poetry:
- Capture a moment. One trap I can sometimes fall into is that I try to write the big poem or the poem filled with ideas (like love, hate, etc.). What always works better, for me anyway, is to focus on one moment that expresses an emotion or works as a metaphor for a bigger idea.
- Steal a conversation. My first chapbook includes a poem titled “Eavesdropping,” which is basically several conversations I overheard while in airport terminals. I took notes in the terminals and worked on the poem while doing my laundry at a laundromat. Listening to others can kickstart poems, because you’ll hear things you would never say or think yourself.
- Describe something or someone. Specificity strengthens a poem, and it’s hard to get more specific than throwing all your attention toward one thing or person. The only trap with these poems is that they can sometimes read like lists.
- Respond to something. Response poems have been around forever. In fact, an argument could be made that all poems are response poems. To what could your poem respond? For starters, you could respond to another poem, a piece of art, something someone said to you, a cool-looking car, etc. Nothing is off limits.
- Use someone else’s line. This is kind of like eavesdropping, I suppose, but there are poems that will take a line from another person’s poem and make that the first line. In this tradition, it is also good form to mention the poem is “after (poet’s name here).” How this can help is that you’ve already got a great line out of the way–and just need to write the rest of the poem.
How do you write poems?
As I said above, there are other ways how to write poems (and I encourage you to share those below), but these are some of my favorite techniques. If the five tips on how to make a poem mentioned above don’t work for you, that’s fine. One of the many rules of poetry is that there are no rules of poetry–more like guidelines.
Publish your poetry!
If your problem isn’t starting poems (or even finishing poems), but instead, it’s finding an audience for your poems, then I recommend the 2016 Poet’s Market, edited by me. This reference houses hundreds of publishing opportunities, including book publishers and (online and print) publications, in addition to several articles on finding an audience through getting published, speaking tips, and more! | <urn:uuid:11eb6bbd-578a-4430-b586-ede47f7da9b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/advice/5-ways-how-to-write-a-poem | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961848 | 608 | 2.796875 | 3 |
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