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Just as I realised the pot had been punctured by a big tooth, nine furry heads emerged to peer at us from a thorny hedge west of camp. We were still standing next to the Land Rover when the lions started strolling toward us in a long single file. (Cry of the Kalahari)
When Mark and Delia Owens ventured out into the vast, remote Kalahari Desert in Botswana during the 1980s, they probably didn’t anticipate that their story would become one of the most famous accounts of this wilderness area. Their encounters with all manner of creatures great and small have become legendary, but it is their ‘up-close and personal’ accounts of the lions of the Kalahari that are particularly memorable.
Lions are apex predators – key indicators of the ecological ‘health’ of an area. Their numbers and their behaviour directly influence the numbers and behaviour of meso-predators (or ‘mid-ranking’ predators) which then has knock-on effects for all levels of the ecosystem. Lions are popular due to their power and charisma, and thanks to this popularity their species have an indirect impact on decisions that are made on a national level to protect areas of natural habitat. This, in turn, benefits other, less popular but equally important species. As of 2015, lions were listed as ‘Vulnerable’ and placed on the World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species.
Although their numbers continue to decline, (primarily due to conflict with people) the Kalahari lion population is relatively stable, which is why it’s such an important region for research. These enigmatic lions, some of whom Mark and Delia would occasionally wake up to find sleeping next to them in the middle of the desert, are an example of a “flagstone species in biodiversity conservation” (Beukes, 2016; Loveridge & Canney, 2009). This means that they play a crucial role in attracting visitors to the area, and they serve an economic as well as ecological purpose.
The home ranges of the Kalahari lions are the largest on record and correlates directly with the dynamic distribution of prey. These lions have vast territories, spreading across the harsh, arid environment of the desert. Temperatures in the Kalahari range from -15 degrees C to over 40 degrees C, and both predator and prey species have to adapt to such extremes.
The Kalahari lions tend to gather in smaller, more scattered groups – unlike the larger prides found in other areas. Their shape and physique have evolved to suit the environment as well: they have larger paws and leaner limbs and are able to cover greater distances. The desert lions are known for their characteristic dark manes – not all are crowned in the same way, but there are noticeably darker specimens throughout the region.
Researchers have carried out extensive studies of the diets of these Kalahari lions, by gathering and analyzing scat samples (Beukes, 2016) and plotting the various GPS points of their feeding ‘events’. Larger herbivores like gemsbok, eland, kudu, and blue wildebeest are deemed to be the most popular prey choice, accounting for 68 to 97% of the lion diet. Smaller mammals like springbok are less frequently hunted – however, surprisingly, the porcupine has proved to be a popular, if rather prickly, dinner option for the lions in this region. In terms of hunting techniques, the Kalahari lions have developed a specific method for taking down the mighty gemsbok. Using the full force of their powerful jaws, the lions will target a particular weak spot in the gemsbok’s vertebrae, thereby dislocating the vertebral column. This is just another example of how the harshness of the environment has enabled the evolution of a specially adapted technique.
It is worth bearing in mind that despite the range of adaptations of the Kalahari lions, and their incredible resilience in such a difficult environment, they remain vulnerable. Existing in smaller, more isolated pride groups, they are at greater risk from the effects of environmental change and conflict with humans. If their habitat is not protected, they are more likely to stray into areas where humans live, to prey on livestock, damaging an already precarious relationship between lions and people. It is essential, then, that we encourage people to visit and learn more about the Kalahari lions, as well as supporting further research into their unique ways, so that these magnificent beasts may be allowed to flourish, in spite of all the challenges the desert throws at them.
References:
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On May 1, a study published in the journal Science concluded that “extinction rates will accelerate with future global temperatures, threatening up to one in six species under current policies.” The solution proposed by the author is one that has been heard lately too many times to ignore: Limit climate change or more species will become extinct.
Given a temperature increase of three degrees Celsius, the extinction rate rises to 8.5 per cent, while a 4.3 degrees temperature increase will bring the percentage to 16, which means that one in six species could disappear.
The repercussions of any species disappearing is more complex than just switching it to a different list. Nothing exists on its own, and the ecosystem functions as a complex symbiotic machine where every species contributes to life as we know it.
The regions most threatened, the study points out, are South America, Australia and New Zealand, and the least threatened Europe and North America. Species most at risk, according to the same study, are reptiles and amphibians. It is not the first time these species, yet another example of unlikely canaries, have been mentioned by researchers in an effort to bring the extinction subject to the general public.
For anyone doubting that the situation is indeed becoming dire, there is more evidence to support the same scenario, only from a different angle and featuring the disappearance of much larger species whose role in their natural habitat is inestimable.
In a report published Friday in the journal Science Advances, scientists report that many species are disappearing (as much as 60 percent of certain species) and it is humans who are causing it.
Large herbivorous species such as hippos, rhinoceros, gorillas and elephants, are severely threatened by excessive hunting, poaching, loss of habitat due to deforestation, high density of livestock and climate change.
The big issue, the study emphasized, is that when these big animals go, they’ll initiate a cascade of unwanted events that will affect other species and the very habitats they occupy.
Big herbivores do more than just eat vegetation, the study explains. Their role is as complex as can be: they spread seeds, interact with smaller species, shape the distribution of wildfires across a landscape and the distribution of various species of plants throughout entire areas. Also, by constantly eating and defecating large amounts of plant biomass, they provide a unique nutrient cycling process that cannot be performed by small herbivores.
Big predators and scavengers who depend on them, many of whom are already threatened by overhunting and habitat loss, will see their numbers decline due to loss of their primary source of food.
The most important factor in the decline of the largest terrestrial herbivores was revealed to be, surprisingly enough, excessive hunting, more so than human encroachment and habitat loss. Animals in protected areas are no longer safe, the study points out, as most of these areas suffer from a reduced management budget to begin with.
It is estimated that approximately one billion of people rely on wild meat as their source of protein. With large herbivores disappearing at alarming rates, people in the affected areas will not only suffer the direct consequences of extinction as their food supplies will dwindle, but they will also lose the economic boom brought by ecotourism.
The authors urge for many issues to be addressed and soon. Among them, directed research that will shed more light into the ecology of various herbivores in South-East Asia, Africa and South America, lowering human birth rates in rapidly growing regions where large herbivores are threatened, focusing conservation efforts and addressing poaching all the way to those who demand it, managing protected areas as well as areas with high density of livestock, and last but not least, addressing climate change.
It is a tall and complex order, yet compared to what we all stand to lose should the present trend continue, it is more than worth the cost.
One Response
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We see kangaroo road kills by the dozen; but it seems these nocturnal animals are prolific enough. If it gets too cold I suspect they will move North. Eight or so years ago CBC presented an expert who advocated forgetting about global warming in favour of addressing the inevitable consequences. | http://www.planetexperts.com/climate-change-threatens-extinction-of-large-herbivores-study-shows/ |
Weather and grasslands
This month of May the weather has been hot, dusty and humid; pastel sunrises would open the day. The rainfall patterns have been very scattered in the early stages of the month, with only two very light showers in first week of the month. A sudden burst of short heavy rain that came in from the west was had on the 24th. Total rainfall for the month was 28 mm, and the Trans Mara have received more rainfall than the Musiara and north-east conservancies.
Pastel sunrises in May – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
The Mara River has also started to drop drastically with the bedrock now being seen in some parts, while the Musiara Marsh has also started looking dry with the northern spring just flowing.
Mara River levels have subsided – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
Grass levels in some areas of the reserve are very low; other grasslands are still quite long. With grass stems looking dry, there are few herbivores grazing here. The green tinge that we had in April has now disappeared. A few larger Warburgia trees have fruit and the Crotons are also dropping their fruit in large quantities.
Low grass levels sufficing a mix of herbivores – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
On the plains:
General game species are well spread out with the East marsh plains and Topi Plains being generally quiet. The southern Bila Shaka plains have been grazed down to a low level.
Many of the large herds of common zebra have moved out and back into the short grass plains in the north-east conservancies as there are different grasses here due to soil texture. Some zebra have even crossed the river into the Trans Mara. The resident Wildebeest are also being seen on the short grass plains within the conservancies and eastern areas of the reserve. Thomson and Grant’s Gazelles are well spread out along with breeding herds of Impala; there is a bachelor herd of males close to Governors’ Camp. Within the breeding herd of Impala, there are many young fawns of varying ages which can be seen in ‘crèches’. The Impala have bred well this month despite the poor rainfall patterns. Large troops of Olive Baboons are also seen within the woodland verges and the roadside; there are many infants in this one particular troop that is between the camps. Warthogs with their piglets which are 8-9 months old are well spread out and in large numbers – the resident lion prides feed upon them frequently. Many warthogs have taken up residency within our camps for some time now, and it is not uncommon for lion to pass through the camps and feed on them. Three have been eaten this month within the camps; it is fair to say that when these warthogs become residents, they lose some of their alertness and become a little blasé about the relative safety and life that surrounds them.
Bohors Reedbuck who like to lie low, can be seen in the Bila Shaka area and within the longer grass areas of the Marsh verge. A male and three females are often seen in the east marsh close to the main culvert area. On the whole, the habitat for Reedbucks is a long grass area within alluvial depressions. With good weather conditions, alluvial floodplains fill up and Bohors Reedbuck can be seen in quite high densities. Their gestation is seven and a half months.
Hippo pod densities in the main river are converging again with low water levels prevailing; many of the insubordinate males are being forcibly moved out and chased away by older dominant bulls. They will often lay up in wooded areas close to the river and as the day moves on, they will slink back quickly in to the river until they are noticed. It is not uncommon to see solitary hippo out of water at this time of year – unfortunately many of these solitary younger or older males end up being eaten by the resident lion.
Densities of hippo pods are a frequent sight – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
Masai Giraffe are also being seen in the east marsh grasslands and woodlands; recently there has been one large herd of young male giraffe passing between the camps, and there are also the well-known older males who are feeding on the leaves of the Warburgia trees. These leaves are pepper hot (similar to that of cinnamon), so much so that there is a ‘giraffe browse line’ left on these trees. Elephant breeding herds come and go between the Marsh and the Trans Mara, and they appear to cross the river at the old BBC campsite area. This elephant crossing point is well known. There is one particular herd of twelve members that like to frequent in between the camp grounds.
Herd of male giraffe making their way up into camp – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
Bushbuck are seldom seen in the riverine woodlands; perhaps predator aggression between lion and spotted Hyena has pressured leopard to concentrate their activity in these deeper wooded areas. However, one female bushbuck was seen in the early morning of the 16th May, in the west marsh woodlands. Eland, whom are in the same tribe (Tragelaphini) as Bushbuck and Kudu etc, are more adaptable to open plains grazing, and these in small breeding herds can be seen well spread out.
Spotted Hyena clans prevail and compete with the resident lion prides. Later on in the month, an estimate of over seventy hyena were seen on the remains of a hippo carcass in the north-west marsh areas! This particular hippo may have been wounded by another or perhaps it was weak and subsequently sunk in the soft mud of the marsh and fell prey to the hyena. There are a few young hyena cubs in the east marsh grasslands where the clan den is located.
Spotted hyena, young cub, east marshlands clan – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
Serval cats have also been seen often in May; there is a female with two young kittens which are estimated at just three months old. She had been seen early morning of 21st May in the coarse grass areas of the old ox-bow by Governors’ Private Camp, eating a cape hare. Serval cats are ‘grass cats’ and feed primarily on birds and small rodents; in this case the guide said there was not even a chase, since hares have a quick turn and so the Serval must have surprised the hare in its lair. The Serval is characterised by a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow-to-buff coat, with black spots and stripes and a short, black-tipped tail. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size. When hunting ground birds, they will leap to catch them as they are trying to fly off. The well known ‘leapers’ of the savannah cats is the Caracal.
The Serval has the longest legs of any cat, relative to its body size – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
Larger Cats:
Lion:
The Marsh lionesses have been residing in the Bila Shaka area and also as far as the east marsh. Lioness Yaya and her two adult female daughters were being spotted on Rhino Ridge earlier on in the month. There has been plenty of mating between Yaya, Pamoja, Nusu Mkia and Marsh males Baba Yao and Kibogoyo.
Yaya and Baba Yao – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
On 22nd May, a zebra was killed on the south bank of the Bila Shaka by lionesses Dada, Rembo, Kito and Kabibi. They are still with their five cubs who are between 8-9 months old.
On the early morning of the 23rd May, two males plus lioness Spot and her cubs, plus Little Red, were seen having killed and eaten well off a hippo in the west marsh. They fed off this hippo for three days.
Marsh Pride lionesses – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
These males are collectively seen between two prides – the Madomo/Ridge Pride and the Marsh Pride. They move around between the west Marsh, Bila Shaka, Olare Orok and Malima Tatu areas – this is their large home range.
There are two lionesses in the east Olare Orok riverine woodlands with three very small, three-month-old cubs, that were seen on the 14th and we are suggesting they are two lionesses of the Madomo/Ridge Pride.
The Madomo/Ridge Pride currently has five lionesses and two 5-month-old cubs, plus two sub-adult lionesses. They have been seen hunting zebra and Topi within the Olare Orok, Topi Plains and Malima Tatu areas. This is a very successful pride with three sisters that dominate the hierarchy of this pride.
Leopard:
The female leopard ‘Saba’ of Olare Orok and her two young cubs who are six months old, are being seen more regularly now, although the cubs are often held deep into the river gorge and a long wait is required. On the 21st May she was seen south of the Olare Orok crossing, this area is a favourite haunt of hers.
Early in the month, Romi the female leopard that has two cubs (estimated at ten months old) was seen near the ‘Lake Nakuru’ area in the west marsh; there are some large hyena clans here and this will no doubt put pressure on leopard hunting movements. On the evening of the 19th she was seen near the BBC campsite area, it appears that she moves between the north Marsh and wooded areas of the old BBC campsite.
On the morning of the 23rd the young male leopard of the Ngiatiak River area was moving through the long grass areas of the river verges. The maternal mother of this male leopard is often seen near the double crossing on the Ngiatiak side.
Leopard sighting just outside of Governors’ Camp – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
On the 12th at 9.00am, a large male leopard was seen with two hyenas having a ‘tug of war’ with an Impala that had obviously been killed by the leopard, although he was caught unawares as he tried to drag his kill across a glade.
Female leopard Siri was seen on the 17th and 18th near the main crossing on the Mara River – she was up a Boscia tree with a Thomson Gazelle. Her male sub-adult cub is often seen near the Serena pump house area of the Mara River – the male cub must nearly twenty months old now. He is often seen within his mother’s home range and the granite outcrop near the pump house is a good place to see him.
Cheetah:
The five male cheetah coalition were last seen recently heading towards the murram pits south of the Ngiatiak River. These cheetahs have been known to go as far as the Hammerkop area in the southern reserve. They have also been residing and hunting in the Olare Orok conservancy which is where they had originally come from.
A single male and single female cheetah have both been seen again on the east Rhino Ridge grasslands. The female cheetah has been successful in two recorded attempts out of four. On the late morning of the 18th she attempted to strike a Thomson gazelle but after 100 meters she gave up, we suspect that her strike distance was misjudged. Cheetah hunting in late hours of the day is an indication of predation pressure from more dominant predators.
Cheetah prefer the short grass plains which support smaller antelope – photo credit Alberto Beltramello
The female cheetah Selenkai with her four sub-adult cubs (which are estimated at 11 months old), were seen mid-month hunting Thompson gazelles and young warthog below Emartii Hill. Later in the month, she was seen hunting in the Olare Orok Conservancy – these northern conservancies have better options for short grass plains that support many of the smaller antelopes such as Thomson and Grant’s gazelles.
Mara Game Report by Patrick Reynolds, manager of Governors’ Il Moran Camp. | https://www.governorscamp.com/masai-mara-game-report-may-2019/ |
The Asian lion may be ‘mrigaraja’, the ‘king of deer’, but it was the prey of royalty, who displayed their valour as lion-slayers. By the late 19th century, hunters had wiped out all signs of the tawny cat from the country, across northwestern India, east to Bihar, and as far south as the Narmada.
The hills of Kathiawar, a malarial outpost, saved its sorry roar. Even here it would have fallen had Lord Curzon not granted a reprieve in 1900. He turned down an invitation from the Nawab of Junagadh to take down a lion or few, out of concern that the species was on its last legs. Only then did the native ruler become aware of the species’ distressing circumstances.
Pastoralists and agriculturalists poisoned their share of lions for taking their livestock. But one community wasn’t too perturbed about the cats’ taste for their livestock — the Maldharis. One of their deities, Kankeshwari, sported an ox in one hand and a lion in the other. Another was Bhavani, who rode a lion.
Starting an unabated climb
In 1920, Sir Patrick Cadell, the Diwan of Junagadh, counted 50 lions, and J.M. Ratnagar of the Bombay Forest Service said there were 100 left. The Indian government protected the 1,400 sq.km. Gir forest, but the numbers wobbled up and down before beginning an upward climb that has not abated.
The white-clad Maldhari men herded their animals in the area and grew accustomed to being surrounded by prides of lions. Armed with stout staffs, they were said to knock any lion on the head if it came too close. Their vegetarian diet meant the lions could eat their kills in peace. In return, the cats didn’t mess with the people, having eyes only for their cattle.
“This is not to be misinterpreted as a lack of ‘wildness’ in these lions,” says Ravi Chellam, who studied lions in the 1990s.
“Make no mistake, these lions are more than capable of hunting sambhar, wild pigs, chital and a whole host of both wild and domestic prey species. My interpretation of this rather peaceable relationship between the lions and human beings is that over the years the lions have got used to human presence and it also helps that most people do not disturb the lions.”
Despite the Maldharis laidback attitude towards the carnivores, biologists in the 1970s saw the tribals as the main threat to lions. Their cattle out-competed wild herbivores and degraded the forest, they said. About 580 households were relocated to make Gir National Park the sole preserve of lions.
While the cats flourished, the people who were made to leave became poorer, selling lands they didn’t know how to till to work as wage labourers. In the adjoining wildlife sanctuary, a few hundred Maldharis continue to live with their animals.
In the mid 1980s, Gir brimmed with lions and young adults started colonising forests within a 20-kilometre radius. According to the 2015 census, 523 Asian lions live in four districts of Gujarat. As many as 40% of them roam outside forests, in crop and sugarcane fields and mango orchards, where lion numbers exploded by 130% in five years. To get a sense of just how rural these wild beasts have become, have a look at the numerous video clips on YouTube. They wander through a village, race across fields, try to cross a highway.
Despite the abundance of wild game in Gir, the lion population rose by less than 5%. The cats now occupy about 13,000 sq.km., sheltering in Prosopis thickets along the southern coast and in little forested patches. Several of these patches are too tiny to entirely support even one lion.
In 2011, the Forest Department estimated the cats killed about 90 livestock a month. Meena Venkataraman, a researcher who studies lions, estimates cattle made up the entire diet of 45 lions since one lion has to kill a buffalo or two cows a month. Earlier this year, H.S. Singh, a retired forester, estimated lions took 3,400 heads of livestock. Of course, no lion eats only cattle.
Turning a blind eye
As much as 75% of these cats living outside Gir are subsidised by people. If they said they had had enough of the lions and refused to tolerate any further predation of their stock, what would become of the 200 lions living outside Gir? What makes these people turn a blind eye to the lions?
Many of the farming communities in these new lion territories don’t have a cultural affinity for or history with lions as the Maldharis do. They could have demanded the forest department make their villages safer by removing all these predators. Instead, they learnt the value of having these predators around. Their bête noire isn’t the lion as much as the nilgai or wild boar that eat their crops. If lions didn’t keep their numbers in control, farming losses would be much more.
But to the cats, domestic meat tasted as good as wild game. Domestic animals are corralled in secure enclosures for the night, so the predators cannot get to them. The lions strike when the livestock return home in the evenings after grazing all day.
Occasionally, something flips a switch. In April-May 2016, lions killed three people in villages neighbouring Gir.
The forest department captured 17 and identified three it thinks are guilty of the crime. Since then calmness has prevailed. | https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/the-prides-of-gujarat/article19777230.ece |
White lions are part of the general classification of lions, Panthera leon. They are not albinos; they lack the tawny coloration due to a rare condition that results in reduced pigmentation. Because of their majestic appearance, they have been revered as sacred beings by tribes in southern Africa, but have also been hunted to extinction in the wild. They are now being reintroduced in protected areas by the Global White Lion Protection Trust.
Fast Facts
- Scientific Name: Panthera leo
- Common Names: White lion
- Order: Carnivora
- Basic Animal Group: Mammalia
- Size: Up to 10 feet long and 4 feet high for males and up to 6 feet long and 3.6 feet for females
- Weight: Up to 530 pounds for males and up to 400 pounds for females
- Life Span: 18 years
- Diet: Small birds, reptiles, hoofed mammals
- Habitat: Savannah, woodland, desert
- Population: 100s in captivity and 13 in the wild
- Conservation Status: Vulnerable
- Fun Fact: White lions are symbols of leadership and pride to local communities in the Timbavati region.
Description
White lions have a rare recessive trait that causes their white skin coloration. Unlike albino animals that lack pigmentation, white lions’ rare gene produces lighter pigmentation. Whereas albinos have pink or red coloration to their eyes and noses, white lions have blue or gold eyes, black features on their noses, “eye-liner,” and dark patches behind their ears. Male white lions may have white, blonde, or pale hair in their manes and on the ends of their tails.
Habitat and Distribution
The natural habitat of a white lion includes savannas, woodlands, and desert areas. They are indigenous to the Greater Timbavati region in southern Africa and are currently protected at the Central Kruger Park in South Africa. After being hunted to extinction in the wild, white lions were reintroduced in 2004. With the ban on trophy hunting in the Timbavati region and surrounding nature preserves, the first white cubs were born in the area in 2006. Kruger Park had its first occurrence of white lion cub births in 2014.
Diet and Behavior
White lions are carnivores, and they eat a variety of herbivorous animals. They hunt gazelles, zebras, buffaloes, wild hares, tortoises, and wildebeests. They have sharp teeth and claws that allow them to attack and kill their prey. They hunt by stalking their prey in packs, patiently waiting for the right time to strike. Lions typically kill their prey by strangulation and the pack consumes the carcass at the site of the kill.
Like tawny lions, white lions reach sexual maturity between ages three and four. Most white lions are bred and born in captivity, usually in zoos. Those in captivity may mate on a yearly basis, while those in the wild mate about every two years. Lion cubs are born blind and rely on their mother for the first two years of life. A lioness usually gives birth to two to four cubs in a litter.
In order for there to be a chance that some of the offspring will be white lions, the parents either need to be white lions or carry the rare white lion gene. Since the animal must bear two recessive alleles to exhibit the trait, there are three scenarios in which a white lion cub might be born. If both parents are tawny and carry the gene, there is a 25% chance the offspring will be a white cub; if one parent is a white lion and the other is tawny with the gene, there is a 50% chance the offspring will be a white cub; and if both parents are white lions, there is a 100% chance the offspring will be a white cub.
Threats
The biggest threat to white lions is uncontrolled trading and hunting of lions. Trophy hunting of dominant males of prides has reduced the gene pool, making white lion occurrences much more rare. Additionally, programs that wish to breed white lions for profit modify their genes.
In 2006, two cubs were born in the Umbabat Nature Reserve and two more were born in the Timbavati Reserve. None of the cubs, including the tawny ones, survived due to the killing of the dominant male lions of both prides for trophies. Since 2008, 11 white lion cubs have been spotted in and around the reserves of Timbavati and Umbabat.
White lions are leucistic, which means they have a rare gene that causes them to have less melanin and other pigments than non-leucistic animals. Melanin is a dark pigment found in skin, hair, fur, and eyes. In leucism, there is a total or partial lack of pigment producing cells known as melanocytes. The rare recessive gene responsible for leucism is a color inhibitor that causes the lion to lack darker pigmentation in some areas, but retain pigmentation in the eyes, nose, and ears.
Due to their light skin, some have suggested that white lions are at a genetic disadvantage when compared to their tawny counterparts. Many people have argued that white lions are unable to camouflage themselves and hide from predators and marauding male lions in the wild. In 2012, PBS released a series called White Lions, which followed the survival of two female white lion cubs and the struggles they experienced. This series, as well as a 10-year scientific study on the topic, demonstrated just the opposite. In their natural habitat, white lions were able to camouflage themselves and were just as much of an apex predator as wild tawny lions.
Cultural and Social Significance
In countries like Kenya and Botswana, white lions are symbols of leadership, pride, and royalty, and are viewed as national assets. They are considered sacred to the local Sepedi and Tsonga communities of the Greater Timbavati region. | https://309write.com/the-white-lion-animal-facts-586 |
A recent safari in the Serengeti was supposed to get my mind off of work. I figured that being thousands of miles away from the office, with no connectivity or even a phone, I would be able to completely detach myself from any thoughts relating to business.
Instead, as I was watching wildebeests, lion, elephants and zebras in their natural habitat, I couldn’t help but be struck by how much of their behavior reflects the competitive nature of an entrepreneurial business.
I know this probably sounds crazy, but hear me out.
Watching these animals fighting for survival, I was struck by how they were able to not just survive, but thrive by using many of the same tactics that are used by successful businesses. Whether it was watching lions stalking their prey, zebras and wildebeests co-existing to each other’s benefit, or even watching a vulture patiently waiting for a zebra to die, there were strategies in place that would work for almost any business in the world.
Let me give you a few examples:
1. Strong and Decisive Leadership Is Essential to Success
In virtually every species I observed, leadership was in the hands (hooves, paws?) of an alpha male or group of alpha males.
This kind of leadership resulted in efficient and orderly behaviors that benefited the group as a whole. When it was time to move to new territory, when it was time to rest, when it was time to eat were all determined by the alpha male. The rewards of leadership? The alpha was always the first to eat recently killed prey and, of course, the first to mate.
While I am not advocating this kind of autocratic leadership in business, I saw compelling evidence of how strong, decisive leadership can work to the benefit of the whole team. Forgive the pun, but there’s a reason why CEOs get the lion’s share of the profits.
2. When Opportunity Presents Itself, Jump In
I had a chance to see a zebra that had survived a lion attack, but just barely. As it bled from a wound on its left rear quarters, a vulture dropped in and crouched on the ground, barely 10 feet from the zebra. The vulture waited patiently for the zebra to die, just sitting and staring. I didn’t see the end of this drama, but I have the distinct feeling that the vulture did not go home hungry.
While I’m not saying that entrepreneurs should be vultures, they should be ready to pounce on opportunities when they arise. Keep your eyes open, stay on top of your competition, and jump right in when you see a weakness to exploit.
3. Don’t Be Too Proud to Take the Leftovers From the Big Boys
Hyenas are often portrayed as one of the lowest forms of animals. They tend to follow prides of lions (at a safe distance) and get their sustenance by waiting for the scraps left behind after the lions are finished with the animals they kill.
There are dozens of other scavengers in the wild who rely on the scraps left behind by the animals higher up on the food chain.
As an entrepreneur, being a “scavenger” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This is especially true when you are a service provider. You are going to have much larger competitors in your market, and they are going to get the bulk of the work from the largest clients. It’s a fact of life.
That doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of opportunities presented when the big boys are satisfied. Big competitors often don’t want to be bothered by smaller projects, and big clients always have smaller jobs they’ll give to smaller companies.
Entrepreneurs should see this as a chance to get your foot in the door. Take on the small project for the big client, do great work and you’ll find that the smaller projects will soon become bigger projects.
4. Find Ways to Survive in Difficult Times
Difficult times are built in to the life cycle on the Serengeti. Every year there is a dry season which tests the survival instincts of every species. Difficult times make for hard choices. Lions have been known to eat their own young. Elephants will cover many miles in a day just to find a drink of water. Weak members of the herd who can’t keep up are left behind to die.
No matter what business you are in, there will be difficult times. But even in the most difficult times, great entrepreneurs find ways to stay ahead. It may mean cutting down on overhead. It may mean being more creative with marketing and advertising budgets. It may just mean outworking the competition. Those who learn to adjust and adapt find ways to keep going.
Just as many animals fail to survive dry spells, so do many businesses. For the resident wildlife of the Serengeti, survival is a matter of life and death. Entrepreneurs who succeed in difficult times survive because of a “life and death” mentality.
5. Don’t Let Anything Get in Your Way
A common site on the Serengeti is acres of trees that are snapped in half or simply knocked over. Perplexed by this sight, I asked our Masai guide what the reason was.
“You’ll see soon enough,” was his cryptic response.
True to his word, he led us to a bend in the road where we could glimpse a herd of elephants coming in our direction. Because this was the tail end of the dry season, the elephants were in hot pursuit of water.
Nothing, I would soon see, would get in their way. Much larger than any elephants I had ever seen in a zoo, the males simply barreled through the trees, snapping them as if they were twigs. It was an awesome sight, but one that reminded me of the determination I had seen from many of the entrepreneurs I have known or worked with over the years. To get where you want to be, there are times you just have to push forward, having the confidence to knocking away obstacles as opposed to delicately sidestepping them.
6. Forge Mutually Beneficial Partnerships
One thing you learn about animals in the wild is that many species have natural partners. These partnerships (symbiotic relationships) work to the benefit of both species, playing a key role in their survival.
Any time you see a herd of zebras in the Serengeti, you are sure to find wildebeests close by. Why? The two groups work perfectly together. Both get their nutrition from grasses, but get it in very different ways. Zebras feed on tall grass, while the wildebeests eat short. The zebras clear away the tall grass for the wildebeests, which then munch on the shorter grass left behind.
Similarly, there are birds that get their sustenance by eating ticks found on larger, grazing animals. The larger animals are happy to be rid of the nuisance of the ticks, while the birds are happy for the meal.
As any entrepreneur knows, there will always be times when you need to rely on outside expertise to advance your business goals. While nature has chosen the “business partners” for the zebras, entrepreneurs have to be smart in choosing the service providers and consultants that work with their businesses. A great partner can be worth their weight in gold. A lousy one can damage or even destroy your business.
7. Cut the Deadwood
This may sound harsh, but nature can be harsh, and business can be harsh.
On the seventh morning of the safari, I had a chance to witness a large pond teeming with hippopotamus and another pond with just two hippos basking in a corner. Our Masai guide explained that the large pond was filled with a handful of alpha males and dozens of females, while the other pond was populated by two “loser males.”
The loser males had proved unable to protect the group and offered little in the way of getting food or procreating. As a result, they were forcibly banished.
Most every business, at one time or another, will have a few “losers” on staff. They don’t contribute, are usually unhappy, and are bad for the overall morale and performance of the company. While firing employees is one of the hardest things for an entrepreneur to do, failing to remove a bad employee is bad business.
Survival Skills
Survival in the Serengeti is a daily battle. Animals fight for sustenance, for power and for their very lives. In the wild, merely living to face another day is a victory.
In business, of course, survival has a very different meaning. But the tactics for surviving in the Serengeti can provide real lessons for those of us trying to keep our businesses not only afloat, but thriving. | https://smallbiztrends.com/2011/10/seven-entrepreneurial-lessons-serengeti.html |
Hunters could see changes to mountain lion regulations under proposed management plan
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Wildlife officials hosted the first of seven meetings on proposed changes to mountain lion management and lion hunting in Steamboat Springs on Monday, Feb. 10.
Members of the public filled the presentation room in the Colorado Parks and Wildlife office, with many having to stand after all the seats were taken. It was a testament to what wildlife officials described as an increase in public exposure to mountain lions.
Historically, wildlife officials have managed mountain lions on a smaller scale, using localized management groups called data analysis units. Each unit has harvest limits, which determine how many lions can be hunted in a given season. Recent research has shown this approach did not offer accurate data on population numbers, because lions have such a large home range that overlapped the various units.
“Lions are a far-ranging species and should be managed on a bigger geographic area,” according to Lyle Sidener, area wildlife manager for Hot Sulphur Springs who led Monday’s meeting.
The new plan, as proposed, would group currently separate management units into larger ones. The local unit, called the northwest region, comprises an area of about 22,700 square miles, encompassing cities like Steamboat, Craig and Rangely. This region is home to about 1,580 mountain lions, Sidener said.
Maintaining stable populations
New studies also have shown that the number of female lions in a given unit has a greater effect on the overall health of populations. To that end, the proposed plan would set limits on the number of female lions that can be hunted in a given season. Studies have shown that if 20% to 25% of the lions killed are adult females that are actively nursing, it could indicate population suppression, according to Sidener.
“That is the single most important population statistic in the harvest when trying to maintain a stable population,” he told the crowd, referring to female mortality rates from hunting.
The plan sets a mortality threshold of 22% for female, nursing lions killed by hunters in a single year, Sidener said. If deaths exceed that number, officials would reduce the harvest limit for the following year to maintain stable populations. Exact harvest limits have not yet been established under the new plan.
CPW measures these numbers by requiring hunters to submit all lion carcasses for examination.
How do hunters determine the sex of lion before killing it?
Mark Vieira, CPW’s carnivore and furbearer program manager, said the distinction is easy for educated lion hunters who use hound dogs to help tree the animals.
“A skilled houndsman can tell by the size of the track if it is a male or female,” Vieira said.
It is even easier to distinguish sex once the lion is treed, he added. Males are larger, have bigger paws and a longer stride than females.
CPW requires lion hunters to complete an online exam to ensure they can make the distinction. Selective hunting has been shown to keep female populations at healthy numbers, Vieira said.
Officials also fielded questions from members of the public during Monday’s meeting. Larry Desjardin, president of Keep Routt Wild, asked why CPW implements tighter restrictions on the number of mountain lions that can be killed each year. He argued larger populations could help thwart the spread of chronic wasting disease among deer and elk, a primary diet for the carnivores.
Officials explained that other factors influence management strategies, namely human safety and livestock populations. Recent conflicts between people and lions have raised concern for wildlife managers. In August, a lion attacked and injured a young boy outside his home in rural Park County.
CPW also tries to keep lion populations at such a level as to limit the number of livestock, particularly sheep, that get killed. The agency has a game damage program to reimburse ranchers who lose livestock to mountain lions.
Deterring mountain lions from residences
One Steamboat resident, after noticing an increasing presence of mountain lions near her home near Steamboat Resort, asked officials what she can do to deter the animals from entering her property.
Kyle Bond, a local wildlife manager with CPW, said mountain lions typically are looking for comfortable habitat. A way to prevent the animals from making a home near one’s residence, he explained, is to make the habitat uncomfortable.
Motion-activated lighting, loud noises and thinner vegetation are some ways to make an area unattractive to mountain lions. Bond cautioned these tactics may not work every time, and the strategy requires neighbors to take similar initiatives.
Officials will continue to develop the new mountain lion management plan in the coming months, hosting public meetings in other communities across Northwest Colorado. CPW’s goal is to finalize the plan in time to implement it for the 2021-22 lion hunting season.
CPW has scheduled additional public meetings for the mountain lion plan:
• Gypsum: 6 p.m. Feb. 18, Community Center, 52 Lundgren Blvd.
• Meeker: 6 p.m. Feb. 19, Mountain Valley Bank, 400 Main St.
• Grand Junction: 6 p.m. Feb. 19, Mesa County Central Services, 200 Spruce St.
• Rifle: 6 p.m. Feb. 20, Colorado Mountain College, 3695 Airport Road
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Lion population trends in protected areas where lion abundance has been directly measured and data on the frequency of lion attacks on humans in high-conflict agricultural areas are summarized and quantitative analyses suggest that annual hunting quotas should be limited.
Methods for lion monitoring: a comparison from the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania
- Environmental Science
- 2013
The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania is believed to contain Africa’s largest population of lions (Panthera leo), making it a popular destination for trophy hunters and photographic tourists. However,…
Africa's apex predator, the lion, is limited by interference and exploitative competition with humans
- Environmental ScienceGlobal Ecology and Conservation
- 2019
The Space Between A geospatial analysis of connectivity between lion populations in East Africa
- Environmental Science
- 2014
Lion (Panthera leo) populations and habitat range are in steep decline. Lions are increasingly isolated in protected areas and other pockets of habitat. Habitat fragmentation lowers effective…
Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion and Its Implications for Felid Conservation
- Environmental SciencePloS one
- 2013
The evidence presented for a much later persistence of lions in North Africa, including generations when sightings were nil, suggests caution when considering felid populations as extinct in the wild, and raises the possibility that captive animals descended from the Moroccan royal collection are closer contemporaries to wild Barbary lions.
Genetic insights into dispersal distance and disperser fitness of African lions (Panthera leo) from the latitudinal extremes of the Kruger National Park, South Africa
- Environmental ScienceBMC Genetics
- 2018
Large genetic differences between the two sampling localities, and low relatedness among males and high dispersal rates among females in the south, are suggestive of unstable territory structure and high pride turnover, have potential implications for spread of diseases and the management of the Kruger lion population.
Patterns of bird predation on reptiles in small woodland remnant edges in peri-urban north-western Sydney, Australia
- Environmental ScienceLandscape Ecology
- 2008
It is found that there was a strong negative correlation between skink numbers and predatory birds (individually and combined) consistent with higher predation pressure in the edge compared to the core of remnants.
Conservation status of the lion (Panthera leo Linnaeus, 1758) in Tanzania . June 2010
- Environmental Science
- 2010
The IUCN SSC organized two regional workshops, one for West and Central Africa (2005) and one for Eastern and Southern Africa (2006), to produce regional conservation strategies for the lion.…
Protection of the African Lion: A Critical Analysis of the Current International Legal Regime
- Environmental Science
- 2016
This article looks at the current international regime that pertains to the African lion, a species that needs adequate protection across its range (a range that does not adhere to state boundaries).…
Individual Identification of Large Felids in Field Studies: Common Methods, Challenges, and Implications for Conservation Science
- Environmental ScienceFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution
- 2022
Large felids represent some of the most threatened large mammals on Earth, critical for both tourism economies and ecosystem function. Most populations are in a state of decline, and their monitoring…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 49 REFERENCES
Group territoriality and the benefits of sociality in the African lion, Panthera leo
- Environmental ScienceAnimal Behaviour
- 2009
Reduced dispersal and opportunistic territory acquisition in male lions ( Panthera leo )
- Environmental Science
- 2003
Investigation of life-history patterns in lions Panthera leo living in savanna woodlands of the Kruger National Park, South Africa, found that both sexes gain an advantage by not dispersing far, and use currently undocumented mechanisms to avoid inbreeding.
Case Study of a Population Bottleneck: Lions of the Ngorongoro Crater
- Biology
- 1991
The simulations suggest that the Crater population may have passed through previous bottlenecks before 1962 but that the level of heterozygosity in the breeding population has been declining since the mid-1970s, regardless of the population's genetic composition in the 1960s.
Top–down population regulation of a top predator: lions in the Ngorongoro Crater
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
- 2004
It is reported on 40 years of data on the lion population in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, which showed strong evidence of density–dependent regulation at 100–120 individuals but has remained below 60 individuals for the past decade despite consistently high prey abundance.
Downward trends in Ngorongoro Crater ungulate populations 1986-2005: Conservation concerns and the need for ecological research
- Environmental Science
- 2006
Ecological Change, Group Territoriality, and Population Dynamics in Serengeti Lions
- Environmental ScienceScience
- 2005
It is found that group living in African lions causes a complex response to long-term ecological change, and the observed pattern of “saltatory equilibria” results from the lions' grouping behavior.
The Evolution of Sex-Biased Dispersal in Lions
- Environmental Science
- 1987
Most female lions remain in their natal pride for their entire lives, but about a third emigrate before they reach four yrs of age. Most emigrating females leave either when they are evicted by an…
Factors affecting the hunting success of male and female lions in the Kruger National Park
- Environmental Science
- 2001
It is concluded that in African ecosystems, the hunting success of male and female lions varies with a range of combinations of lion-, prey- and environment-related variables, and the hunting ability of male lions is demonstrated, which has perhaps been understated in other studies.
Ritual vs. retaliatory killing of African lions in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
- Environmental Science
- 2008
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), Tanzania, is a multiple land-use area where Maasai pastoralists co-exist with large migratory herbivores and associated carnivores. Maasai retal- iate against…
Empirical support for a despotic distribution in a California spotted owl population
- Environmental Science
- 2003
Spotted owls in this study tended to occupy territories with the highest λ-sub-pf, supporting the assumption of ideal perceptual abilities within this population and suggesting that some individuals do not assess site quality accurately because of perceptual limitations, prey dynamics, and large territory sizes. | https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Persistence-and-local-extinction-of-lion-prides-in-Kissui-Mosser/b2c171831a735c8cb52903814da34d283fd6f873 |
Homotherium serum had long, slender forelimbs and a relatively long neck suggesting it was a more cursorial predator than the bear-like Smilodon. It had a holarctic distribution, so was cold-adapted to some degree with thick fur. It was approximately the size of the modern African Lion (Panthera leo). Scimitar-toothed cats, like dirk-toothed cats, had enlarged upper canines. These teeth were curved, serrated, and razor-sharp. It measured 110 cm height at the shoulders and weighted 150-230 kg. Although rarer than Smilodon, scimitar cats had a wider range during the last ice age, and have been recovered from Florida to the Yukon. In 2008, H. serum was recovered from Tyson Spring Cave in Fillmore County, southeastern Minnesota. DNA from this animal was very similar to much earlier H. serum from the Yukon suggesting very minor population changes over large geographic and chronological distances (Widga et al. 2012).
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*This image is copyright of its original author
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Homotherium seems to have combined strength with short bursts of speed and agility. It probably engaged in prolonged pursuit of its prey more often than Smilodon. The scimitar cat was able to see well during the day. The recovery of cubs and adults from caves in Texas and Tennessee suggest that these animals lived in dens, possibly as family groups. An assemblage of multiple scimitar cats (13 cubs + 20 adults) associated with the remains of over 300 juvenile mammoths from Friesenhahn Cave in Texas suggests that these cats selectively preyed on juvenile mammoths. This is further supported by the association of multiple mastodons with two adult and one juvenile scimitar cat at Gassaway Fissure, Cannon County, Tennessee (Rawn-Schatzinger 1992).
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10-21-2017, 05:29 AM
Sabre-toothed cats prowled Europe 200,000 years after supposedly going extinct
The backstory to this is interesting. When working his genetic analysis of the cave lion, Dr. Barnett found that one of the bones matched that of Homotherium and not P. spelaea. This was striking because P. spelaea is considered to have disappeared much later. And finally, Dr. Barnett and colleagues have published their findings.
Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats Based on Ancient Mitogenomics
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A herd of Mammoths attemping to drive off several individuals of Homotherium serum that have been stalking their young. Partial skeletons of young Mammoths have been found with the remains of this scimitar tooth cat, suggesting that they may have been a prefered prey species. (drawing Mark Hallet) taken from the book THE OTHER SABER-TOOTHS (Virginia L. Naples, Larry D. Martin and John P. Babiarz)
*This image is copyright of its original author
Judging by Paijmans et al., 2017 (Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats Based on Ancient Mitogenomics), also previously mentioned by Tigerluver, H. serum is now considered a synonym of H. latidens.
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05-17-2019, 03:29 AM
Was Homotherium Social?
In paleontology, there is debate as to whether some prehistoric big cats were social or not. These would include the Pleistocene lion-like cats Panthera Atrox and Panthera Spalea, Smilodon, and Smilodon. Of all cats, I believe there is one genus that was undoubtedly social. That cat would be Homotherium. But why would they be social? where is the proof? well then, lets take a look at the situation shall we?
For the first question, why would these cats be social? Most cats are solitary, although the puma has shown to be more social than previously thought. The only cat we can look to for a reference is the lion. One advantage to living in a group for cats of their size is that it helps defend kills and cubs against other predators on the plains, in the lions case, Spotted Hyenas. In the Early Pleistocene, Homotherium did coexist with the massive hyena, Pachycrocuta brevirostris, which was larger than a modern spotted hyena, which the size was probably linked to aggressive scavenging habits (Anton). As in the case for Homotherium Serum in North America, it coexisted with Panthera Atrox, a huge lion-like cat that weighed more than 700 pounds, was more powerful, and was better armed for battle, so one on one, a Homotherium would have been helpless against this big cat, so by definition, a P. atrox could have killed one scimitar, and a small group could have chased off or killed an equal sized group of scimitars, but not a large group, and it seems likely that P. atrox wasn't in huge groups like the African Lion. Another enemy was Arctodus, the Giant Short-Faced Bear, this animal was a beast, weighing in at more than a ton, one swipe would have ended a scimitars life. But in a big enough group, perhaps the cats could have held their own against this behemoth. Another advantage comes to hunting, studies done in Etosha National Park in Namibia have shown that lion prides can overcome the problem of being detected by prey in places with not very much cover by coordinating their activities, Homotherium, likely would have been the same. I will quote another advantage to group living from the book "Sabertooth" by Mauricio Anton.
"Zoologists have long wondered why only modern lions among all the big cats are social, and the most convincing hypothesis to date suggests that the numerical advantage provided by a pride structure when competing with conspecifics for the highest quality territory is the key reason why lions group together. According to this hypothesis, the heterogeneity of savannah habitat would be an important cause of pride formation, because territory quality depends on proximity to river confluences, which serve as funnels that force prey into a small area and also hold persistent waterholes and dense advantages over prides that are forced to the periphery and need to made do with poorer- quality real estate." Mauricio Anton
So those are the advantages to group living for big cats, and we know that they liked grasslands, the kind of habitat where these advantages take place.
As for question 2, where's the evidence? At Friesenhahn cave in Texas, several specimens of Homotherium Serum have been found, including cubs, showing that was a family group, not only that, they were found in association with the fossils of mammoths, and hunting mammoths including those of the age class these were in would have required cooperation to distract the mothers attention from her calf. Homotherium actually wasn't as strong as a modern lion or tiger, and except for the huge dewclaw, the claws weren't as retractable as other cats, and were worn down due to being used for traction. So using teamwork would have helped add some firepower in hunting big game.
(05-17-2019, 03:29 AM)Ysmedz Wrote:
@smedz
Very good post very good
05-17-2019, 03:45 AM
(05-17-2019, 03:42 AM)epaiva Wrote:(05-17-2019, 03:29 AM)Ysmedz Wrote:
Thank you, I think I'll make another one on the locomotion (endurance) and how their social structure may have worked.
12-27-2020, 05:12 PM
Should this thread not be dissolved into the Homotherium latidens thread in light of the study mentioned above? | https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-homotherium-serum |
By Gillian Mohney
A Minnesota-based television presenter and big-game hunter has drawn outrage after she posted a photo of herself posing with a lion she had just shot and killed in South Africa.
Melissa Bachman posted a photo to her Facebook account of herself smiling next to the carcass of the lion with her rifle in one hand.
"An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion,'" Bachman wrote. "What a hunt!"
The photo quickly went viral, drawing outrage from animal lovers and inspired Cape Town resident Elan Burman to start a change.org petition asking the South African government to ban Bachman from the country for her actions
"She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation, this country prides itself on," the petition reads. "As tax payers we demand she no longer be granted access to this country and its natural resources."
Nearly 15,000 people have signed the petition as of Saturday morning. Bachman has not publicly responded to her critics and immediate calls to reach her were unsuccessful. Bachman hosts a hunting show called "Winchester Deadly Passion" that follows her on different hunting trips across America.
In a video on her website Bachman describes herself as "a hunter to the core" and that hunting has been a part of her life since she "was a little girl."
The hunt where Bachman killed the lion was conducted on the land of the Maroi Conservancy. The conservancy is based in the Limpopo province in South Africa and their motto is "conservation through sustainable hunting." More.... | http://www.noanimalpoaching.org/animal-poaching-news-2009-2013/hunter-stirs-outrage-after-posting-photo-of-dead-lion |
Lions are being hunted under the guise of education and conservation, threatening their numbers in the wild.
Trophy hunters lead people to believe that a lion’s value will increase in order to influence rural communities to conserve the big cats. This is a misconception, as there is no scientific proof backing this practice.
There are around 1,800 huntable male lions in Africa, and trophy hunting claims an unsustainable 665 of them per year.
Trophy hunting hasn’t proven itself a sustainable venture. It also features several harmful facets, such as bating lions out of protected areas, exceeding the quota and destroying prides’ males. As a result, young males are removed from the possibility of reproduction.
CELEBRATE WORLD LION DAY WITH US ON AUGUST 10!
There is not enough scientific data to prove that the legal trade of lion bones is offsetting and discouraging the illegal poaching of wild lions. In some cases, this makes the illegal poaching of wild lions more lucrative. | https://carolinatigerrescue.org/newsroom/trophy-hunting-of-lions-should-not-be-mistaken-for-conservation/ |
What is the National Animal of Singapore?
The Lion or the Asiatic Lion is the official national animal of Singapore. Panthera Leo is the scientific name of Lion. It is also known as the Indian lion and Persian lion. Its historical range included eastern Turkey, Singapore, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River to Bengal and Narmada River in Central India. The national animal of Singapore, the Asiatic Lion is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of its small population size.
The five major areas that are judged as favorable for the preservation of the Asiatic Lion, which are Gir sanctuary, Gir National Park, Mitiyala Sanctuary, Pania Sanctuary and Girnar Sanctuary. The Lion is the most prestigious wild animal in the Singapore, which is the main cause to designate the Lion as the unofficial national animal of Singapore.
National animal of Singapore Facts—
- Common Name: Lion
- Scientific Name: Panthera Leo
- Color: Tawny coats with white underneath parts. Tuft at the end of the tail is black, and manes are golden yellow, which turns to dark brown. Cubs have brown spots on a grayish coat till to mature and its spots are remaining on the belly.
- Diet: The Lions are carnivorous; they prey medium to large ungulates: wild deer, goats, sambar, nilgai, chital, wild cattle, buffalo, young elephants, monkeys, birds, frogs, wild boar, goats, and porcupines.
- Height: Average male height is 3.5 ft.
- Weight: Adult male: 160-190 kg and the female: 110-120 kg
- Length: Average length is 2.92 m
- Cubs: 2-6(during rainy season)
- Major strength: Agility, smelling and hearing power.
- Major weakness: None
- Lifespan: 14-18 years
Tuft at the end of the tail is black, and manes are golden yellow, which turns to dark brown. Cubs have brown spots on a grayish coat till to mature and its spots are remaining on the belly. The tongue is covered with tiny, sharp, backward-facing hooks; use it to function as a comb for preparing and scraping meat from bones. They have good eyesight, specialized teeth, flexible spine, powerful leg and jaw muscles, forelimbs with retractable claws. They rely on disguise and stalking during the hunt like all cats, Asiatic Lions have very good speeding up but little endurance. It is important when hunting to get as close to the prey as possible before charging.
Singapore’s national animal, Lion, the “King of Jungle” is distinctive among cats as they live together in brawny social groups. The arrogance is made up of 5-15 allied females with cubs along single male. Male Asiatic Lions patrol a territory of around 100m² by marking trees and rocks with urine. They roar to notify off interlopers. In spite of their mammoth size, the male Asiatic Lions, in fact, do hunting as they are often slower and more easily seen than their female counterparts.
Lion is the only cats, which make a group to live that called ‘prides’. It is a family unit, which may include maximum three males, twelve to fifteen females, and their young. The young males ultimately leave the pride and founding won pride while the female young naturally stay with the group as they age. Female lions are the pride’s main hunters while the males rarely participate in hunting. The Lions steal the prey those are hunted by the Hyenas or wild dogs.
Mane indicates males with their fitness of the Lion, the national animal of Singapore. The development rates of the manes are generally controlled by testosterone. The female Lion gives birth to two to six cubs after a 3.5 month gestation period. Cubs weigh 1 to 2 kg. Eyes of the cubs are typically open by 15 days and can walk by 15 days and are able to run by 1 month of age. Mother Lion keep their cubs in hiding until they reach about 8 weeks of age. They are weaned between 7 and 10 months, on the other hand until they are at least 16 months old they have to depend upon the adults of the pride.
Reference: | https://whatsanswer.com/what-is-the-national-animal-of-singapore/ |
This webinar will explore a targeted approach to creating wellbeing and personal development of un-sentenced prisoners (Correctional cohort) in prison.
The Correctional cohort present with a range of complex needs and require tailored intervention and support for their successful rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
It is evident that a positive approach that is yielding excellent results is a focus on a strengths-based approach. This incorporates adult learning principles to allow skills development.
This webinar explores how to apply a strengths-based approach when working with a Correctional cohort and engage positively through examining evidence-based practice strategies.
Learning outcomes
In this webinar, you will develop an understanding of the following strengths-based areas:
- How personal perceptions can impact working with a Correctional cohort
- Strategies for applying strengths-based practice with a Correctional cohort
- Creating capacity for change through resilience-building strategies
- The role of psycho-educational programs and strengths-based models
- Challenges of working with a complex cohort and understanding how strengths-based practice can build motivation and engagement
- How to separate empathy from collusion when working with a Correctional cohort
- The importance of reflective practice and self-care when working with complex cohorts and integration needs.
About the presenters
Samantha Winnick has a wealth of experience, working in the community services and training sector undertaking work including case management, client assessment, leading family violence programs, Correctional programs and family services, youth work, protective care and community welfare programs. Samantha has designed, developed and delivered programs including ATLAS, LINCS, LINCS in Families, the SORT program and currently coordinates and oversees Offender Services programs at Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV). She also facilitates professional development workshops with the RAV Training and Development Team.
Luke McCord is an experienced program facilitator in the RAV Offender Services team. He brings with him over 12 years of experience working with a Correctional cohort in both government and private sectors including 6 years with Youth Justice. Luke also has over 10 years of experience leading large teams delivering positive change programs within Correctional facilities and the community. Luke is passionate about working with men and fathers and blends his professional and personal experience to engage people from all walks of life.
Other information
When you click to purchase, you will be taken to our new and improved payment gateway. Once you complete your purchase you will receive an email detailing how to access your learning event in our Moodle Learning Management System. | https://www.relationshipsvictoria.org.au/webinar-program/strengths-based-approach-reintegration/ |
The Virtual Space Station (VSS) is a suite of behavioral health countermeasures developed over several years with NSBRI support. The VSS includes conflict management training, depression treatment, and stress management modules. To modify and customize these behavioral health countermeasures for astronaut use, the VSS programs will be evaluated in a analog environments such as Antarctica and HI-SEAS that include the elements of isolation and confinement found in long-duration spaceflight.
Additionally, an integrated behavioral health assessment will be added to the existing content to determine the need for behavioral health countermeasures and guide the astronaut user accordingly. Also, the VSS conflict resolution content will be expanded. To promote psychological well-being, the software will be modified to incorporate virtual reality (VR), including a VR-based relaxation and attention restoration system, which can provide a fully confidential, positive, immersive experience for astronauts.
The final product will offer an integrated user interface that can guide a user with minor problems to enjoyable countermeasures, such as VR relaxation, but will also have validated content to treat more severe problems such as depression.
Aim #1: Customize the Virtual Space Station (VSS) program for use by astronauts by evaluating the program in isolated environments (e.g. Antarctica, HI-SEAS) and collecting detailed information on program use, including user choices, ease of navigation, usability and acceptability. The VSS program can provide unique insights into the behavioral health problems isolated and confined teams face. The depression program collects detailed information about users’ engagement and interaction with the program, as well as users’ subjective assessments of their progress, the details of the action plans and therapeutic homework they create during the session, and self-reported depression symptoms at each session. This information provides a unique insight into the problem-solving process in an isolated environment, which could be used to tailor the content to isolated/confined individuals. We hypothesize that we will receive unique information from the individual user-generated problem lists, potential solutions, action plans, etc. from participants in isolated and confined environments that can be used to improve the depression program for spaceflight use.
Aim #2: Modify the existing VSS conflict management program to add enhanced conflict resolution content and an integrated behavioral health assessment. To meet Conflict resolution content will be developed in collaboration with Jeff Weiss (founder of the West Point Negotiation Project, and Tuck School at Dartmouth faculty member). Conflict resolution content will be provided as interactive, multimedia scenarios, as well as in interactive exercises. Al Holland, Ph.D. (operational psychologist at NASA/JSC) will assist with the development of the integrated behavioral health assessment. Content will be designed and programmed in collaboration with the DALI lab at Dartmouth headed by Lorie Loeb.
Aim #3: Enhance the VSS program to include a mood enhancement system that allows users to experience immersive relaxing situations using virtual reality. Immersive virtual reality can provide positive experiences to promote psychosocial well-being, and potentially restore cognitive effectiveness. This relaxation technique does not currently exist in the VSS. We will use a VR headset (Oculus Rift) and 3D software (off the shelf and custom built) to create the content. Users will identify locations that produce positive emotions (e.g. calm, happy, energized). Also, high definition renderings of natural settings (e.g. forest, beach) will be created. The Dartmouth’s Digital Arts (DALI) lab team, will take a series of high-resolution 3D videos and incorporate them into the software (Unity plus custom plug ins) to create an immersive, interactive experience. With the new, wide-field-of-view, Oculus Rift headset, the user will feel as if they are in the space, and can move their heads to see the space in 360 degrees. Using heart rate, skin conductance, and other stress metrics, we will analyze the efficacy of such a system and customize it to meet the needs of the user.
Behavioral health issues such as conflict, stress, and depression are common. Autonomous, confidential and easy-to-use countermeasures for these issues are likely to find multiple uses outside of NASA. | http://nsbri.org/researches/autonomous-behavioral-health-countermeasures-for-spaceflight/ |
Virtual Reality is used extensively within healthcare, including phobia treatment, anatomy learning and surgery practice; it may also serve the medical community as a medium of autopoietic documentary that preserves and augments the voices of its makers/subjects, and is experienced through performance, with the gestures, gaze and actions of the body determining its choreography. There is evidence that an empathetic doctor will be more likely to offer treatments that are better suited to the patient, and Virtual Reality has been called an “empathy machine”, enabling the participant to walk in somebody else’s shoes, gaining insight and becoming more attuned towards them. A lot of emphasis is placed on visual immersion in VR, but there may also be ways of learning through listening, as well as learning to listen to the patient’s voice. Virtual Reality may present a unique opportunity to engage with patient narratives whilst being enveloped in their everyday or imagined personal spaces. An immersive experience that brings together spoken narratives together with real-time animation can be a collaborative medium that illuminates the personal whilst simultaneously offering the patient a prospect of offloading trauma and commencing a healing process. | http://3d3research.co.uk/student/katerina-athanasopoulou/ |
Recent Workshop Highlights Innovative Immersive Media Projects at UMD
Faculty, staff and students from nine departments and six colleges recently came together for a virtual workshop to showcase all-things-immersive at the University of Maryland.
Hosted by the university’s Immersive Media Design (IMD) program and the Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality Innovation Center (MAVRIC), the Feb. 26 workshop was designed to stimulate conversations and open new pathways for increasing collaboration and support of all-things-immersive across the UMD campus. (A full recording of the four-hour workshop is available here.)
“It was inspiring to see how researchers from computer science and art—as well as other disciplines from across the campus—are incorporating immersive media technologies into their work,” said Roger Eastman, a professor of the practice in computer science who is the director of IMD. “This represents the breadth and depth of expertise, resources and opportunities that incoming IMD students will have access to.”
Opening remarks for the workshop came from Bonnie Thornton Dill, professor and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, and Amitabh Varshney, professor and dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS).
“The arts and humanities provide skills, not just in the visual arts, but in narrative storytelling, empathy, ethics and social context—all of which are essential to the impactful use of immersive media,” Thornton Dill said in her remarks.
Varshney, who was instrumental in forming a university-wide committee in 2016 that led to the establishment of the IMD program, echoed those comments.
“Immersive media has the potential to make our lives and relationships so much more meaningful and impactful, and our IMD graduates will be the ones driving the field forward,” he said.
The keynote talk was presented by Marc Ruppel, a UMD alumnus with a Ph.D. in English, who is currently a senior program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ruppel gave a detailed overview of federal funding opportunities for projects and activities that rely on immersive media for education, storytelling, artistic impressions, or technical innovations.
“We want impactful projects, but also projects that people can use,” Ruppel said in his address.
Other highlights from the workshop included a lightning talk from Matthias Zwicker, professor of computer science and interim chair of the Department of Computer Science. Zwicker, who is a lead faculty member in the IMD program, outlined recent advancements in computer graphics rendering algorithms that are bringing us closer to achieving movie-quality rendering in interactive VR applications.
Another presenter was Mollye Bendell, a studio arts lecturer and the first faculty member to teach an IMD course at UMD last fall. As an artist, Bendell explores longing and visibility in ephemeral media. She presented Sketch for Sleepers, an attempt to preserve people through digital masks molded around images from video chats. Bendell said she began the piece during the COVID-19 quarantine around her fear that the last time she might see her loved ones would be on a video call.
Immersive technologies used in health care, medical training and the performing arts were showcased by researchers from the Maryland Blended Reality Center (MBRC), a multi-institutional effort between UMD and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, that is co-directed by CMNS dean Varshney.
The MBRC team discussed how they are imagining new ways of engaging audiences with musical performances, including opera and solo violin; developing immersive platforms to improve severe weather forecasting; building anatomy training modules in virtual and augmented reality that can be used by medical students; prototyping an immersive point-of-care ultrasound diagnostic imaging unit; creating scalable work training modules using mixed reality; and building a multiple camera array studio to produce cinematic holograms.
—Story by Maria Herd
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About IMD: The immersive media design major prepares students to excel in creativity and innovation using the latest digital tools and technologies. It is the first undergraduate program in the country that blends art with computer science to encompass a wide range of immersive media applications. The major represents a unique collaboration between the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. IMD receives technical and administrative support from the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.
About MAVRIC: MAVRIC connects the university’s world-class research expertise by faculty and students focused on immersive media—and its state-of-the-art facilities—with the assets of academic, public sector and corporate partners in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. The center’s core mission is to foster the development of immersive media technologies by building a network of influencers and executive champions, supporting the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and providing the strategic support needed to build a successful technology cluster that is centered at the University of Maryland.
The Department welcomes comments, suggestions and corrections. Send email to editor [-at-] cs [dot] umd [dot] edu. | https://www.cs.umd.edu/article/2021/03/recent-workshop-highlights-innovative-immersive-media-projects-umd |
Half or more of people with moderate-to-severe brain injuries -- a growing issue in populations such as veterans in the years following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- have been shown in research studies to struggle with difficulty recognizing emotions in themselves and others.
The result of this impairment is further aggravated as emotional disconnect gives rise to feelings of irritability and aggression in sufferers of the condition.
One IU researcher who is taking an innovative approach to the treatment of these individuals is Dawn Neumann, Ph.D., an assistant research professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the IU School of Medicine. She has teamed up with members of the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI and the IU Research and Technology Corp. to create game-based virtual reality solutions to emotional impairments related to traumatic brain injury.
"After a brain injury, it is common for patients to have difficulty processing emotions. Currently there are not any established methods for treating these typical emotional impairments," said Dr. Neumann, whose work recently received a boost from a unique, commercially focused grant program from the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH's Small Business Technology Transfer grant program will provide an additional $180,000 to advance the Interactive and Functional Assessment of Communication and Emotion, or InterFACE, Center at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana.
Established in November, InterFACE is one of the world's most advanced laboratories to better understand and treat patients with emotional issues related to brain injury. The center's director is Dr. Neumann.
NIH Small Business Technology Transfer grants are designed to advance work on innovative and evidence-based products that become commercially sustainable and facilitate the transition of scientific evidence into clinical practice. The funds provided to InterFACE will support a study, "The Emotion Builder: An Intervention for Emotional Deficits after Brain Injury," which aims to develop and test the feasibility of a virtual reality video game to treat problems with emotional self-awareness and to affect recognition and empathy after traumatic brain injury.
"This study combines state-of-the-science knowledge of emotional processing after brain injury with innovative technology to develop methods that we hope will be of benefit to individuals with brain injury and their close others," said Jim Malec, Ph.D., professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the IU School of Medicine and director of research at Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana. Malec is a co-investigator on the project.
The high-tech tools currently being used, or under development, to advance the project include high-definition video and audio recording systems; a wireless system to collect physiological information such as heart rates, respiration, galvanic skin response and muscle activity; facial expression analysis software; an eye-tracking system; and an immersive virtual reality system.
The virtual reality software system's development is led by Joseph Defazio, Ph.D., director of Media Arts and Science in the School of Informatics and Computing. An educator, musician and software engineer, Dr. Defazio's expertise encompasses graphics, animation, sound, video, 3D environments, authoring, programming toward interactive simulation and game applications. He is also the producer of several multi-media projects across currently on display across the city of Indianapolis, including an exhibit at the Eiteljorg Museum of the American Indians and Western Art.
Moreover, Dr. Defazio's system, and the physical equipment which it supports, will be packed into a "living-room-style" environment designed to put patients with moderate-to-severe TBI at ease during testing. Among the bigger challenges being tackled at the center is the collection of objective, scientifically viable data on real personal interactions in a natural setting.
If the intervention proves effective, Dr. Neumann said InterFACE will enable clinicians to provide "a safe and engaging method for retraining complicated emotional deficits in simulated real life situations" -- a significant leap forward in the treatment of emotional issues resulting from traumatic brain injury.
An additional co-investigator on the project is Flora Hammond, M.D., chair and Covalt Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the School of Medicine and chief of medical affairs at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana. InterFACE is also supported by Joseph Trebley, Ph.D., head of start up support and promotion at the IURTC. | https://inscopearchive.iu.edu/spotlights-profiles/faculty-staff/2014-04-10-faculty-neumann-inscope.shtml |
EMVIGR LIMITED was incorporated to exploit the business opportunities arising from repurposing of video game technologies together with cloud enabled monitoring across all industry sectors. The anticipated rapid introduction of online/immersive therapies within the global healthcare industry together with the adoption of virtual/augmented reality in education and training are fundemental drivers of business growth in this century.
Some of our projects include creating medically informed virtual reality scenarios for anger/empathy management in young adults for the NHS. Development of a cloud-based, highly secure, sharing system for patient data derived from wearable technologies (e.g., fitbit), again for the NHS. Creation of teleltherapies for stroke rehabilitation and other conditions hindering movement.
We have worked with award winning games studios, represented the UK in trade delegations, collaborated with regional development agencies, and built software for leading organisations.
We have been finalists in a number of national industry awards including the AXA Health Innovator Award
Director of Health Technologies is Janet Eyre
A Rhodes Scholar and previous Wellcome Senior Fellow in Clinical Science, she currently holds the Chair in Paediatric Neuroscience at Newcastle University and is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurology. Professor Eyre is an internationally recognised expert in brain plasticity following brain injury across the life span from birth to old age and its implications for rehabilitation. She currently leads a research programme of £2.7 million into the clinical application of action video games for the home-based-delivery and remote monitoring of rehabilitation. She has been awarded the following for her work in therapeutic video games: The NHS Innovations North Bright Ideas in Health Award 2009; CELS Business for Life Awards – Partnership with the NHS 2010; The UnLtd and Higher Education Funding Council for England Entrepreneur Award 2010; Medical Futures Best Innovation to Improve Patient Care – Cardiovascular Innovation Award 2011; Medical Futures National Health Service Innovation of the Year Award 2011, presented by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director for England.
Director of Technological Innovation is Graham Morgan
a computing scientist specialising in systems research, in particular high performance parallel computing over networked environments and multi-processor architectures; over the past ten years he has specialised in the application of these technologies to the field of video games. Dr Morgan has established the first industry‑led video games research lab in the UK, whose sole purpose is advancing video game engine technology. Dr Morgan works closely with the video game industry. This has resulted in the development of many mathematical and engineered technological solutions currently exploited by the video games industry. Recently attention of the research has turned to applying video game engine technology in the context of healthcare. This is unique globally, as all existing healthcare video game research and application has to rely on existing hardware and commercial off‑the‑self entertainment video games. | https://emvigr.co.uk/About.html |
Crisis management is more than just a safety net. It saves lives and prevents putting more lives in danger. It also involves picturing out the worst-case scenarios as well as the causes and effects of each course of action. Having a concrete plan for dire situations prepares the community for that they can do in times of calamities and disasters so that they can avoid feeling lost while dealing with grave events. In crisis management, there are essential things that should remain efficient and trustworthy:
Communication
When people are in dire situations, they tend to panic until rational thinking goes out the window. People may fail to articulate their thoughts and needs effectively. Maybe even finding a means to call for help becomes hard for them. Therefore, an easier way to call out for healthcare experts can save them time, and the quicker the response, the better the chance of survival.
Better communication also means an efficient response to the emergency. For example, when there is a significant health issue involved, authorities should have a coherent and collective statement to address the people they are serving. Otherwise, tons of editing and taking back what they said will occur, delaying the entire responding process and confusing the affected population.
Information dissemination
In any situation, misinformation is lethal. One perfect example would be the circulating claim that bananas can protect humans from the Coronavirus (COVID-19). If this the World Health Organization (WHO) and other authorities did not refute this claim, people would have hysterically depended on bananas instead of practicing proper hygiene, social distancing, and focusing on the fact that the virus affects the lungs.
Information dissemination raises the awareness of the community about ongoing issues. It prevents them from going blindly into the situation. Whether the information comes from media or personal resources, it’s best to have access to verified and well-curated news.
The role of authorities
No matter the efficient and convenient solution the people may come up with, if the government does not approve or lack the willpower to implement these procedures, the community will not have access to excellent communication and information dissemination. The lives of people in need depend heavily on those in power because private organizations can only do so much.
The authorities’ crisis management should be in favor of the masses. For instance, if a platform like Julota—which eases the sharing of information, networking, and communication between healthcare, social services, and law enforcement agencies in the community—is presented to them, and it ultimately improves the system, then maybe, yes, they need it. The government should formulate a strategy to keep the fatalities to a minimum and provide care for the masses.
The takeaway
Crisis management prevents the community from being in jeopardy. Proper communication is necessary to reach emergency respondents and also inform the people on what to do. Ensuring the quality of information circulating the community is life-saving so that people can take correct precautionary measures. Most significantly, the authorities should respond with competence to create a concrete plan to save the people. | https://www.infonettc.org/3-essentials-in-crisis-management/ |
One of the challenges of being a Member of Parliament on the governing side of Parliament is trying to communicate accurate information to taxpayers on issues of importance.
With the advent of social media misinformation, inaccurate claims can be distributed extremely quickly and very efficiently.
Often this misinformation is circulated and promoted by interest groups for partisan or self serving reasons, in particular from many organizations that depend upon public donations as a primary source of revenue.
As an example, I am certain that many citizens have heard claims that government efforts to crack down on criminals and put the interests of victims first would cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars in both capital spending and annual operating costs to build new prisons.
Let me tell you the reality. When you keep career criminals in jail longer where they can’t re-offend, the result is that new criminals are not being created.
Rather, you are preventing existing criminals from re-offending.
This actually helps reduce the crime rate, and most importantly by slowing down the “revolving” doors of justice, fewer crimes are being committed and there are fewer victims of crime.
As one law enforcement officer noted recently playing “catch and release” with chronic offenders is not an efficient use of resources, nor does it reduce crime.
As the crime bill received a tremendous amount of scrutiny at the committee level and in house debate, we heard from a wide variety of groups who shared their opinions with us.
Some suggested that already implemented efforts (such as removing the previous 2-for-1 credit for time served by those in remand) to crack down on crime would result in the creation of thousands of new criminals, but the reality is these claims have been proven untrue.
In actuality, there has not been a federal jail built since 2006 and our government has no intention of building a single new prison.
In fact, our government recently announced the closure of two aging federal institutions.
Keeping career criminals in jail longer does not result in the creation of more criminals, it results in fewer crimes and keeps our communities safer.
Another recent claim is that our government is trying to “silence” or “muzzle” special interest groups with new provisions contained in the 2012 federal budget.
Canadian law has long restricted the generous tax advantages provided to legitimate charitable organizations that provide charitable services.
However, charitable activities do not include the use of taxpayers’ generosity for self serving political purposes.
The 2012 budget promotes greater transparency to separate legitimate charitable activities from those of a political nature.
Special interest organizations are welcome to continue advocating on behalf of interest groups, however, these activities will no longer be subsidized by Canadian taxpayer’s.
For legitimate charitable organizations these changes will not require charitable activities to be performed any differently.
These changes will ensure that more integrity and transparency will be created for taxpayer’s to ensure that charitable organizations are not adversely impacted by special interest groups. | https://www.kelownacapnews.com/opinion/albas-mp-defends-government-efforts-to-crack-down-on-re-offenders/ |
TRI Discontinued Latitude and Longitude
Starting in reporting year 2005, EPA no longer requires TRI facilities to report locational information (latitude and longitude data) or program ID data (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) IDs, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) IDs and Underground Injection Code (UIC) IDs). Through reporting year 2004, the latitude and longitude information had been reported by facilities in Part I, section 4.6 of the Form R and Form A certification statement. The program ID data had been reported by facilities in Part I, sections 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10 of the same forms.
This action was the result of the TRI Reporting Forms Modification Rule which was finalized on July 12, 2005. This final rule eliminates certain information from the TRI reports, simplifies other reporting elements, and in some cases, reduces duplicate data collection. It reduces the cost of compiling and submitting TRI reports modestly, while ensuring the public continues to receive high quality data that have practical utility.
The TRI Reporting Form Modification rule is one of several phases that are being enacted to reduce burden on reporting facilities. To see additional proposed actions for further burden reduction, see the TRI Website.
In addition to burden reduction, several other factors contributed to the decision to discontinue the collection of Latitude and Longitude and Program ID data by TRI. First, The Facility Registry Service (FRS) is EPA's authoritative source for facility data. FRS centrally collects, manages and disseminates data that identifies facilities and other points of environmental interest. FRS gathers data from a number of resources including EPA programs, state and local governments and commercial sources. Through the Pick Best Process, FRS tests and verifies all locational data and determines the best values to represent a facility. Due to the extensive, accurate and efficient way FRS collects latitude and longitude data, the TRI program felt its utilization would be beneficial to both regulated facilities and data users.
Using FRS allows the TRI program to use locational infrastructure that is in compliance with the Agency's Latitude/Longitude Data Standard. This leads to better quality data across EPA programs.
Using FRS further promotes the objective of upgrading TRI's collection and dissemination processing with EPA's Enterprise Architecture (EA). The EA is a blue print for the modernization and re-engineering of all EPA data collection, processing and dissemination systems. The EA calls for the establishment and use of an authoritative system of registries. The FRS is one of those systems. By following the EA and utilizing FRS data, TRI eliminates a duplicative data collection process, achieves a higher degree of data quality, and improves data integration potential among EPA and other federal programs.
TRI's decision to discontinue the collection of Latitude and Longitude and Program ID data was based on reducing facility burden. In addition, several factors including utilization of the FRS, taking advantage of FRS's data quality improvements and integration with EPA's enterprise architecture were contributing factors in the decision. | https://www.epa.gov/enviro/tri-discontinued-latitude-and-longitude |
The SEC recently issued a concept release to solicit comment on various aspects of the U.S. proxy system. The release highlighted the following principal areas of interest: enhancement of the accuracy, transparency and efficiency of the voting process; improvement of shareholder communications and participation; and the alignment of voting power with economic interest.
Accuracy, Transparency and Efficiency of the Voting Process
The SEC noted that, in connection with securities lending transactions and “fails to deliver,” it is possible for the number of securities held by a broker-dealer at the Depository Trust Company (DTC) not to match the number credited to the broker-dealer’s customer accounts, raising a concern about the varying means by which intermediaries reconcile these differences and the impact they may have on the accuracy of the votes’ allocation among beneficial owners. The release seeks comment on whether investors would find disclosure on these allocation methods helpful or whether another regulatory response may be appropriate. The release also expressed concern that the inability for shareholders to confirm the timely receipt and accurate tabulation of their votes may impair confidence in the proxy system, and it suggests as a solution the creation of a unique identifying code which could be used to create an audit trail. A concern was raised that some investors that engage in securities lending may learn of material votes too late to recall loaned securities prior to a vote’s record date. The release suggested requiring the filing of a report on Form 8-K to disclose the meeting’s agenda prior to the record date or asking the NYSE and other Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) to adopt rules requiring public dissemination of a notice in advance of the record date. It also suggested amending Form N-PX to require disclosure of the number of portfolio securities for which a fund does not vote proxies because the securities were on loan. The release also articulated concerns about the fees charged for distribution of proxy materials, including that they may not “reflect reasonable rates of reimbursement” in light of the notice and access model of distribution and that financial intermediaries may lack incentives to reduce distribution costs for issuers. The SEC considered creating a central data aggregator that would permit an issuer to designate an agent for the distribution of its materials or asking SROs to review their fee schedules.
Shareholder Communication, Participation and Information
The SEC noted that commentators have raised issues regarding the costs and efficiency of communication between issuers and shareholders, particularly when shares are held in street name. The release suggested eliminating beneficial owners’ option to object to the disclosure of their identities to issuers or encouraging beneficial owners not to object to this disclosure, in order to permit issuers to more easily communicate directly with shareholders. The SEC raised a concern regarding the level of participation in proxy voting by retail investors and sought comment on possible regulatory responses, including improved investor education, enhancements to brokers’ websites, adoption of advance voting instructions, facilitation of discussion among voters and refinements to the notice and access model for distribution of proxy materials. The release also requested comment on whether the SEC should reconsider permitting or requiring interactive data tagging for proxy statements and voting information.
Alignment of Voting Power and Economic Interest
Finally, the release highlighted concerns related to proxy voting advisory firms, such as conflicts of interest that may arise when a firm recommends votes to shareholders of an issuer while also providing consulting services to the same issuer and those that may result from the potential for such firms to make recommendations based on materially inaccurate or incomplete information. The release suggested requiring additional disclosure related to conflicts of interest and the firm’s controls and procedures for ensuring accuracy of issuer data, and it also considered prohibiting certain types of conflicts. It noted that some states, including Delaware, now permit use of dual record dates, with a voting record date as late as the date of the meeting itself, and sought comment on whether regulatory action should be taken to accommodate issuers that wish to use separate record dates where permitted by state law. The release also articulated a concern with circumstances where a share’s voting rights have been “decoupled” from an economic stake in the issuer, such as when an investment is hedged, and requested comment on a range of regulatory responses from adopting new disclosure requirements to prohibiting voting in circumstances of negative economic interest.
In addition to the specific questions highlighted in the release, the SEC invited other comments on the proxy system that commentators may have, including comments on any costs or benefits of possible regulatory action. Comments are due by October 20, 2010.
A full copy of the concept release can be found at: http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/2010/34-62495.pdf. | https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=241322a5-889a-4025-8325-850acaeecced |
The Gateway Center for Giving through funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health commissioned a study to identify and learn about nonprofit intermediaries working in the St. Louis region. The goal of this report was to address common questions about the nonprofit intermediary system in hopes of figuring out how philanthropic funders can better support these organizations in the future.
Click here for the full report.
The infrastructure of nonprofit intermediaries in St. Louis is largely unknown and misunderstood due to the lack of available information about intermediaries in our region.
The Center has identified 30 intermediaries working within the St. Louis region with a specific focus on the areas of the arts, culture, and health. The key findings of this report include different perspectives about intermediary work from both funders and direct service providers. The report finds that in general the St. Louis community is divided regarding the value of intermediary work. Much of this skepticism is on the part of direct service providers. This report identifies the value of intermediaries in St. Louis to solve problems at a broader level and the power of bringing together entities working toward the similar over-arching goals. The Center’s research also finds that the success rate of an intermediary is highly dependent upon its ability to draw in funds, establish strong organization structure, and show added value. In general, larger intermediaries were able to secure more funds and establish their presence within the St. Louis nonprofit community.
Included in the report is a directory of the identified intermediaries as well as a list of resources on the topic of intermediaries.
Producing this report was just phase one. Today, we presented to a group of 28 grantmakers in the St. Louis Community the findings of the report and engaged in a conversation about the intermediary system in St. Louis. The conversation was lead by Christy Gray (Whitaker Foundation), Elizabeth George (Deaconess Foundation), and Kendra Copanas (Maternal, Child and Family Health Coalition). The grantmakers were clear- they want more! They have requested information regarding best practices when it comes to actually measuring the outcomes of intermediaries. Many funders know that the outcomes of a direct service providing nonprofit are very different from that of an intermediary but they don’t know what appropriate outcomes for intermediaries are. Phase two of this project will hopefully involve an in depth look potential outcome measures for intermediaries and we again look forward to working with funders, nonprofits, and intermediaries in the community to gather this information.
A special thanks to the Missouri Foundation for Health for underwriting this report. It would not have been possible without the hard work of our intern Amber Yun, a Masters student at St. Louis University School of Public Health. Additionally we would like to thank the over 100 individuals and organizations that took the time to complete our surveys and meet with Amber to gather the information for this report. | https://blog.centerforgiving.org/2011/04/05/understanding-the-intermediary-infrastructure-in-st-louis/ |
German law requires both private and public companies to disclose a far-ranging set of information to shareholders, creditors, other market participants and the public. The information that must be disclosed under these rules is more extensive in scale and scope than those provided by data storage and retrieval systems that merely focus on public corporations and the needs of the capital markets (such as the U.S. Edgar system). However, previously to the recent reforms, two significant weaknesses of the German disclosure system were widely discussed among corporate scholars: First, the lack of efficient enforcement vis-a-vis private companies, and secondly, the fragmentation of the system. In particular, German companies needed to distribute corporate information through a plethora of methods, including newspapers, the website of the corporation and those of stock exchanges, the Federal Bulletin and others. The German legislature sought to fix these problems with two major legislative projects: The Law regarding the Electronic Commercial and Company Registrar (which came into force 1 January 2007), and the Law implementing the Transparency Directive (which came into force 20 January 2007). Under these reforms, the newly established Federal Justice Agency enforces the disclosure obligations. In addition, the legislature provided a significant overhaul to the methods of, and the channels through, which companies need to utilize in order to fulfill their disclosure obligations.
This paper introduces into the most significant amendments that were achieved by the aforementioned pieces of legislation. In particular, it describes in which way the German legislature established a one-stop-shop option for the retrieval of all company data that German companies must disclose both under corporate and securities law. However, the delivery of company data by the issuers to the company register is still complicated. While the overall situation has improved significantly when compared to the status ex ante, companies still need to simultaneously distribute the relevant information through several channels. The several-stop-delivery concept is more costly to issuers than a one-stop-delivery system whose entry-gate is an officially administered, or supervised, website. It was the intention of the German Federal Secretary of Justice to implement such a one-stop-delivery-system for both corporate and securities law-based information. However, the European rules of, and implementing, the Transparency Directive require a concept of intermediary-based dissemination for certain securities law-based information. Under this concept, issuers must forward their disclosures to informational intermediaries before they may disclose them in any other way. Disclosure in any other way includes storage in, and access through, an officially administered information storage and retrieval system. This intermediary-based approach mandated by European law exhibits two significant flaws. First: European law does neither define the intermediaries. Secondly, European law does not require the intermediaries to publish the information sent to them by the issuers. Thus, transparency is a random effect. Moreover, internet-based technologies (such as RSS-feed, etc.) render an intermediary-based concept for the dissemination of information useless. This paper argues in favour of reforms to the European rules on the dissemination of information.
Note: Downloadable Document in German. | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=980289 |
State and explain three types of efficient market hypothesis. Answers a Allocative Efficiency A market is allocatively efficient if it directs savings towards the most efficient productive enterprise or project.
Plagiarism Checker
In this situation, the most efficient enterprises will find it easier to raise funds and economic prosperity for the whole economy should result. Allocative efficiency will be at its optimal level if there is no alternative allocation of funds channeled from savings that would result in higher economic prosperity. To be allocatively efficient, the market should have fewer financial intermediaries such that funds are allocated directly from savers to users, therefore financial disintermediation should be encouraged. The greater the transaction cost, the greater the cost of using financial market and therefore the lower the operational efficiency.
Transaction cost is kept as low as possible where there is open competition between broker and other market participants. For a market to be operationally efficient, therefore, we need to have enough market markers who are able to play continuously.
If all known public information is reflected in the security price, then investing in securities becomes a fair game. All investors have the same chances mainly because all the information that can be known is already reflected in share prices. Information efficiency is important in financial management because it means that the effect of management decision will quickly and accurately be reflected in security prices. | http://rectoria.unal.edu.co/uploads/tx_felogin/benjamin-franklin-s-theory-of-life-and/what-is-efficient-market-hypothesis.php |
On May 20 2013, the parliament of Armenia adopted a law on Equal Rights of Men and Women and on Ensuring Equal Opportunities. The adoption of the law sparked a heated debate in Armenia around the concepts of “gender” and “gender equality,” and resulted in the dissemination of misinformation across Armenian media by groups opposed to the law. Women’s rights and other gender-focused organisations working in Armenia were the targets of much of this misinformation, which misrepresented the values and activities of these organisations, and had to face security threats and fear of attack as a result.
Society Without Violence, an Armenia-based NGO that works on issues related to violence against women, used their Web We Want Rapid Response rant to disseminate accurate and trusted information about gender and the work of women’s rights organisations across the open Web. The aim of this small and urgent project was to counteract the huge wave of misinformation that was being spread around Armenia by sharing unbiased information across the country, using social media and the Web. The organisation produced and released four videos to show the false nature of the information being disseminated by extremist groups about the gender equality law. Society Without Violence also created a blog to reveal the truth about these extremist groups, and worked to raise awareness among the Armenian public about these issues by purchasing advertising space from Facebook to increase the rapid spread of true information across the country. Through these actions, Society Without Violence worked to change the prevailing attitudes of the country’s citizens towards gender-related issues, the gender equality law, and women’s rights organisations. | https://webwewant.org/news/countering_hate_and_attacks_against_women_through_an_open_and_trusted_web/ |
Why aren’t facts enough?
By Luke Testa
It seems intuitive that providing people with accurate health information will help them make better health decisions. But just providing information backed by research isn’t enough to change minds, let alone behavior.
The way people engage with health information is more complicated than just consuming available scientific findings. Beliefs play a major role in how information is received, interpreted, and applied (or rejected). We’ve seen many examples of large segments of society rejecting expert scientific consensus in favor of personal beliefs. This phenomenon has driven public responses to topics ranging from GMOs to vaccines, despite near uniform consensus by experts on the safety and/or benefits of each.
And this rejection of science has extreme consequences. For example, vaccine hesitancy poses a threat that expands beyond the locus of the family or individual. The WHO identifies vaccine hesitancy as a significant global health threat due to the potential of reversing progress that has been made toward eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases.
Findings from Nyhan et al. suggest that providing corrective information can increase people’s belief in incorrect information. In regard to vaccinations, Nyhan and colleagues also revealed that providing corrective information about the flu vaccine reduced intent to vaccinate amongst those most concerned about vaccine side effects.
These discouraging findings beg the question, What is the health community doing wrong here? Maybe even more importantly, What can be done to remedy these adverse results of sharing corrective information? The answers to these questions vary as more researchers and health experts are beginning to explore the threat of and appropriate responses to misinformation and cognitive-biases in personal and public health.
What is clear is that normative forms of communication may be part of the problem. Rethinking information dissemination and how the public receives health recommendations is critical in working towards a health system based on evidence and equity.
Dr. Aaron Carroll breaks down the facts, fiction, and potential remedies for us here: | https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/why-arent-facts-enough/ |
This unit builds on students’ understanding of measurement and introduces the concepts of rate and ratio. Students learn how to calculate ratios and rates during a series of lab activities and conclude the unit with a writing prompt.
Activities
Aymara, Giselle, and Reggie discuss the merits about a study that found a correlation between students who text frequently and students who make careless errors while taking tests. They begin a discussion about texting speed and hold a texting contest.
Duration: Approximately 50 minutes
Students distinguish ratio from rate with multiple examples. Students explore the relationship between rates and ratio and percentage. The mini-lesson shows the two ways that we can express a ratio as a comparison of amounts or a comparison with a whole. The lesson also introduces the idea of a unit rate, and it ends with students converting two rates to unit rates.
Duration: Approximately 25 minutes
Students determine their rate of speed while walking at a natural pace (not a race). They collect data in a table, conducting multiple trials and controlling the variables, and then calculate an average and share their findings.
Duration: Approximately 40 minutes
Students examine the correlation of heart rate and breathing rate by collecting data under two different conditions: during rest and after exercising. Students record data at a low- and a high-intensity level of jumping rope. Students convert to unit rates. Students plot data on a graph.
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
Students design an experiment to determine a basketball player's accuracy, and whether she would have a greater success rate shooting more frequently or taking more time to prepare for a shot.
Duration: Approximately 30 minutes
Teacher Tune-ups
Student View of Visuals and Activities
Some teachers prefer to have students view the slides and other visual assets in this unit directly instead of projecting them in class. Below is a web page to share with students with links to some of same items that are within in the teacher lesson plans, but without the explanatory text for the teacher.
Original SciGen Unit
This unit has been adapted from "7.3 The Power of Per" in the Word Generation program led by Catherine Snow (Harvard University) through a SERP collaboration with the Boston Public Schools and other districts in Massachusetts and Maryland.
PDFs of that earlier unit's teacher and student editions are available at the Science Generation Download Center.
Unit U3 Focus Words
per
preposition – for each
How many hours of TV do you watch per week?
speed
noun – the rate at which something moves
Which is faster: the speed of light or the speed of sound?
rate
noun – a comparison of two different units to give information
Distance traveled compared to time tells the rate of speed. Do you know what mph stands for? Hint: The speed limit of many highways is 65 mph.
ratio
noun – a comparison of two amounts
What is the ratio of boys to girls in your classroom?
frequency
noun – the number of times that something happens within a particular period
What is the frequency at which you send text messages?
accuracy
noun – correctness in every detail
In which sports is accuracy crucial?
precision
noun – the state of being very exact
Why is precision important when conducting a scientific investigation?
pace
noun – the speed or rate at which something is done
At what pace can you run continuously for 30 minutes?
correlate
verb – to have a relationship where two or more things happen or change together
Why do you think obesity correlates with increased risk of a heart attack?
BETA Version - Please send comments and corrections to [email protected]
This project was supported by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science.
Word Generation by SERP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. | https://serpmedia.org/scigen/u3.html |
by Nora Pehrson
Last fall, the Wilson School Chapter Advisory Committee (SCAC) invited teachers to respond to a number of questions addressing the following topics: leadership, staffing, expectations for teacher responsiveness, grading, school improvement initiatives, safety, resources, budget transparency, teacher morale, and discipline.
James Leonard, head of the SCAC committee and a Wilson social studies teacher, spoke to Forest Hills Connection about the results of the survey. Forty-five of 112 full-time teachers at Wilson responded, citing cited “unrealistic demands,” “lack of consistency and professionalism,” and a “lack of educational, academic, and instructional vision” as major problems at Wilson.
Teachers surveyed felt that they were overburdened with paperwork and grading and expressed concerns that professional development was perfunctory, at best.
“Looking forward, we want a selection process that brings us something we have been woefully lacking here,” Leonard said, “a principal who really has an academic vision.”In addition to expressing specific frustrations, the SCAC survey shed light on the many challenges facing urban public school staff. In particular, teachers felt burdened by specific demands that were part of the IMPACT teacher performance system mandated by DCPS. The teachers also felt that Cahall was unduly rigid in enforcing some of the metrics, most notably those encompassed by the Commitment to School Community (CSC) requirements. A CSC score represents a teacher’s commitment to a specific school’s initiatives promoting high expectations, communicating and partnering with families, and collaborating with colleagues.
Cahall’s requirements for Wilson teachers included updating the online grading system Edline on a biweekly basis, assigning at least three graded pieces of work a week, and attending 12 professional development collaboratives every quarter. This comment from the survey encapsulates many of the teachers’ critiques: “There seems to be no awareness by the Administration as to how the requirements for the CSC are hurting teacher performance. I understand the need for collaboration and the exposure to new ideas and strategies, but we need time to prepare lessons, meet with students and parents, correct essays and papers, and put grades into Edline.”
Leonard noted that going forward, Wilson would be best served by either a visionary, pedagogically-seasoned principal or, alternatively, a sound administrator with a strong team of administrators with academic experience.
Research has shown that the principal plays a crucial role in creating an ideal learning community. Equally important are highly effective and engaged teachers who work in tandem with the administration toward a common mission.
At a January 14th community meeting, instructional superintendent Dan Shea explained that a key priority is to hire a Wilson principal who can close the very large achievement gap between the school’s relatively affluent white minority and the lower-income minority students who are the school’s majority, including increasing the enrollment of minority students in Wilson’s many AP courses.
The challenge such a principal faces at a school like Wilson, said Ruth Wattenberg, the Ward 3 Board of Education representative, “is that a strong focus on raising the achievement of low-performing students can’t mean neglect of the school’s high-performers.”
“The new principal needs to run a school that does well by all the students,” said Wattenberg. “It’s not an easy task. Finding such a person isn’t an easy task either.”
Another challenge, within DCPS, is that specific data on principal effectiveness have proven elusive, as a recent series of articles in the professional journal Ed Week explained. A long tenure, which allows a principal time to develop on the job, seems to be a constant factor in success.
Time is something DCPS principals do not have. Turnover has been a problem in DCPS, where the principals leave or are terminated at a rate of approximately 25 percent every year, as compared to five to seven percent in Montgomery County.
Another component of principal success, and one that Wilson faculty believed Cahall lacked, is the ability to build a strong administrative and instructional team. Principals have expressed similar complaints about the DCPS central office that the Wilson faculty voiced about Cahall.
As DCPS and the Wilson community prepares to conduct a search for a new principal, the findings of the SCAC survey, with its emphasis on instructional support and intellectual leadership, can provide a roadmap for the new principal selection process at Wilson.
Nora Pehrson is Forest Hills Connection’s intern and a student at Wilson High. | https://www.foresthillsconnection.com/news/wilson-teachers-on-the-former-principal-and-what-they-want-in-their-next-leader/ |
Naturally, teachers do make mistakes, although unknowingly. What are these? How can they be prevented?
Let’s have a look at the common errors teachers make when grading in Moodle and how they can be mended.
#1 Ignoring Reattempts
Students are bound to attempt quizzes more than once. Especially if they’ve not scored well the first time. But at times, instead of considering the best score from the reattempts we pick the most recent or average out the results.
This means if students do not perform well on latter quizzes they’ll lose out on a good score. But that shouldn’t be the case should it? The best result should always be considered since it reflects their knowledge of the subject in the best way possible.
By doing so, you tend to give students a positive push to help them perform better.
The Solution
If you allow reattempts, make sure you record the highest score a student has achieved rather than averaging out all results.
#2 Highlighting mistakes and not strengths
Constructive feedback is key while grading quizzes. What usually happens is, either because of the number of students to be graded or the overwhelming task list at hand, we tend to hurry up with feedback.
To help students improve we think its best to point out the mistakes and give them scores. However, grading is so much more than that. Positive comments along with constructive feedback help give students the motivation they need to move on in the course.
The Solution
Start your feedback with positive comments. This helps students get comfortable and accept criticism positively.
#3 Delaying Feedback & Grading
Each question opens up in a new tab on Moodle, which makes grading a bumpy ride. Providing feedback on the quiz is another headache altogether. Stress and shortage of time make us procrastinate or push things for later. As a result, the grading and feedback process is delayed. This makes students lose interest or even the connect they had with the quiz.
It becomes difficult for them to recall their answers and to completely understand the feedback given.
The Solution
Grade on time. Students should receive the results of their test in 1-2 days. In case it’s a big class, tell them when they should be expecting the results and stick to the proposed date.
#4 Skipping one-on-one discussions
As mentioned, giving feedback to students is extremely important. What’s more vital is having one-to-one discussions. Offline discussions between the teacher and students encourage conversations regarding not just the quiz, but also the core understanding of the subject and difficulties faced by the students.
Many times, due to tight schedules, teachers skip the one-to-one discussions, making the mistake of distancing themselves from the students. Over time, not getting critical constructive feedback, could make students lose interest in the course and impact course drop out.
The Solution
Keep time aside to talk to your students privately; offline or host one-to-one sessions online. This will help you get an insight into student understanding and improve your teaching abilities.
#5 Grading things that don’t need to be graded
Yes, we were just talking about the importance of grading and sharing feedback. And, yes, now we’re talking about unnecessary grading. But it’s true. Teachers don’t know when to stop. Things like homework, revision assignments don’t need grading, do they? They are only there for the learning. A mere glance through is enough. We commit the mistake of unnecessarily grading these things. This leads to time being wasted, which could be used productively elsewhere.
The Solution
Figure out tests that need to be graded and things that don’t. Clearly, things that are simply meant for students to work upon so as to improve their understanding don’t need to be graded. Whereas, quizzes that help evaluate student performance to check their progress need grading.
#6 Not allocating time for Grading
Grading is as important if not more than teaching. Managing and allocating time for teaching, taking quizzes, grading and feedback are the basics. Teachers forget this and either end up working overtime or else compromise on the other tasks at hand like updating courses.
The Solution
It’s important to allocate time for grading when creating and managing a course schedule. This helps you better understand the amount of bandwidth you have for all your tasks.
#7 Skipping Feedback
Moodle’s interface takes some getting used to. But the grading process is long and tedious and can take up too much of a teacher’s time. Teachers are stressed out or working overtime, which makes them forget feedback. Giving feedback is highly essential as students it helps them perform better.
The Solution
Grading on moodle can take time. This effort-consuming interface is a hindrance to the evaluation process and pushes teachers to procrastinate or skip on important activities like feedback. An extension, such as the Edwiser RapidGrader, saves up a lot of time, allowing teachers to grade papers faster with a single screen grader. This, in turn, motivates them to share feedback with each of their students using the feedback box. This guides the students’ performance and keeps the teachers stress-free.
#8 Using wrong parameters
Grading objective type questions is a breeze for teachers as scoring would range between definite numbers eg. 1-10 or 0-100%. However, for subjective questions – essays and open-ended questions – grading these objectively would be a mistake. This calls for a more flexible scoring system.
The Solution
Moodle does not offer a lot of options when it comes to scoring. But an extension, like Edwiser’s RapidGrader, allows teachers to evaluate students using multiple grading techniques.
Final Thoughts
Grading is as important as good course material. It helps you understand student capabilities, pushes them to perform better, and evaluate course progress.
But if things aren’t simple, teachers could end up making mistakes which could affect the overall course experience. With tools like Edwiser RapidGrader, the grading process can be made smoother and efficient, leading to a better tutoring experience.
What are your thoughts? Do you think your teachers are doing a good job with grading? Share your experience, thoughts, and views in the comments section down below. | https://edwiser.org/blog/8-mistakes-teachers-unknowingly-make-when-grading-in-moodle/ |
MSAD #1 wants to acknowledge that some families may be concerned about a return to schools in the Fall of 2020. Although we want to assure the students, families, and staff of the district that we are taking the health and safety of our community seriously, we also understand that some parents may be wondering about their options.
For the 2020-2021 school year, MSAD #1 will offer remote learning as an option for parents who are concerned about their children returning to school. We hope this document will help you to make the best decision for your child.
Remote Learning Defined
Remote learning is an educational program that is structured by a classroom teacher in MSAD #1 for MSAD #1 students. The program is designed to be as similar to the in-person, classroom learning experience as possible. Students are expected to keep up with the timelines, activities, due dates, and assessments developed by the teacher for the class. Teachers will expect students to join the in-person class through Google Meet at specific times throughout the week. Teachers will keep attendance for remote students and will give traditional grades for homework, quizzes, papers, and tests.
Remote learning in MSAD #1 is not the same thing as virtual school or homeschooling. Remote learning maintains the standards of the curriculum and academic rigor of our in-person classrooms. It is designed and taught by certified teachers who work in our MSAD #1 schools.
Expectations
Remote learning is structured like in-person classrooms. Teachers will take attendance (although that may look slightly different for remote students), teach lessons, give homework, tests, and projects for students to complete as evidence of learning, and teachers will record grades as they normally have in the past. Students will need to engage in learning activities (often through video) and complete work on time, just as they would in the regular classroom.
Families who choose remote learning make that choice for the student’s entire school day and for a period of a grading quarter (approximately 8 weeks). Parents can opt their child back into in-person learning if they find remote learning is not working for their student, but must contact the teacher and the building principal to make that change.
Education is never the sole responsibility of a single person, but is the shared responsibility of the student, teacher, and parents/guardians. The following are examples of some of the important responsibilities for remote learning:
Students:
Commit to engaging in school learning activities through remote learning
Take (age-appropriate) responsibility for keeping up with their school work calendar -- join classes when scheduled by video, access work on Google Classroom, communicate with teachers through email or similar, and complete work on time
Maintain regular communication with classroom teacher
Families
Support their student in remote learning by ensuring the student has access to the Internet
Help their student organize his/her school work by using a notebook, paper calendar, small whiteboard/chalkboard, or use a digital calendar
Develop routines and schedules to help students engage and complete school work
Encourage students (age-appropriate) to contact teachers for additional help
Regularly pick up and drop off student work for those students who will have paper packets (mostly elementary students)
Check PowerSchool gradebooks every two weeks to establish how students are progressing in academics
Teachers
Maintain updated resources, lesson plans, schedules on Google Classroom
Respond to student or parent emails within 24 hours, consider scheduling weekly office hours for virtual student support
Update PowerSchool gradebooks regularly
Communicate with students, parents, and building administrators when students “disappear” from the remote learning environment
Period of Commitment to Remote Learning
We will ask parents to sign a contract of understanding with the school if they decide to request remote learning. Students and families should plan to commit to remote learning for a full grading period (a quarter) which is about eight weeks. Parents can call the building administrator to request in-person learning if remote learning is not working for their child.
Remote Learning FAQ
How is this different from remote learning in March-June 2020?
The emergency remote learning was just that -- emergency -- and so in order to manage the emergency situation for students, teachers, and families, the district chose to reduce the number of content areas taught in k-8, reduced the number and difficulty of learning goals, and changed the grading system to a version of a pass/fail system. The remote learning we will be offering this year is NOT going to look like that. Overall, the remote learning expectations for academics, attendance, due dates, work/tests/projects, and grading will be the same for remote students as it is for in-person students.
Isn’t remote learning the same as homeschooling?
No, they are very different. Homeschooling is an option in which the parent designs a curriculum and is responsible for teaching and assessing that curriculum. The MSAD #1 teachers play no role in virtual schools or in homeschooling.
Families who homeschool must create the curriculum, teach their children, and create and grade assignments. The local school district is not responsible for the academic instruction or grading of those students. In remote learning, the parents support their students in engaging in learning activities planned by a certified teacher in MSAD #1. The teacher is responsible for the structure of the academic program while the parent is responsible for supporting their student in keeping up with the classwork.
How will attendance be taken?
If your child is enrolled in school -- either in-person or remotely -- we must track attendance. Although we are still working on the details of attendance for remote students, we will be using a combination of engagement in learning activities, completion of assigned work, and attendance by video of scheduled class time.
Will grades be Pass/Fail?
No, remote learning grades will be the same as in-person grades. We will go back to the regular grading system we had before the emergency remote period.
Does my child have to attend class by video?
We are trying to figure out the balance of connection to the classroom and real-time teacher instruction while not wanting students sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time. We plan to have specific times of the day for students to plan to attend their classrooms by video.
Do I need Internet access?
In order to make remote learning work, students do need regular access to the Internet. The district provides devices (iPads) for students to access remote learning resources, activities, and to link to the regular classroom. If you do not have Internet available, please contact the building administrator to discuss options.
What about high school credits?
The high school awards credits toward graduation and students who choose remote learning must complete the work required in a course in order to receive credit for that course. Their evidence of learning must demonstrate at least a numerical average of 65 or more in order to earn a credit. These are not pass/fail courses.
Can I change my mind if it isn’t working?
Yes. If you decide that remote learning is not working out for your family or your child, you can call or email the building administrator to discuss a change to in-person learning. | https://reopen.sad1.org/remote-learning |
If you’ve been a teacher for even a week, you know that the time demands are enormous. An article published by the Washington Post reports that teachers spend three to five additional hours per day completing tasks after they’ve finished teaching for the day, including grading student work.
Most teachers are quick to admit that time spent grading student work can be a major stressor. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking time to review your current grading practices can open up opportunities to streamline the process. Here are eight easy-to-implement strategies you can try to make your grading more efficient.
Ungraded papers are like laundry. If neglected each day, the laundry piles up. Grading a small amount every day helps keep the workload low. Even if you just commit to just 20 minutes a day, your efforts will quickly accumulate to keep you on track. As an added bonus, students benefit from receiving feedback quickly after they finish an assignment, when the skill they’re being graded on is still fresh in their minds.
Keep ungraded papers together in one place that you can transport and access easily (e.g., an expandable file folder). Organize assignments by date, subject, and class to save you time when looking for specific ones. You can then focus on grading the oldest papers first to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Instead of trying to determine point values for every assignment or part of an assignment, consider instead grading for mastery. Mastery for grading uses a four-point scale to signify whether students are demonstrating partial, simple, strong, or extraordinary understanding of the subject at hand. That way, you can focus on gauging whether your students are really learning the skills they need, which makes for not only smoother grading but also more meaningful feedback than an arbitrary percentage or letter grade. For grade reporting purposes, you can assign a percentage or point value to each level of the four-point mastery scale.
For short feedback, you could use stamps or stickers to denote different levels of performance. For lengthy feedback, consider looking for ways to type your thoughts instead of writing it longhand. For example, you could type out feedback for several students’ papers, cut up the paper, and staple it on their papers. Typing also allows you to create “stock” feedback that you can copy and paste when you see the same issue come up on several students’ assignments.
Rubrics are handy for both you and your students. They break down the meaning of different point values and act as built-in feedback for students who are performing at different levels. For some assignments, students may be able to use rubrics to grade one another’s work, which will not only speed up the grading process for you but also help your students understand expectations.
According to an Edutopia article, self-assessment can be a powerful tool for students because it involves them in the evaluation process. They become aware of the expectations and improvement possibilities. Students can develop individualized plans to measure progress and learn to effectively discuss the assignment, evaluation, and individualized plan for improvement.
If you’re assigning a project or large-scale task, consider breaking it up into smaller pieces and staggering the due dates. That way, you will be less overwhelmed grading smaller chunks and will be able to pace yourself so you can stay on schedule. In addition, students benefit from receiving feedback mid-project so they can make improvements for the next step.
It may seem difficult to leave all or parts of an assignment ungraded. However, consider changing your perspective on whether a grade is really necessary for every task students perform. Is the purpose of the assignment to determine level of proficiency? Is it for practice? If an assignment is just for practice, a simple checkmark for completion may suffice. Or you might consider “spot-checking” an assignment, grading only a handful of practice math problems or grammar exercises to get an idea of whether the student has a grasp of the concept.
Because Advancement Courses is designed by teachers, we understand how difficult it can be to master the grading dilemma while making sure students are mastering skills necessary. If you’ve ever felt bogged down by grading, you might be interested in our Grading for Mastery: Guiding Students Through the Learning Process.
Unlike traditional grading, mastery grading focuses on evaluating whether students have actually mastered a learning standard. In our course, you’ll examine the history and purposes of grading, compare and contrast traditional grading with mastery grading and see how mastery grading aligns with Common Core State Standards. You’ll learn how to incorporate mastery grading principles, even if your school or district doesn’t.
Cynthia Privette is an educational contractor specializing in interpretation of Common Core state standards and a teacher in North Carolina public schools. She received her or Ed.D. in educational leadership and M.Ed. from East Carolina University. Over the course of her career, she has been particularly interested in instructional leadership, the subject of her dissertation, and training other educators on effective curriculum, testing, and instruction in low-performing schools. | https://www.advancementcourses.com/blog/tips-grading-more-efficient/ |
Member Voices: Easy A’s Gets an F
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education and is reposted with permission. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE. See also AACTE’s statement about the Easy A’s report.
The National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based think tank, has issued a number of reports in recent years on teacher preparation around the country. Its flagship effort since 2013, the Teacher Prep Review, is an annual report released in June that rates programs on how well they are preparing new teachers. In order to keep its name in front of the media between those major annual releases, the council has issued a series of studies on other aspects of teacher preparation. The latest one, Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them, came out this week. As with the organization’s other studies, this one has fatal flaws that undermine most of the conclusions articulated in it.
The study purports to rate whether teacher preparation programs are lax in grading standards by examining the proportion of students in those programs achieving academic honors (e.g., high honors, or cum laude status) as compared to all undergraduates in the university. To do this, the organization obtained the spring 2012 commencement booklets from approximately 500 colleges and universities and then counted everything up. My first reaction when I heard about the report was, "Wow, pity those poor interns who had to sit and manually do this" (or perhaps the work was outsourced to India, who knows?).
A few days before the report was issued, the council e-mailed to let me know that our college "met the standard" for the report but did not include a copy of the report or an explanation of its methodology. The e-mail did not even state whether meeting the standard meant that the proportion of honor students in teacher preparation was above, below, or at the same level as the university as a whole.
Upon receiving the report this week, I could see that to meet the standard, a teacher preparation program had to have a proportion of its graduates that was within 10 percentage points of the proportion in the university as a whole. In other words, if 30% of students across the university received academic honors, the proportion for the teacher preparation program had to range between 20% and 40% in order to meet the council’s standard.
At first glance, this may seem like a reasonable way to measure whether teacher preparation programs are too lax in their grading standards. But the methodology is fraught with problems:
The report states that, "Our evaluation of institutions on this standard measures the rigor of their preparation as indicated by the grade point average (GPA) differential between graduating teacher candidates and all other graduating students." In fact, the report does no such thing, because the council did not have access to students’ GPAs. All it could determine was whether they earned honors or not. For example, here at Michigan State, the GPA cutoff for earning honors is 3.69, and approximately 20% of students achieve this level. But in examining student names in the commencement booklet, the council has no way of knowing whether someone who did not achieve honors had a GPA of 3.68 or 2.68, so it is impossible for it to calculate a "GPA differential" between any two groups of students.
At Michigan State, all secondary-education students must have a major in the discipline in which they wish to teach, and thus, they are not listed as a College of Education student in our commencement booklet. Instead, they are listed with their home college. And in other college listings, there is no way to distinguish those students who are teacher candidates from other students in the same major. Thus, it is impossible to know, outside of graduates in elementary and special education, who all the teacher candidates are in the commencement booklet.
The council fudges on this problem by having an analysis category it defines as "less precise data," and uses different standards for institutions (including Michigan State) that fall into this less-precise data category. To compare between those institutions for which it had "precise data" and those with "less precise data," it examined a subsample of 29 institutions for which it had precise data, and graded them again using the standard for less-precise data. While it found a high correlation between the scores using the two methodologies, it still found that for 6 of the 29 institutions, the grade was different between one methodology and the other. Thus, these six institutions could potentially have been mislabeled (as having lax academic standards or not) depending on which methodology was used.
There is an underlying assumption in the council’s methodology that if a teacher preparation program has too many students graduating with honors, it must be due to grade inflation, rather than the possibility that the students are simply high achieving. Some may snicker at this possibility, but there is nothing in the report that disproves this alternative explanation (or even casts serious doubt on it).
In fact, buried in a footnote in the report is this statement: "For example, while lax grading standards could be part of the cause for the differential in honors, evidence does not suggest that this problem is worse in teacher preparation than elsewhere in an institution." This is a stunning admission that the central thesis of the report—"we find that in a majority of institutions (58 percent), grading standards for teacher candidates are much lower than for students in other majors on the same campus," as stated in the report’s executive summary—is not supported by any evidence.
The council’s methodology also does not take into account that many education majors, even those in elementary education who are not also majoring in a discipline, take the majority of their courses outside of the teacher preparation program. In Michigan, in order to be eligible for state certification as an elementary teacher, a student must earn a large number of credit hours in disciplinary courses.
At Michigan State, elementary-education candidates choose a focus area in language arts, social studies, integrated science, or mathematics. A student choosing the integrated-science option, for example, must complete 55 to 58 credit hours in courses from the departments of biology, chemistry, earth science, statistics, and mathematics. This includes required courses such as organismal and population biology, general and inorganic chemistry, and college algebra and trigonometry.
Few would consider those "gut" courses that earn a student an easy A grade—and remember, these are elementary-education majors. So the notion that lax grading in education courses leads to too many students with honors is, statistically, highly implausible.
While all of us in the teacher preparation industry strive for high standards and are fine with being held accountable for achieving that, we believe that measuring us against those standards must be done in a methodologically sound fashion. The report by the National Council on Teacher Quality fails to do this, and thus should be discounted as a measure of just how many "easy A’s" are earned by education students across the country. | https://edprepmatters.net/2014/11/member-voices-easy-as-gets-an-f/ |
Code optimisation by subpixel to allow faster drawing for realtime animation, animating the last fold over time and interactive with mouse movement.
Based on the fabulous Origami Butterfly by Kyle McDonald.
Keys:
[space] to pause
- to switch the source image (with the same folding),
[f] to create a new folding (with a random number of folds),
[e] to display extra information: the folded paper and points used to animate the last fold.
A modification of the Origami Butterfly Method by Jonathan McCabe. The original algorithm can be paraphrased:
- Fold a piece of paper (a few times)
- Note the new position of each point on the paper
- Unfold the paper
- For each point, use the noted (folded) position to determine that point's color
The primary modification is the last step: instead of a point in color space, the positions represent a sample from an image space - painting some unexpected organic patterns, and leading to a simpler metaphor for the algorithm:
- Fold a piece of paper (a few times)
- Project an image onto the paper (like tie-dye)
- Unfold the paper
Performance metrics compared to original code (470x353, 32 folds). Note: these times are merely quickest times observed from debug output and are cumulative in the order presented.
- Original time: ~460ms
- Replace folds with foldsx0, foldsy0, foldsx1, foldsy1: 420ms (-41ms)
- Replace closest with closestx, closesty: 351ms (-69ms)
- Inline refelct(): 220ms (-131ms)
- Replace foldedImage with foldedImagex, foldedImage[y]: 150ms (-70ms)
An approximately 3x speed improvement overall, allowing for rendering as a realtime animation, especially with fewer folds. | http://subpixels.com/processing/spxlOrigamiButterfly/ |
Turkey's energy import bill decreased by 17.7% to $2.68 billion in September this year compared to the same month last year, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Friday.
Although the overall energy import bill fell last month, the country increased its crude oil purchases.
The data shows that Turkey's overall import bill, including energy and other items, totaled $20.83 billion in September, with energy accounting for 12.86% of the overall import figures.
The country's crude oil imports also showed a nearly 27% increase compared to September 2019.
Turkey imported approximately 3.41 million tons of crude oil last month, up from 2.69 million tons in September 2019. | https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/energy-projects/turkeys-energy-import-bill-down-177-in-september-2020/30934 |
As a very young teacher, I remember pulling all-nighters to get my students’ essays back within the one-week limit I set for myself. Even in those days this “cram grading” was miserable and exhausting; but now at 50—especially with the added responsibilities of husband, father, and homeowner—this style of grading papers is all but impossible.
Fortunately, over the years I’ve developed a system where I grade student papers the same way I encourage students to write—that is, I’ve incorporated a process approach to grading student essays.
Taking a dip into student writing
The process starts with something I call “dipping.” I “dip” by going through a batch of student essays to make sure everything is in order. For example, for all submitted essays I require a grading rubric, a rough draft, and a final draft. (For papers using sources, I also require a Works Cited page.) So—while watching TV at night or sitting in my home office as my kids play elsewhere—I’ll “dip.” In addition to making sure that everything is in order, dipping also allows me to skim the first page or so of the essay.
The next step in my process involves the use of sticky notes, usually of the 4-by-6-inch size. At this stage I read through the entire essay and then comment on its strengths and weaknesses. On one sticky note, for a Personal Experience essay, I wrote: “Though Ashley sometimes uses more words than she needs to, she tells a pretty good story, with suspense and buildup. The weakest part for me was the conclusion. What could she do to improve this?” Obviously, I’m not completely certain of my full response here, but that’s OK; I don’t have to be at this point. That’s a benefit of approaching grading as a process.
The advantage of sticky notes is that their very size encourages me to be concise. In addition to my sticky note comments, I also “mark” papers in this stage of the process, in the sense of pointing out sentence boundary and other problems; but I don’t heavily edit the essays, since the research from the last 30 years makes clear that bleeding all over a student’s essay isn’t all that useful.
A more reflective grading process
In the last stage of this process, I comment directly on the student’s grading rubric; that is, I transform my sticky-note “writer-based” comments into the reader-based comments the student sees. Because I use grading rubrics, I needn’t reprise everything that is wrong with a particular essay and can distill from my sticky-note comments what is most germane to a student’s revising his or her essay. With the high A essays, I generally just give a verbal pat on the back. With essays in the B range and below, I comment more, though usually no more than a brief paragraph. My comments also include underlined or asterisked parts of the grading rubric, sometimes with brief comments in the margin.
Although this process approach may seem more work, it’s really not. But it is fairer to the student. If you have only one shot to respond—that is, if you try to grade a batch of papers in essentially a single sitting—are you giving a truly reflective response? This is particularly a problem for those essays that when first read make us scratch our heads. But if you give yourself two or three times to ruminate over such an essay, your response is likely to be more helpful because you’re being more thoughtful.
Excerpted from Incorporating Process Pedagogy into Grading Student Essays, The Teaching Professor, May 2008.
Matt Birkenhauer teaches English at Northern Kentucky University. | https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/a-new-approach-to-grading-student-essays/ |
Four years ago I did a math problem that changed my life. I was looking at the stacks of paper lording over my desk, and I began to wonder how much time I spent hunched over stacks like those with a pen in hand. To find the answer, I tracked my grading time for a month and came to an average of 10 hours per week, which falls nicely in the middle of the range given in the only modern study I know on the subject: an NCTE study from a decade ago that found most English teachers spend between 9-12 hours per week responding to student writing. I then multiplied my 10 hours by 36 weeks of school and then multiplied that by 35 years of teaching (the average length of a career), and the result was that over my career I was looking at approximately 12,600 hours of responding to student writing, which is the equivalent of working full time, 52 weeks a year, for six years.
Like many English teachers, the amount of time I need to grade these papers goes well beyond my planning time, and so the way I’d borne this extra load was something that I call the Jacob Marley (from A Christmas Carol; see below) Method.
Similar to Marley, my person was always chained to my papers. I carted them everywhere I went in the hope that I would find a few spare moments here and there to knock out a little grading. Further, every few weeks I usually had to take an intensive grading weekend/evening in an effort to get caught up and at least two or three times a year my stack grew so high that I used a “sick” day at a coffee shop to chop my paper stacks down to a manageable size.
It was the Marley-esque lifestyle, and a particularly grueling stretch of papers, that led me to the math problem mentioned above. And after finding the answer, I realized that I needed to know more about the process of commenting and grading. I wanted to know how much my students learned from my feedback in the margins. I wanted to know if there was a way to be more efficient. I also wanted to know that the six years that I was on the path to investing in margin comments was worth it. So I began digging, and what I found rocked the very core of my practice.
Over the next few months, I will be posting every Friday on the topic of margin comments, feedback, and grading, as I think this issue has such huge implications for teacher quality of life, English teacher burn-out, and the rate of student growth as writers. I will also be speaking on these topics at the NCTE Annual Convention during the Ignite Session, where I will discuss how small changes in feedback can make a major change in a teacher’s quality of life and instruction.
Part I: Timing is Everything
As a student, I encountered teachers with really diverse styles of providing feedback. Some had complex rubrics, some had shorthand systems, some wrote long notes on the last page, and many just snaked comments and corrections throughout every inch of blank space. But what they all shared in common is that the bulk of this feedback came on final drafts.
The idea that serious feedback goes on final drafts was so universal in my education that I didn’t even think about alternatives until years into my career. And even once I did hear about giving significant formative feedback, I fought the idea hard. I didn’t want to entertain that my teacher mentors hadn’t been right on this point, and I really didn’t want to entertain that I could have done better by the students whose final drafts I loaded with ink. So I wrote off formative feedback as another suggestion from the experts that looks good on paper but is simply too much work in actual practice.
Eventually, the idea of formative feedback popped up so much in reading and conversation that I knew I would need to face it, and once I did, I found a near academic consensus that formative feedback is indeed far more effective than summative feedback for the following reasons:
- The very presence of a grade makes written feedback a secondary concern because most students focus more on the grade than they do on the lessons they can glean from teacher comments.
- Once a draft becomes final, student motivation to learn tends to decrease precipitously because they feel that the paper is done. They’ve already received the points they were going to get and lost the points they were going to lose, and so many move on, unaware or uncaring that an error that isn’t dealt with will likely appear again on the next paper.
- Students are often so embarrassed by their errors that they resist seriously revisiting them.
- There is far less time for students to process lessons on a final draft than they would have if they got the feedback earlier, and we generally need a lot of time to learn lessons right.
Of course, even after hearing these arguments, I wasn’t fully persuaded, as there is a reason why summative feedback has long been the dominant practice in many classrooms. Formative feedback has its issues too, with the three biggest being that…
- summative feedback allows the teacher to justify the grade given. Students and parents often have strong emotional responses to grades, so it is understandable that teachers would want to craft a message to go along with the grade.
- a final draft is supposed to be the best effort of a student, making it the natural place for the teacher to step in. If teachers correct papers in a more rough state, they will likely waste a lot of time marking issues that students are aware of but haven’t fixed yet.
- formative comments require teachers to read student work an extra time, and most writing teachers don’t have enough time as it is.
The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that these issues, while legitimate, are not insurmountable. So I gave formative feedback a shot, and I haven’t looked back since. My formative system isn’t always perfect, but I have found it to be so much more effective than my previous summative one. Student performance is way up and there has been no noticeable increase in questions concerning grading or the time I spend providing feedback. Instead, the work and communication are just reallocated from the end to different parts of the writing process.
Here are the core elements of my current system:
- The students and I design the rubrics together. I got this idea from Kelly Gallagher, and I have found it to be a game-changer in terms of helping students to understand the grades they receive in the end.
- I give the bulk of my feedback once students take papers “as far as they can” without my input. This means that they do rounds of peer and self review before I give them my feedback, and then they are expected to use my feedback on the final draft.
- I do not put comments on the final draft. Instead, students get a graded rubric and a one to two sentence note from me. I do this because if I cut comments completely out of the final read, I can read and assess in a fraction of the time it used to take me to comment and grade simultaneously. This is necessary because more work is required in the earlier stages. Doing this can be tricky at first because students, parents, and administrators usually expect final drafts stuffed with comments. The way I deal with that expectation is I simply lay out the situation. I say that I would love to give extensive comments twice, but the reality of having over 150 students is that I only have the ability to comment in-depth once, and the most effective time to do that is earlier rather than later for all of the reasons discussed above. Once that is explained, I find all parties are usually sold, and I haven’t heard a complaint yet about how pristine my final drafts look when they come back.
Like most teachers, I am constantly changing things in my practice, but few changes have had a more noticeable impact than simply shifting when I provide students feedback. One of the largest meta-analysises on the subject of when to provide feedback argues that formative feedback is often twice as effective as summative, and while that seems like an absurd stat, as nothing in schools doubles the speed of learning, what I’ve observed in my classes has absolutely backed that up.
Thank you as always for reading, and look forward to next Friday, when we will be talking about how much feedback is too much.
Yours in Teaching, | https://matthewmjohnson.com/2017/09/01/featured-content-2/ |
The SBAC-T40 is a portable bus-powered memory reader/writer supporting the Thunderbolt™ 3 interface* that’s compatible with SxS removable memory cards.
The compact, lightweight and durable SBAC-T40 is ideal for stable, high speed 4K video file transfers, desktop browsing and direct video editing with Mac and Windows PC.
SxS PRO X accelerates effective transfer speeds compared with SxS PRO+. As an illustration, a 38-minute 4K@60p video clip stored as a 240GB XAVC-I file can be transferred via in just 3.5 minutes** – approximately three times faster than SxS PRO+.
Reviews (0)
There are no reviews yet. | https://shop.diginet.pro/diginet-shop/editing/storage/cardreaders/sbac-t40-t-104629 |
The present article investigates the role of Haitian community radios in strengthening social mobilization, with the aim of supporting the actions undertaken in the field of public health in Haiti, based on the development of the Workshop for community radios, as part of the Tripartite Cooperation Brazil-Cuba-Haiti. The qualitative methodology is justified because of the study content, an analysis of documents and direct observation, through a case study presented at the Workshop held in the department of Hinches, in Haiti. This meeting was held in the context of the Working Group on Tripartite Communication, under the responsibility of the Health Channel/Fiocruz, in partnership with the Department for Health Promotion and Environmental Prevention of the Ministry of Health and Population of Haiti (DPSPE/MSPP/Haiti), with a proposal to better structure a network of multipliers in health promotion.
The first part of the article provides an introduction and a supporting analytical perspective about the epistemological status of social mediation from authors such Hegel, Jesús Martín Barbero and Manuel Martín Serrano. In a second stage, we undertake our task of founding a public communication as a prospective within the field of communication, as well as a mediating process for social mobilization and from the knowledge of interface features. Finally, we conclude with a proposal submission for citizens participation and social mobilization, presenting a way to contribute to the quality of democracy. Copyright © 2012 (Carlos Alberto Galvis, Luis Horacio Botero).
#social movements, reflexivity,social networks,share meanings construction, water, Mexico.#movimientos sociales, reflexividad,redes sociales,construcción de significadoscompartidos, agua, México.
Social mobilization is a process that enlists a large number of people to achieve a goal within a limited time, especially through the use of social media. There is increasing interest in understanding the factors that affect the speed of social mobilization. Based on the Langley Knights competition data set, we analyzed the differences in mobilization speed between users of Facebook and e-mail. We include other factors that may influence mobilization speed (gender, age, timing, and homophily of information source) in our model as control variables in order to isolate the effect of such factors. We show that, in this experiment, although more people used e-mail to recruit, the mobilization speed of Facebook users was faster than that of those that used e-mail. We were also able to measure and show that the mobilization speed for Facebook users was on average seven times faster compared to e-mail before controlling for other factors. After controlling for other factors, we show that Facebook users were 1.84 times more likely to register compared to e-mail users in the next period if they have not done so at any point in time. This finding could provide useful insights for future social mobilization efforts.
This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLoS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134811; Social mobilization is a process that enlists a large number of people to achieve a goal within a limited time, especially through the use of social media. There is increasing interest in understanding the factors that affect the speed of social mobilization. Based on the Langley Knights competition data set, we analyzed the differences in mobilization speed between users of Facebook and e-mail. We include other factors that may influence mobilization speed (gender, age, timing, and homophily of information source) in our model as control variables in order to isolate the effect of such factors. We show that, in this experiment, although more people used e-mail to recruit, the mobilization speed of Facebook users was faster than that of those that used e-mail. We were also able to measure and show that the mobilization speed for Facebook users was on average seven times faster compared to e-mail before controlling for other factors. After controlling for other factors, we show that Facebook users were 1.84 times more likely to register compared to e-mail users in the next period if they have not done so at any point in time. This finding could provide useful insights for future social mobilization efforts.
#social mobilization, milk production, development.#movilización social, la producción de leche, el desarrollo.#mobilização social, produção de leite, desenvolvimento.
##Social Mobilization#Psychodrama#work in communities.##Mobilização Social#Psicodrama#trabalho em comunidades.
This article presents the Social Mobilization, the social net and the Psychodrama, as important concepts, methods and approaches to learn communities about how to be a citizen.; Este artigo destaca o uso da Mobilização Social, da Formação de Redes e do Psicodrama, como instrumentos, métodos e abordagens significativos no processo de educação comunitária para o exercício da cidadania. | http://biblioteca.posgraduacaoredentor.com.br/?q=Social+mobilization |
Secret #7: Secret Makes Mistakes, Too!
Because teachers make mistakes in grading or when writing on the board, it is important for students to keep a watchful eye and be respectful when they catch an error.
Instead of shouting, "You left out a 't'," it would be more productive to ask for clarification about how the word is spelled. For example, one could ask, "I might be wrong, but I think the word has a "t" in it."
The mistakes on tests are more important for students than getting 95%. They tell the student what they didn't know. It is very important that they get used to reviewing their corrected papers to find out what they missed.
If a mistake is detected, telling the teacher they made a mistake is not an effective form of communication. Instead, state, "I think I got number five right because......(state the proof). Can you tell me why I got it wrong?"
This approach will demonstrate students' thinking about the question and aides the teacher in offering more effective instruction.
Teachers often write questions with one answer in mind, and they don't realize the other possibilities until students bring them to their attention. If students support their answers with facts and reasons, they will demonstrate their true understanding and gain favor in the teachers' eyes.
Through their questions, students can alert teachers to a question that needs rewording.
1. They may be correct and an error was made in grading which will raise their score.
2. Grading is subjective. Therefore, if a student is wavering between a B+ and an A-, the teacher will feel comfortable giving the A- if the student has been a respectful self-advocate.
3. Asking about errors on tests helps students think about the questions and improves memory for later recall. | https://www.homeworkdoc.com/blogs/news/secrets-students-should-know-7 |
If you are looking for a more effective method of math homework grading and assessing how your students are progressing you have come to the right place. In this article you will learn some great tips on how to grade math homework.
Simple consistent marking: Choose a certain color pen for grading and use this color only. Many teachers choose to use red because it stands out and creates a distinction for the students and parents in terms of what the student wrote and what the teacher has written. Red is traditionally a teachers color.
Regardless of the color used, students are going to find it intimidating if they see numerous corrections. Therefore, it is more important to keep your focus on the kind of mark you are making on the work sheet. Instead of placing a large X or a large circle around the wrong answers just draw a simple slash through it instead.
Don’t make more work for yourself than is necessary. For example, when a student gets an answer wrong, refrain from writing the correct answer next to it. Another thing that can confuse the students and the parents is to circle the correct answers and leave the incorrect answers. This can create the impression that the right answer is wrong and the wrong answer is right. You can get together with some of the more experienced teachers for some math homework ideas for grading math homework worksheet.
Don’t let your papers pile up: Instead of leaving ungraded papers on your desk to pile up, leave them in the file trays where your students turn them in. Looking at a stack of unmarked papers on your desk can become overwhelming. It can also look really messy especially if they accumulate quickly.
Don’t allow work to go ungraded for more than a week, this can be difficult to do at times but it is really important. If you have already tested your students on material there is no point in grading the homework after the test has been administered. This doesn’t allow you to determine whether or not your students understand the topic and neither does it provide them with any feedback concerning their progress.
Establish a grading time: Find a set time to grade your student’s assignments and stick with it. You might choose to do so during students morning work, or during the lunch hour. Whatever is more convenient for you, the whole idea is to make sure that you are consistent and this will prevent papers piling up.
Some teachers stay after school one day per week to get up to date with their grading. This is a good idea if you are a parent and find it difficult to concentrate at home. However, it is up to you to choose the strategy that works best for you.
If you want to gain some more ideas on how to grade homework, you can go onto a math homework website where you can find plenty ideas on how to do my algebra homework and grade it online from teachers. | https://starttws.com/2017/06 |
Main Responsibilities:
Organizes all procedures related to the examination process including:
1. Organizes with halls supervisors to count the available classrooms and ensure their readiness before the exams.
2. Coordinates with the directorate of student affairs by calculating the number of registered students in each course to determine the number of classrooms for the examination of each course before distributing students in them.
3. Follows up the preparation of preliminary examination schedules by department heads, approves it, coordinates with the directorate of student affairs to prepare the schedule and get it approved by department heads to be approved by the rector.
4. Distributes tasks among the employees of the directorate prior to any examination process (test, final or quiz) and supervises the process.
5. Receives and counts the examination papers and prepares official tables of handing out and delivering for each exam. The examination committees grade the examination papers for each exam and report to the grading committee regarding any issues in papers. After the grading, the teacher of the course is informed to check the papers that have marking problems.
6. Archives the grades and upload them on the academic system after auditing them by the employees. Then the data entered are double-checked by another examination employee before finally approving them by the academic system manager.
7. Follows up with the objections committee regarding the examination results for a definite period, provides the right decision and the committee checks those objections, and officially present their decision to the examination director to implement them.
8. Provides the cheating record and exam disturbance to the disciplinary committee which in turn provides its decisions to the university board. The exam papers which contain violations are referred to the disciplinary committees to make the right decision.
9. Issues the documents related to grades and averages (semester transcripts)
10 Issues lists of top students to the university board.
11 Issues statistics of pass and fail in all available courses in each academic semester to evaluate students’ performance in departments and faculties.
12 Implements the decisions of the ministry of higher education and university board in relation to the examination process, grading scale in each course, pass, fail methods in departments and faculties and archives the decisions of modified documents.
13 Prepares and follows up exam samples and ensures its inventory by the end of the semester.
14 Organizes the compensatory tests for students who are approved by the university administration to retake the tests through organizing the schedules, preparing exam envelopes, distributing students on exam halls and thoroughly supervise the examination process.
15 Prepares the table of secret codes of the examination process by the beginning of each exam. | https://manara.edu.sy/index.php?page=show&ex=2&dir=items&lang=2&ser=1&cat_id=34&act=34& |
One of our special skills as humans is the ability to modify the environment to suit our needs. As the weather changes throughout the year, we artificially heat and cool our living spaces to maintain comfortable temperatures. So, our bodies normally don't have to work very hard at thermoregulation (controlling internal temperature) to maintain homeostasis (the ideal body temperature range). Other animals generally do not have this luxury, but they do possess remarkable adaptations that allow them to cope with extreme temperatures.
In mammals, hibernation is a state where bodily functions slow dramatically for an extended period of time—weeks or months. True mammalian hibernators include bats, hedgehogs, and ground squirrels. Although bears are still closely associated with hibernation, they do awaken and move around inside their winter dens, so they actually experience torpor during winter months in cold climates. Torpor is shorter and less intense than hibernation. Bears do not feed at this time, however, and rely on fat stores that they build up over the course of the year. Those that live in warmer climates, like our resident American black bear, Ranger, remain active throughout the winter months because food sources are available year-round. Similarly, echidnas experience torpor or hibernation depending on where they originate in Australia. Because our Southern California climate is similar to that of their native habitat in southern Australia, the Zoo's three echidnas remain in their habitat and go into torpor as local temperatures dictate.
Hummingbirds (even some in tropical climates) experience torpor nightly, their feet securely gripping branches to hold them in place while their systems shut down until the sun rises and temperatures climb enough to activate them. Many familiar mammals, including raccoons, skunks, and mice, also experience torpor.
If some of your favorite reptiles at the Zoo seem to vanish in late autumn, it might be because they have entered a dormant state for the winter months. Brumation is essentially the reptilian/amphibian version of hibernation. During this period, a reptile may not eat, drink, defecate, or move for several weeks. (In hot weather, energy conservation is also important, so in response to extreme heat, many reptiles and amphibians as well as some invertebrates and mammals enter a similar state called estivation.) In spring, warming temperatures, increased daylight, and changes in barometric pressure, cause emergence.
Mountain yellow-legged frogs in their natural habitat spend the winter “chilling out” under ice—both tadpoles and adults can survive up to nine months in the bottoms of lakes, their bodily functions dramatically slowed. Cold spells like this are an important part of the reproductive cycle for many reptiles and amphibians. At the Zoo, animal keepers mimic the winter chill for the frogs in their care in order to prompt breeding behavior in the spring.
American alligators Reggie and Tina are able to brumate naturally in their Zoo habitat. "Depending on the temperatures, they can start earlier or later each year. Their exhibit is not heated at all," explains Senior Animal Keeper Chris Rodriguez. "Outside the LAIR, the tomistomas have a heated pool, but we still allow them to cool off a little during the winter months. The hope is that as the temperature drops from the high 70s and low 80s down to the low 70s, the change will induce breeding behavior. As far as the Indian gharials go, they are still too young to breed, so we keep their water temps stable in the high 70s year-round." Desert tortoises like Trucker, who lives in the Winnick Family Children's Zoo, spend the winter months brumating in off-exhibit quarters. Other Zoo reptiles who will be chilling out for the winter include montane pitvipers, giant horned lizards, Mangshan vipers, and Ethiopian mountain vipers.
Remaining active in cold weather means expending energy to stay warm and find food. Many bird species migrate great distances seasonally, following flourishing plant and insect populations from northern to southern latitudes and back again. In autumn, birders in Southern California look forward to the return of seasonal visitors such as white-crowned sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers, cedar waxwings, and merlins, which are regular winter guests on Zoo grounds.
How will you be spending the winter months? | https://zooscape.lazoo.org/2020/11/17/winter-wonders/ |
Cold or Warm blooded?
There is a considerable debate amongst scientists and Dino lovers alike as to whether Dinosaurs, as well as flying and swimming reptiles, were cold blooded or warm blooded. If they were/are cold blooded or Ectothermic, the animals would rely on their environment to sustain adequate body temperatures. If they were, on the other hand, Warm blooded or Endothermic, the creatures would be able to sustain body temperatures largely on their own.
The theory of warm blooded Dinosaurs and kin arises from the idea that many species of these ancient reptiles were not sluggish, slow and dim witted as they were long thought and depicted. During the 1970's the "Dinosaur Renassaince" was a period when many researchers went through and reexamined these fossils and found that many were actually fast, swift and intelligent, and that they may have to have been warm blooded to sustain the more active lifestyles.
This theory was later made even more popular due to supposed feathered Dinosaur fossils, since birds are warm blooded, it would logically follow that if Dinosaurs had feathers they would have to have been warm blooded, meaning they regulated their own body temperature such as mammals and birds and unlike reptiles.
The problem with Dinosaurs being warmblooded is that the evidence for it is underwhelming or missing altogether. Warm blooded animals and cold blooded animals have some key differences in their features. Such as, if Dinosaurs were warm blooded and lived the lifestyles they supposedly did, they would have had either hair or feathers, and even though there have been numerous "feathered Dinosaur" fossils found, they have all been shown to be either hoaxes, normal Theropod dinosaurs or 100% birds. None have been shown to be authentic fossils of Dinosaurs with feathers or hair.
Some have said birds evolved from Theropod dinosaurs, and some have even said that Dinosaurs were mammals, these allegations are based on underwhelming scientific support at best. Currently, the vast majority of evidence points to Dinosaurs and their kin being 100% reptile, albeit very unique reptiles, but fully reptile nonetheless.
One of the conflicting issues with Dinosaurs being warm blooded is that aside from little to no evidence supporting it, there is no biological need for even the fastest and most active Dinosaurs, ie. Velociraptor, to have been Endothermic. There are plenty of cold blooded animals, including reptiles, alive today that are cold blooded yet still move very fast, much faster than humans. There are many lizards and crocodilians, the closest animals in function and appearance to Theropods, that can outrun a human and many other potential predators. The fastest lizard alive today is the Spiny Tailed Iguana has been clocked at 21 miles per hour, much faster than any human can run, yet they are still cold blooded animals.
It only seems reasonable that Theropod Dinosaurs would have been had similarly active lifestyles, being able to achieve high running speeds without needing abnormally high amounts of food to sustain their metabolism. They could have simply ran only when they needed to and rested when not hunting, and it is also likely that they prefered to hunt smaller prey which would be easier to catch and would require less energy.
There is also a third, interesting possibility. Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, and Plesiosaurs may have been reptiles that posessed both ectothermic and endothermic traits. Many animals today that are ectothermic can tolerate very low temperatures such as fish and a number of species of reptiles and amphibians. Different animals are adapted to different climates and habitats, and obviously the dragons of old would have been no different in their need for proper adaptations and needs. This may in fact be an explanation as to why some alleged "Lake Monster" sightings occur in such cold waters as Loch Ness in Scottland despite the animal being reptilian.
There seems little reason to think any Dinosaurs, even Theropods, were warm blooded mammalian or avian creatures. There simply is no scientific evidence to support anything but being reptiles like modern day lizards and crocodilians.
Such amazing animals were certainly wonderfully made and we can see that from just what little remains we ahve to work with. We must be careful of making scientific dogma out of specualtion based on the bones of dead animals. Remember that no one would know elephants had trunks if they just exmained elephant skulls. | https://truedinos.webnode.com/dinosaurs/cold-or-warm-blooded-/ |
Temperature is of vital importance for the survival of an animal. When it comes to turtles, it is even more significant since these animals are cold-blooded. Turtles cannot regulate their body temperature. They depend on external sources of heat to stay warm because they cannot generate heat themselves. So, do turtles get cold?
Yes, turtles do get cold. They have natural adaptations to cope with low temperatures and winter. When the temperatures fall, they slow down their metabolism and hibernate. However, they can’t endure temperatures below a certain point and can perish if exposed to extreme cold for longer durations.
Let’s talk about this in detail now.
Why Do Turtles Get Cold?
Turtles are reptiles. Now, you may know that reptiles are ectothermic animals.
It means that these animals cannot control their body temperature. They depend on the heat in their surroundings to stay warm and cozy.
If you look at their daily routine, you will notice that turtles alternate between spending time in the water and basking in the sun. When they swim in the water, their body temperature adjusts to the cold water. After a while, they start feeling cold and climb ashore to spend time in the sun.
This activity, called basking, is very important for turtles. Basking helps them synthesize Vitamin D and calcium. Additionally, the heat from the sun helps in raising their body temperature. It compensates for the heat they lost while swimming.
However, the turtle cannot stand too much heat. Once it starts to feel warm, it will return to the water to cool off. Thus, the cycle continues.
When the surrounding temperature is just right, turtles will flourish. However, if it fluctuates and their surroundings get too warm or too cold, turtles struggle. If they must endure wide temperature fluctuations for extended periods, they become sick.
Recommended Further Reading:
- Do Pet Turtles Hibernate? – The Actual Facts About Turtle Hibernation
- Why Do Barnacles Attach To Turtles? Can You Remove Barnacles?
- What Happens To Turtles When They Die? (The Actual Facts)
How Cold Is Too Cold For A Turtle?
Depending on the species, different turtles have different endurance levels for cold and heat. Most pet turtles need temperatures in the range of 75°F to 86°F. Even if the temperature falls below this range, the turtle may survive. However, the cold will affect its metabolism and cause the animal’s activity level to fall.
Although a turtle can withstand cold temperatures by hibernating, it cannot indefinitely survive the cold. A prolonged winter or exposure to extreme temperatures can kill a turtle.
Now, turtles cannot survive on land when the temperature touches the freezing point. Box turtles are the only exception since these animals have higher endurance. Other types of turtles will die. However, most turtles can survive freezing temperatures if they are in the water.
Nonetheless, the surface of the water must not freeze and deprive the turtles of oxygen.
What Do Turtles Do When It Gets Too Cold?
Turtles are vulnerable to the cold. They cannot resume their normal activities in a cold environment for too long.
As their surroundings become cold, their metabolism slows down. When this happens, the turtle goes into a restful state.
The activity levels fall, blood circulation reduces, and the turtle becomes lethargic. You will feel as though the turtle is sleeping.
By reducing their metabolic rate, turtles can cope with lower oxygen levels. They need less energy for their activities and rely on their fat reserves to survive until the temperature levels improve.
How Do You Know If Your Turtle Is Cold?
Simply observing your turtle will help you identify if your turtle is cold. Your turtle will seem quieter and less active. It will look tired and sloppy. You may notice that it spends most of its time sleeping. Your turtle may also not eat much.
If the water in which your turtle swims gets too cold, you may see it basking for much longer. It will spend extended durations of time under the basking light or frequently climb ashore to warm its body.
If your turtle seems to display any of these signs, it is a good idea to check the temperature of its enclosure. Leaving it to cope with low temperatures for too long may force it to hibernate. It can be dangerous if your turtle is underweight or ill.
If you do not spot the signs early, your turtle may also end up becoming sick. Continuous exposure to cold or hot temperatures is not too good for a turtle.
To prevent your turtle from becoming sick, constantly monitor the temperature of their surroundings. You can use a thermometer to check the temperature. If it falls, use an internal heater to raise the temperature to a comfortable level.
For turtles that spend most of their time in the water, you can use an internal water heater to raise the temperature of the water they swim in.
Related Further Reading:
- Why Do Turtles Slap Each Other? [And How To Stop Them]
- Can Turtles Eat Tomatoes? [Why Are Tomatoes Toxic To Turtles?]
- Do Turtles Need A Heat Lamp? [Why, How Long + Which Ones Don’t]
- Are Turtles Lucky? [How Different Cultures View Turtles]
Do Turtles Get Cold In The Winter?
Pet turtles have the luxury of living in a regulated environment. Their owners will tend to their feeding requirements and ensure that their habitat conditions are correct.
However, turtles in the wild are at the mercy of nature. In winter, these animals must endure extremely hostile conditions.
Interestingly, wild turtles survive freezing temperatures in winter. They do this by going into a deep sleep till the weather improves. This process is called hibernation or brumation.
Now, you know that wild turtles depend on the sun for heat. In winter, less sunlight is available. Hence, turtles cannot find enough heat to stay warm and regulate their metabolic activity rate.
To compensate for this, they must reduce their activity levels. So, these animals become inactive. Their heartbeat reduces, and blood circulation slows down. In this manner, turtles become stunned and immobile.
During this period, they use their fat reserves to stay alive. Since they are inactive, they need minimum energy. They remain like this until the harsh winter passes.
Once spring arrives, turtles awake from their long sleep and resume normal activity. By foraging for food and regulating their body temperature with the help of sunlight, they get back to normalcy.
However, if the winter is a prolonged one, these animals will go into extended shock. They may run out of fat reserves and succumb to the cold.
Do Turtles Get Cold At Night?
The temperature is low during the night than during the day. Since turtles are cold-blooded animals, you may wonder if the temperature drop at night affects their well-being.
Now, you should remember that turtles have a day-night cycle, just like us. They are active during the day and rest at night. When they take rest at night, their metabolism slows down. They do not need much energy or heat.
These animals will usually wedge themselves into rock piles, logs or bury their bodies under leaf piles to feel warm during the night. So, if you have a pet turtle, you can turn off the basking light at night.
By replicating the conditions in the wild, you can keep your turtle healthy and happy.
Interesting Further Reading:
- Why Do Turtles Eat Straws? [Why It’s Bad And How To Prevent It]
- Why Do Turtles Float? + Why They Float On Their Backs & Sideways
- Do Turtles Mate? (How, When, How Long, What Age, Etc.)
- Are Turtles Omnivores, Herbivores, Or Carnivores? (Actual Facts)
Do Aquatic Turtles Get Cold?
Like terrestrial turtles, aquatic turtles too cannot regulate their body temperature. They depend on heat sources in their surroundings to stay warm.
Now, aquatic turtles spend most of their time in the water. Hence, the quality and temperature of water affect their health and well-being. If the water becomes too cold, they can become sick. Similarly, if the water is too hot, the turtle can get burnt.
Depending on the species, some aquatic turtles may tolerate cold water. However, these turtles will climb on rocks or logs and bask after a swim to raise their body temperature.
When turtles sense the approach of winter, they brace themselves for the cold. Most aquatic turtles will stop foraging for food. They go into a pond or lake and bury themselves in mud and leaves. They do everything slowly and even stop eating.
As the cold increases, their metabolism further reduces. They become immobile, and their energy needs reduce. When the weather becomes too cold, the aquatic turtles hibernate.
These animals will usually hibernate in water since the water temperature is more stable than land. If the entire water in the pond does not freeze solid, they will survive.
Have you ever wondered how these animals breathe if they stay immersed in the water in winter? Interestingly, they take up dissolved oxygen from the water through their skin for breathing.
Now, a long winter or extreme cold can prove detrimental for aquatic turtles. Adult turtles cannot tolerate ice and will die if ice falls on them.
Baby turtles are more sensitive than adults. If they are very young at the onset of winter, they may not make it through the winter. However, baby turtles of most wild species that are at least six months old can cope with harsh winters.
A cold winter should not pose a problem for pet turtles since they live in a controlled environment. You can use an aquarium heater to regulate the temperature of their enclosure during winter.
Unless the water in their tank gets too cold, they will not go into hibernation mode. Hence, they will continue to be active and remain unaffected by the outside environment. | https://jaljeev.com/do-turtles-get-cold/ |
Box turtles (Terrapene carolina) are land-dwelling reptiles that inhabit regions of the Midwest and eastern United States, as well as parts of southern Canada and eastern Mexico. They can live to be 75 to 80 years old, and have developed a number of behavioral strategies and physical adaptations over time to help them survive.
Box turtles are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and at dusk. During the day, they burrow into the ground to avoid heat. At night, they dig shallow pits to lie in, covering themselves with leaves and other plant debris. The turtles also burrow into the ground for overwintering, hibernating just a few inches beneath the soil. The turtles are protected from predators and extreme temperatures when underground. In areas prone to forest fires, burrowed turtles often escape fire.
The bottom shell of a box turtle (the plastron) is hinged. This allows it to close against the inside edge of the upper shell (the carapace). The turtle does this when it perceives a threat, also drawing its head, tail and limbs inside the shell. It emits a hissing sound while closing its shell, due to air releasing as the shell contracts.
A box turtle dwells within a home range, i.e., an area where it lives its life from birth to death. It mates, feeds and hibernates within this range. Home ranges can be as small as three acres or as large as 100 acres. Box turtles have developed a strong homing instinct that allows them to identify prominent characteristics of their home range, such as landmarks and locations of food and shelter.
In addition to behavioral adaptations, box turtles have developed physical adaptations that aid survival. For example, their eyes are directed forward. This gives them binocular vision, which aids in hunting. A box turtle's sharp beak is developed to bite plants and crush prey. A capacity for the shell to regenerate after being burned is thought to be an adaptation to aid the survival of box turtles in fire-prone areas. An adaptation that baffles scientists is the ability of the turtle to shut down its extremities during long periods of cold temperatures in order to survive.
Reed, Cyn. "Behavioral Adaptations of the Box Turtle." Sciencing, https://sciencing.com/behavioral-adaptations-box-turtle-8517995.html. 25 April 2017. | https://sciencing.com/behavioral-adaptations-box-turtle-8517995.html |
Colwellia psychrerythraea is considered an obligate psychrophile, Gram-negative bacteria, and appears rod-shaped and red in pigment. This flagella-containing organism can be found in continually cold marine environments including Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Strain 34H, in particular, was isolated from Arctic marine sediments. It has a growth temperature range of -1°C to 10°C. Optimal growth appears at 8°C, with maximum cell yield occurring at the subzero temperature of -1°C. Cells are able to swim in temperatures as low as -10°C. Growth can occur under deep sea pressures as well.
Sequence completion of this genome has revealed Colwellia's significant role in bioremediation, carbon and nutrient cycling, production of secondary metabolites, and cold-adapted enzymes. C. psychrerythraea is considered a model organism for the study of life in permanently cold environments, specifically bacterial adaptations. These adaptations include production of extracellular polymeric material for purposes of biofilm formation and cryoprotection, as well as enzymes with the ability to breakdown high-molecular-weight organic compounds. Particularly unique to this organism is the production of cold-active enzymes which show distinct heat instability and optimal activity occurring at low temperatures. These features make Colwellia species important in carbon and nutrient cycling in the cold marine environments in which they inhabit. From contaminated sediments to ice formations, observation of this organism can possibly give insight into earlier Earth environments as well as those on other planets and moons.
Genome structure
The complete genome of Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H has been sequenced and shown to be 5,373,180 nucleotides in length. The genome consists of one circular chromosome which codes for 117 structural RNAs and 4910 proteins. The circular DNA contains 38% guanine-cytosine base pairing.
Comparative genome analyses proposes that the psychrophilic behavior stems from a set of synergistic modifications in the overall genome content and amino acid composition, rather than a specific collection of genes responsible for such cold adaption.
Cell structure and metabolism
Extra-cellular Compounds This rod-shaped bacteria is enclosed by two cell membranes and contains flagella for motility. Important adaptations to its survival in such cold environments include production of extracellular polysaccharides which function in protection against cold-damage, known as cryoprotection, as well as a large amount of extracellular enzymes which may play a role in the metabolism of dissolved organic carbon at low temperatures. Of these enzymes, which function in peptide degradation, over half in the entire genome are expected to be located outside of the cytoplasm. This considerable amount of coding for extracellular enzymes is among the highest percentage in any completed genome. The genome also includes a substantial amount of coding for an extracellular factor subfamily of σ-70 transcription factors, which among its many roles, can regulate extracellular polymeric synthesis. Genome analysis has also shown a large amount of coding for glycosyl transferases, which are suggested to produce such extracellular polysaccharides.
Membrane Fluidity
Other cell features characteristic to cold adaption involve cell membrane fluidity and coding sequences for polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesis as well as a fatty acid cis/trans isomerase, which both aide in increasing cell membrane fluidity.
Carbon and Nitrogen Reserves Genomic investigations also show C. psychrerythraea produces polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) compounds, which function in intracellular carbon and energy storage. Means of nitrogen storage has also been identified in the production cyanophycin-like compounds, which serve as nitrogen reserves. Production of both of these compounds insures important intracellular carbon and nitrogen reserves when cold environments may set limitations on such uptake.
Energy Metabolism and Electron Transport
Unusual Capabilties The C. psychrerythraea genome also contains a suite of CDSs with roles in the synthesis and catabolism of complex, high-molecular-weight organic compounds and possible C1 metabolism that ultimately facilitate a wide range of responses to its environment
Upon genome analysis, coding for DNA metabolism, motility, and protein synthesis were found, which are similar to other proteobacteria. However, some unusual genes were discovered including five cold-shock proteins. Four of these were identified to be in the cytoplasm, and the fifth has a unique protein structure of three transmembrane regions.
Ecology
C. psychrerythrea's unique cold adaptations such as the ability to breakdown high molecular weight compounds and carbon metabolism make this organism important in carbon and nutrient cycling in such cold marine environments. Detoxification activities by this organism may aide in bioremediation of cold habitats as well.
Pathology
This organism is not known to be pathogenic.
Application to Biotechnology
Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?
C. psychrerythraea 34H, along with many other bacteria that produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) compounds, as intracellular carbon sources, are of industrial interest for their thermoplastic and elastomeric properties, as well as a source of biodegradable plastic. Similarly, production of cyanophycin-like compounds that serve as nitrogen reserves, also has industrial potential of replacing non-degradable plastics.
Current Research
As of May 2007, scientists at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Bergen, has solved the crystal structure for the cold-adapted enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (CpPAH) found in C. psychrerythraea 34H. With the aide of that structure, they analyzed the catalytic properties of the enzyme, and found that the cold-adaptive properties appear to involve increased flexibility around the active-site of CpPAH as well as hydrogen bond disruption for the enzyme's cofactor BH4. CpPAH exhibited highest activity at 25(o)C, which is 15(o)C above the optimal temperature growth. Characteristic of cold-active enzymes, high catalytic efficiency of the enzyme was observed at 10(o)C. However, unlike most cold-adapted enzymes, the half-inactivation and denaturation, known as the Tm, was found to be only slightly lower when compared to this enzyme's activity in non-psychrophilic organisms. This knowledge, along with observance of the crystal structure, suggests that cold-adaption for CpPAH involves increased flexibility, which do not largely effect the enzyme's thermostability.
Researchers in Toulouse, France analyzed TonB-dependent receptors (TBDRs), which are outer membrane proteins primarily recognized for the uptake of iron siderophore complexes in Gram-negative bacteria, and their role in Proetobacteria, as well as Bacteroidetes. Genome analysis has identified large representation of these TBDRs, in both phytopathogenic, and aquatic bacteria including C. psychrerythraea. Genomic analysis of both types of bacteria show the TBDRs include a membrane transporter, an amylosucrase which aides in sucrose hydrolysis, and a sucrose utilization regulator; these make up a newly identified carbohydrate utilization locus, named CUT locus. These specific TBDRs and CUT loci have been found to be different from TBDRs in human gut Bacteroids, which allow for glycan scavenging. This suggests a convergent evolution relationship between TBDRs in Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes.
Scientists at the University of Washington, which have performed extensive research on C. psychrerythraea 34H, have discovered a new temperature minimum for metabolic activity in this organism, which involves incorporation of leucine into proteins at the low temperature of -20(o)C. Effects of added extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which can aide in attachment, were also analyzed and found to enhance rates of leucine incorporation in temperatures -1 to -20(o)C. Unexpectedly, low rates of intracellular incorporation of leucine into protein were observed in samples with added EPS, at the low temperatures of -80 and -196(o)C. Explanation of such mechanisms is unclear but may involve salt and organic polymeric substances. Further analysis of bacterial extracellular-intracellular relationships could aide in the understanding of activity at sub-freezing temperatures.
References
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NCBI: Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H Genome Project at TIGR
Barbara A. Methé, Karen E. Nelson, Jody W. Deming, Bahram Momen, Eugene Melamud, Xijun Zhang, John Moult, Ramana Madupu, William C. Nelson, Robert J. Dodson, Lauren M. Brinkac, Sean C. Daugherty, Anthony S. Durkin, Robert T. DeBoy, James F. Kolonay, Steven A. Sullivan, Liwei Zhou, Tanja M. Davidsen, Martin Wu, Adrienne L. Huston, Matthew Lewis, Bruce Weaver, Janice F. Weidman, Hoda Khouri, Terry R. Utterback, Tamara V. Feldblyum, and Claire M. Fraser. "The psychrophilic lifestyle as revealed by the genome sequence of Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H through genomic and proteomic analyses." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 102: 10913-10918; published online before print as 10.1073/pnas.0504766102
Karen Junge, Hajo Eicken, and Jody W. Demin. "Motility of Colwellia psychrerythraea Strain 34H at Subzero Temperatures." Applied Environmental Microbiology. 2003 July; 69(7): 4282–4284. doi: 10.1128/AEM.69.7.4282-4284.2003.
Junge K., Eicken H., Swanson B.D., Deming J.W. "Bacterial incorporation of leucine into protein down to -20 degrees C with evidence for potential activity in sub-eutectic saline ice formations." (2006) Cryobiology., 52 (3), pp. 417-429.
Hanna-Kirsti S. Leiros, Angel L. Pey, Marte Innselset, Elin Moe, Ingar Leiros, Ida Helene Steen, and Aurora Martinez. "Structure of phenylalanine hydroxylase from Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H; a monomeric cold active enzyme with local flexibility around the active site and high overall stability". J. Biol. Chem. 2007 May 30. | https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php?title=Colwellia_psychrerythraea&oldid=13127 |
How incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)
Lord Jim (1900) Chapter 16
Earth is a planet of climatic extremes. In the hottest locales ambient air temperature can approach the boiling point of water. In the coldest, -60° Fahrenheit, well below the freezing point of body fluids, is as warm as it gets. Amazingly, life is found at both ends of the scale.
Thermoregulation, the ability of animals to deal with the stresses of heat and cold, is a beautiful example of the integration of neural, physiological, and behavioral responses to produce a precise, tightly-controlled mechanism that's vital to long- and short-term survival both of individuals and species. It's important for hunters to understand how it works.
Why Bother?
One fundamental question that has to be addressed is why animals thermoregulate in the first place. It's a lot of work, it requires a constant (if unconscious and automatic) monitoring of the environment, and considerable expenditure of metabolic energy. That it's crucial is obvious, though, so let's look at the underlying reason why it has to be done. Life is maintained by a constant and consistent series of intracellular chemical reactions, catalyzed by a vast array of specialized enzymes. Biochemistry is subject to the same influences as any other chemistry, the most important of which is temperature.
All other things being equal, as the temperature of a "reaction vessel" (an animal, for example) is increased, the speed of the reaction increases in proportion. This is no less true of chemical reactions in cells than those in test tubes. The innumerable reactions that occur in cells aren't just random events; they're coordinated into a series of long and tortuous pathways linked in complex and interdependent webs. Each part of the path requires the completion of the previous step before the next can begin. If even a single reaction in a single pathway occurs too rapidly or too slowly, the rest of the pathway is adversely affected.
Too fast a reaction "upstream" in the sequence may lead to buildup of product, with consequent inability to complete of the next step. To use an analogy, factories use the principle of "just in time delivery" to avoid having extra parts lying around, because it's costly and causes a slowdown of the production line. The same is true for biochemical pathways. The metabolic energy "stored" in excessive product is essentially a needless cost to be borne. Conversely an "upstream" reaction that's too slow will cause "downstream" events to be deprived of raw materials.
What's worse, other pathways depend on the final product of a given reaction series. Inefficient production inevitably affects those. Again, to use the factory analogy, if there are millions of assembly lines, all of them mutually interdependent, everything has to be exactly synchronized or the whole thing stops.
The enzymes that control all the steps of these reactions are very specific catalysts. A given enzyme has one function in one pathway, and does nothing else. They're specialized tools; an enzyme's structure is such that it usually can operate only over a limited temperature range. Typically a given enzyme will work best within a very narrow segment of that range. Each enzyme has an optimum temperature it "prefers," at which the reactions it catalyzes go smoothly. Hence there's a point at which the whole machine runs properly. We call that the "normal" body temperature. To a large extent that's species specific. A human has a nominal body temperature of 98.6° Fahrenheit; other animals differ by a few degrees, but whatever the optimum temperature may be, there are mechanisms to keep it there. Perturbations of body temperature can produce a wide array of malfunctions by forcing enzymes to work far outside their optimal range—which may be only a degree or so in either direction. Hence close regulation of body temperature is an absolute necessity.
Balancing The Energy Budget
Thermoregulation has two complementary and conflicting facets: not only must animals cope with loss of body heat to a cooler environment, they've got to control input of energy from a too-hot one as well. The key to understanding the process is grasping how energy moves through the animal; what physiologists call the "organismal energy budget." Like balancing a bank account, income has to equal outflow. If energy "deposits" from various sources and "withdrawals" to cover the metabolic costs of different activities aren't balanced, things go awry. Essentially animals are black boxes capable of trapping and storing energy, using that energy to control various metabolic functions. All biology is chemistry; and ultimately, all chemistry is physics. A basic understanding of the physico-chemical aspects of energy flow is necessary to discussing the energy budget in animals.
The ultimate source of life is radiant solar energy. Plants obtain energy directly from the Sun; animals usually obtain it indirectly because light energy is converted to chemical energy in plants. That chemical energy is stored in food; when food is digested the energy is released and used to form chemical bonds in animal proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. As we'll see, many animals also use the Sun's energy directly, too.
Many metabolic reactions are exothermic : i.e., they release energy from the breakage of chemical bonds as they proceed. Typically this energy is recaptured, and used to drive other, endothermic, reactions, those requiring energy input. Since no process is 100% efficient, while most of the energy is recaptured, some proportion of it isn't; the laws of thermodynamics dictate that the "lost" energy is converted to body heat. This internal heat source is the principal factor that determines what an animal's body temperature may be. For one category of animals the excess energy derived from diet is the principal source of body heat; but for another it's only a relatively minor one. It's important to emphasize that all animals generate internal body heat, but some are more efficient at it than others.
Who's "Hot" And Who's Not
Everyone has heard the terms cold-blooded and warm-blooded. The general impression is that "cold-blooded" animals don't regulate their body temperature, while "warm-blooded" animals do. This idea is incorrect. The truth of the matter is that even what we traditionally call "cold-blooded" animals—fish, reptiles, and amphibians—have a very substantial capacity to maintain their body temperatures within a narrow range (given normal conditions) despite a low level of internal heat production. Their thermoregulatory mechanisms may be more dependent on external heat sources, but that doesn't mean they don't work. In fact they are typically more complex and elegant than those of "warm-blooded" mammals and birds. In "warm blooded" animals basal metabolic rates are normally high enough to produce heat far in excess of their metabolic requirements.
"Warm-blooded" and "cold-blooded" are vague and rather imprecise terms. It's more accurate to say that animals producing sufficient internal heat to maintain their body temperature within very narrow limits are endothermic ; the equilibrium they achieve with the external environment is termed homeothermy (from the Greek for "same temperature"). Only mammals and birds are homeotherms, i.e. they're the ones we call "warm-blooded."
But in fact most species aren't capable of homeothermy. Exothermic reactions occur in fish, reptiles and amphibians, but heat production is far lower than it is in mammals or birds of similar size. Furthermore, none of these groups have—as mammals and birds have—evolved effective insulating coverings such as hair, feathers, or blubber. They are "ectothermic," meaning that they derive their body heat from sources outside their bodies. Generally ectothermic species are relatively small animals living in environments that act as limitless heat sinks.
Exceptions to this statement exist: since heat loss in all animals is proportional to the ratio of body size and surface area, very large ectothermic animals may lose internally-produced heat slowly compared to smaller ones. It's almost certain that the largest dinosaurs were close to being true homeotherms, despite their reptilian nature; they lost heat slowly thanks to a favorable surface:volume ratio. They they could generate it faster than it was dissipated. A similar situation is known to occur in some of the very large pelagic fishes, such as tuna. Their inner body temperature is usually substantially higher than ambient, thanks to constant muscle contractions in swimming. They're fully active at environmental temperatures smaller fishes can't tolerate.
A more familiar situation to most of us is a frog or a turtle in a pond. These animals are tiny, ineffective heat generators incapable of raising the temperature of the infinitely large mass of water in which they live. So internal heat production can't work for them. To thermoregulate they need external input, and hence are ectothermic. Ectotherms commonly can tolerate considerably more fluctuation in body temperature than mammals or birds can, a strategy called poikilothermy. They're not exempt from the rule that their enzyme pathways require tight control, but they often have several "variations" of any given enzyme, to permit operation over a wider range of body temperatures. Since an ectotherm's body temperature is usually variable, tending to closely track ambient conditions, most ectotherms have evolved behavioral thermoregulatory strategies to take advantage of variations in their surroundings; and biochemical ones for times when these fail. If you've ever spent time in an Eastern forest in the Spring, when air temperatures are low but the Sun is shining, chances are you've seen a lizard or a snake "basking" in the sun. This is the classic example of behavioral thermoregulation.
Inside, Outside
Consider the nature of the problem: in Spring most animals start to breed, and a fair amount of energy is required to do that. Prey has to be hunted, predators have to be avoided, mates have to be found, eggs have to be produced. The snake sunning himself is letting Nature do a large part of the job of maintaining his body temperature by absorbing solar energy directly, warming his tissues and organs to permit efficient function.
The position he takes on the rock is typically related to the level of input he needs. If he's feeling chilly and sluggish he'll orient himself so as to get the maximum surface area exposed to the warming rays. If the air is warm and he needs less radiant input, he may orient himself with his long axis in line with the Sun. The position an ectothermic (and poikilothermic) animal takes with respect to a radiant heat source is usually quite precisely calculated. It will depend on the distance from the source, the radiant body's temperature, and the heat loss to which he's subjected.
That rock under the snake is an important part of the equation: if it's cooler than the snake wants/needs to be, it's a heat sink, a source of conductive loss from contact. If it's warm, he gains heat from it, by conduction. In Summer, when the air temperature is high and the Sun beats down, the rock may well become too hot for the snake's comfort. The external input can get too high so the snake's behavior changes, to seek out cool microenvironments in which the gain and loss of heat can be balanced properly. In most complex habitats, there's a sufficient variety of microenvironments to allow this.
All reptiles thermoregulate this way. To complement this process many have developed special anatomic features to exploit heat sources and sinks effectively. The large membranous dorsal "fins" on some lizards for example, are such structures. The thin translucent flesh between the spines the site of thousands of capillary beds. By raising the fin and exposing it to the sun, heat energy is directly absorbed into the blood flowing through these capillaries. This heat is then transferred to the iguana's internal regions, using the liquid blood as a transport medium. This is actually a very efficient way of making use of direct solar input.
It can work both ways, too: the fin can also serve as a radiating device to cool the animal. By sending warm blood through the capillaries when the ambient temperature is low, heat can be "blown off" into the environment. Blood flow is controlled by neural input that shuts capillary beds on and off as needed. Control of internal temperature for lizards like this is remarkably precise, tracking the optimum by a degree either way under most conditions.
Aquatic environments present a special challenge. Air is a rather inefficient heat sink, but water is a very effective one. Even large and highly endothermic homeotherms can get into trouble in water that's too cold: humans who fall into icy water can lose heat so rapidly that body temperature falls faster than their metabolism can crank up to replace it, and they undergo hypothermia, a very dangerous condition of lowered body temperature. Mammals and birds are so dependent on absolute control of their body temperature that hypothermia quickly gets them into serious trouble: the brain shuts down blood circulation to the extremities, then unconsciousness ensues. If the loss is rapid enough the individual will die very rapidly, far faster than he might by drowning. In World War Two, sailors torpedoed in the icy wintertime North Atlantic, if not immediately rescued and warmed, had a survival time measured in minutes.
Aquatic reptiles and amphibia by necessity have evolved behavioral thermoregulation to a high degree. A frog on a lily pad or a turtle sunning himself on a fallen tree are familiar sights, and they're doing exactly what the snake does on land: maximizing the balance of input and output of energy to maintain optimal body temperature. As is the case with terrestrial animals, there are usually complementary anatomic or physiological mechanisms to increase the efficiency of this process. A frog half-submerged in water at the edge of a pond is gaining radiant heat above the surface of the water, and losing it by convection and/or conduction below it. He'll also seek out water whose temperature is to his liking, just as the land-bound snake seeks an appropriate microclimate.
What about fish? They're the ultimate "thermal conformers." Since they can't live outside water, they have far less opportunity for behavioral control, and their internal temperature will closely track the local environment. But even fishes aren't helpless in this respect. Like any vertebrate they can sense the local temperature; being highly mobile they can choose places in the water where the temperature suits them. A free-swimming fish in a shallow river on a hot sunny day is very likely to be found under the shade of an overhanging tree; when it's cooler and overcast he's probably more liable to be found swimming in open water. In large, deep natural environments thermal stratification of the water column is normal, so fish can choose a depth at which the temperature is optimal.
Pushing The Envelope
In the final analysis, there are limits to any species' ability to thermoregulate. These limits define not only where in a given locality specific individual specimens can be found, they define the broad climatic range within which the species can be found around the globe. Those limits are set by what the biochemical capabilities of the animal are, and how flexible its response can be at the cellular level.
It's not an accident that mammals and birds are found in virtually every climate regime, no matter how extreme, that Earth presents. Deserts, jungles, the depths of the ocean, the ice sheets of the Poles, all are home to homeotherms. Their internal chemical pathways for capturing energy from their diet and using it to maintain a constant body temperature are exceptionally efficient; their external coverings of hair and feathers provide excellent protection against cold and heat. So long as an adequate caloric level—fuel for the internal furnace—is available, their systems can be maintained in equilibrium despite a steep thermal gradient between core body temperature and the external environment. This thermoregulatory strategy is fundamentally biochemical and internal in nature. The downside to it is that animals in extreme climatic conditions have only limited alternative strategies to deal with stress. As the example of hypothermia shows, once they get pushed outside the "design limits" of the system they're in trouble.
At first glance the behavioral strategy on which most ectotherms rely would seem to be less efficient and more prone to putting the individual in danger. But here again there is some reserve capacity: while homeotherms use behavioral thermoregulation only as a secondary means of dealing with extreme stress, ectotherms use biochemical adaptations as backup to their primarily behavioral approach. And they have evolved some very effective alternatives.
It's a little too simplistic to assume that only one form a specific enzyme exists. Most pathways can be driven by variety of enzymes with essentially the same function, but with varying temperature optima. These are isozymes.
Isozymes are variant enzymes whose DNA blueprint is stored in the genome but not activated until needed. A very good example is found in fishes: the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) can be found in a wide variety of habitats, and therefore the fish can encounter a broad range of external temperatures. Atlantic salmon can acclimate to water of different temperatures by shifting production of crucial enzymes from one form to another. When they migrate from the sea to freshwater (where the temperature change can easily be as much as twenty degrees) production of the cold-water isozyme will be switched off and the warmer-water isozyme switched on. The transition is approximately synchronized so that when the warmer summer environment is reached the warm-water form is fully in place and there is no loss of function.
The goldfish (Carassius auratus) is another species that's exceptionally tolerant of different temperatures. Given time to acclimate they can survive in water cold enough to have a scum of ice on the top, or in the near-bathwater temperatures of Southern stock tanks. Many other ectotherms have this ability, which greatly extends the range of the species and the time of year during which its active.
Other species lack it. Tropical animals in particular (especially salt-water tropical fishes and amphibia from warm humid regions) tend to be very sensitive to and pretty intolerant of significant variations in external temperature. These species have evolved over millennia in stable environments: in the process they've lost a lot of the capacity to synthesize a broad array of isozymes. They're typically quite fragile and sometimes frustrating for the hobbyist whose understanding of their needs is incomplete.
Another strategy often encountered, especially in cold climates, is "escape" in the form of dormancy. Since the body chemistry of ectotherms is affected by temperature, as the animal cools, its metabolic rate drops as well. When that happens turnover of nutrients declines, internal heat generation is throttled back to minimum, physical activity (and the heat it generates from exercise) drops to near-zero, and the animal goes into a state of torpor that may last for days to months, depending on local conditions and the species in question. Many reptiles do this: snakes in northern forests are almost never seen in Autumn, and not at all in Winter because it's simply too cold to survive. So they hibernate. Frogs and other amphibians will bury themselves in mud, drop their metabolic rate to nearly nothing, and spend the winter in a state of suspended animation at the bottom of ponds, where the water doesn't freeze. A frog in this condition is as close to being dead as it is possible to get without crossing over the line. Even more remarkably, a few species elaborate biological "antifreezes," something no mammal is known to do. A few species of Arctic fishes switch on genes that elaborate substances that lower the freezing point of their blood so that they can swim and survive even in the presence of ice.
No mammal can do what a frog does but some come close: hibernating ground squirrels, such as the woodchuck (Marmota monax) can allow their body temperature to fall as low as 6° Celsius, just a few degrees above freezing. They may spend weeks in almost complete torpor. Rather than putting the fire of life completely out, hibernation is a condition in which a "pilot light" is kept burning at a minimum but measurable level. If a hibernating mammal cools too much he'll awaken, because ice formation in the cells of the body is lethal. This doesn't happen in ectothermic hibernators; most of these find an ice-free place to spend the winter.
Only a few animals can hibernate: bears, despite the popular image, don't truly hibernate at all. They sleep a lot in Winter as a way to conserve energy and the fat they've stored up in the fall, but unlike the true hibernators they aren't all but dead. A bear will arouse if he's disturbed; find one in winter and poke him with a stick, and see what happens! A woodchuck on the other hand, won't arouse much if at all. You could practically use him as a bowling ball before he'd be aware that anything was happening.
It's far more common for non-hibernating mammals to use behavioral means to deal with cold: everyone has seen rabbits sitting in the sun in the snow. The smart rabbit hunter knows that if he walks stealthily along brush piles and hedgerows on such a day when the sun's out but the temperature is low, he'll encounter bunnies. They like to sit where they can escape into cover, but at the same time they need that extra thermal input. Other species can migrate to warmer areas when cold gets too intense.
An avoidance strategy is also effective in hot climates. Desert reptiles can avoid the brutal daytime sun by going underground during the day, emerging only at night when temperatures fall and thermoregulatory mechanisms can cope with the load. Activity during the day would subject them to such a colossal heat input that their metabolic rates would be driven far beyond the optimum level. The commonly observed phenomenon that poisonous snakes are more apt to strike on a hot day is simply due to the fact that they're literally "on the edge" of their thermal envelope, and any activity is exaggerated. Another advantage to this tactic is that the prey desert reptiles hunt—small mammals, usually—do the same thing. When both emerge into the cooler night the prey has to be very cautious to avoid getting eaten!
Even humans use the avoidance strategy: at one time I lived in India, and in the glare of the Indian sun I found myself—quite without thinking about it—walking on the shaded side of the street! | http://nrvoutdoors.com/THERMOREG%20NRVO/THERMOREGULATION.htm |
New research published in the academic journal PLOS Genetics, shows how mice living at high altitudes have a high heart rate in order to help them thrive in areas of low oxygen.
Researchers have found that mice living at high altitudes in the American West carry a genetic variant that increases their heart rate. This mechanism allows the mice to cope at high elevations where there are low levels of oxygen.
Rena Schweizer and her colleagues from the University of Montana, investigated the genetic changes in the North America deer mouse to further understand this phenomenon.
The environments of mountains and plateaus make it difficult for mammals to survive due to the cold temperature and low concentrations of oxygen. Researchers have linked the deer mouse’s physiological changes to their ability to cope at such altitudes.
By sequencing samples from 100 mice from several different level of elevation, the researchers were able to identify the Epas1 gene variant. The genetic variant Epas1 is particularly common in deer mice that live at high altitudes rather than the lowland populations.
Deer mice that live higher up have a higher heart rate when exposed to air with a lower oxygen concentration. This high heart rate increases the amount of oxygen circulating in their bloodstream, subsequently allowing them to survive at higher altitudes.
This is the first study to highlight the relationship between naturally occurring variations of the Epas1 and changes to the heart rate. The study also suggests that Epas1 may aid long-term survival of high-altitude deer mice.
The Epas1 gene has also been implicated in respiratory and cardiovascular adaptations in Tibetan humans living on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. This becomes evident when their genetics are compared to lowland Han Chinese populations.
“Our study addresses a really important question about how adaptation occurs on complex physiology that is controlled by multiple interacting system,” said author Rena Schweizer. | https://www.scitecheuropa.eu/genetic-variant-allows-mice-to-thrive-at-high-altitudes/98243/ |
Living, working and exercising in extreme terrestrial environments are challenging tasks even for healthy humans of the modern new age. The issue is not just survival in remote environments but rather the achievement of optimal performance in everyday life, occupation, and sports. Various adaptive biological processes can take place to cope with the specific stressors of extreme terrestrial environments like cold, heat, and hypoxia (high altitude). This review provides an overview of the physiological and morphological aspects of adaptive responses in these environmental stressors at the level of organs, tissues, and cells. Furthermore, adjustments existing in native people living in such extreme conditions on the earth as well as acute adaptive responses in newcomers are discussed. These insights into general adaptability of humans are complemented by outcomes of specific acclimatization/acclimation studies adding important information how to cope appropriately with extreme environmental temperatures and hypoxia. | https://bia.unibz.it/handle/10863/8725 |
How do animals that live in cold environments deal with freezing temperatures? Find out in this week-long camp where we will explore animal adaptations that help them survive and how humans have improved our ability to survive in these conditions by observing nature. Hands-on activities, in-person observations, and outdoor explorations will illustrate that the cold is not as much of a challenge as we may think.
Ages 6-10 years old
Before and after care is available. | http://www.wnyfamilymagazine.com/events/ice-chasing-winter-camp/ |
A new study by a team of international researchers has found that reptiles including turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and tuatara are threatened by extinction in the near future but conservation efforts for other vertebrate species could boost chances of survival.
Associate Professor Nicki Mitchell, from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Western Australia, is a co-author of the paper Global reptile assessment shows commonality of tetrapod conservation needs published in Nature.
The study found that at least 21 per cent of the 10,196 species analysed were currently at risk and, because reptiles have a diverse range of habitats and face many threats, a multifaceted action plan for conservation was required.
“Previous global conservation assessments have not determined exactly how many reptile species are imperilled or how many are poorly known,” Associate Professor Mitchell said.
“Our new study represents a 20-year effort to comprehensively assess extinction risk for all reptile species, which involved almost one thousand experts from across the globe.”
More than 1200 reptiles occur in Australia, and in 2016 UWA hosted and part-funded an ‘IUCN Red List’ assessment of 500 lizard and snakes that occur in Western Australia.
The study identified extinction risk factors and mapped distributions which revealed that conservation efforts targeted towards other tetrapods (mammals, birds and amphibians) also benefited reptiles, because threatened reptiles tended to live in the same areas where other at-risk tetrapods were found.
Although reptiles are well known to inhabit arid environments such as deserts and scrubland, many live in forests so also suffer from threats such as logging and conversion to agriculture.
The study also highlighted what we stand to lose if we fail to protect reptiles: if each of the 1,829 threatened reptiles became extinct, we would lose a combined 15.6 billion years of evolutionary history – including countless adaptations for living in diverse environments and preying on a wide assortment of animals.
In addition, the study found 58 per cent of turtles and half of all crocodiles were at risk of extinction, mainly due to hunting and poaching.
The findings of the global reptile assessment serve as a baseline from which future assessments can mark shifts in conservation status over time. | https://www.miragenews.com/study-finds-one-in-five-reptiles-threatened-by-771780/ |
New England has long been known for its four distinct seasons, but as climate change grips the region at a faster rate than in many other parts of the world, this seasonal portrait is being reconfigured and various wildlife species are suffering. the results.
“Climate is a fundamental characteristic of the ecosystem and it can have all kinds of effects on our wildlife,” says Tom Lautzenheiser, senior conservation ecologist for Mass Audubon.
The impact of climate change on a given species depends on various factors. These factors may include biology, physical adaptations, diet, reproductive strategies, and interactions with other species, including pests and pathogens, as well as the availability, size, and quality of the suitable habitat.
Lautzenheiser said generalist species, those that can take advantage of a variety of food sources and ecosystems, will fare better than specialist species adapted to very specific areas, foods, temperatures and environments. .
For example, species with physiological adaptations to live in snowy and/or cold conditions, migratory species dependent on the seasonal calendar, and specialized species that depend on food resources and narrow habitats are likely to be most negatively affected by warming. temperatures.
Species such as black bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and other highly adaptable animals won’t feel the pinch of the weather as much as temperatures rise and habitats change, wildlife experts say.
According to research ecologist Toni Morelli of UMass Amherst’s Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, New England is highly susceptible to climate change and is warming at a significantly faster rate than global averages.
Morelli says seasonal patterns are changing, with earlier springs and long dry spells, followed by later falls with intense, torrential rains.
“This is what climate change will look like in the North East,” she said. “On average, we are getting wetter. But we don’t live in averages, we will live in those extremes, and that goes for wildlife too. »
Climate projections show that by the end of the century, the region will have no snow for most of the year, notes Morelli. “It’s a huge change for animals that rely on snow,” she said.
Heat stress, shifts in seasonal synchronicity and habitat destruction affect wildlife, from forests to coastlines and the ocean environment, as climate change forces wildlife species to adapt, alter their range distribution or ultimately to succumb to a warming environment that can no longer support their Needs.
Some New England species are outstanding examples of the effects of climate change and how they may interact with existing stressors.
“One of the most striking stories is what’s happening with moose in Maine and New Hampshire,” Morelli said.
Here, climate change has given this tall, long-legged, thick-furred boreal species a punch by creating an inhospitable environment for moose, while also giving rise to a parasite that is decimating its numbers.
“Moose are going through a particularly tough time because of the winter tick,” Morelli said, noting that infestations of more than 80,000 ticks have been found on individual moose. These numbers can drain the blood of calves during the winter. Surveys reveal that last year there was an approximately 80% mortality rate of moose calves in Maine and New Hampshire.
Morelli says moose in Massachusetts are unaffected by the winter tick, likely due to lower moose population densities, which prevent the tick from being an abundant host.
Yet the climate-induced increase in pests is not the only problem. Moose have a physiological temperature limit and begin to experience heat stress at summer temperatures above 57 degrees and winter temperatures above 23 degrees.
“Now with warmer temperatures, they won’t be able to handle the weather we’re anticipating,” Lautzenheiser said. “They will eventually be kicked out, regardless of the tick problem.”
Like moose, the snowshoe hare is well adapted to living in snowy environments. A master of seasonal camouflage, their summer brown coats shed white during the winter. While the change is triggered by changes in day length, coat color is genetically determined, leaving the hare mismatched in a snow-free environment, making it an easy target for predators.
The Canada lynx is also uniquely adapted to life in cold, snowy environments with its long legs, large paws, and thick coat. Although a decrease in snow cover limits the habitat of the lynx, its survival is also closely linked to the snowshoe hare, which constitutes about 96% of its diet.
Morelli says a lack of snow will also affect some hibernating and ground burrowing animals as they will lose the insulating effect of snow.
“Snowless winters actually mean very cold ground and these species experience much colder environments because of the lack of snow,” she said.
Colder ground means hibernating animals will have to use more of their fat stores to stay warm, further depleting them of insulation.
Some aquatic species also struggle with warming and drought.
“Brook trout are the star child of native cold-water fish struggling with climate change,” Lautzenheiser said.
Brook trout generally cannot tolerate long periods of water temperatures above 68 degrees. Because these fish rely on cold, highly oxygenated water to survive, their populations have been drastically reduced due to rising temperatures and reduced stream flow.
Man-made barriers complicate the effects of climate change.
“Rivers are often dissected by culverts or dams, fish populations don’t have the ability to move through those systems to reach the thermal refuge, so they really struggle,” Lautzenheiser said.
Climate change is also having a significant impact on amphibians that depend on vernal pools, unique seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals.
“Vernal pools are home to a number of frogs and salamanders that are forced to breed in these fishless environments,” he said.
However, warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns may cause vernal pools to dry out too quickly for these species to complete their breeding cycles.
“That could really be a problem for a lot of specialized animals like spotted salamanders and marbled salamanders,” he said.
Like moose with the winter tick, amphibians also have an additional parasitic stressor.
“Herpes is in trouble all over the world,” Morelli said, referring to herptiles, or reptiles and amphibians. “We’re worried about frogs and salamanders in the northeast because of diseases like chytrid,” she said.
Chytrid is a fungus that ravages the skin of frogs, toads and other amphibians, eventually killing them.
On the coast, rising sea levels are flooding salt marshes and beaches, threatening species such as swamp sparrows and piping plover.
Piping plovers build nests in the narrow section of land between the high tide line and the foot of coastal dunes, and salt marsh sparrows nest exclusively in a narrow strip of tidal marsh that stretches from Maine to Virginia, with up to half of the world’s population breeding in southern New England.
Morelli says that while beaches and salt marsh areas might naturally regress over time, in many areas there will be no room because humans have built up to the coastline.
“These species will therefore be very vulnerable to climate change as the nests are flooded and the chicks drown,” she said.
“The oceans are also experiencing these major changes and wildlife is certainly responding to them,” Lautzenheiser said. “We are basically seeing massive changes in the ranges of fish and sea life.”
On Cape Cod, Lautzenheiser said, climate change is contributing to the rapid increase in the annual cold stun phenomenon among sea turtles.
As the Gulf of Maine warms at a faster rate than the rest of the world’s oceans, sea turtles are moving further north than in previous years to feed in these warmer waters. By the time they reach Cape Cod on their return south, many find themselves trapped by the arm of the cape as the waters cool there.
“They get tired, and as the season turns, they get knocked out in the cold and wash out with the tide,” Lautzenheiser said. “People bring them to the aquarium some years in the hundreds.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Northeast has warmed more than any other region in the lower 48 states, exceeding the UN’s threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of warming. The general hypothesis is that the warming of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean contributes to the warming of the coastal and interior areas of the northeast.
“When the global average temperature rises 2 degrees, here in the northeast we will rise 3 degrees,” Morelli said.
Land conservation efforts are one area that could bring some relief to species threatened by global warming.
As scientists study the current impact of climate change on wildlife, they say climate change refuges, or conserving areas that might remain relatively protected from contemporary climate change, may help some species over time.
“There’s been a huge increase in human population over the last century and a huge increase in concrete, invasive plants and insects, temperature changes and changes in rainfall,” Morelli said. “If there are ways in which conservation can reduce some of these stressors, then species that have been around for millions of years and have adapted and evolved to threats can potentially respond to current threats and be successful in adapt.”
Climate Change at Home is sponsored by Whalen Insurance. | https://climate-concern.com/climate-stressors-weigh-on-new-england-wildlife/ |
Why Does Your Gecko Feel So Cold? [6 Potential Problems]
Because geckos are cold-blooded reptiles, many people planning to keep them for the first time do expect them to feel quite cool to the touch. However, actually feeling how chilly they can be by personally picking them up can still be shocking. And when exactly is their coldness normal and when is it dangerous?
Humans perceive geckos as cold creatures because they are ectothermic; they have lower body temperatures and they maintain their environments’ temperature. When unable to maintain preferred body temperatures due to lack of environmental heat, geckos will at best go into brumation and at worst experience hypothermia.
Cold-Blood: Mean & How Does It Work?
Geckos are cold-blooded animals: this is a fact most people know. Unfortunately, not everyone actually fully understands what that means and what it entails. This lack of understanding stems from the term itself and the misconceptions that come with it .
Ectothermy
Some people make the common mistake of thinking that “cold-blooded” animals, like geckos, are totally unable to control their body temperatures. They are made out to be feeble creatures incredibly weak to the slightest changes in substrate and ambient temperature, having no ability to save themselves from the cold and heat.
Geckos are ectotherms animals. Theycan safely infer that they depend on external sources of heat, like the sun in the wilderness, to maintain their preferred and/or optimal body temperatures .
So while they are, to some extent, sensitive to changes in temperature, it’s not because they are incapable of regulating their body temperature. It’s more because of the fact that they don’t produce their own body heat.
However, through something called thermoregulation , geckos can actually warm themselves up or cool themselves down simply by moving to a place that either has a higher or lower temperature compared to where they were previously staying at .
They move not to just feel comfortable but also to make sure that their body stays working normally. You see, since their body temperature plays a significant role in their metabolism, digestion, locomotion, feeding, and defending themselves from predators, they will look for a place that will give them the best shot at surviving – and even thriving.
Normal Body Temperature
By virtue of geckos being ectotherms, they have much cooler body temperatures compared to humans. The normal human body temperature is 97°F (36.5°C) to about 99°F (37.5°C). And unlike the geckos,humans generally maintain this body temperature regardless of the weather.
Geckos, in contrast, get heat from their surroundings. Considering that all gecko species have evolved in diverse types of natural habitats (arid deserts, rocky grasslands, humid rainforests, etc.), different species have different preferences when it comes to what body temperatures they maintain .
Crested geckos seem to thermoregulate until they get their body temperatures within the 75-82°F (24-28°C) range , quite comparable to the ambient temperature experienced in New Caledonia. While leopard geckos’ sweet spot when it comes to average preferred body temperature is around 77°F (25°C).
Now, compare your normal body heat from their preferred body heat. Big difference, no? So, the next time you find that your soft reptile baby feels a bit cool to the touch, don’t be surprised. It’s pretty normal and to be expected.
Here’s a quick video on thermoregulation in ectotherms vs. endotherms:
Cool Places
Our lovely soft-bellied little friends need a lot of care and attention. That’s why good husbandry is important and more experienced keepers and breeders advise newbies in the hobby to do as much research as they can into the specific breeds they are planning to get as pets.
One of the major things to look into, is, of course, temperature. And as I have already explained, geckos are highly dependent on their environment for heat. They rely on available heat sources – be it a type of heating unit or a light source that heats up considerably.
However, the other side of the coin also shows that they also seek shelter from the heat. So when they want to cool down, they move to areas with lower temperatures and also lower their body temperatures as a result.
Simply put: a warm place is to a warm body and a cool place is to a cool body. But, of course, they also have their limits.
Geckos can’t be in environments that are either above 90°F (32°C)or below 65°F (18°C) for prolonged periods otherwise serious problem such as dysecdysis, impaction and more might arise [7, 8].
Brumation
Geckos need to maintain a favorable range of body temperatures to ensure that all of their bodies’ physiological processes run smoothly and without a hitch. This is a relatively easy task for geckos originating from tropical countries. For species that originally live in temperate regions of the globe, it’s much more difficult especially during winter.
To ensure their survival during such a cold season, they slow down their metabolism and other internal processes. In this period, they will sleep a lot more and eat a lot less – sometimes even completely. Brumation is the term people use to refer to this innate survival tactic, oftentimes compared to the period of hibernation warm-blooded (endothermic) animals experience.
During brumation, terrestrial geckos like leopard geckos may retreat inside rotten logs, rock crevices, caves, or burrow into the ground below the frost line to avoid freezing to death. Arboreal geckos, like crested geckos, take shelter high up in the canopies, inside hollowed out old trees.
Although brumation is natural for some species, it doesn’t always happen to geckos when kept in captivity. I also wouldn’t recommend that you induce it unless you are planning to breed fattened-up adult geckos.
You might be wondering why I explicitly mentioned ‘fattened up adult geckos.’ Well, to tell you the truth, improper induction of brumation could easily kill geckos, particularly when they are still juveniles. In the wild, it’s actually a matter of survival of the fittest. So if an adult gecko with moderate fat deposits can die, imagine what could happen to young ones not old enough to build up a surplus of fat.
To learn more about brumation in geckos and other reptiles, here’s a good video:
6 Problems In Case of A Too Cold Gecko
Bad things are bound to happen when geckos get too cold for comfort. When environmental temperatures fall way below their preferred body temperatures – or worse, below temperatures considered safe for brumation (65°F or 18°C at the lowest) – they become incapable of accomplishing basic activities for growth, feeding, and reproduction among other things. As you may imagine, this comes with numerous complications .
#1 – Dysecdysis
In a previous article, I’ve briefly touched on how dehydration can result in the retention of shed skin. Other causes of dysecdysis also include lack of humidity due to lower temperatures. As the weather gets cold, the air becomes drier. This can be a big problem in relation to shedding.
To prevent this from happening, keep an eye on your humidity levels. If lower than what is needed, place a dish of water in your gecko’s enclosure or add some terrarium moss and/or live plants in their vivarium. Also, make sure to give them a humid hide so they can voluntarily go there when they need to.
If you spot a retained shed, let your gecko soak in lukewarm water or wrap your gecko in a damp towel a few times a week to help soften it for easier removal.
#2 – Impaction
When geckos get too cold regularly or for a single extended period, their metabolism slows down so they cannot efficiently digest and process the food they consume. This is especially troubling considering that they already have relatively slow rates of digestion.
If this happens to your beloved pet gecko, don’t handle him too much as that would add to their discomfort. Others have suggested that you give your gecko a gentle belly massage but I would instead advise you to visit your exotic vet. Leaving impaction untreated by a professional could easily lead to your gecko’s death.
#3 – Malnutrition
Because geckos slow down to conserve the remaining heat they have in their bodies when they get too cold, they are at risk of experiencing malnutrition. They become unable to hunt for and process food .
For the most part, this happens to geckos who enter brumation without enough fat reserves. Gecko species with fatter tails, including leopard geckos, are forced to live off the inadequate reserves they have in their tails ending up with stick tails.
Another contributing factor is the fact that there are virtually no live feeder insects available for foraging in the wild when winter comes. So even if they wake up in the middle of winter, they have nothing to eat other than any other reserves they might still have in their bodies. Their overall body mass significantly falls and they start looking like nothing but skin and bones.
#4 – Respiratory Problems
Prolonged exposure to cold and dry environments can also cause respiratory infections in geckos such as pneumonia. Low temperatures along with a dirty vivarium will for sure cause problems.
Look out for the signs and symptoms of respiratory diseases in geckos which include lethargy, gaping, breathing difficulties, and clogged or dripping noses. If you notice any of these in your gecko, immediately call your vet for an appointment so its condition doesn’t worsen. They will most likely prescribe an antibiotic and advise you to raise the temperature inside your gecko’s home to help boost its immune system.
If not immediately and properly treated by a professional, your gecko runs the risk of developing septicemia, an infection in its bloodstream .
#5 – Fungal Infections
Continued exposure to the cold can also lead to the development of fungal diseases. What’s incredibly scary in such situations is that there is still limited knowledge on the topic and it may go unnoticed in some animals as they continue to eat normally despite it. All the damage happens inside and isn’t readily observable.
Some researchers have pointed out two possible signs of fungal infection: inflammation and discoloration in the skin as well as weight loss with no apparent reason.
However, the most frequent site of infection, other than the skin, is the respiratory tract. So prevention is better than cure – especially because there are very few cases of successful treatment for this condition as the specific causes and progression are still largely unknown. Have your gecko feed on a healthy and balanced diet and regularly clean and disinfect their tanks.
#6 – Hypothermia
At a certain drop in temperature, to levels much lower than even those experienced during brumation, geckos don’t just slow down they may actually come to a complete halt. In fact, many cases of pet reptiles sent to emergency units are usually hypothermic.
Because they are not getting enough heat from their surroundings to maintain an optimal body temperature, they are at high risk of developing all the previous conditions I have already mentioned .
This is especially common for pet geckos living in countries that may experience power outages due to heavy snowfall and strong winds.
Top Tips To Make Sure Your Gecko Don’t Get Too Cold
Like I said, geckos are immensely reliant on external sources of heat to function properly. To make sure your gecko can thrive while in your care, you can do the following:
- Invest in a good heat source. In recent years, more and more keepers are recommending halogen bulbs (here on Amazon), ceramic heat emitters (CHE) (here on Amazon), and deep heat projectors (DHP) as better choices over the traditional under tank heaters (UTH).
- Have a dimming thermostat to control your tank temperatures.
- Set a cool side and warm side for your gecko for efficient thermoregulation .
If you’ve got a lot of questions and misgivings about DHP, you can watch this video to get your answers:
However, simply giving them a good heat source in their enclosures with a temperature gradient to allow for normal thermoregulatory behavior may not be enough in all instances.
Most keepers living north of the equator would probably attest to the fact that power outages during blizzards are a legitimate cause of concern. To keep your reptiles safe and warm even in the absence of power, you can do the following:
- Insulate their tanks with cork panels, bubble wrap, polyethylene sheets, or polystyrene foam (more commonly known as Styrofoam).
- Wrap them loosely in a clean blanket or towel.
- Keep battery-powered heat sources like lamps and pads.
- Create makeshift heat pads using hot rice in clean old socks.
- Have a few hot packs in stock (here on Amazon).
Does Handling Heat Them Up?
In the same way that what’s cool to us may be perfectly all right for them, what’s warm for us can be scalding hot for them. So does this mean that handling them is bad? Not necessarily.
When you take your gecko out of its enclosure, into an open room, they will be out of their controlled and preferred temperature gradient. But since you are can be considered as a heat source – being 97°F (36.5°C) to about 99°F (37.5°C) – they will do just fine.
For geckos, being handled, if done properly, is welcomed as a way to have the extra heat that are missing out of their enclosure.
As a matter of fact, many hobbyists will happily share stories of their cute little geckos snuggling up to them for warmth. Given that they are neither too cold nor too hold in your hands, they will generally happily stay in your embrace.
However, if they get too hot from your touch or too cold because of the room temperature, they will let you know by trying to get away from your reach. There is also no clear time limit for how long handling sessions should be but I’d say it’s always best to keep it short.
Takeaways
- Geckos feel chilly upon handling because they are ectothermic animals; they have lower body temperatures and they maintain their environments’ temperature.
- When unable to maintain preferred body temperatures, geckos will go into brumation and live off their collected fat reserves.
- Prolonged exposure to dry air and low temperatures puts geckos at a certain risk of experiencing dysecdysis, impaction, malnutrition, respiratory problems, fungal infection, and hypothermia.
- To make sure your gecko doesn’t get too cold, make sure to set up a temperature gradient in their enclosures. In cases of a power outage, numerous safety precautions and alternative heat sources are available.
- Handling geckos in open rooms (with lower temperatures compared to their enclosures) could give them some heat, but to make sure that they don’t get overheated it’s best not to keep them out of their tanks for too long. | https://www.reptilehero.com/why-gecko-feel-cold/ |
Alligators aren’t meant to survive winter temperatures, but what happens when they’re faced with such extreme conditions? They freeze, of course.
For the second year in a row, a cold snap blowing through the 65-acre Shallotte River Swamp Park in North Carolina forced the preserve’s 18 rescued gators to partake in some super odd behavior. What at first appeared to be teeth-baring Cypress trees poking through the ice was later revealed to be an adapted survival trait.
“I was like, holy crap, should I try to get them out of there?” swamp manager George Howard told The Washington Post at the time.
The survival mechanism first captured the attention of the Internet around this time last year, when a similar video shared to YouTube showed the living alligator “graveyard”.
Torpor is a normal process that helps reptiles survive winter conditions through a “state of lowered body temperature and metabolic activity assumed by many species in response to adverse environmental conditions, especially cold and heat,” according to The Swamp Park in a Facebook post. When temperatures plunge, the gators dip most of their 227-kilogram (500-pound) bodies under water, leaving just their snout in the air in anticipation of the freeze. This small hole allows them to breathe, while ice sticks to the side of their snouts and holds them in a state of suspension as their bodies dangle below the surface.
Since reptiles are cold-blooded, their blood turns cold when temperatures drop, subsequently putting them in an immobile state that's reversible. A paper written in the 1980s suggests that large American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) during extremely cold conditions can endure body temperatures as low as 5°C (41°F) – but it’s all temporary. When temperatures rise, alligators and other reptiles are once again able to thermoregulate their body temperatures. | https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/how-do-alligators-survive-in-icy-swamps-they-freeze-in-just-the-right-position/ |
Spanish 1 will provide students with a general introduction to the Spanish language: pronunciation, functional vocabulary related to everyday life, cultural information and basic grammatical structures. Emphasis will be on the acquisition of four skills: listening, reading, speaking and introductory writing. The main objectives of the course are: 1) to give the students the ability to carry on simple conversations 2) to provide the students with instruction that teaches a basic understanding of Spanish culture, vocabulary, and grammatical concepts.
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Spanish 2
Designed for college preparatory students. The major emphasis of these courses is to continue to develop personal communication skills in the target language. Students will have additional opportunities to increase their abilities in the areas of: speaking, listening comprehension, reading and writing. Curriculum includes: continued emphasis on speaking the language, the study of expanded thematic vocabulary, expressing simple past actions, short writing assignments, and reading authentic materials. Students will increase their cross-cultural understanding.
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Spanish 3
Designed for college preparatory students who desire to learn to communicate in the target language with a greater degree of fluency and accuracy. The major emphasis of these courses is placed on oral and written communication in the target language. The curriculum includes: class discussions, interviews, short essays, authentic literature and reading materials from the cultures where the languages are spoken, and more advanced cultural readings. Also included is the application of expanded thematic vocabulary (including idiomatic expressions), practical use of various verb tenses and moods, as well as complex grammar structures as they relate to the topics studied.
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AP Spanish Language and Culture
The AP Spanish Language and Culture course emphasizes communication by applying the interpersonal (conversations), interpretive (reading comprehension) and presentational (oral presentations) modes of communication in real-life situations. To best facilitate the study of language and culture, the course is taught exclusively in Spanish and is designed for serious university preparatory students. Students will focus on strengthening their reading, listening, writing and speaking skills at a rigorous and accelerated pace. Course work will include: reading to authentic text sources, listening to audio sources, writing email replies and persuasive essays, recording simulated conversations and cultural comparisons and participating in a variety of class discussions. Students are highly encouraged to take the AP Spanish Language and Culture examination in May to possibly receive college credit. | https://www.rjuhsd.us/domain/1342 |
Today, Russian and foreign experts note that most modern means of information security are not sufficiently effective in the fight against the special software and mathematical influences. Moreover today there is practically no theoretical Foundation, means and methods of countermeasures against information attack.
All current theoretical developments relating to the organization of protection of information from individual cases of violations of the rights of authorized access to information.
Meanwhile, research conducted over the last five years in Russia and abroad, showed that qualitatively new level of protection of complex and multi-functional automated systems can only be achieved through the implementation of adaptive management processes of information protection. Under "adaptive management" refers to the process of purposeful changes of parameters and structure of the system of information protection to maintain the required level of protection.
On the relevance of the problem indicated by the establishment of 21 October 1998 "Alliance adaptive network security", bringing together more than 70 of the world's largest industrial enterprises working in the field of information technology. The purpose of the Alliance is to improve the security of automated systems through the development and implementation of adaptive control technology.
A new approach to security makes us look for solutions to the problems of information protection in the theories, the results of which lie in the interdisciplinary field. Among them are the theory of evolutionary computing, theory of neural networks, fuzzy set theory and synergetics. It is believed that the most promising approach to creation of information protection systems of the future is a synergistic approach. A synergetic approach to research of processes of self-organization is accompanied by the abandonment of traditional methods of reductionism, where complex processes are trying to reduce to simple and basic, and thus ignored their complexity. In the synergist as opposed to the Cybernetics studies the mechanisms of emergence of new state structures and forms in the process of self-organization, and not keeping or maintaining old forms. That is why it relies on the principle of positive feedback when changes in the system are not suppressed or corrected, but rather gradually accumulate and lead to the destruction of old and the emergence of a new system, an adequate environment of its functioning. Thus, self-organization serves as a source of system evolution, as it is the beginning of the process of the emergence of qualitatively new and more complex structures in the development of the system. | http://csef.ru/en/oborona-i-bezopasnost/272/sovremennye-tendenczii-v-oblasti-zashhity-informaczii-i-informaczionnoj-borby-1998 |
Dr Natascha Müller – Multilingualism – A Barrier or a Blessing?
Many children grow up in a multilingual environment, and they need to learn and use these languages in different settings. In some cases, they even need to learn and use a new language to confidently engage with their community and to grow within it. Dr Natascha Müller from the University of Wuppertal has been researching how multilingual children negotiate this situation, and how they stack-up against their monolingual counterparts in terms of language proficiency.
The Emergence of Multilingualism
Advancements in transport systems and communication technology have made it easier for people to relocate. Many move to a new country to flee disaster, to study, to work or simply to seek a better life. Others marry citizens of other countries. As a result, multicultural, multilingual societies are common.
In most cases, members of a multilingual family will speak one or two languages at home. But they will often need to learn and use a new local language outside the home. As far as children are concerned, this local language is needed to engage effectively with schooling and their peers. As they get older, their second and third mother tongue will be called on in other contexts, such as to gain employment. Of course, this presents a challenge. There is a lot to negotiate and the stakes are high.
Understandably, many focus their efforts on the language needed most, seemingly at the expense of another. If the disregarded language is their new language, then their success in their new local community could be jeopardised. By the same token, disregarding their first language, or that which is spoken at home, could negatively impact their personal or cultural identity.
Dr Natascha Müller from the University of Wuppertal has devoted much time to understanding how children acquire languages, particularly in multilingual environments. And interestingly, while it has been suggested that trying to master two languages negatively impacts upon language proficiency, she has found that it’s not that ‘cut and dried’. In fact, in cases where a child learns three (or more) languages in early childhood and thus becomes a trilingual speaker, acquisition of a second or third mother tongue can be accelerated, even though the time of exposure is divided across three (or more) languages.
Questions in the Study of Multilingualism
Recent research into multilingualism has focused on how bilingual children acquire their two languages from birth. As a result, the information available focuses on that specific setting. From this research, linguists make assumptions about how children typically learn and use languages in their environment, and the potential barriers to becoming competent in the language used by society at-large. One of the main conclusions is that with bilingual children, the learning and use of one language can delay the learning of the other.
However, Dr Müller suggests that limiting research to settings of bilingualism could be giving us a false impression. So, she decided to extend the scope of the research to include instances of trilingualism – where a child, due to their circumstances, has learnt three (and sometimes more) languages. By moving the goalposts, as it were, she has gained new insight. In a nutshell, she has observed that learning three or more languages helps children to more readily acquire and use complex language structures in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. The focus of Dr Müller’s work has been combinations of languages that include the so-called ‘Romance languages’.
Combinations Involving Romance Languages
The Romance languages are those historically derived from Vulgar Latin; forming a subgroup within the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. The common languages within this subgroup are Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalan.
In one study, published in 2018, Dr Müller and her colleague examined multilingual children’s use of complex grammatical structures in German (see Fig. 1). German is not a Romance language, and is instead what’s known as a ‘V2’ language. This means that, in general, the verb follows the first part of the clause. Romance languages, on the other hand, are non-V2. Generally, the verb follows the subject, like it would in English. Through a series of tests, Dr Müller examined how multilingual and monolingual children were able to correctly make this distinction in spoken German. Interestingly, they concluded that in comparison with monolinguals, multilingual children have advanced skills in this area.
In another article published in 2018, Dr Müller and her colleague tested whether skills in other Romance languages could speed up the acquisition of French (see Fig. 2). To do so, they tested the proficiency of 62 multilingual children living in Spain and Germany in using a certain complex grammatical structure in French, in comparison to monolingual French speaking children. In this instance, both the bilingual children and the children who acquired more than two languages were accelerated with respect to using that grammatical structure.
Yet another 2019 study carried out by Dr Müller and her colleagues sought to investigate language mixing in multilingual children (a phenomenon known as code-mixing). Previous studies have claimed that multilingual children often mix their languages, and that they do so in order to fill competence gaps in their less proficient language from their more proficient language. In Dr Müller’s study, 122 multilingual children were tested in a monolingual setting, meaning that the interacting adult spoke with the child in her or his mother tongue and signalled that mixing of languages was not desired. The researchers observed that the children accepted the monolingual setting and behaved monolingually while communicating with the interlocutor.
‘Among the tested children there were children who were less proficient in the vocabulary of at least one of their languages as measured on the basis of a receptive vocabulary test. Notwithstanding, they used the language of the interacting adult throughout the testing,’ says Dr Müller. ‘This shows that multilingual children are well able to use the language desired by the communicating partner and that they can behave monolingually in all of their languages, even in their less proficient ones.’
The Use of the Spanish Verbs ‘Ser’ and ‘Estar’
Another one of Dr Müller’s areas of study has been investigating how children use the Spanish base words ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ – derivatives of the verb ‘to be’. In summary, ‘ser’ is used when the object being described is in a permanent or near permanent state, while ‘estar’ is used when the object described is in a temporary state. For example, forms of the verb ‘ser’ would be used to describe someone who is married, short in stature or thin. Forms of the verb ‘estar’ would be used to describe someone who is ill, or lost, for example. Using these verbs in the appropriate context is a challenge for adult language learners, let alone children.
In this particular research project, Dr Müller examined the use of ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ derivatives by 72 different children. While most children found using ‘ser’ derivatives to be far more difficult, Dr Müller found that children who have acquired another language with similar grammatical nuances (in this case, Portuguese and Catalan), were more adept at using ‘ser’ derivatives when communicating in Spanish. This was yet another example of multilingual children performing better than expected.
Summing It Up
Dr Müller’s research projects have analysed language production and comprehension skills across different grammatical domains in French, German, Spanish and Catalan, focusing on children from trilingual backgrounds. Dr Müller has found that trilingual children perform extremely well in particular grammatical domains, including the position of subjects in French, the position of finite verbs in German, the choice of the verbs ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ in Spanish and Catalan. In fact, for some grammatical domains, the multilingual children outranked monolingual children, although the latter have more input in the respective language. This is true even for multilingual children who master the respective language to a limited degree.
In conclusion, as Dr Müller wrote in a research summary, ‘early child trilingualism does not necessarily delay acquisition in relation to monolingual and bilingual children; on the contrary, acquisition can be accelerated. It is accelerated although the time of exposure has to be divided across three or more languages and although some children use the minority language(s) less frequently in their everyday life.’
This deduction challenges the assumptions made in current research, that is, that learning two languages side by side will limit proficiency in one or both of the languages. It also shows how the scope of studies into multilingualism in children may need to be broadened. In one research paper Dr Müller and her colleague concluded, ‘our research highlights the need for more studies in the field of multilingualism beyond bilingualism with the tools used in longitudinal studies of spontaneous child speech. Furthermore, cross-sectional studies of bilingual, trilingual, and multilingual children should include comparisons with monolingual children.’
The Need to Promote Active Multilingualism
Active multilingualism has often been seen as a hindrance, and in many cases, discouraged. However, as Dr Müller’s research has shown, it need not be. In fact, it is something that children should embrace. Remembering that languages are used to function in society and are integral to developing identity, the benefits to active multilingualism are clear. But how can it be promoted?
Many people feel that if their children attend a bilingual kindergarten or school, then this can, through use, keep their languages alive. However, Dr Müller’s most recent research very much points to family input and cultural elements as having the greatest impact on promoting active multilingualism. These, therefore, need to be the focus. This includes the creation of a linguistically stimulating environment through cultural contact within the family.
In conclusion, it is a challenge to learn a new language and adapt to a new community. Proficiency in the local language is a must – it affects one’s employment prospects, and one’s ability to acquire basic necessities and to feel contentment and belonging. It is vital, therefore, that we understand how children learn and adapt to these changing circumstances.
Meet the researcher
Dr Natascha Müller
Department of Romance Studies
University of Wuppertal
North Rhine-Westphalia
Germany
Dr Natascha Müller received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Hamburg in 1992. Her thesis considered word order acquisition by bilingual German-French children. After her PhD, she stayed at the University of Hamburg for some years. She then relocated and was appointed as Professor of General and Romance Linguistics (French, Italian, Spanish) at the University of Wuppertal. She has also since taught and conducted research at many universities throughout the world, in countries including the US, Norway, Austria, Spain and Canada. She has also worked with many other professionals in the field to develop learning resources for studies in linguistics, especially the Romance languages. The focus of Dr Müller’s recent research has been the accelerated acquisition of languages by children in multilingual environments in comparison to their monolingual counterparts.
CONTACT
E: [email protected]
W: https://www.romanistik.uni-wuppertal.de/personal/sprachwissenschaft/prof-dr-phil-habil-natascha-mueller.html
KEY COLLABORATORS
Prof. Dr Laia Arnaus Gil, University of Hamburg
Kerstin Caspers (B.A.), University of Wuppertal
Marina Hüppop (M.Ed.), University of Wuppertal
Amelia Jiménez Gaspar (M.A.), Universitat de les Illes Balears
Désirée Kleineberg (M.A.), University of Tübingen
Claudia Kubina (M.Ed.), University of Wuppertal
Meike Poeste (B.A.), University of Wuppertal
Nadine Sette (M.Ed.), University of Wuppertal
Abira Sivakumar (M.Ed.), University of Wuppertal
Mabel Tirado Espinosa (B.A.), University of Wuppertal
Katharina Zimmermann (B.A.), University of Wuppertal
FUNDING
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
FURTHER READING
L Arnaus Gil and N Müller, Acceleration and Delay in Bilingual, Trilingual and Multilingual German-Romance Children, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 2018, DOI: 10.1075/lab.17081.arn.
L Arnaus Gil and N Müller, French Postverbal Subjects: A Comparison of Monolingual, Bilingual, Trilingual, and Multilingual French, Languages 3 (3), 2018, 1-28, DOI: 10.3390/languages3030029. | https://www.scientia.global/dr-natascha-muller-multilingualism-a-barrier-or-a-blessing/ |
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What is “Singapore Sign Language”?
Manual or Signed Languages are found naturally when there are deaf people in the community. In Singapore, there are about 5000 self-identified sign language users. Deaf people who do not hear spoken languages naturally communicate with each other using a visual form of language. Signed languages are as complex as spoken languages and have their own grammar, syntax, semantics, so on and so forth. Any characteristic that spoken languages possess, signed languages also possess.
Today, the sign language used among Deaf Singaporeans as the primary means of manual communication is known as Singapore Sign Language (SgSL), and is an amalgamation of Shanghainese Sign Language, American Sign Language, manually coded English and locally derived signs that relate specifically to Singapore, the experiences and sentiments of our local Deaf community and its culture. However, while socially recognised and accepted in the Deaf community, its vocabulary, grammatical structures, rules and morphology remain largely under-researched.
Studying Singapore Sign Language does enable you to communicate with members of the local Deaf community. Yet, it also helps you to cultivate a better understanding and appreciation of language use in society and its role in shaping identity and community. | http://cml.soh.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/Singapore%20Sign%20Language/Pages/Home.aspx |
Competitive sports and games are all about the performance of players and teams, which results in performance-based hierarchies. Because such performance is measurable and is the result of varied rules, sports and games are considered a suitable model to help understand unrelated social or economic systems characterised by similar rules-based complexity. Now, a team of Mexican scientists have used the performance of national teams in tennis, chess, golf, poker and football as a test-bed for identifying universal features in the creation of hierarchies - such as the stratified structure found in the global hierarchical distribution of wealth. José Morales from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and his colleagues found they could, in principle, predict changes in rank occupancy over the course of a contender's lifetime, regardless of the particularities of the sports or activity. These findings, published in EPJ Data Science, enhance our ability to forecast how stratification occurs in competitive activities.
The authors set out to determine the path to establishing complex hierarchies, like sports teams' performance rankings. Their objective was to detect statistical regularities that indicate how competition shapes the hierarchies of players and teams.
In particular, the team analysed how the performance rankings of players and teams for several sports and specific games evolved over time - referred to as rank diversity, a concept previously used to study how vocabulary changes in time in the context of linguistics.
They found that ranking hierarchies may be driven by the same underlying generic mechanisms as rank formation, regardless of the nature of the teams' or players' characteristics. This means that the measure of the number of elements occupying a given performance rank over a length of time has the same functional form in sports and games as in languages; another system where competition is determined by the use or disuse of grammatical structures instead of sports rules. | https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-12/s-pfs122016.php |
Keyword "ENGLISH" found in the following publications:
COMPARATIVE RESEARCH OF PHRASEOLOGICAL VARIABILITY IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN (IN PHRASEOLOGY WITH THE COMPONENT TO GIVE/ DAVAT’)
The paper is aimed at the comparative research of variability of phraseological units (PUs) in modern English with the ...
LEXICAL-SEMANTIC INTERFERENCE IN PROFESSIONALLY-ORIENTED TRANSLATION (ON THE EXAMPLE OF TECHNICAL TEXTS TRANSLATION)
The given article deals with the research of the examples of lexical-semantic interference of English and Russian in ...
NATIONALLY-MARKED VOCABULARY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION: FEATURES AND POSSIBILITIES OF TRANSLATION INTO RUSSIAN
The given article deals with the research of the transfer of linguistic means of expressing national culture in literary ...
STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CODE-SWITCHING IN RUSSIAN UTTERANCES OF BILINGUAL CHILDREN IN RUSSIA AND THE USA
The main objective of the article is to compare the structural characteristics of code switching in the speech of ...
SPEECH ETIQUETTE: THE CONCEPT AND COMPARISON OF THE BORDERS OF THE PHENOMENON IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN
The article actualizes the problem of determining the concept of “speech etiquette” and the boundaries of this phenomenon ...
“LOVE” CONCEPT IN THE BIBLE AND IN THE KORAN (IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS)
The author studiestheconcept “love” and its representatives in texts of the Bible and the Koran: the frequency, conceptual ...
AN INVESTIGATION OF CHINESE STUDENTS’ GRAMMAR DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE: A CORPUS STUDY  OF ACADEMIC WRITING 
The study investigates Chinese students’ grammar developmental sequence and implications of the so-called “morpheme” studies. A brief overview of L1 ...
PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF MODERN ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY
One of the most debatable problems in modern phraseology is the problemof functioning of phraseological units (PU). The results ...
KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES AND THEIR REPRESENTATION IN THE LANGUAGE
The article deals with the problem of knowledge structures and their representation in the language. The authors of the article ...
EMERGENCE OF HYBRID LINGUISTIC CODES AS A RESULT OF LINGUISTIC INTERACTION IN CAMEROON
The article considers the problem of linguistic interaction in Cameroon resulting in the emergence of various hybrid codes. ...
DIDACTIC POTENTIAL OF VIDEO RESOURCES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO LAW STUDENTS
Teaching foreign languages in higher education with the adoption of a new Federal Standard is focused on the development ...
THE PROBLEM OF COGNITIVE-SEMANTIC GROUNDS FOR VERBS POLYSEMY IN ENGLISH
In the modern world one of leading tendences in linguistics is cognitive semantics which investigates values of language units as ...
FORMING AND DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: FROM READING TO SPEAKING
The article highlights the problem of students’ foreign language communicative competence formation in the process of reading and speaking ...
ARABIC BORROWINGS IN THE LEXICAL-SEMANTIC SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
The analysis of the origin of English words that were borrowed from the Arabic is given in the article. ...
MASTERING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH FLUENCY AND PROFICIENCY THROUGH INTERNET-BASED PROJECT ACTIVITIES
The article is devoted to the problem of non-linguistic students’ English fluency and proficiency development through information and communication ...
DISCURSIVE MARKERS AS A MEANS OF FORMING PRAGMATIC LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE
The proposed article deals with issues related to the formation of pragmatic linguistic competence based on discursive markers. ...
MOTIVATION OF WORD-GROUP (WORD COMBINATION) TERMS IN THE TERMINOLOGY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IN ALBANIAN IN RELATION WITH ENGLISH
In a terminological word-group (word combination), the combining capacities of both the main (defined) element of the term and ...
SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY SYSTEM IN THE CAMEROAN VARIANT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The article deals with the description and analysis of the orthography system in the Cameroon variant of the ...
CULTURAL FEATURES OF COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
The article deals with the problem of improving cross-cultural communication in the modern information society. Theoretical approaches to the study ...
PHONETIC INTERFERENCE OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE AND WAYS OF ITS PREVENTION IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES TO MEDICAL STUDENTS
The paper is focused on the problem of phonetic type of language interference, which is most frequently encountered by medical ...
SYNERGETIC EVOLUTIONARY MECHANISMS IN THE MORPHOLOGY OF ENGLISH
The paper deals with a number of synergetic evolutionary processes in a natural language grammar. Dissipation processes underlying the unification ...
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLDThe subject matter of this paper is the Russian and English language picture of the world. The article is aimed ...
ANALYSIS OF VARIABILITY OF TWO-COMPONENT ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY WITH THE VERB HAVE
In the article, the verbal phraseological units (PU) with the component have, which have the grammatical structure of a ... | http://rrlinguistics.ru/en/journal/keyword/English/ |
Hi! I am Aimee, a second year undergraduate at Cambridge University, reading Spanish and Arabic. I love languages, and am excited to share my passion for them. I approach languages in a methodic way, to clearly understand how it works and help students to memorise integral grammatical structures. I believe in memorising language through use, to engrain it into your active vocabulary versus your passive knowledge.
I can also help with English literature as my degree consists of many of the same skills needed in the GCSE and Alevel, such as literary analysis and essay writing. Personal Statement and Oxbridge Preparation is also an area in which I can offer advice and help – having been through the process very recently.
For languages: I will encourage active practice and reinforcement of vocabulary and new grammatical structures through conversation practice. I will also explain and clarify any confusions about integral grammar, as I believe this is the key to linguistic success. I will prepare vocabulary lists for students relevant to topics they have covered in school, and in the lesson with me. For Oxbridge Preparation/University applications: I will ask the student to send me their personal statements, suggest edits, and give interview practice based on my experience in the interview process.
We only take tutor applications from candidates who are studying at the UK’s leading universities. Candidates who fulfil our grade criteria then pass to the interview stage, where a member of the TiC team will personally assess them for subject knowledge, communication skills and general tutoring approach. About 1 in 10 becomes a tutor on our site. | https://tutorsinchina.com/aimee-l-2/ |
- There is a difference between learning about a language and actually using a language.
- A person can learn how the language works, acquire vocabulary, and learn grammatical structures, but if he or she does not invest time in real communication, the knowledge remains theoretical and is not necessarily useful for effective communication.Proficiency in a language includes knowing the form, meaning and use of words and structures.
- Proficiency in a language includes developing fluency and precision/acuracy.
- Proficiency in a language does NOT mean sounding like a native speaker!
The important thing is to be able to communicate. There are many dialects in English, with different accents and use of different words to refer to the same concept, such as “pop” and “soda” for “soft drink”.
- To determine if something in English is “correct”, we must understand the following concepts:
- Dialect: Can be correct in one dialect and not in another.
- Register: Acuracy depends on who we are talking to and what the communication target is. For example, in “country” music from the U.S., the use of “ain’t” slang is perfectly acceptable.
- Language is a living organism: It is also important to recognize that languages develop through time and rules change.
- The terms “basic”, “intermediate” and “advanced” are common in reference to proficiency. Some systems use 5-6 levels. See the graph of the TESOL and CEFR systems. Generally, proficiency levels indicate the number of known words, the complexity of the structures used, the topics the person is able to discuss, and the functions the person can perform in the language.
- Progress from one level to another only happens when using the language. Students evolve using their previous knowledge of the language, and adding only little new language. Some say that this percentage should be 95% known language and only 5% unknown.
- Even when reaching the advanced level, with perhaps 8,000 words, the learner is still far from the 20,000-30,000 words or more that an educated native speaker knows. However, if the person continues to invest time in language development, he or she will obtain good results in academic and/or professional life. | https://br.usembassy.gov/education-culture/english-language-programs/talks-about-english-teaching/session-summary-linguistic-proficiency-important-considerations/ |
Multi-campus university systems are not a new phenomenon. In their foundational analysis of multi-campus universities in the United States published in 1971, Lee and Bowen noted that almost 40% of American students were enroled in institutions that were part of multi-campus systems. The role of these complex multi-campus systems has continued to grow, though they have received surprisingly little attention in the academic literature (Gaither, 1999). In addition to the United States, multi-campus universities have become an integral feature of higher education systems such as the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa. Their emergence is either a result of predetermined efforts by policy makers or institutional leaders to spread activities across multiple geographies, or the outcome of amalgamation processes involving higher education institutions located in different localities. Yet, despite the adoption of multi-campus university systems in many jurisdictions, surprisingly little is known about the inner workings and key challenges facing these complex systems. This special issue takes an important step towards addressing this knowledge gap. In so doing, it brings together contributions emanating from a multiplicity of national higher education systems, shedding light on key aspects associated with both formal and informal structures, as well as the tensions and dilemmas facing contemporary multi-campus university systems. What is more, both conceptualisation and theorisation in and around multi-campus university systems has been largely neglected, and this is also an aspect that this special issue aims to address. Each author was free to approach a specific case(s) from a particular conceptual or theoretical perspective, thus providing a rich variety of perspectives on the complexity surrounding multi-campus university systems. Taken together, the contributions provided here underline the need for a more sophisticated conceptual and empirical analysis underpinning the emergence and development over time of multi-campus university systems. They also point to the need to approach multi-campus university systems from a more holistic and comprehensive perspective, as one of the many elements composing a complex ecosystem that includes: (1) formalised structures and arrangements, including mechanisms designed by both the state or the "superstructure" (Clark, 1983) and university leadership ("middlestructure") at various levels; (2) informal cultures and deeply institutionalised values, identities and traditions, which make each university and its respective campus constellations somewhat unique in their own right (Clark, 1992); and (3) social networks involving a multiplicity of internal and external actors or stakeholders, from whom both strategic resources and legitimacy are drawn from (Pinheiro, 2015). All in all, the contributions composing this special issue provide new insights on the inner workings of multi-campus universities, not least with respect to the multiple challenges and tensions facing both managers and academics involved with such systems. | https://eric.ed.gov/?q=%22%22&ff1=locUnited+States&ff2=eduHigher+Education&ff3=pubJournal+Articles&ff4=pubReports+-+Descriptive&ff5=subHigher+Education&id=EJ1126392 |
- All students will make strong progress in languages.
- Take up of MFL for students arriving with APS KS2 100+ will be 85% by 2025.
- Take-up of languages post-16 will remain at least stable.
- Students with home language proficiency will be supported to take GCSE in yr11.
- Students will learn about countries/culture where their languages are taught (Cultural Capital).
- Students will enjoy language learning and be confident communicators in both the target language and English.
- Language learning will support understanding grammatical constructs.
- Reading and oracy strategies will support the school’s wider strategies.
- Students will be given opportunities to have exposure to authentic speakers and foreign visits.
- Quality first teaching and assessment for learning will be strong.
- The language curriculum will support knowledge and understanding of healthy living, the environment, cultural understanding and respect of others.
- The language curriculum will develop soft/interpersonal skills of collaborative work, communication in different registers and oral presentation.
- Students will be made aware of the career opportunities opened up by gaining language qualifications.
Curriculum Implementation
- Target Language will be the regular form of communication in lessons.
- Students’ spontaneous use of language will be encouraged.
- Clear routines/expectations in place for transitions, presentation or work/DIRT, pair/group activities, beginnings and ends of lessons.
- Vocabulary tests will be regularly carried out
- Rote learning techniques will be taught and a knowledge of vocabulary and structures will be a regularly assessed in lessons.
- Shared reading and oracy practice are drivers for developing independent writing from the start of Y7.
- Students will be given ample opportunities to read extended texts with a view to develop decoding, inference and vocabulary acquisition.
- Knowledge/skills reviews will take place after each sequence of learning.
- Students will be trained to select and use resources independently (BBBB).
- Students will reminded of expectations with regards to presentation and quality of work.
- Use of departmental feedback/code will support students’ progress.
- Homework will be used to consolidate and extend knowledge and skills.
- Teachers will ensure that students understand the place of each learning within sequences of learning. | http://www.maidenerleghschool.co.uk/page/?title=Subject+Intent+and+Implementation&pid=301 |
The emergence of Computer Science as a discipline is one of the most significant intellectual developments of the twentieth century. The Computer Science field covers a rapidly growing body of knowledge concerning algorithms, information processing, communication, languages, and information systems. It utilizes both theoretical as well as experimental approaches to advance the state of knowledge in these areas. The power of this paradigm is evident everywhere in our technological society. It has begun to dramatically change our concept of reality. Almost every aspect of everyday life has been transformed by information technologies advanced by Computer Science. As a result of these technological advances, we have unprecedented opportunities for providing rapid and efficient access to enormous amounts of knowledge and information; for studying vastly more complex systems than was previously impossible; and for advancing in fundamental ways our understanding of information processes in natural and artificial systems.
Mission
Continuing improvement and encouraging innovation in the computer science program for the purpose of providing the market with qualified graduates that can distinct their career in computing, sustain their self-development, serve their society and keep their ethical choices in their profession.
Goals
The objectives of the DCS at The Applied Science University are to create a new breed of scientists, armed with the knowledge of computer science trained in computer science as well as the appropriate scientific and engineering disciplines. In addition, we provide students with the tools of information technology that were enabled by advances in Computer Science to transform business practices through the emergence of electronic marketplaces, electronic investing, electronic banking, sophisticated software tools for scheduling and workflow and inventory management. Our society is on the threshold of an era of intelligent artifacts, which is being ushered in, to a large extent, by advances in Computer Science and information technology.
The department is playing a major role, with other Jordanian Universities, in providing the basic understanding and the fundamental operating of computer systems to all non-major students in the university. This participation, will not only provide the basic knowledge, but will also narrow the digital divide in Jordan as a whole. Our undergraduate circular is always under constant review to reflect the new emerging technologies and the high demand of the Jordanian market. | https://www.asu.edu.jo/en/it/cs/Pages/About-Department.aspx |
French Learning Pathway at St John's
At St John’s school, our French curriculum intends for children in KS2 to develop a strong interest in learning another language that is both stimulating and enriching. We aim to encourage curiosity and courage; children can take risks in their learning whilst feeling supported.
As a school community, we value our cultural diversity, encouraging children to share experiences and knowledge of languages spoken at home. Through the learning of French, we provide children with the confidence to learn another language and foster an interest in other cultures.
Every term, the learning is focused on speaking, listening, learning vocabulary and ultimately constructing sentences. Teachers aim to speak as much as possible in French when giving instructions to make lessons fully immersive. At St John’s our intent is that children are well prepared to embrace learning French and other languages as they begin life in secondary schools.
French lessons are taught weekly in KS2. All classes have access to a high-quality French curriculum based on the Language Angels scheme of work. In addition, authentic French sources and experiences are included to enhance the learning experience: songs, making traditional foods, videos and audio recordings.
Children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge, organised around age-appropriate topics and themes. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge are taught to ensure pupils learn effectively, continuously building their knowledge of and enthusiasm for French. Pupils are also encouraged to draw comparisons with the language they may know from home, focusing on the different rules of grammar and etiquette. In so doing, all pupils develop an interest in and respect for languages and cultures.
French lessons are planned around three levels of units: Early Language, Intermediate and Progressive. The units are introduced when the pupils are ready to move on. Units, where possible, are linked to class topics and cross-curricular themes. Children are gradually taught how to listen to and read longer pieces of text. There are ample opportunities to speak, listen to, read and write in French. Our school Learning Pathway shows precisely how the knowledge and skills in French are acquired across the year groups.
At St. John’s, learning French can be thought of as using ‘Language Lego’ – whereby blocks of language knowledge are built up over a six-week unit. Pupils are gradually introduced to more sophisticated language structures; we start with a noun and add on descriptive words and actions. During the last lesson of each term, pupils spend time revising before completing an end of unit test. Pupils are able to refer back to their exercise books to help them with the test and have the opportunity to display their new skills- the emphasis is on achievement and looking at how far the pupils have come.
Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their French journey through KS2. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated.
In Years 3 and 4, the Early Learning units start at a basic noun and article level and teach pupils how to formulate short phrases. By the time pupils reach Year 6, the progressive units introduce pupils to much longer texts and pupils are encouraged to formulate their own, more personalised responses based on a much wider bank of vocabulary, linguistic structures and grammatical knowledge. They will be able to create longer pieces of spoken and written language and are encouraged to use a variety of conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives, opinions and justifications.
Teachers assess pupil learning and progression in the key language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) at the end of each six-week teaching unit. This information is used by teachers to inform their future planning.
Pupils will also gain a general interest in language learning and will have fostered a deeper understanding of their own cultures and those of others. Through enrichment activities, such as running a French café or listening to the best of French songs and poetry, the children will develop their cultural capital. | https://www.st-johns.kent.sch.uk/french/ |
While both pragmatic theory and experimental investigations of language using psycholinguistic methods have been well-established subfields in the language sciences for a long time, the field of Experimental Pragmatics, where such methods are applied to pragmatic phenomena, has only fully taken shape since the early 2000s. By now, however, it has become a major and lively area of ongoing research, with dedicated conferences, workshops, and collaborative grant projects, bringing together researchers with linguistic, psychological, and computational approaches across disciplines. Its scope includes virtually all meaning-related phenomena in natural language comprehension and production, with a particular focus on what inferences utterances give rise to that go beyond what is literally expressed by the linguistic material.
One general area that has been explored in great depth consists of investigations of various ‘ingredients’ of meaning. A major aim has been to develop experimental methodologies to help classify various aspects of meaning, such as implicatures and presuppositions as compared to basic truth-conditional meaning, and to capture their properties more thoroughly using more extensive empirical data. The study of scalar implicatures (e.g., the inference that some but not all students left based on the sentence Some students left) has served as a catalyst of sorts in this area, and they constitute one of the most well-studied phenomena in Experimental Pragmatics to date. But much recent work has expanded the general approach to other aspects of meaning, including presuppositions and conventional implicatures, but also other aspects of nonliteral meaning, such as irony, metonymy, and metaphors.
The study of reference constitutes another core area of research in Experimental Pragmatics, and has a more extensive history of precursors in psycholinguistics proper. Reference resolution commonly requires drawing inferences beyond what is conventionally conveyed by the linguistic material at issue as well; the key concern is how comprehenders grasp the referential intentions of a speaker based on the referential expressions used in a given context, as well as how the speaker chooses an appropriate expression in the first place. Pronouns, demonstratives, and definite descriptions are crucial expressions of interest, with special attention to their relation to both intra- and extralinguistic context. Furthermore, one key line of research is concerned with speakers’ and listeners’ capacity to keep track of both their own private perspective and the shared perspective of the interlocutors in actual interaction.
Given the rapid ongoing growth in the field, there is a large number of additional topical areas that cannot all be mentioned here, but the final section of the article briefly mentions further current and future areas of research.
Experimental Semiotics
Bruno Galantucci
Experimental Semiotics (ES) is a burgeoning new discipline aimed at investigating in the laboratory the development of novel forms of human communication. Conceptually connected to experimental research on language use, ES provides a scientific complement to field studies of spontaneously emerging new languages and studies on the emergence of communication systems among artificial agents.
ES researchers have created quite a few research paradigms to investigate the development of novel forms of human communication. Despite their diversity, these paradigms all rely on the use of semiotic games, that is, games in which people can succeed reliably only after they have developed novel communication systems. Some of these games involve creating novel signs for pre-specified meanings. These games are particularly suitable for studying relatively large communication systems and their structural properties. Other semiotic games involve establishing shared meanings as well as novel signs to communicate about them. These games are typically rather challenging and are particularly suitable for investigating the processes through which novel forms of communication are created.
Considering that ES is a methodological stance rather than a well-defined research theme, researchers have used it to address a greatly heterogeneous set of research questions. Despite this, and despite the recent origins of ES, two of these questions have begun to coalesce into relatively coherent research themes.
The first theme originates from the observation that novel communication systems developed in the laboratory tend to acquire features that are similar to key features of natural language. Most notably, they tend (a) to rely on the use of symbols—that is purely conventional signs—and (b) to adopt a combinatorial design, using a few basic units to express a large number of meanings. ES researchers have begun investigating some of the factors that lead to the acquisition of such features. These investigations suggest two conclusions. The first is that the emergence of symbols depends on the fact that, when repeatedly using non-symbolic signs, people tend to progressively abstract them. The second conclusion is that novel communication systems tend to adopt a combinatorial design more readily when their signs have low degrees of motivation and fade rapidly.
The second research theme originates from the observation that novel communication systems developed in the laboratory tend to begin systematically with motivated—that is non-symbolic—signs. ES investigations of this tendency suggest that it occurs because motivation helps people bootstrap novel forms of communication. Put it another way, these investigations show that it is very difficult for people to bootstrap communication through arbitrary signs.
External Influences in the History of English
Markku Filppula and Juhani Klemola
Few European languages have in the course of their histories undergone as radical changes as English did in the medieval period. The earliest documented variety of the language, Old English (c. 450 to 1100
Among the external influences, long contacts with speakers of especially Brittonic Celtic languages (i.e., Welsh, Cornish, and Cumbrian) can be considered to have been of particular importance. Following the arrival of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from around 450
In contrast to syntactic influences, which are typical of conditions of language shift, contacts that are less intensive and involve extensive bilingualism generally lead to lexical borrowing. This was the situation following the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066
Ferdinand de Saussure
John E. Joseph
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), the founding figure of modern linguistics, made his mark on the field with a book he published a month after his 21st birthday, in which he proposed a radical rethinking of the original system of vowels in Proto-Indo-European. A year later, he submitted his doctoral thesis on a morpho-syntactic topic, the genitive absolute in Sanskrit, to the University of Leipzig. He went to Paris intending to do a second, French doctorate, but instead he was given responsibility for courses on Gothic and Old High Gerrman at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, and for managing the publications of the Société de Linguistique de Paris. He abandoned more than one large publication project of his own during the decade he spent in Paris. In 1891 he returned to his native Geneva, where the University created a chair in Sanskrit and the history and comparison of languages for him. He produced some significant work on Lithuanian during this period, connected to his early book on the Indo-European vowel system, and yielding Saussure’s Law, concerning the placement of stress in Lithuanian. He undertook writing projects about the general nature of language, but again abandoned them. In 1907, 1908–1909, and 1910–1911, he gave three courses in general linguistics at the University of Geneva, in which he developed an approach to languages as systems of signs, each sign consisting of a signifier (sound pattern) and a signified (concept), both of them mental rather than physical in nature, and conjoined arbitrarily and inseparably. The socially shared language system, or langue, makes possible the production and comprehension of parole, utterances, by individual speakers and hearers. Each signifier and signified is a value generated by its difference from all the other signifiers or signifieds with which it coexists on an associative (or paradigmatic) axis, and affected as well by its syntagmatic axis. Shortly after Saussure’s death at 55, two of his colleagues, Bally and Sechehaye, gathered together students’ notes from the three courses, as well as manuscript notes by Saussure, and from them constructed the Cours de linguistique générale, published in 1916. Over the course of the next several decades, this book became the basis for the structuralist approach, initially within linguistics, and later adapted to other fields. Saussure left behind a large quantity of manuscript material that has gradually been published over the last few decades, and continues to be published, shedding new light on his thought.
First-Language Acquisition of Morphology
Dorit Ravid
First-language acquisition of morphology refers to the process whereby native speakers gain full and automatic command of the inflectional and derivational machinery of their mother tongue. Despite language diversity, evidence shows that morphological acquisition follows a shared path in development in evolving from semantically and structurally simplex and non-productive to more complex and productive. The emergence and consolidation of the central morphological systems in a language typically take place between the ages of two and six years, while mature command of all systems and subsystems can take up to 10 more years, and is mediated by the consolidation of literacy skills. Morphological learning in both inflection and derivation is always interwoven with lexical growth, and derivational acquisition is highly dependent on the development of a large and coherent lexicon. Three critical factors platform the acquisition of morphology. One factor is the input patterns in the ambient language, including various types of frequency. Input provides the context for children to pay attention to morphological markers as meaningful cues to caregivers’ intentions in interactive sociopragmatic settings of joint attention. A second factor is language typology, given that languages differ in the amount of word-internal information they package in words. The “typological impact” in morphology directs children to the ways pertinent conceptual and structural information is encoded in morphological structures. It is thus responsible for great differences among languages in the timing and pace of learning morphological categories such as passive verbs. Finally, development itself is a central mechanism that drives morphological acquisition from emergence to productivity in three senses: as the filtering device that enables the break into the morphological system, in providing the span of time necessary for the consolidation of morphological systems in children, and in hosting the cognitive changes that usher in mature morphological systems in both speech and writing in adolescents and adults.
Focus-Predicate Concord (kakari musubi) Constructions in Japanese and Okinawan
Rumiko Shinzato
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article.
In a special focus-predicate concord construction (kakari musubi), specific focus particles called kakari joshi correlate with particular predicate conjugational endings, or musubi, other than regular finite forms, creating special illocutionary effects such as emphatic assertion or question. In Old Japanese (OJ), a particle ka, s(/z)ö, ya, or namu triggers an adnominal ending, while kösö calls for a realis ending. In Old Okinawan (OOk), ga or du prompts an adnominal ending, while sɨ associates with realis endings. Kakari musubi existed in proto-Japonic but died out in the Japanese branch; however, it is still preserved in its sister branch, Ryukyuan, in the Okinawan language.
This concord phenomenon, observed in only a few languages of the world, presents diverse issues concerning its evolution from origin to demise, the functional and semantic differences of its kakari particles (e.g., question-forming OJ ka vs. ya), and positional (sentence-medial vs. sentence-final) contrast. Furthermore, kakari musubi bears relevance to syntactic constructions such as clefts and nominalizations. Last, some kakari particles stemming from demonstratives offer worthy data for theory construction in grammaticalization or iconicity. Because of its far-reaching relevance, the construction has garnered attention from both formal and functional schools of linguistics.
Folk Etymology and Contamination in the Romance Languages
Martin Maiden
‘Folk etymology’ and ‘contamination’ each involve associative formal influences between words which have no ‘etymological’ (i.e., historical), connexion. From a morphological perspective, in folk etymology a word acquires at least some elements of the structure of some other, historically unrelated, word. The result often looks like a compound, of a word composed of other, independently existing, words. These are usually (but not necessarily) ‘compounds’ lacking in any semantic compositionality, which do not ‘make sense’: for example, French beaupré ‘bowsprit’, but apparently ‘beautiful meadow’, possibly derived from English bowsprit. Typically involved are relatively long, polysyllabic, words, characteristically belonging to erudite or exotic vocabulary, whose unfamiliarity is accommodated by speakers unfamiliar with the target word through replacement of portions of that word with more familiar words. Contamination differs from folk etymology both on the formal and on the semantic side, usually involving non-morphemic elements, and acting between words that are semantically linked: for example, Spanish nuera ‘daughter-in-law’, instead of etymologically expected **nora, apparently influenced by the vowel historically underlying suegra ‘mother-in-law’. While there is nothing uniquely Romance about these phenomena, Romance languages abound in them.
Formants
Daniel Aalto, Jarmo Malinen, and Martti Vainio
Formant frequencies are the positions of the local maxima of the power spectral envelope of a sound signal. They arise from acoustic resonances of the vocal tract air column, and they provide substantial information about both consonants and vowels. In running speech, formants are crucial in signaling the movements with respect to place of articulation. Formants are normally defined as accumulations of acoustic energy estimated from the spectral envelope of a signal. However, not all such peaks can be related to resonances in the vocal tract, as they can be caused by the acoustic properties of the environment outside the vocal tract, and sometimes resonances are not seen in the spectrum. Such formants are called spurious and latent, respectively. By analogy, spectral maxima of synthesized speech are called formants, although they arise from a digital filter. Conversely, speech processing algorithms can detect formants in natural or synthetic speech by modeling its power spectral envelope using a digital filter. Such detection is most successful for male speech with a low fundamental frequency where many harmonic overtones excite each of the vocal tract resonances that lie at higher frequencies. For the same reason, reliable formant detection from females with high pitch or children’s speech is inherently difficult, and many algorithms fail to faithfully detect the formants corresponding to the lowest vocal tract resonant frequencies.
Form and Meaning of (Indefinite) Pronouns
Olaf Koeneman and Hedde Zeijlstra
The relation between the morphological form of a pronoun and its semantic function is not always transparent, and syncretism abounds in natural languages. In a language like English, for instance, three types of indefinite pronouns can be identified, often grouped in series: the some-series, the any-series, and the no-series. However, this does not mean that there are also three semantic functions for indefinite pronouns. Haspelmath (1997), in fact distinguishes nine functions. Closer inspection shows that these nine functions must be reduced to four main functions of indefinites, each with a number of subfunctions: (i) Negative Polarity Items; (ii) Free-Choice Items; (iii) negative indefinites; and (iv) positive or existential indefinites. These functions and subfunctions can be morphologically realized differently across languages, but don’t have to. In English, functions (i) and (ii), unlike (iii) and (iv), may morphologically group together, both expressed by the any-series. Where morphological correspondences between the kinds of functions that indefinites may express call for a classification, such classifications turn out to be semantically well motivated too. Similar observations can be made for definite pronouns, where it turns out that various functions, such as the first person inclusive/exclusive distinction or dual number, are sometimes, but not always morphologically distinguished, showing that these may be subfunctions of higher, more general functions. The question as to how to demarcate the landscape of indefinite and definite pronouns thus does not depend on semantic differences alone: Morphological differences are at least as much telling. The interplay between morphological and semantic properties can provide serious answers to how to define indefinites and the various forms and functions that these may take on.
French-Based Creole Languages
Anne Hertz
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article.
French-Based Creole Languages (FBCLs) may be characterized as a group by one historical and two linguistic properties. Their shared historical feature is that they arose between the 16th and 19th centuries as vehicular (hence oral) languages in French colonies, through language contact between oral varieties of French spoken by the colonists, and typologically and genetically diverse languages spoken by imported slaves—or imported workers or the local people in the case of Tayo, which emerged in the 19th century after the abolition of slavery and whose status as an FBCL is controversial. The linguistic features characterizing FBCLs are (1) that their lexicon is derived from French while their grammar (phonology and morphosyntax) is both reminiscent of, and different from, that of known varieties of spoken, nonstandard, dialectal French; and (2), that they stand as first languages (L1s), namely, they are acquired by children through the natural process of language acquisition and are used for all-purpose communication—as opposed to pidgins, a type of contact languages only used as vehicular L2s for specific-interaction purposes (e.g., trade).
FBCLs thus defined currently include on the American continent: Gwiyané/Guyanais (in French Guyana) and Karipuna Creole (Brazil, near the French-Guyana border); Lwizyané/Louisianais (on the decrease), in Louisiana, USA; in the Caribbean: Ayisyen/Haitian (in the independent Republic of Haiti); Senlisyen/Saint-Lucian (in the state of Sainte-Lucie), and the creoles spoken in the French-controlled territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominique, Saint-Barthélémy, and the northern part of Saint-Martin; in the Indian Ocean, off the shores of Eastern Africa: Morisyen/Mauritian (in Mauritius), Seselwa/Seychellois (in the Seychelles), Rodrigé/Rodriguais (in the Rodrigues islands, controlled by Mauritius), Réyinyoné/Réunionnais (in the island of Réunion, a French-controlled territory); and in Southern New Caledonia: Tayo.
Beyond the shared defining features proposed above, there is much variation among FBCLs with respect to the places, periods, and historical conditions of their emergence; the relevant contact languages involved in their development; and their resulting grammatical properties.
Frequency Effects in Grammar
Holger Diessel and Martin Hilpert
Until recently, theoretical linguists have paid little attention to the frequency of linguistic elements in grammar and grammatical development. It is a standard assumption of (most) grammatical theories that the study of grammar (or competence) must be separated from the study of language use (or performance). However, this view of language has been called into question by various strands of research that have emphasized the importance of frequency for the analysis of linguistic structure. In this research, linguistic structure is often characterized as an emergent phenomenon shaped by general cognitive processes such as analogy, categorization, and automatization, which are crucially influenced by frequency of occurrence.
There are many different ways in which frequency affects the processing and development of linguistic structure. Historical linguists have shown that frequent strings of linguistic elements are prone to undergo phonetic reduction and coalescence, and that frequent expressions and constructions are more resistant to structure mapping and analogical leveling than infrequent ones. Cognitive linguists have argued that the organization of constituent structure and embedding is based on the language users’ experience with linguistic sequences, and that the productivity of grammatical schemas or rules is determined by the combined effect of frequency and similarity. Child language researchers have demonstrated that frequency of occurrence plays an important role in the segmentation of the speech stream and the acquisition of syntactic categories, and that the statistical properties of the ambient language are much more regular than commonly assumed. And finally, psycholinguists have shown that structural ambiguities in sentence processing can often be resolved by lexical and structural frequencies, and that speakers’ choices between alternative constructions in language production are related to their experience with particular linguistic forms and meanings. Taken together, this research suggests that our knowledge of grammar is grounded in experience.
Functional Categories: Complementizers and Adpositions
Lena Baunaz
The standard observation is that complementizers corresponding to English that involve the illocutionary force of the clause, but the situation is not that simple, as factivity and modality may come into play, too. Complementizers are cross-linguistically systematically morpho-phonologically identical to other categories like nouns, verbs, and adpositions (that is, prepositions and post-positions). Recently there have been attempts to account for the formal identity of complementizers with other categories by decomposing the complementizer morpheme into smaller pieces. New ways of thinking about function words like complementizers and (some) prepositions involve digging into their internal structure(s) through determining the presence or absence of structural homogeneity within and across languages or by taking a nanosyntactic approach to cross-category syncretism.
Game Theory in Pragmatics: Evolution, Rationality, and Reasoning
Michael Franke
Game theory provides formal means of representing and explaining action choices in social decision situations where the choices of one participant depend on the choices of another. Game theoretic pragmatics approaches language production and interpretation as a game in this sense. Patterns in language use are explained as optimal, rational, or at least nearly optimal or rational solutions to a communication problem. Three intimately related perspectives on game theoretic pragmatics are sketched here: (i) the evolutionary perspective explains language use as the outcome of some optimization process, (ii) the rationalistic perspective pictures language use as a form of rational decision-making, and (iii) the probabilistic reasoning perspective considers specifically speakers’ and listeners’ beliefs about each other. There are clear commonalities behind these three perspectives, and they may in practice blend into each other.
At the heart of game theoretic pragmatics lies the idea that speaker and listener behavior, when it comes to using a language with a given semantic meaning, are attuned to each other. By focusing on the evolutionary or rationalistic perspective, we can then give a functional account of general patterns in our pragmatic language use. The probabilistic reasoning perspective invites modeling actual speaker and listener behavior, for example, as it shows in quantitative aspects of experimental data.
Gender
Jenny Audring
Gender is a grammatical feature, in a family with person, number, and case. In the languages that have grammatical gender—according to a representative typological sample, almost half of the languages in the world—it is a property that separates nouns into classes. These classes are often meaningful and often linked to biological sex, which is why many languages are said to have a “masculine” and a “feminine” gender. A typical example is Italian, which has masculine words for male persons (il bambino “the.
Across the languages of the world, gender systems vary widely. They differ in the number of classes, in the underlying assignment rules, and in how and where gender is marked. Since agreement is a definitional property, gender is generally absent in isolating languages as well as in young languages with little bound morphology, including sign languages. Therefore, gender is considered a mature phenomenon in language.
Gender interacts in various ways with other grammatical features. For example, it may be limited to the singular number or the third person, and it may be crosscut by case distinctions. These and other interrelations can complicate the task of figuring out a gender system in first or second language acquisition. Yet, children master gender early, making use of a broad variety of cues. By contrast, gender is famously difficult for second-language learners. This is especially true for adults and for learners whose first language does not have a gender system. Nevertheless, tests show that even for this group, native-like competence is possible to attain.
Genealogical Classification in Historical Linguistics
Søren Wichmann
Different methods exist for classifying languages, depending on whether the task is to work out the relations among languages already known to be related—internal language classification—or whether the task is to establish that certain languages are related—external language classification.
The comparative method in historical linguistics, developed during the latter part of the 19th century, represents one method for internal language classification; lexicostatistics, developed during the 1950s, represents another. Elements of lexicostatistics have been transformed and carried over into modern computational linguistic phylogenetics, and currently efforts are also being made to automate the comparative method. Recent years have seen rapid progress in the development of methods, tools, and resources for language classification. For instance, computational phylogenetic algorithms and software have made it possible to handle the classification of many languages using explicit models of language change, and data have been gathered for two thirds of the world’s language, allowing for rapid, exploratory classifications. There are also many open questions and venues for future research, for instance: What are the real-world counterparts to the nodes in a family tree structure? How can shortcomings in the traditional method of comparative historical linguistics be overcome? How can the understanding of the results that computational linguistic phylogenetics have to offer be improved?
External language classification, a notoriously difficult task, has also benefitted from the advent of computational power. While, in the past, the simultaneous comparison of many languages for the purpose of discovering deep genealogical links was carried out in a haphazard fashion, leaving too much room for the effect of chance similarities to kick in, this sort of activity can now be done in a systematic, objective way on an unprecedented scale. The ways of producing final, convincing evidence for a deep genealogical relation, however, have not changed much. There is some room for improvement in this area, but even more room for improvement in the way that proposals for long-distance relations are evaluated.
Generative Grammar
Knut Tarald Taraldsen
This article presents different types of generative grammar that can be used as models of natural languages focusing on a small subset of all the systems that have been devised. The central idea behind generative grammar may be rendered in the words of Richard Montague: “I reject the contention that an important theoretical difference exists between formal and natural languages” (“Universal Grammar,” Theoria, 36 , 373–398).
Georg von der Gabelentz
James McElvenny
The German sinologist and general linguist Georg von der Gabelentz (1840–1893) occupies an interesting place at the intersection of several streams of linguistic scholarship at the end of the 19th century. As Professor of East Asian languages at the University of Leipzig from 1878 to 1889 and then Professor for Sinology and General Linguistics at the University of Berlin from 1889 until his death, Gabelentz was present at some of the main centers of linguistics at the time. He was, however, generally critical of mainstream historical-comparative linguistics as propagated by the neogrammarians, and instead emphasized approaches to language inspired by a line of researchers including Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), H. Steinthal (1823–1899), and his own father, Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (1807–1874).
Today Gabelentz is chiefly remembered for several theoretical and methodological innovations which continue to play a role in linguistics. Most significant among these are his contributions to cross-linguistic syntactic comparison and typology, grammar-writing, and grammaticalization. His earliest linguistic work emphasized the importance of syntax as a core part of grammar and sought to establish a framework for the cross-linguistic description of word order, as had already been attempted for morphology by other scholars. The importance he attached to syntax was motivated by his engagement with Classical Chinese, a language almost devoid of morphology and highly reliant on syntax. In describing this language in his 1881 Chinesische Grammatik, Gabelentz elaborated and implemented the complementary “analytic” and “synthetic” systems of grammar, an approach to grammar-writing that continues to serve as a point of reference up to the present day. In his summary of contemporary thought on the nature of grammatical change in language, he became one of the first linguists to formulate the principles of grammaticalization in essentially the form that this phenomenon is studied today, although he did not use the current term. One key term of modern linguistics that he did employ, however, is “typology,” a term that he in fact coined. Gabelentz’s typology was a development on various contemporary strands of thought, including his own comparative syntax, and is widely acknowledged as a direct precursor of the present-day field.
Gabelentz is a significant transitional figure from the 19th to the 20th century. On the one hand, his work seems very modern. Beyond his contributions to grammaticalization avant la lettre and his christening of typology, his conception of language prefigures the structuralist revolution of the early 20th century in important respects. On the other hand, he continues to entertain several preoccupations of the 19th century—in particular the judgment of the relative value of different languages—which were progressively banished from linguistics in the first decades of the 20th century.
Grammaticalization
Walter Bisang
Linguistic change not only affects the lexicon and the phonology of words, it also operates on the grammar of a language. In this context, grammaticalization is concerned with the development of lexical items into markers of grammatical categories or, more generally, with the development of markers used for procedural cueing of abstract relationships out of linguistic items with concrete referential meaning. A well-known example is the English verb go in its function of a future marker, as in She is going to visit her friend. Phenomena like these are very frequent across the world’s languages and across many different domains of grammatical categories. In the last 50 years, research on grammaticalization has come up with a plethora of (a) generalizations, (b) models of how grammaticalization works, and (c) methodological refinements.
On (a): Processes of grammaticalization develop gradually, step by step, and the sequence of the individual stages follows certain clines as they have been generalized from cross-linguistic comparison (unidirectionality). Even though there are counterexamples that go against the directionality of various clines, their number seems smaller than assumed in the late 1990s.
On (b): Models or scenarios of grammaticalization integrate various factors. Depending on the theoretical background, grammaticalization and its results are motivated either by the competing motivations of economy vs. iconicity/explicitness in functional typology or by a change from movement to merger in the minimalist program. Pragmatic inference is of central importance for initiating processes of grammaticalization (and maybe also at later stages), and it activates mechanisms like reanalysis and analogy, whose status is controversial in the literature. Finally, grammaticalization does not only work within individual languages/varieties, it also operates across languages. In situations of contact, the existence of a certain grammatical category may induce grammaticalization in another language.
On (c): Even though it is hard to measure degrees of grammaticalization in terms of absolute and exact figures, it is possible to determine relative degrees of grammaticalization in terms of the autonomy of linguistic signs. Moreover, more recent research has come up with criteria for distinguishing grammaticalization and lexicalization (defined as the loss of productivity, transparency, and/or compositionality of former productive, transparent, and compositional structures).
In spite of these findings, there are still quite a number of questions that need further research. Two questions to be discussed address basic issues concerning the overall properties of grammaticalization. (1) What is the relation between constructions and grammaticalization? In the more traditional view, constructions are seen as the syntactic framework within which linguistic items are grammaticalized. In more recent approaches based on construction grammar, constructions are defined as combinations of form and meaning. Thus, grammaticalization can be seen in the light of constructionalization, i.e., the creation of new combinations of form and meaning. Even though constructionalization covers many apects of grammaticalization, it does not exhaustively cover the domain of grammaticalization. (2) Is grammaticalization cross-linguistically homogeneous, or is there a certain range of variation? There is evidence from East and mainland Southeast Asia that there is cross-linguistic variation to some extent.
Grammaticalization in Morphology
Muriel Norde
Grammaticalization is traditionally defined as the gradual process whereby a lexical item becomes a grammatical item (primary grammaticalization), which may be followed by further formal and semantic reduction (secondary grammaticalization). It is a composite change that may affect both phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic-pragmatic properties of a morpheme, and it is found in all the world’s languages. On the level of morphology, grammaticalization has been shown to have various effects, ranging from the loss of inflection in primary grammaticalization to the development of bound morphemes or new inflectional classes in secondary grammaticalization. Well-known examples include the development of future auxiliaries from motion verbs (e.g., English to be going to), and the development of the Romance inflection future (e.g., French chanter-ai ‘I sing’, chanter-as ‘you sing’, etc., from a verb meaning ‘to have’). Although lexical-grammatical change is overwhelmingly unidirectional, shifts in the reverse direction, called degrammaticalization, have also been shown to occur. Like grammaticalization, degrammaticalization is a composite change, which is characterized by an increase in phonological and semantic substance as well as in morphosyntactic autonomy. Accordingly, the effects on morphology are different from those in grammaticalization. In primary degrammaticalization new inflections may be acquired (e.g., the Welsh verb nôl ‘to fetch,’ from an adposition meaning ‘after’), and erstwhile bound morphemes may become free morphemes (e.g., English ish). As such effects are also found in other types of changes, degrammaticalization needs to be clearly delineated from those. For example, a shift from a minor to a major category (e.g., English ifs and buts) or the lexicalization of bound affixes (isms), likewise result in new inflections, but these are instantaneous changes, not gradual ones.
Greek in Contact with Romance
Angela Ralli
In the course of its long history, Greek has experienced a particularly multifarious and profound contact with Romance, in a wide geographical area that spreads from western to eastern Europe and also covers part of the once Hellenophone Asia Minor. The beginning of this contact is difficult to delimit given that the ancestor languages, Ancient Greek and Latin, were already in interaction even before the Roman period of the Greek-speaking world. Both Greek and Romance (Italo-Romance, Gallo-Romance, Aromanian, and Judeo-Spanish) have acted as donor or recipient, depending on the specific historical and sociolinguistic circumstances. A significant number of lexical items (roots, affixes, and words) were transferred from one language to another, while phonological and structural transfers have also occurred in areas where Greek has been in constant and long contact with Romance, as for instance, in south Italy. Greek has been the basis for the formation of scientific internationalisms in Romance, and reversely it has recently adopted Romance terms and term-forming affixes. | https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/browse?btog=chap&f_0=keyword&page=6&pageSize=20&sort=titlesort&subSite=linguistics |
What a change in catch, the conditions were absolutely perfect, mild all night with slight drizzle but it was windy which I thought might put the Moths off from flying, not a chance! good amounts including (I think) my first ever Dark Chestnut, which has now been confirmed, I have now completed my Chestnut/Dark Chestnut write-up whch hopefully should aid identification for myself and others.
The article can be found Here
Catch Report - Hatfield Broad Oak - 160w MBT Robinson Trap
Dark Chestnut
Macro Moths
1x Dark Chestnut [NFG]
2x Chestnut
5x Yellow-line Quaker
1x Red-line Quaker
2x Barred Sallow
6x Feathered Thorn
2x Merveille du Jour
1x Lesser Yellow Underwing
5x Large Yellow Underwing
2x Spruce Carpet
1x Red-green Carpet
3x Common Marbled Carpet
3x Green-brindled Crescent
1x Mallow
1x Satellite
3x Brick
2x Black Rustic
2x Beaded Chestnut
7x Epirrita sp. | https://www.flyinginfordham.co.uk/2009/10/catch-report-friday-23rd-october-2009.html |
Back to trapping in England, and after that massive previous post, good stuff to report including 1 Red Underwing (only my 4th ever specimen) and 2 cracking Brown-spot Pinons were the pick of the catch of a respectable 40+ species. Both species seem to have very irregular years from my experience.
Nice to also see Frosted Orange and Angle Shades in good numbers 5 and 8 specimens!
Ypsolopha alpella was the best Micro, there being 10 or so previous County records and a new one for me.
Catch Report - 09/09/11 - 1x 125w MV Robinson Trap - Farmland/back garden
Macro Moths
12x Square-spot Rustic
22x Centre-barred Sallow [NFY]
5x Brimstone Moth
8x Latticed Heath
6x Vine's Rustic
36x Large Yellow Underwing
4x Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
3x Black Rustic [NFY]
13x Setaceous Hebrew Character
5x Common Wainscot
1x Copper Underwing
1x Snout
7x Light Emerald
1x Rosy Rustic
3x Lunar Underwing
4x Mouse Moth
1x Feathered Gothic [NFY]
8x Angle Shades
1x Maiden's Blush
1x Green Carpet
2x Early Thorn
1x Small Square-spot [NFY]
3x Lesser Yellow Underwing
2x Silver-Y
3x Common Rustic
2x Shuttle-shaped Dart
2x Brown-spot Pinion [NFY]
1x Cabbage Moth
4x Flame Shoulder
1x Burnished Brass
1x Turnip Moth
1x Nutmeg
1x Orange Swift
1x Engrailed
5x Frosted Orange [NFY]
Brown-spot Pinion
Two different marked examples
Lunar Underwing
Frosted Orange
Red Underwing
Micro Moths
1x Acleris emargana
2x Celypha lacunana
2x Agonopterix arenella
1x Agonopterix ocellana
3x Blastobasis adjustella
2x Agiphila geniculea
1x Agapeta hamana
1x Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis
1x Eudonia pallida
5x Brown House-moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella
4x Agriphila tristella
1x Ypsolopha alpella [NEW!]
1x Ypsolopha parenthesella
1x Ypsolopha sequella
1x Epinotia nisella
Ypsolopha alpella
Acleris emargana
Garden Pebble Evergestis forficalis
Too close? | http://www.hertsmothblog.co.uk/2011/09/catch-report-090911-farmlandback-garden.html |
The HD632-H81 from DFI is a long life cycle ATX motherboard designed for use in industrial applications. The HD632-H81 board is based around Intel's H81 Express Chipset and LGA 1150 socket for use with Intel's range of 4th Generation core processors. The board is packed with features including support for 16GB of DDR3 memory, Intel graphics with DVI-I & VGA, a parallel por, HD Audio, 4x SATA ports and 1x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x4, 5x PCI slots. Connectivity is provided by 8x USB(2x USB 3.0, 7x USB 2.0), 2x Gigabit LAN, 10x COM and 8-bit Digital I/O. | https://www.assured-systems.com/uk/product/atx-intel-h81-4th-generation-core-with-5-pci-and-10-com/ |
Answers for Chapter 14 Sample Problems
2. The slope of a straight line between 2 points, is the (difference in the y's) divided by (the difference in the x's), sometimes called the rise/run. In the dot graph below, for the slope of the line between (3,3) and (0,1), we get (3-1)/(3-0) = 2/3 .
3.
The two problems below were originally done by hand by a 6th grader.
You can see that he found, not surprisingly, that east-central Illinois is quite flat and the slope is 0! There are other nearby spots not as flat as the part he chose. You could do this near your house or school.
Both of these figures were computer-enhanced, mainly for readability purposes. But it was done from a topographic map.
One of my calculus students was talking about the downward slope of her driveway into their garage, which made it very difficult to maneuver in the winter time. I'll bring up the slope of a roof (really 1/2 the slope), the gradient of a road (given in %), the pitch of a screw, etc.
5. Estimating slopes
6. Zooming in on a curve at a point, then finding the slope of the tangent at that point.
The table below shows various x-coordinates and the slope of the tangent, for the curve y = x
2
x-coordinate slope of tangent
1 2
2 4
3 6
Looking at the pattern, the slope of the tangent is
2x
, which is the derivative of
x
2
.
For the horizontal line say, y = 7 the slope is 0, for the straight line y = x, the slope is 1, so the derivative of x is 1. If you zoom in on points on the curve
x
3
, you'll get
3x
2
. Putting these in the table below:
function derivative
7 0
x 1
x
2
2x
x
3
3x
2
Look for a pattern in the table above. Can you predict the derivative of
x
4
? of
x
n
? of
7x
3
? of
5x
3
+ 7x
2
?
7. Derivatives as done in textbooks.
8. Tickertape.
9. The slope of the tangent to the curve y = x
3
and beyond! | http://mathman.biz/html/ans14.html |
University of Manchester researchers have access to GPU resources at both the University and further afield as listed below. Software applications and programming resources are listed at the bottom of the page.
Shared Facility (CSF): This facility includes 27 NVIDIA GPUs.
7x M610x blades, each comprising one NVIDIA card: 2x M2070 and 5x M2050.
16 NVIDIA M2050 with a pair hosted on each of 8 AMD compute nodes interconnected with InfiniBand. | http://wiki.rac.manchester.ac.uk/community/GPU/resources |
:
Rest Day Macros - Invictus Competition
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04-26-2015, 06:28 AM
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Adam Fullerton
Member
Profile:
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Milford MI
Posts: 56
Rest Day Macros - Invictus Competition
Hi everyone -
I am currently following Invictus' Competition programming, thus I am in the gym ~2 - 2.5 hours 5x a week. On my rest days, I have an airdyne at home I like to hop on for some active recovery. Nothing intense, perhaps 30 minutes of a nice, steady pace.
My question is, on these rest days, do I need to keep my carbs as high as I would on a normal training day? Due to the high volume of training, I have been maintaining the same macros 7x a week essentially. I just want to know if I should/can reduce my carbs and up my fat on rest days since I am not training these 2x a week, and expect my performance (energy levels) to stay the same. I will still keep my calories the same 7x a week.
Thanks, | https://board.crossfit.com/showpost.php?s=d654c64690ab0f4ef35325095051fc89&p=1251994&postcount=1 |
The ratio of two quantities x and y in the same units, is the fractionx/yand we write it as x : y.
In the ratio x : y, we call x as the first term or antecedent and y, the second term or consequent.
Eg. The ratio 2 : 3 represents 2/3 with antecedent = 2, consequent = 3.
Eg. 4 : 5 = 8 : 10 = 12 : 15. Also, 4 : 6 = 2 : 3.
The equality of two ratios is called proportion.
If a : b = c : d, we write a : b :: c : d and we say that a, b, c, d are in proportion.
Here a and d are called extremes, while b and c are called mean terms.
Thus, a : b :: c : d ⇔ (b x c) = (a x d).
If a : b = c : d, then d is called the fourth proportional to a, b, c.
a : b = c : d, then c is called the third proportion to a and b.
Mean proportional between a and b is √ab.
We say that (a : b) > (c : d) ⇔ a/b > c/d.
The compounded ratio of the ratios: (a : b), (c : d), (e : f) is (ace : bdf).
Duplicate ratio of (a : b) is (a2 : b2).
Sub-duplicate ratio of (a : b) is (√a : √b).
Triplicate ratio of (a : b) is (a3 : b3).
Sub-triplicate ratio of (a : b) is (a1/3 : b1/3).
We say that x is directly proportional to y, if x = ky for some constant k and we write, x ∝ y.
we write, x ∝ 1/y.
A Bag has coins in the denominations of 50 P, 25 P, and 20 P in the ratio 4:2:1. If the total value of the coins is Rs. 54, Find number of 25 P coins in the bag.
In an exam, the ratio of Ajay's and Balu's marks is 4:5, If each them had scored 36 more marks, the ratio of their marks would be 7:8. Find Balu's marks?
Answer is: ALet Ajay's and Balu's marks be 4X and 5X respectively.
Answer is: DLet the amounts received by the old man's wife, the eldest son and youngest son be a, b and c respectively.
What should be added to both numbers which are in the ratio 4:5, so that their ratio becomes 5:6?
As X is unknown, K cannot be found.
The consumption of diesel per hour of a bus various directly as square of its speed. When the bus is travelling at 40 kmph its consumption is 1 litre per hour. If each litre cost Rs. 40 and other expenses per hour is Rs 40. then what would be the minimum expenditure required to cover a distance of 400 km?
Answer is: CLet, the speed of bus be x kmph and the consumption of diesel per hour be y litres.
There are five vessels, with equal capacities, each containing some milk. The quantities of milk in the 5 vessels are in ratio 4 : 5 : 6 : 7 : 8 such that the total quantity of milk in the vessels is equal to 75% of the total capacities of the 5 vessels. How many of the vessels are at lost 64% full of milk?
Answer is: CLet the quantities of milk in the 1st to 5st vessels be 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x and 8x respectively.
The number of vessels of vessels which contain at least 5.12x of milk is three.
A truck rental agency has the following forms. if a truck is rented for 8 hours or less the charge is Rs. 100 per hour or Rs 8 per km whichever is more. On the other hand, if the truck is rented for more than 8 hours, the charge is ₹ 80 per hour or ₹ 6 per km whichever is more. A company rented a truck from the agency, and used it for 120 km and paid ₹ 800. For how many hours did the company rent the truck?
Answer is: CLet the truck is rented for 8 hours or less.
So, The truck is rented for more than 8 hours. | https://www.zcos.in/aptitude/ratio-and-proportion |
It’s been kind of a rough week on forecasting, right?
A wise man once said, “You think you know, but you DON’T KNOW.” OK maybe “wise” is a bit strong there for someone who couldn’t win a playoff game even with Peyton Manning, but a quotable man nonetheless.
And so it was with me and “Trolls”. Based on the Thursday preview numbers, I was pretty confident that “Doctor Strange” would come in between $85M and $90M and while that ended up on the low end, I’m still completely shocked by “Trolls”. Why? Because ProBoxOffice.com rarely makes that big a jump between its Long Range Forecast and its Weekend Prediction and one time it did that, it looked like this:
But sometimes things happen that we didn’t expect and “Trolls” won the day. The great thing about Fantasy Movie League, though, is that there’s always another week right around the corner.
Week 11 Summary Table
As always, here is the summary table that I use to assess the results of my model (see the full table at http://analyzer.fmlnerd.com/model):
Week 11 Perfect Combo Probabilities
My fear is that weekly ShowBuzzDaily forecasts are lost to us forever. It’ll take a little bit of code unwinding on my part to remove them and I like the suggestion that some people have made that I set it up to pull BoxOfficeMojo forecasts on Thursdays. While that doesn’t help this space a whole lot given its Wednesday evening deadline, Chatter threads offer a solution there.
ProBoxOffice.com, and by extension my model, really like “Hacksaw Ridge” to have a strong hold and given its positive reviews and Veterans Day Weekend, that makes a lot of sense. The most obvious play there is one screen of “Almost Christmas” and 7x “Hacksaw Ridge” although the daring will consider a screen of “Trolls” and 6x “Hacksaw Ridge” along with a blank screen.
If “Trolls” has a strong hold, there are several 2x lineups to consider, but absent other information I like it with 5x “The Accountant” and a screen of “Jack Reacher”.
Speaking of “Almost Christmas”, earlier in the week I thought it had potential to threaten $20M but both ProBoxOffice.com and Deadline seem to disagree. Similarly, both are pessimistic on “Arrival” despite Patrick liking it to be in the low to mid $20M’s and nether particularly likes “Shut In” and it’s noob distributor to make a case for Best Performer.
That means we’ll be looking squarely at returning films to fill our cineplexes with this week. Along those lines, ProBoxOffice.com likes “Doctor Strange” more than I do, because, fool me twice, shame on me. After a Thursday Preview number that suggested a $90M weekend, the latest MCU film ended up below $86M so I don’t expect it to reach the $36.5M that “Thor: Dark World” did its second week as that difference from last week would indicate this installment of the comic book mega-saga appeals more to the core fan base than the public at large.
However we do have a familiar wrench to think about in the form of “Moonlight”, which had a low enough theater count last week that it didn’t merit consideration. Pretty much the same math applies this week as it did last week. Some early social media activity would seem to indicate that it will be below 200 theaters and not worth your time, but should it surprise it would need above 350 to get in the $2.6M range and be a BP contender. Should that unexpectedly happen in a week of unexpected happenings, 2x “Trolls”, “Hacksaw Ridge”, and 5x “Moonlight” is your play.
New this week on the Lineup Calculator is the ability to pin lineup combinations and produce links that save those pins along with your custom forecasts. For example, here is a link for lineups mentioned in this article that are pinned. Feel free to play with that and share your thoughts on the Chatter and good luck to all! | https://fmlnerd.com/2016/11/09/fantasy-movie-league-2016-fall-week-11-picks/ |
Written and developed by people who have experienced a relationship with a family member, spouse or partner who suffers from a Personality Disorder.
Out of the FOG was launched in 2007 to provide information and support to the family members and loved-ones of individuals who suffer from a personality disorder.
We are a supportive, close-knit community, encouraging one another through the many challenges that come with having a family member or significant other who has a personality disorder. You can join our support community here.
The Out of the FOG leadership team is the most experienced team of its kind in the world. We are unpaid volunteers who have years of experience living with someone who suffers from a personality disorder and who share a passion to educate and encourage others who find themselves lost in the "FOG".
As a volunteer organization, we rely on private donations and book sale commissions to offset the costs of running this site. See details of our finances and make donations here.
About Our Name - "Out of the FOG"
Dealing with a loved-one or family member who suffers from a personality disorder can sometimes feel like navigating through a fog. FOG stands for Fear, Obligation, Guilt - feelings which often result from being in a relationship with a person who suffers from a Personality Disorder. The FOG acronym was coined by Susan Forward & Donna Frazier in their book Emotional Blackmail. It is our hope that this site may help some navigate out of the FOG in their own lives.
People often arrive at our site feeling a range of emotions including fear, anger, confusion, guilt, a sense of isolation, hopelessness and powerlessness. It can be a tremendous relief to discover that others have been where you are and are struggling with some of the same issues. | https://outofthefog.website/who-we-are/ |
Project to help blind students navigate campus may come to fruition soon
The Graduate Student Council discussed ways it can support disabled students, including a project to help guide blind students across campus with their sense of hearing, at its October meeting on Tuesday.
GSC President Tiffany Miller introduced the project with Student Government Association in 2018 for the installation of several wind chimes across campus, each with a unique tone set at different locations to help blind and visually impaired students know where they are. The idea comes from a similar student government initiative for guiding wind chimes at Texas A&M in 2016.
Now the project may come closer to fruition as Miller and other student leaders plan to facilitate a meeting between a group of blind and visually impaired students and several administrators, including President Neal Smatresk.
Miller said the main concern from students in the Blind and Visually Impaired Alliance was a “lack of inclusivity” of their disability at UNT that a project like the wind chimes could help address.
“So a student who is blind or visually impaired is navigating campus and they find themselves lost or in an unfamiliar area, or they’re just trying to navigate, they rely quite a bit on hearing as a better sense,” Miller said. “[The chimes] rely on a few things. People have to be around campus long enough to know certain sounds are associated with certain locations, so that takes a little time to build up. But if they’re there, it’s something people can rely on.”
Miller said the GSC could continue SGA’s progress on the project, which already had approved student government legislation and potential funding from organizational accounts and the Dean of Students office.
“[The project] is relatively inexpensive,” Miller said. “It’s something we can do quickly to start addressing some needs that our community has brought up. It is, by no means, the only issue they brought up. But it could help a little bit more quickly and could be implemented relatively more quickly than some of the other concerns.”
Miller attended a Deaf Connect meeting of deaf and hard-of-hearing students with Smatresk, where they shared feedback on the university’s accommodations to their disability. GSC representatives helped compile a list of their needs for Smatresk and UNT staff to consider. | https://www.ntdaily.com/project-to-help-blind-students-navigate-campus-may-come-to-fruition-soon/ |
Discipline and Liberation
Discipline and Liberation is generally understood, the yogic discipline consists of two elements first, complete detachment from the desire for limited egoistic experience in this or another body ; and second, desire for and meditation on the consciousness of immortality and bliss which follows the realization of the true Self in the form ” I am Brahman ” or ” I am God “. The first element is common to all Yogas. But the statement” I am God ” is to some students too much of a shock to the ordinary way of thinking to form the subject of meditation ; they can follow it intellectually but cannot incorporate it at all into their life. These yogis worship God as external to themselves, by meditating and taking refuge in Him, and by dedicating the results of their yogic efforts to him. In this way, says Shri Shankara, they attain clarity (sattva) of the psychological apparatus, and then the Lord liberates them from all sins (Gita). They begin to understand that the Lord is all, that there is nothing else except Him, and can meditate on Him as the Self of all. Then the Lord frees them from all sins (limitations) by manifesting Himself as their own Self. This form of Yoga is called Karma Yoga, and it is recommended to people living active lives in the world with others dependent on them.
In the 13th Chapter of the Gita the different yogas are described briefly, and the highest place is given to those who meditate in perfect mental tranquillity on the Consciousness-Self beyond the mind. Next come those who realize by intellectually discriminating the ‘Self from the movements of nature (technically called gunas); the Self is witness of the gunas and thus witness of the mind also, which is one of the movements of nature. Both these yogas are based on knowledge.
The third yoga mentioned is Karma Yoga; which is based on illusion, because here the true Self, the Lord is worshipped as something external only. It does not mean that the existence of the Lord is an illusion, but that the yogi who worships Him as unknown, as distant, only sees part of the truth; he does not yet see that the Lord who supports the whole universe is the inner Self supporting him also.
Still a fourth path is mentioned, and this is the path of those who cannot know the Self by any of the other ways ; that is to say they are not experts in meditation and so have had no flashes of inner illumination, nor are they capable of maintaining the intellectual analysis which reveals the witness Self, nor have they performed right actions dedicating them to the Lord in worship. These people depend entirely on what they hear from a teacher who tells them
” Meditate on such-and-such in such-and-such a way “. They then contemplate the idea in full faith and adhere to this which they have heard, and finally, says the Gita, they too cross beyond death, which is one of the phrases meaning full liberation. It takes tremendous faith and will to be fast in an idea when they cannot understand the evidence for it, and have not lived a life consonant with it:
These are people of straightforward mind, capable of taking and sticking to sudden far-reaching decisions.
It is implied that these sincere men, who have nothing but faith in what they have heard, will become quickly Karma yogis and then philosophers or mystics, thus traversing the whole of the path. Similarly those who enter on the path of Karma yoga-a stage higher up, so to say will soon be able to practise discrimination (vichara) which is the yoga of the philosopher (Sankhya); and the Sankhya philosopher, when his intellectual analysis is complete and rooted, finds his mind comes to complete clarity and stillness in Samadhi (trance-meditation) when the full consciousness of the true Self shines through and he is liberated. Thus all the yogas lead to the realization in meditation, by gradual purification of the life and mind, though if one of the early yogas is very faithfully and earnestly performed, the final stages may be quite short.
This Gita classification of the stages does not differ substantially from the one generally used by Shri Shankara. He most often speaks of a discipline of right action, sacrifice and worship, combined with the mental training:
Shravana (hearing the truth),
Manana (reflecting continuously on the truth),
and Nididhyasana (profound meditation and Samadhi).
The end of the path is Anubhuti (consciousness of the infinite Self), which is Mukti, libera tion from all limitations. The discipline is to detach the student from all objects, and the training to focus the purified mind on the infinite Self, and finally to dissolve it in the Self. The two wings of the yoga are given by Patanjali as Vairagya (detachment) and Abhyasa (practice), and in this classification he follows the Gita; his Vairagya is really the same as the result of Shri Shankara’s discipline, and the practice is Shri Shankara’s Shravana, Manana and Nididhyasana. It is noteworthy that Patanjali, the great exponent of Meditation, gives Vairagya equal (some commentators say greater) importance. By detachment the obstacles of impurity and distraction are cleared away, and by meditation practices the spiritual eye is so to say turned towards the ever-luminous Self.
It is a picture of a long process; as a fly slowly and patiently cleans its wings of the honey that has clogged them, as a prisoner doggedly files away the bars of the window, as a man makes a long journey through the desert, as the treasure-seeker resolutely prosecutes his digging, as the would-be king assembles an army and in long campaigns finally conquers the enemy, so the yogi pursues the path of yoga indicated by the teacher, thinking no sacrifice too great, no suffering too heavy on the path to the infinite bliss of Liberation.
However, reading Shri Shankara or any of the great Vedanta texts, the beginner comes across phrases which do not quite fit in with this picture. He tends to dismiss them as irrelevant or obscure, but as he penetrates deeper and deeper into Vedanta thought, he becomes aware that the picture of an arduous process, accomplished only at the cost of keenest sacrifice and suffering, is not the only view of ‘ Shri Shankara. It is not even his main one. Shri Shankara’s great disciples give Shravana-the hearing of “That Thou Art ” and similar texts-as the main factor in Liberation ; surprising, when surely Shravana is merely the preliminary to Manana and Nididhyasana.
How can Shravana give liberation ? We have heard the text on our first entry into Yoga, and hundreds of times since, and yet we are not liberated. How can mere hearing free a prisoner from his chains, or conquer a kingdom ? The disciple begins to feel bewildered as he hears that Liberation is not a thing to be achieved, when he hears that all beings are ever-liberated. The teaching, intelligible when it spoke of a definite achievement and the way to do it, seems to be losing all meaning.
The point is that Shri Shankara expounds two views, one for those who still at heart believe the world to be real, and one for those who are beginning to have flashes of understanding of its illusory nature. While the world is real, then the discipline, the sacrifices and sufferings the slow progress, are real. But when the yogi understands something of the truth, he finds that the prison cell, the desert, the enemy army, were all unreal. They are not necessarily non-existent, but they have no real relationship with or power over his real Self.
The naturalist describes how a cockatoo which has always lived in a cage is taken out and put on the branch of a tree in the garden. For a long time it cannot bring itself to believe it is free. When another bird first flies up in front of it, its wings quiver and all its muscles tense for flying, but then the conviction of imprisonment descends, and it gives up the attempt. It may take over three weeks of frustrating and painful efforts before the bird can give up its irrational idea of being still somehow caged. The bird sees of course that there is no cage, but the habit of a lifetime is not thrown off immediately. The analogy is not exact but in some ways living beings can be compared with the cockatoo on the branch. It does not dream of flying at all, but then the free bird streaks up in front of it and a deep instinct is awakened fragmentarily. This is comparable to meeting with words like ” Thou Art That ” and other texts directly speaking of Liberation. They stir a deep instinct, the deep-buried conviction of the truth of the psalm quoted by Lord Jesus : ” Ye are gods “. The special fascination of the spiritual teachings and teachers is partly due to their touching this deepest layer in man, and this is also the reason why re-reading the holy texts increases their significance and charm for us instead of exhausting it.
The bird on the branch is always free. It is Nityamukta, ever-free, as Shri Shankara says of all men. But till the other bird flies up, it will not think of flying, just as men will not think of Liberation till they hear of it (Shravana). After Shravana there is Manana (continuous pondering on the truth); this corresponds to the bird looking round and seeing there is no cage. In spite of its clear cognition that there is nothing imprisoning it, the bird still feels caged, and it has to repeat the action and go over the surroundings again and again. Nididhyasana corresponds to the actual attempts to take off into the air. Again and again the bird is poised for flight, is about to fly, but finds still a latent doubt, and is disturbed and relapses into its mere perching on the bough.
The bird may fly any moment. True, it will generally take time before he does so, but that time may be long or short. No one can say the bird cannot possibly fly in less than three weeks, or even that it cannot possibly fly till tomorrow. It may fly at the very next try. The only necessary condition to success is that it should continue to make attempts. So Shri Shankara says that meditation should not be imposed on the student as a kind of duty, because he may then simply do it mechanically without much hope of a result. But the teacher should in different ways show the pupil the advantages of freeing himself from his imaginary bondage, and rouse in him more and more strongly the sleeping instinct for infinity and bliss. Then the student repeats his meditations and mystic practices, not as steps in a long journey of which he cannot see the end, but each time as a direct attempt to realize his present immortality and infinity.
In a sense, after Shravana Liberation is only a question of time, but we can see that that time is not determined by anything without. Manana and Nididhyasana are not like filing through a chain or travelling across an endless desert or conquering a powerful enemy. If we have filed half through a chain in a month, then it will take us another month to cut it right through. If in a year we have travelled half way, then we can suppose it will take another to get right across a desert. If it has taken five years to destroy half the enemy’s forces, it will doubtless take another five years to conquer the rest. But in yoga the chain we are cutting is not in fact locked on to our foot at all, the
desert is already crossed, the enemy never existed. After Shravana the remaining steps are not steps at all; they do not get us to any place not already reached. Manana and Nididhyasana are only realizing the ever-attained. The yogi is expected to see more and more that the apparent sacrifices and sufferings of the path are unreal, are really only sacrifices of his sense of bondage. After the curtain comes down, the actor takes off his king’s crown, but does not feel he is sacrificing anything, because he knows it was nothing real; so too the prisoner who was executed in the play doesn’t feel that he was suffering and now it is ended. Both enjoyed the play for what it was, and were not held by it. But the small child who sees the play weeps for the prisoner and prays that it will end differently; he hates and fears the king, who perhaps haunts his dreams till he is older and learns to discriminate the real from the unreal. | https://tlayt.org/discipline-and-liberation/ |
Thursday 14th October is World Sight Day, a global event bringing awareness to vision impairment, blindness and eye health. For humans, sight can be the sense we most strongly rely on to the extent that we perhaps may not give enough attention to the joy our other senses can bring to us.
Blue-tit on flowering honeysuckle: Ray Kennedy (rspb-images.com)
When we talk about gardens and especially wildlife gardens, we focus very much on the look of the garden, how neat and tidy it is or scruffy it might look if we let areas grow "wild". We talk predominantly about colours, the visual look of textures and types of planting schemes and world sight day is actually a great time to consider the other senses we can engage with in a sensory garden. When you create a sensory garden, there are four other senses to consider:
SOUND: plants that make lovely rustling sounds include grasses, bamboo and honesty when the seed heads flutter in the breeze, and many trees have loose leaves that move quickly and make calming rustling sounds. Bird song really brings a garden to life and along with the bird feeders, there are many bird friendly plants to consider to attract them in. Water features also create relaxing sounds and may benefit wildlife as well if there is access for them to bathe or drink. Wind chimes can also add some additional sonic charm to an outside space.
SMELL: How often to you smell a plant in the garden centre before you buy it? I must admit, I rarely do this so am now going to perhaps let my nose make a few choices while I'm looking for something to fill a space. There are even shrubs and plants that smell fragrant through the winter.
TOUCH: Fluffy Pennisetum fountain grass heads feel soft to the touch, as do lambs ear plants with their super soft hairy leaves. Teasels are fascinating to squeeze, carefully! non-prickly hedging like yew can be a pleasure to run your hands over and many smaller trees have tactile bark.
TASTE: Well, there's an amazing array of fruiting trees and plants, vegetables and herbs to grow to harvest and eat from your garden and you might like to consider growing plants that feed the wildlife too like: shrubs with berries for birds,
Our gardens do very much engage all our senses when we are out there and it's relaxing and good for the mind to sometimes stop and consider the other four that can be overshadowed by sight. It's also worth remembering that so much of our garden nocturnal wildlife like hedgehogs and bats rely much more on their other senses like smell or hearing than their sight to navigate about.
So even though it's world sight day, it's a great time to appreciate all our senses, especially in the garden.
For more inspiration on wildlife gardening, the Flatford Wildlife Garden, is currently open every day until 2nd November from 10.30am – 4.30pm. Entrance to the garden is free and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Car parking is £5 at the Flatford National Trust car park and this gives you access to the stunning countryside walks around Flatford and Dedham Vale in Constable Country. | https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/flatford/b/flatford-blog/posts/ideas-for-creating-a-sensory-garden-on-world-sight-day-2021 |
A bird relies most on its vision to survive. A "bird's eye view" can be downright amazing because of the range and sharpness of birds' vision.
Birds also rely very heavily on their hearing – to communicate, hunt, and avoid predators. Highly developed hearing enables some bird parents and their young ones to locate each other, even in the midst of noisy, crowded colonies full of vocalizing feathered families.
The importance of the other senses varies from species to species.
A bird's sense of touch is concentrated in its un-feathered areas. For example, some birds have the sense of touch in their beaks as well as in their feet. A bird will feel heat, cold, and pain in its feet. But a bird has fewer nerve endings in its feet, so it will be less sensitive to less-than-perfect conditions such as ice.
Taste varies, too, but in general, taste is less well-developed in birds than it is in humans. A parrot has 300 to 400 taste buds, while humans have 9,000. Most birds can perceive sweet, sour, and bitter tastes. A bird that lives on nectar and fruit will prefer sweet tastes, but sweets don't appeal to grain-eaters. A bird that lives on carrion (road kill and other dead things) will enjoy flavors that humans don't even want to imagine. Some butterflies and plants have developed in ways that make them taste bitter to birds that would otherwise eat them. Taste can help a bird avoid eating substances that are toxic to them, such as salt.
For most birds, the sense of smell is their least important sense. Their olfactory lobes (smell-related parts of the brain) tend to be smaller than the brain areas they use for vision. Diurnal birds (birds that go out in the daytime) don't have much of a sense of smell.
But for some birds the ability to smell is of major importance to their survival.
The Turkey Vulture needs to have a highly developed sense of smell in order to locate food when flying over dense canopies of leaves. Their smelling ability is much better than the average bird. They catch the aroma of a dead, rotting carcass from the sky and know just where their next meal is coming from. | http://www.projectbeak.org/adaptations/senses.htm |
Belief in God and His perfection is a life-long issue that has many interdependent components, where the method of inference and proving of such issue is based on necessary mental foundations as well as existential and social principles.
Believers begin with the premise that everything related to existence and perfection of God cannot be proven through direct sensory perception, because no one in the world has ever seen God. Rather, believers prove God’s existence relying on proper reason, righteous instinct, and truthful reports that are told by the prophets, and which provide further details about the perfection, and glory of God.
Reliance on rational evidence and truthful reports to prove the details related to the divinity is not considered outside the sources of human knowledge. Rather, they are a continuation of the correct approach to knowledge. Man cannot perceive all things that exist through direct sense-based experience alone.
Man knows that existents are of two types: tangible existents, and intangible existents. The intangible things are called: the Occult sphere, which is divided into two parts: the first: An Occult that man cannot reveal through his mental faculties as there are no paths that can lead to it. If there are no trustworthy reports of it, then it is impossible to prove. Examples of this type include: Paradise and its joys, Hell and its torment, the day of Resurrection and so on. There is no way to know about these things without the true reports from messengers.
The second is the occult sphere that man can reveal through mental faculties; as it includes all the things that are absent from direct experience, but have effects in existence. So, reason proves their existence by their effect, and may thus recognize many of their details.
This methodology for acquiring knowledge is not specific to religious issues. Rather, it is general for all types of human knowledge in their lives.
To explain the importance of mental reasoning based on senses and its necessity in building human knowledge, professor A. Mendes says: “the facts of the universe that are perceived by senses, are very few. So how can we perceive the many other facts?.. There is a way, which is deduction or reasoning, each is an intellectual path. we take this path relying on known facts, until we end with a theory that something exist though we never saw it.”
In explanation of this methodology, Al-Ghazali mentions that existents “are divided into two categories; existents which can be recognized with the five senses such as, colors, shapes, and quantities, which are realized through sight, sounds through hearing, food through tasting, roughness and smoothness, tenderness and stiffness, cold and heat through touch.
The other existents can be realized through their effects, not the five senses. An example for this type of existents is the five senses themselves; as each of these senses is a faculty in itself, which can’t necessarily be realized by any of the five senses, nor even by imagination.
Other examples include man’s faculty, knowledge, free will, fear, shyness, adoration, anger, and many other attributes that are well known to us through a kind of inference not through any of the five senses.
According to the previously mentioned facts, existents in the world are divided into three types:
- First: Things that are realized through direct senses, they are called: the sensibles.
- Second: things that cannot be realized through direct senses, but through reason, and they are called: the reasonables.
- Third: things that cannot be realized neither through direct sense, nor through reason, as there is no way to know about them except through trustworthy reports, they are called: the testimonials.
Everything related to our knowledge of the divinity falls under the second and third types. From the foregoing, we find that: belief in the existence and perfection of God is based on evidentiary rational signs, which are proven relying on certain premises established by sense or other necessities. Believers in in the divine truth start from evidentiary knowledge, not from denied knowledge. Believers do not say: We did not find evidence that contradicts the existence of God, so we believed in Him! they do not say: atheists did not prove the invalidity of what we believe in, so we stick to it! nor do they rely on naught to prove their faith. Rather, their faith is based on evidentiary and existential evidence, regardless of opposing opinions.
This confirms that the evidence for the divine truth is not purely rational. Rather it is a composite evidence from senses, and reason. It is both a reasonable and a sensory-based evidence.
In this way, it is confirmed that belief in God -Almighty- is not an emotional and psychological issue, but a rational, inferable issue, based on reason and the necessary innate principles.
So, Belief in God -Almighty- is neither based on absolute rational reasoning solely, nor is it an opposition to it. Rather both are two inseparable realities.
Proper reason leads to the belief in the divine truth, and the belief in divine truth is based on rational evidence and intertwined with it. | https://almohaweron.com/en/the-possibility-of-mental-inference-on-the-existence-of-god/ |
Attending a deaf event was a unique and enriching experience for me. As someone who is hearing, I had limited exposure to the deaf community and their culture before attending the event. However, attending the event helped me gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the challenges and successes of the deaf community.
One of the most striking aspects of the event was the use of sign language. As a hearing person, I am used to relying on my sense of hearing to communicate and understand others. However, at the deaf event, I was forced to rely on my visual perception and body language to communicate and understand what was being said. This was a challenging but rewarding experience, as it forced me to be more mindful and present in my interactions with others.
Another memorable aspect of the event was the sense of community and belonging that was present. It was clear that the attendees were proud of their deaf identity and had formed close-knit relationships with one another. I was struck by the resilience and determination of the deaf community, who have had to navigate a world that is often not designed with their needs in mind. Despite these challenges, the deaf community has developed its own unique culture and way of life that celebrates their deafness.
Attending the deaf event also highlighted the importance of accessibility and inclusivity. Many of the attendees used assistive devices such as hearing aids or cochlear implants to communicate, and I was reminded of the importance of ensuring that these technologies are widely available and affordable. I also learned about the challenges that the deaf community faces in terms of accessing information and participating in mainstream society, and the importance of providing equal opportunities for all individuals regardless of their abilities.
Overall, attending the deaf event was a transformative experience for me. It challenged me to think about communication and accessibility in a new way, and helped me gain a greater appreciation for the deaf community and their culture. It has left a lasting impact on me, and I hope to continue learning and advocating for the deaf community in the future. | http://blog.sigma-systems.com/deaf-event-reflection-paper.html |
Your cat sleeps peacefully by the window, and then suddenly jumps up and starts to look at the ceiling, as if a bird had flown in the window? But no matter how hard you try, you don’t see anything that could be in the room !? Or your kitten suddenly lurks and looks at wall for a minute, as if his favorite episode from movie (“The Lion King”!). And again, no matter how you try to see something on the wall, you don’t find anything there: there is nothing there, which could attract his attention. A lot of people say that cats have a very subtle sense of smell that allows you to see im ghosts or spirits. But, before concluding that your favorite communicates with Casper, let’s look at how it works perception of cats and what they actually see.
How cats see the world
When your cat starts looking at something in such a way that it seems to you that she’s looking for something, in some cases that is exactly so. Perhaps she is trying to see the shadow, which flashed there a second ago, or a fly that had already flown away. But it should be noted that cats have exceptional night vision, and their ability to see during the day is much weaker than ours. In fact in fact, they see only in two basic colors – in blue and yellow, – while our vision allows us to see three colors. And all that located at a distance of five centimeters to eight meters in front them seems vague to them. However, in return for the ability to see third color, cats have the ability to see at night. Cats – predators by nature. Everything that falls into their field of vision, they see very clearly – this helps them focus on the goal – but everything else remains blurry. Therefore when these animals they hunt, they never rely solely on their sight. They also involve two other feelings, more pronounced compared to ours: hearing and sense of smell.
How cats hear the world
The way we perceive the environment is very different from how cats perceive it. Did you know that they are capable perceive a frequency four or even five times higher than that which we perceive? It can be argued that they are capable of pick up a series of ultrasonic waves that remain inaccessible for human hearing because of its high frequency. So when your cat begins to look around frantically in search of that which does not exist, perhaps she’s not trying to find something, but just trying to find a sound source. It could even be a sound a bat flying outside the window, or even an ultrasonic wave, which is used when flying planes. If your darling leads yourself this way mainly in the summer, then now you You will know what could be the reason for her behavior. Cats are capable hear a mouse that runs around the lawn at a distance of about 10 meters from them. And now we don’t mean the sound of mouse steps, running through the parquet. Imagine for a second the sound that can make a mouse at a distance of 10 meters from you, and then you can imagine how far beyond your auditory perception is your cat’s ability to capture frequency. It also explains why cats sometimes start peer closely into the wall, as if they saw a ghost there or spirit. Your pet may hear the squirrel walking on the roof. or how someone else’s cat walks by the window, or even how a neighbor plays on a musical instrument, being in your basement … you just Imagine what else they can hear with such a sensitive hearing! We still not completely convinced you? Then listen to this: in addition to sensitive listening perception, cat ears are also able to identify where exactly the sound comes from. People are able to determine the source of sound. accurate to 20 degrees, while cats define it with accurate to 5 degrees and know exactly where it is coming from comes out – and this is what we are simply not capable of. So, when your the pet begins to twist its head or move its ears (so if she saw a ghost), she just hears a sound coming from somewhere. This ability is inherent in cats due to their size and mobility. ears that work like locators, which, for example, used to eavesdrop on conversations from a distance in films about spies. Cats could be great spies, if only could talk. Imagine how much they could tell about your neighbors or even teenage kids! | https://alfa-cds.com/do-cats-see-ghosts-and-spirits.html |
From the column "Just Judy's Thoughts" in our sibling magazine Top Notch Toys. July 2017 Edition.
This, of course, was a fictional account. But would a dog actually be able to find the family she loves from such a distance? Did you know that the 1993 film “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” was based on a true story? Two dogs and a cat found their way home through 250 miles of Canadian wilderness! Over the years, from the sixties to the present day, I have been fascinated by accounts of dogs traveling very long distances through challenging conditions to reunite with their families and loved ones.
Pero, a four-year-old working sheepdog, traveled 240 miles in two weeks to return to his previous home in Wales. Bucky, a black Labrador, was placed with a family in Virginia. A few weeks later he was found just a few miles from his former home in South Carolina, a distance of some 500 miles. In both cases, microchips confirmed the
dogs’ identities.
Amazingly, the dog had been taken by car and returned on foot, so there were no sensory clues for him to utilize. He could not have followed his own scent trail.
So how does science explain how dogs seem to magically find their way back to their families over great distances? Do dogs have some kind of internal GPS system or an internal compass? There are some theories we can explore, though the answer remains
a mystery.
Some mammals rely on magnetic fields. The ears of most mammals and the beaks of some birds contain cells heavy in iron, That may cue them into a magnetic direction. Many animals navigate by orienting themselves along the north-south lines of the Earth’s magnetic fields.
Finally, we can move from science to psychic abilities. Dr. Joseph Rhine of Duke University has studied cases of Psi trailing in animals, and his studies have been documented in the Journal of Parapsychology. Psi trailing refers to cases in which all known sensory cues have been eliminated, and the animals are using psychic abilities, or what we may call a homing instinct, to locate their families. In a study in 1962, there were 54 documented cases (28 dogs, 22 cats and 4 birds) in which animals successfully used Psi trailing to find their way home from
long distances.
<p class="\"Editorial\"" style="\"color:" rgb(0,="" 0,="" 0);="" font-family:="" times;="" font-size:="" medium;\"="">It is too bad that Troubles, Bucky, Pero, Molly and Tony cannot speak and tell us how they made their incredible journeys. | https://www.showsightmagazine.com/article/lassie-came-home/43 |
The ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi (also written Lao Tzu) supposedly wrote that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. But as writer David Barrie shows with Incredible Journeys, before we can even take that step, every journey starts with navigation: where are you and where are you going? Animals of all stripes can make incredibly long journeys, usually without getting lost. This wonderful popular science book explores the remarkable diversity of strategies they employ to find their way.
American readers will notice that in their market this book has been published as Supernavigators: The Astounding New Science of How Animals Find Their Way. The bulk of the book is divided over 25 short, very readable chapters in two parts: non-map and map-based navigation, with a short third concluding part containing the last two chapters. Each chapter ends with a fascinating or peculiar case study, anecdote, or passage that could not be comfortably fitted in the main story. Barrie deftly moves between summarising findings from academic papers, introducing classic studies and pioneering scientists, and first-hand reporting when he joined researchers in the field.
Humans are visual creatures and Barrie describes how both humans in the past and indigenous people today still rely on the sun and stars for navigation. Landmarks are of course other common features to use, though few people can match the perceptiveness of Inuit navigating the barren snowy landscapes of the Arctic. More unusual cues are characteristic smells and sounds, or the presence of birds near land. Barrie also goes into some of the neurobiology of human navigation, looking at the role of the brain’s hippocampus. Many more details on human navigation can be found in Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World, published around the same time. And for those who want to try their hand at natural navigation, Tristan Gooley and others have turned this into a mini-genre, of which some examples listed below.
Navigating the world comes with its own terminology and some helpful illustrations show earth’s magnetic field, or how the sun’s path across the sky changes during the seasons. Surprisingly though, basic terms such as azimuth and latitude-longitude are not pictured. Determining longitude, i.e. east-west position, was long a problem, even after the invention of the first navigational aids such as compasses and maps. The story of how it was cracked is told in The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of the Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time and the author’s own Sextant: A Voyage Guided by the Stars and the Men Who Mapped the World’s Oceans.
“Barrie mines the primary literature for delightful examples [of navigation] to the point that if some of these do not leave you in awe, you need to check you still have a pulse.”
The human story is just a side-show, however, because where this book really shines is its coverage of animal navigation. Barrie mentions well-known examples, such as bees and their famous waggle dance (heavily borrowing from The Dancing Bees: Karl Von Frisch and the Discovery of the Honeybee Language), the ability of many insects to observe polarised light (we here meet the specialised area in insect eyes that Land also described in Eyes to See: The Astonishing Variety of Vision in Nature), or the migrations of the monarch butterfly (see also Chasing Monarchs: Migrating With the Butterflies of Passage). Many other mechanisms and behaviours will be unfamiliar even to most biologists and Barrie mines the primary literature for some delightful examples.
What to think of dung beetles navigating in straight lines by the faint light of the milky way? Or the ant’s in-built mental odometer which allows it to count steps (see my review of Desert Navigator: The Journey of an Ant), the importance of smell in fish, or spiny lobsters trudging along the sea bottom in a straight line for hundreds of kilometers? Then there is the contested but increasingly well-supported idea that pigeons might be using low-frequency sound (infrasound) generated by natural processes such as wind, waves, and earthquakes. And insects, such as the Australian Bogong moth or the silver ‘Y’ moth in Europe can migrate thousands of kilometres. In closing the book, Barrie remarks that during its writing, he was struck dumb time and again by the extraordinary skills animals show while navigating. His writing instills the same in the reader, to the point that if some of these examples do not leave you in awe, you need to check you still have a pulse.
“Magnetoreception remains a mysterious topic so far: clearly, animals can navigate using geomagnetism, but a well-defined sense organ is not obviously present.”
I have so far studiously avoided mentioning the two bigger topics that take up quite a bit of space in this book: bird navigation and the role of Earth’s magnetic field. Birds have been particularly well studied (see for example Long Hops: Making Sense of Bird Migration or the thorough The Avian Migrant: The Biology of Bird Migration, classics such as The Migration Ecology of Birds and Bird Migration: A General Survey, or the very recent A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration), and there are plenty of examples given here of the globe-spanning excursions that birds are so well-known for. Magnetoreception remains a mysterious topic so far: clearly, animals can navigate using geomagnetism, but a well-defined sense organ is not obviously present. Barrie shortly summarises the leading ideas and, as with the rest of the book, he does an admirable job distilling complex topics into clear and enthralling writing.
Animal migration is a massive topic and Barrie is upfront about only scratching the surface here. Students and practising scientists are well advised to check out textbooks such as Animal Migration: A Synthesis and Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move. On the other side of the spectrum, the illustrations here are lovely, but if you really want to marvel at what technology has revealed, check out Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics. But how does Barrie’s book compare to other popular science books? Notably, there is Gould & Gould’s Nature’s Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation, published in 2012. It covers many of the same topics, but the authors, being biologists, provide more technical detail, no doubt better suiting readers with a background in biology. Heinrich’s The Homing Instinct: Meaning & Mystery in Animal Migration is perhaps more comparable in level, but migration forms only part of his book, with “animals making a home” being the other topic covered. Incredible Journeys is thus perfect as an entry-level book for a general audience and, with its kaleidoscopic coverage of topics, is a spell-binding read.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a review copy of this book. The opinion expressed here is my own, however.
You can support this blog using below affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases:
Incredible Journeys / Supernavigators paperback, hardback, ebook, audiobook or audio CD
Other recommended books mentioned in this review:
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A small selection of DIY navigation books: | https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2019/06/14/book-review-incredible-journeys-exploring-the-wonders-of-animal-navigation/ |
Today we find ourselves stuck in the liminal space between our familiarity with “what was” and our uncertainty about “what might be.” We’re lost in a COVID-19-induced fog, many of us feeling exposed, paralyzed, and defenseless.
Worse, the longer we find ourselves stuck in this foggy “in between,” the more hopeless it feels. We’re caught between pining nostalgically for a past we know will never return and feeling overwhelmed with fear about an impending future that looks much bleaker than it does bright.
So how do we get unstuck?
How do we start to make sense of this seemingly intractable situation? How do we make our way through the COVID-19 fog to discover and get to the safe harbor of a better shared future? How do we navigate these uncharted seas with no lighthouse to guide us?
To answer these most existential of questions, we must look backward before we look forward. We must go back to a time in history when the world was rife with uncertainty—a time when Plato conjured up Dialogue to enable humanity to make sense of mystery.
A BLESSING AND A CURSE
Our unique blessing and curse as human beings is that we possess both consciousness and language.
The blessings of self-awareness and communication afford our species the opportunity to reflect upon the past, to project into the future, and to share these reflections and projections with others. Our ability to use these blessings to engage in Dialogue to make sense of the unfamiliar and uncertain is the reason we are still around and dinosaurs aren’t.
We are the only creatures on this planet with the ability to make collective sense of a newly surfaced mystery by sharing our reflections and projections about it with one another, allowing relevance and meaning to emerge from the flow of our dialectical interactions, and uncovering breakthrough insights that none of us could have conjured up individually. In short, none of us is as bright as all of us.
So what’s stopping us? This is where the curse of being human comes in.
If you have ever encountered a snake, you likely felt your body recoil instinctively before your brain even registered the presence of the serpent. In times of fear, our limbic brain takes control of our prefrontal cortex by robbing blood flow from it and redirecting it to our arms and legs in case we need to run away quickly or climb a tree.
When the limbic brain takes over, we operate on biological instinct, not cognitive insight. When confronted with our deepest fears, we humans can conjure up cataclysmic future images in our mind’s eye. In so doing, we literally scare ourselves to a point where we unconsciously fire up our limbic system, mindlessly retreating to invoke responses that worked in the past to address our current existential threat.
DON’T LET FEAR WIN
Today, unfortunately, the evidence suggests that fear is winning out. A scan of the global media landscape reveals a rising cacophony of adversarial debate—not constructive dialogue—with different factions arguing vehemently and sometimes violently for their age-old responses, positions, or solutions.
In 1933, when the Great Depression was at its deepest, darkest point, President Roosevelt was prescient in his observation: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Do we each have the gumption within us to rise above our own fears and override our biological instinct?
Novel situations require novel breakthroughs. Are we willing to purposefully seek out constructive dialogue to illuminate a progression path forward?
Becoming collectively unstuck from this liminal space requires that each of us face up to our worst fears, let go of our limiting preconceptions, open our hearts and minds, and embrace our diversity of perspective by engaging in meaningful dialogue to make sense of this mysterious COVID-19 circumstance. Let’s get the sense-making started!
Tony O’Driscoll is a professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a research fellow at Duke Corporate Education. He studies how organizations build the leadership system capabilities required to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex world. | https://trainingmag.com/making-sense-of-our-shared-covid-circumstance/ |
It is important to recognize that all animals have both learned and instinctive behaviors, and that a single behavior pattern can include both instinctive and learned elements. For example, biologists have raised young song sparrows in the absence of any adult birds, so that there was no song for the young birds to imitate. These isolated birds sang a series of notes similar to the normal song of the species, but not exactly correct. Birds from the same nest that were raised with their parents developed a song nearly identical to that of their parents. If birdsongs were totally instinctive, there would be no difference between these two groups. It appears that all these birds inherited the ability to produce appropriate notes but the refinements of the song’s melody came from experience. Therefore, the characteristic song of that species is partly learned behavior (a change in behavior as a result of experience) and partly unlearned (instinctive). This is probably true of the behavior of many organisms; they show complex behaviors that are a combination of instinct and learning. It is important to note that many kinds of birds learn most of their songs with very few innate components. Mockingbirds are very good at imitating the songs of a wide variety of bird species in their region. They even imitate the sounds made by inanimate objects, such as the screeching of a rusty hinge.
This mixture of learned and instinctive behavior is not the same for all species. Many invertebrate animals rely on instinct for most of their behavior patterns, whereas many of the vertebrates (particularly birds and mammals) make use of a great deal of learning (figure 18.10).
FIGURE 18.10. The Distribution of Learned and Instinctive Behaviors
Different groups of animals show different proportions of instinctive and learned behaviors in their behavior patterns.
When a behavior pattern has both instinctive and learned components, typically the learned components have particular value for the animal’s survival. For example, most of a honeybee’s behavior is instinctive; however, when it finds a new food source, it can remember the route between the hive and the food source. A bird’s style of nest is instinctive, but the skill with which it builds may improve with experience. Birds’ food-searching behavior is probably instinctive, but the ability to modify the behavior to exploit unusual food sources, such as bird feeders, is learned. On the other hand, honeybees cannot be taught to make products other than honey and beeswax, a robin will not build a nest in a birdhouse, and most insect-eating birds will not learn to visit bird feeders.
18.5. CONCEPT REVIEW
15. Which one of the following animals—goose, shark, or grasshopper—is likely to have the highest proportion of learning in its behavior? List two reasons for your answer. | http://schoolbag.info/biology/concepts/122.html |
The scenic walkways and beaches of the Avon-Heathcote Ihutai Estuary are popular with Christchurch dog-walkers, as are the wetlands which dot the city.
But as spring turns to summer dog owners may not be aware that hundreds of birds are nesting and raising chicks in those very places.
That's why it’s important that dog owners use a lead - to protect the future of our wildlife, says Christchurch City Council Ornithologist Andrew Crossland.
“Spring and early summer is the peak breeding time for birds and because most of them nest on the ground or in low vegetation they’re very vulnerable to losing their eggs and their chicks being eaten.
“If a bird is disturbed by a person or animal it gets off the nest and moves away. If it’s off the nest for more than ten minutes on a hot, sunny day the eggs will cook – and they’ll die,” Mr Crossland says.
“Mum and dad bird come back to the nest and don’t realise. The eggs are still intact but they’re dead. As a consequence they waste an entire breeding season sitting on rotten eggs.
“It’s a vicious cycle. When the bird sees the dog, its instinct is to fly away. When the dog sees the bird flying, its instinct is to chase. As well as the chase instinct, the dog's incredible sense of smell enables them to follow a trail right to where the birds are nesting. ”
More than 100 bird species are found around Christchurch and up to one third of those are endangered and at risk.
Dog owners can help enormously by planning ahead, taking the lead and making sure they respect any restrictions in place.
As Animal Services Manager Lionel Bridger says, it’s about learning to share the outdoor spaces we all love.
“Dog owners are kaitiaki to all living things. Plan ahead, so you can give your dog a great walk while also protecting our nesting birds and biodiversity.
“Explore different spaces at different times of the year and please report wildlife in distress if you see it.”
Find out where you and your dog can exercise off-leash together in a dog friendly environment. | https://www.newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/show-wildlife-you-care-by-using-a-lead |
We can see clearly now the fog is gone!
The MICS Team leaving the dock in the fog
Sure, finding whales in the fog is a nice and unique sensory experience, where you rely more on your sense of hearing that you do on your sense of sight, but it is not as conducive to finding animals.
The MICS boats all leaving the dock and making their way in the fog
The warm front that brought high temperatures to the North Shore also clashed with the cold waters of the St. Lawrence, condensing into a thick fog that stayed with us for two weeks. Luckily, the weather has changed and the winds shifted, and we are back on our usual survey efforts.
Visibility was not as clear as we can sometimes have it, but it has allowed us to spot whales and resume our usual photo-identification efforts.
Having not found many whales in the eastern part of the Jacques Cartier Passage, we decided to survey the western part by leaving from Rivière-au-Tonnerre (“BBR”). We found minke whales, fin whales and plenty of humpback whales, including: H742-“Chalk", H129-“Whip”, H870, H733-“Casper”, H009-“Fleuret”, H485-“T-Main”, H686, H861, H729, H707-“Calanus”, H698-“Fourmilier”, H838, H590-“Piranha” and H531-LaSouffleuse! So we have a few old-timers and a few irregular individuals.
Our team was treated to a particularly exuberant surface display by H742 “Chalk”, who breached multiple times, spy-hopped and flipper-slapped. And H733-“Casper” lob-tailed and tail-slapped!
H742 "Chalk" breaching in front of the boat
H733 "Casper" lob-tailing and tail-slapping in front of the boat
H742 "Chalk" flipper-slapping
H733 "Casper" lob-tailing and tail-slapping.
Now that we have better visibility, we will be resuming our aerial data collection as part of our drone project. | https://www.rorqual.com/english/news/news-archive/2018/we-can-see-clearly-now-the-fog-is-gone |
Olafur Eliasson’s “In real life”, which is on until 5th January 2020, is a truly must-see exhibition at the Tate Modern. All forty of this Danish-Islandic artist’s installations push you into thinking beyond what appears before your eyes, challenging your senses and your perspective of the world outside the gallery walls. Room after room, the sculptures are enthralling, and paintings and photographs defy categorisation. Each room comes as a surprise.
The most thrilling installation is a 39-metre tunnel, pumped full of thick ‘pea soup’ fog, which confuses and amuses in equal measure. It is impossible to see more than one metre in any direction, and people appear and disappear surreally in the ether. Entitled ‘Din Blinde Passager’ (Your Blind Passenger), it is both disconcerting and exciting. The colour of the fog gradually transforms from orange, yellow, blue, purple and finally to white, further challenging your senses. Adding to this assault on one’s sense of sight, one’s sense of taste is also confronted: the fog tastes of candyfloss. Nothing is as it should be: the fog envelops people unnervingly. Nature controls humans – it’s the fog that seems to be playing with us. Unsurprisingly, Eliasson has a keen interest in natural phenomena, hence his thought-provoking incorporation of mist and light in this work.
The use of light and shadow is also explored with ‘Your uncertain shadow’. Here, brightly shining lamps cast shadows in four vibrant colours, getting smaller the closer you are to the projecting wall. The different perspectives and the playful element in this piece is particularly entertaining for the younger visitors, who delight in chasing their own shadows. In another room there are several kaleidoscopes, including one which is big enough to be walked through. It feels as though you are part of an experiment. Eliasson’s hope is to provoke visitors into recognising that there is more to these instruments of light than being mere playthings. The reflections, refractions and somewhat bewildering use of space in fact seem to unite the inside of the exhibition with the bustling outside world.
At the heart of “In real life” is Eliasson’s focus on the environment and the pressing issue of global warming. The array of Scandinavian photographs entitled ‘The glacier series’ displays the melting of glaciers over time, allowing us to reflect on our role in its destruction. It offers a clear yet shocking presentation of the reality of the Arctic ice melting. In the final room, the evidence of our destructive impact on the natural world crescendos. Along one wall, a pin board is covered by news articles and images on this topic. Several films in this room also discuss the exhibition as a whole and tackle the relationship between such artwork and science in an interactive manner. Eliasson does not refrain from making hard-hitting points about the environment. This exhibition educates as well as entertains.
There is a vast array of material on view, and at times the layout is unclear and confusing. It is too easy to miss some of the highlights, like the fog tunnel, due to the higgledy-piggledy arrangement of the exhibition. Perhaps, however, this is part of the fun: we need to navigate the physical reality, as well as the ideas, for ourselves.
If you only visit one gallery this year, make it this one. It is thought-provoking, fun, surprising and serious all at the same time. Eliasson’s originality ensures there is something to capture all imaginations. | https://cherwell.org/2019/07/31/olafur-eliasson-in-real-life/ |
Seeking a path through the maze reveals its very nature. The apparent right way leads one astray, and a wrong turn offers an escape. Strange paths appear familiar and those already travelled seem strange; we move in circles, change course at dead ends, and perhaps encounter the Minotaur. The maze becomes a metaphor for confronting a challenging situation, not least for our passage through life, something we face solely by ourselves.
Another element within the installation is wind. Ever-present on Fogo Island, wind evokes a sense of endless space, the source from which it derives and returns. The sensation of wind relates to the feeling of gazing into a starry night sky, perceiving a void that makes one seem inconsequential. Like Caspar David Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea (c. 1809), where the figure seems to merge and dissolve into his surroundings, there is a sense of powerlessness before the absolute.
Alone in the maze and buffeted by the wind, we forge a path in which to lose ourselves and find everything.
Based in Vienna, Leander Schönweger constructs scenarios that tell no story, but create atmospheres with their own open, dreamlike logic. His installations seek to address the symbolic meanings of objects and situations on an individual subconscious level. At once familiar and foreign, his works evoke a sense of alienation as much as déjà-vu, triggering associations based on a viewer’s personal memories and the larger cultural matrix. Schönweger studied sculpture and multimedia at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Kunsthøgskolen, Bergen. Recent exhibitions include Parallel Vienna, Alte Post, Dominikanerbastei, Vienna (2015); Psychogramm, Zur Alten Traube, St. Ulrich (2015); Destination Wien (2015) and The Fog Disperses(2014), Kunsthalle Wien. He is the recipient of the Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2014. | https://nicolausschafhausen.com/leander-schoenweger-mirror/ |
Dr. Darrel Covman of the Institute of Island Biodiversity in the Asia Pacific recently agreed to be interviewed by Island Biodiversity Now! concerning approximately 350 new tropical species that have been found on the remote island, Pulau Pejantan, off the Pacific Ocean near Indonesia during the three ICZ expeditions that took place between 2005 and 2009.
Dr. Darrel took part in all three ICZ expeditions to Pulau Pejantan and will be in charge of the access to biodiversity data that has been taken from all three expeditions. He is the Project Manager of SCPR-IarBIS (Scientific Committee on Pacific Research Island Biodiversity Information Systems)
Sampling, Tomo and Dr. Wang Le, 2009
Day 12, Sand Sampling
Is there anything particularly special about the discovery of 350 or so new species on Pulau Pejantan?
The most important finding is the very high and rare level of biodiversity we've discovered. That's the main message from the paper. All of the taxonomical groups we worked on, we've found large numbers of species totally new to zoology. For some species, we've even discovered some new families. Each taxonomical category displayed a variable, but always significant, proportion of new species. For example, if you consider only the vertebrates we sampled, almost 50 species are new to zoology.
You had previously believed that the small islands of the Pacific had been similar in biodiversity in its region, until the findings of the ICZ expedition. Why?
I guess it's mainly because the regions we were looking at had been drastically under-sampled. Until the ICZ expedition, there had never been any major sampling efforts in the region, apart from occasional Russian expeditions. The ICZ expeditions have brought entirely new insight regarding this issue, because results have show that the actual picture is contrary to what is traditionally believed regarding the relationship between biodiversity and islands. People usually think that if you visit a few islands near each other at the same region, a repetition of biodiversity will be evident. This is actually not the case. Even if the unique biodiversity near Pulau Pejantan is lower compared to herself, there is a considerable level of diversity, especially if you take the sampling efforts of the ICZ expeditions into account, which is small compared to expeditions which have focused on the islands assemblages in Indonesia.
As Pulau Pejantan is a place of island formation in the earth's system of oceanic currents, were you able to glean any information regarding the evolutionary processes of the species inhabiting this island and how these species are related to other species living in other regions of the earth's oceans?
This is a very complex topic. We can't get a simple picture of the evolution of these animals, and a simple explanation won't fit all groups of organisms living on Pulau Pejantan. There are insects which live directly off the Black Geyser’s gushing mineral deposits and species of birds that rely heavily on the morning fog to hunt. We found that some communities, for example, have a composition similar to other island communities, while we would find the opposite in other groups. This suggests the origin of the species we sampled during the expeditions is a complex combination between the islands and the Pacific continental shelf. But it's a very complex picture we're getting, actually, and this paper is just an insight. The geographical make up of the island, one that is surrounded by dune with a semi-tropical forest in the west is something new to science as well.
How has the speciation process on Pulau Pejantan differed from comparable regions?
Pulau Pejantan is unique in being a stable system regarding the environmental conditions the fauna lives in. There is a thick fog that covers the island from morning to late afternoon and underneath the dunes are black clay and mud, which explains why the geyser is black. The organisms living there are highly adapted to living in these conditions. It is clear that these organisms have their origins on warmer regions, but they have been challenged by strong environmental stresses such as the morning fogs and sand dunes. This means that these organisms have evolved solely on the island, so only species that are able to cope with great temperature and environmental variation would be able to survive. This is a very important driver for the Pejantan species, and was actually corroborated by ICZ’s data. Another characteristic of Pulau Pejantan is the fact that the dunes surrounding its semi-tropical forest is much cooler than the beaches on other islands, allowing easier animal movement between the dunes and the forest. A few species have adapted to life in the dunes and the forest. These are two examples of the main speciation drivers in this region.
Dark Doves, Bird Monitoring Station 26, 2009
Day 52, Pagai Dune Area
How does the island ecosystem on Pulau Pejantan compare with other island ecosystems elsewhere in the world?
Scientific interest in island ecosystems has only really started in the last three decades. Little is known about the dunes, forest and geyser of Pulau Pejantan. This ecosystem is relatively new compared to other island ecosystems elsewhere on the planet. For example, the geyser of Pulau Pejantan was formed during the opening of the Melanja Passage and tectonic movements in the Pacific Ocean. It seems that the geyser, morning fog and dunes has determined very much of the ecosystem of the island.
We were doing a research on the birds on the island, and it was just impossible to collect a specimen. Somehow, they could sense the presence of the mist nets in the fog. Bird feeders at ground level did not work as well because the birds simply could not detect it in the mist, or maybe they were not used to it. It was during the last expedition that we managed to study the birds up close, by erecting a bird feeder station of about 50 meters into the sky above the fog. We gathered that the birds on Pulau Pejantan feed high above the fog in the morning and must have evolved some form of eco-location to find their way in the mist, therefore escaping our mist nets.
Have there been any other research expeditions taking samples of other areas in Indonesia?
To my knowledge, there are a few long-term projects focusing on sites in Indonesia’s Islands and moving into process-orientated investigations. There is a dedicated initiative under the Census of Island Life (CIL) and the Census of the Diversity of Tropical Life (CEDTF) which specifically addresses the issues of island biodiversity, and similar work is going on in other islands around the world, at even more remote islands. | https://www.criticalzoologists.org/projects/pulau_pejantan/pulau_pejantan_interview.html |
Enniberg is located at the north end of Viðoy. It is a 750 m vertical bird cliff, one of the highest cliffs of its kind in the world. Enniberg offers magnificent unspoiled nature and a fantastic bird life. On this trip you will get close to puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and other birds that live on the steep cliff walls. You may also see a seal relaxing on a rock along the shore.
Hiking to Enniberg, is a challenging hike. The duration is approximately 6-7 hours.
We discourage tourists from going on this hike without a guide, because it can be dangerous. The landscape is very steep, the path is difficult and the fog can appear very suddenly.
These guided tours usually include a packed lunch.
You can also visit Enniberg by boat, which is a totaly different experience than hiking.
With fast-sailing RIB-boats, you are taken to this fantastic adventure. There are many sea caves that the boat is sailing through. You also see sea stacks. It’s not uncommon to see seals and small whales.
Appetizer showing what you can expect to see on this tour. | http://visitnordoy.fo/frontpage/see-do-2/activities/tours/enniberg/ |
Fog may create a moody, ethereal setting for a landscape painter, but it creates dangerous conditions for drivers.
Between 2002 and 2012, there were over 31,300 fog-related crashes and more than 500 fatalities each year in the U.S., according to the Federal Highway Administration.
That sobering statistic is why fleet managers should remind drivers about how to drive safely in dense fog. Fog can come on suddenly – and it can reduce a driver’s visibility to one-quarter of a mile or less.
Slow down – With reduced visibility it is imperative to allow yourself increased reaction time.
Keep a safe following distance – While it may be tempting to stay close to the vehicle ahead so you can see, it’s actually more dangerous.
Manually turn on your headlights – Fog can trick a car with automatic headlights, keeping them off. So make sure to manually turn on lights.
Use low beam headlamps – High beams can cause light to reflect back off water droplets in the air, which further obscures your view.
Always use wipers and defrosters – When driving in fog, windshield wipers and defrosters help you see better and reduce glare from oncoming cars.
Roll down the windows – Since your vision is impaired, it’s smart to rely more on your hearing while driving. If you hear anything odd like squeaking or crunching, safely brake and pull over to the side of the road.
Rely on the right side line – With decreased visibility, it is a good practice to use the white line on the right side of the road as your guide. This is safer than using the center line which brings you closer to the traffic.
Know when to pull over – If the fog is so thick you can cut it with a knife and you can’t see at all, it is wise to pull over and turn on your hazard lights. | https://www.agcvt.org/how-to-drive-safely-in-dense-fog/ |
WASHINGTON -- Democratic senators said Wednesday that they will introduce bills requiring electronic-voting machines to produce a "paper trail" of results.
As evidence of the need for such a trail, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and others cited the controversy over a House election in Sarasota County last November in which more than 18,000 electronic ballots showed no choice of candidate.
Democratic candidate Christine Jennings, who lost the race by 369 votes and is challenging the outcome, attended Wednesday's Senate Rules Committee hearing but did not testify. Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican, has been seated in the House while Jennings' challenge continues.
Nelson told the committee his bill to require a paper trail, which is still being drafted, could use whatever money remains from a $3.8 billion authorization five years ago to help states improve their voting systems.
Last week, Florida's governor proposed a $32.5 million plan to provide optical-scan voting machines in the 15 counties that now rely on paperless electronic machines.
"I want to give kudos to Governor Charlie Crist," Nelson said. "He knows how the confidence of people in Florida is being completely undermined now that we've gone through this on two separate elections," he said, referring to problems with electronic machines in 2004 and 2006.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the panel's chair, said she shares the concern about solely electronic systems and plans her own bill requiring a physical record of votes.
She said it would be similar to a bill introduced in the House this week by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., that authorizes $300 million in federal funds to help states implement paper trails.
Holt's bill also would require random audits of the paper ballots and allow for the inspection of voting-system software, which is now protected as proprietary commercial information. Nelson's bill also would allow for software inspection.
One dissenting voice at the hearing was that of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who noted that witnesses at the hearing who have actually managed elections, not just studied them, testified that a paper trail is not needed.
Saying that "we should not focus solely on the technology," Bennett said poorly designed ballots can be responsible for confusing voters using touch-screens. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2007-02-08-flvote08-story.html |
There is a need for alternative treatment options for tremor patients who do not respond well to medications or surgery, either due to side effects or poor efficacy, or that are excluded from surgery. The study aims to evaluate feasibility of a voluntary-driven, speed-controlled tremor rejection approach with individuals with pathological tremor. The suppression approach was investigated using a robotic orthosis for suppression of elbow tremor. Importantly, the study emphasizes the performance in relation to the voluntary motion.
Nine participants with either Essential Tremor (ET) or Parkinson’s disease (PD) were recruited and tested off medication. The participants performed computerized pursuit tracking tasks following a sinusoid and a random target, both with and without the suppressive orthosis. The impact of the Tremor Suppression Orthosis (TSO) at the tremor and voluntary frequencies was determined by the relative power change calculated from the Power Spectral Density (PSD). Voluntary motion was, in addition, assessed by position and velocity tracking errors.
The suppressive orthosis resulted in a 94.4% mean power reduction of the tremor (p < 0.001) – a substantial improvement over reports in the literature. As for the impact to the voluntary motion, paired difference tests revealed no statistical effect of the TSO on the relative power change (p = 0.346) and velocity tracking error (p = 0.283). A marginal effect was observed for the position tracking error (p = 0.05). The interaction torque with the robotic orthosis was small (0.62 Nm) when compared to the maximum voluntary torque that can be exerted by adult individuals at the elbow joint.
Two key contributions of this work are first, a recently proposed approach is evaluated with individuals with tremor demonstrating high levels of tremor suppression; second, the impact of the approach to the voluntary motion is analyzed comprehensively, showing limited inhibition. This study also seeks to address a gap in studies with individuals with tremor where the impact of engineering solutions on voluntary motion is unreported. This study demonstrates feasibility of the wearable technology as an effective treatment that removes tremor with limited impediment to intentional motion. The goal for such wearable technology is to help individuals with pathological tremor regain independence in activities affected by the tremor condition. Further investigations are needed to validate the technology.
Over ten subtypes of disorders associated with pathological tremor have been identified by the medical community of which Essential Tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) are considered the most pervasive. Overall pathological tremor prevalence ranges from 2% to well over 10% in the elderly (65 years or older) [2–4]. A large percentage, some estimates are as high as 60%, of those affected by tremor experience disability in their activities of daily living [5, 6], and more than a quarter struggle to find relief through conventional treatments . Treatment with pharmacotherapy can be challenging as individual responses vary widely; a typical scenario is that a given medication is partially efficacious at low dosages, but increasing dosage results in a trade-off between efficacy and associated side effects . When medications are effective, the expected tremor reduction is around 50–60% [6, 9]. Individuals with a disabling or medication refractory tremor, may have the option for one of several surgical procedures in the form of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), lesioning techniques such as γ knife radiosurgery (invasive), and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (non-invasive) [9, 10]. In practice, less than 2% of PD patients are targeted for treatment with DBS , with about 40,000 PD and ET patients undergoing DBS worldwide by 2013 . A small but considerable proportion of individuals undergoing DBS experience side effects or complications. About 70–90% of DBS patients experience reduction of tremor that can range from 60 to 90% [8, 13]. Focused ultrasound offers a non-invasive thalamotomy procedure that has been demonstrated to reduce tremor . Risks for surgical procedures include intracerebral hemorrhage and other potential neurologic impairments .
There is, therefore, a persuasive case for alternative therapies for individuals with pathological tremor who respond poorly to medications and DBS or for whom surgery is not an option. Perhaps one of the strongest arguments for robotic devices for treatment of tremor is that such devices could successfully treat tremors arising from different biological etiologies (e.g. resting, postural and kinetic) with possible minor tremor-specific optimizations.
A number of systems designed for the suppression of upper limb tremor employed suppressive technologies such as viscous and magnetic fluids, magnetic particle brakes, pneumatic actuators and DC motors [16–26] while others employed Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) [4, 27–35]. Of the above systems, several were demonstrated with individuals with tremor [17–20, 27–32] resulting in ~ 20–88% tremor attenuation levels, although attenuation levels were not computed consistently across the studies and should therefore be considered cautiously. The remaining systems focused on design or experimental testing whereby the human motion (tremor and voluntary) was simulated physically or in software [4, 16, 22–26, 33–35]. Limitations of non FES technologies tend to be related to size and weight whereas the main limitations associated with FES are muscle fatigue, stimulation discomfort and difficulty in accessing specific muscles through surface electrodes. All technologies may require some amount of customized tuning per individual’s physiology, however, potentially more so with FES.
Common tremor suppression methods involve estimating the tremor and applying an opposite canceling signal, for example in the form of velocity or force exerted by an actuator. In the case of FES an out of phase stimulation may be applied to, say, the flexor muscle concurrent with its antagonist tremor burst. Alternatively, some approaches modulate the impedance of the human-machine system [20, 24, 29]. In the case of FES this may involve stimulation of both flexor and extensor simultaneously in order to increase the stiffness and viscosity of the limb. Another recent approach for FES involves stimulating below the motor threshold to mitigate the issue of fatigue [4, 28]. The results provide some evidence of residual suppression even after stimulation has stopped, however, with larger variability in performance and lower tremor attenuation.
When mechanically suppressing tremor, there is a risk of preventing the individual with tremor from performing volitional movements. Notably, the potential negative effects on the volitional movement are seldom addressed in the literature. Rocon et al. employed a feedback loop aimed at reducing the forces resisting the voluntary movement , however, with reported results focusing on the tremor motion. A study by Taheri et al. reported the actuator resistive forces to the voluntary motions in a tremor simulation system . One study involving a single individual exhibiting intention tremor, due to MS, was identified that reported the impact of FES suppression on the voluntary motion in a step-target tracking task . No other studies with individuals with tremor were identified that quantitively assess the impact on the volitional motion using an engineering solution.
Different from conventional suppression techniques, the orthosis employed in this work tracks the voluntary motion, estimated from a force signal , while the tremor signal is seen as interference to the volitional motion and is consequently rejected by the controller.
The aim of this work is to show viability of the suppression approach, using an elbow orthosis prototype , tested with individuals with pathological tremor. The above aim can be explored as two separate questions. First, is the approach effective in suppressing the involuntary motion, and second, is the interference to the voluntary motion quantifiably limited. The application of the suppression approach with an orthosis can provide an important therapeutic alternative for individuals with tremor, with potential to improve independence and quality of life.
Nine participants were recruited to evaluate the tremor suppression orthosis. Individuals who have been diagnosed with mild to severe tremor were considered for the study. The following conditions were excluded: previous surgical operation or injuries to the arm, non-tremor related arm disability, and previous surgical intervention to treat tremor or a neurologic condition other than pathological tremor that affects the arms. Participants were recruited through the International Essential Tremor Foundation and the Movement Disorder Clinic, University of British Columbia Hospital. Participants were invited for up to two sessions. Each session lasted approximately 2 h. Additionally, participants were asked to abstain from taking medications 12 h prior to the study and advised to refrain from drinking alcohol 24 h before the study. A tremor severity assessment was carried out at the end of each study session using the performance section of The Essential Tremor Rating Assessment Scale (TETRAS) [38, 39]. The participants’ details are provided in Table 1.
In the voluntary-driven suppression approach, the users’ voluntary torque was used to guide the orthosis such that it tracked the voluntary motion with little resistance and thus perceived as quasi-transparent by the user, while the tremor component was considered a disturbance and was rejected. It should be noted that a fully transparent device, in the context of human-robot interaction, is one that induces no forces on the user . The implementation was as follows: the forces between the user and the mechanical suppression system were recorded with a force transducer. The forces were then filtered to isolate the voluntary component, which was then converted to a velocity signal, representing the voluntary motion, and passed to the outer loop admittance controller. A closed loop internal velocity controller guaranteed the tracking of the aforementioned velocity while rejecting the tremor, considered a disturbance. The admittance and speed controllers adopted a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and Proportional-Integral structures, respectively. The suggested suppression approach and control strategy have been recently demonstrated using a preliminary engineered system . Subsequently, an elbow Tremor Suppression Orthosis (TSO) prototype was developed and experimentally tested with the suppression approach while the human input was robotically simulated. The previously developed TSO is employed in this study with individuals with tremor to show feasibility of the suppression approach. Modifications to the suppression approach controller relative to previous work, are reviewed in section Updates to control system.
The TSO (Fig. 1a) is actuated with a brushless DC motor, connected to a commercial spur gearbox (26:1) in combination with a custom gear reduction (120:72), is embedded with a torque sensor and an encoder and weighs 1700 g. A shoulder sling was used (AliMed® Hemi Shoulder Sling) to help keep the TSO in place during the study and distribute its weight. Additionally, a Measurement Orthosis (MO) was developed in order to measure the free, unobstructed motion (containing the tremor) exhibited by the study participants. Attempting to measure the free motion with the TSO, would result in significant impedance due to the motor, gears and added mass. The MO, weighing 300 g, was composed of a lightweight brace and an encoder (Fig. 1b). Both orthoses are predominantly 3D fabricated with a thermoplastic polymer (ABS), and connect with straps at the upper arm brace and forearm brace. Aluminum bars are used for the TSO forearm link and the MO upper arm link. The weight of the MO forearm brace including padding was 42.5 g, similar to that of a wrist watch. Control and measurement of the devices was implemented in NI LabVIEW 2014.
where vm, vn and V are the measured velocity, the normalized velocity and the full scale velocity parameter, selected as 2 rad/s. The resultant expression in (1) is Icf = 8/(5(|vm| − 2)2 + 8). The controller integral gain was then scaled by Icf. The integral correction factor values ranged approximately between 0.28 ≤ Icf ≤ 1. At high velocities, the integral gain remained unchanged (Icf = 1), while for slow velocities it was reduced, resulting in a more damp response. It should be noted, the concept of the integral correction factor is similar to that of gain scheduling. Third, the state feedback used in was omitted from the controller to reduce tuning complexity. Furthermore, its contribution to the system performance was considered limited. Lastly, the software sampling rate was increased to 100 Hz.
The experimental protocol involved pursuit tracking tasks where the participants viewed a target moving on a computer screen (outlined circle in Fig. 1c) and were asked to follow the target cursor, i.e. match its current position and velocity, by flexing and extending their elbow. The participants’ elbow joint movement was translated to a cursor movement on the screen (filled orange circle in Fig. 1c). Since only the elbow joint movements were measured and suppressed, subjects were instructed to try and relax adjacent shoulder and hand joints, keeping their upper arm alongside their body as demonstrated in Fig. 1c, while performing flexion and extension movements of the elbow. Protocol tasks were repeated with both the MO and the TSO. One of two scaling factors (0.218 or 0.246 cm/deg) was used to match the elbow cursor with the target cursor motion range, depending on the individual’s Range Of Motion (ROM). Participants’ ROM was assessed with the MO by reading the encoder output angle while participants were asked to flex and extend their forearm through the full range. Two types of target profiles were used, namely a sinusoid and a pseudo-random ramp shape profile, each implemented with slow and fast velocities. The sinusoid target profiles were defined as 75.4 sin(0.6πt) deg./s for the slow case, and 125.5 sin(πt) deg./s for the fast case. The above resulted in an elbow ROM of about 100 deg. The pseudo-random target profiles were defined by successive random position targets between 0 and 100 deg., to which a ramp shape velocity profile was fitted. The ramp profile top velocities were 22.2 and 50 deg./s for the slow and fast cases, respectively, while the acceleration/deceleration were set to 27.75 and 83.3 deg./s2 for the slow and fast cases, respectively. The continuous target position associated with the random target velocity ramp profile followed a parabolic shape. All the above target profile parameters are for the larger scaling factor (0.246 cm/deg).
Pursuit tracking tasks have the added value of providing the desired movement (the target) relative to which the participants’ actual motion can be analysed. A summary of the experimental protocol and tasks sequence is available in Table 2. Identical tasks and target profiles were used for all participants. Up to two training repetitions were offered for each motion profile with either device. However, study participants had no prior exposure to the pseudo-random profiles used. All participants, except T08, were tested on their more severe side. The adaptation of the TSO to either the left or right arm is straightforward and was done ahead of the testing session.
Sinusoid velocity: Avsin(2πft), where Av=75.4 deg./s and f=0.3 Hz for slow case and Av=125.5 deg./s and f=0.5 Hz for fast case.
Velocity profile was ramp shaped resulting in a parabolic position profile.
Ramp top velocity: 22.2 and 50 deg./s for slow and fast cases.
Ramp acceleration/ deceleration: 27.75 and 83.3 deg./s2 for slow and fast cases.
The MO was donned and the protocol tasks executed (see Table 2).
The 1st harmonic tremor frequency was extracted from the MO tasks data. The extraction calculation is explained in section Spectral analysis.
The calculated 1st harmonic frequency was fed to the ABPF algorithm as fmod.
The TSO was donned and the protocol tasks from Table 2 were executed again.
The MO was incorporated in the protocol in order to record the free motion and serve as a reference for the TSO. The performance of the TSO was always compared to the MO in both the spectral and time domains. Since the MO measured the free tremor, it was also useful in identifying the users’ typical tremor center frequency for initialization of the ABPF, as indicated in section Experimental protocol. Although the MO may introduce some motion attenuation through its joint friction and forearm brace inertia, it was considered negligible resulting in approximately zero attenuation. Position and velocity signals were available directly from the embedded encoders in the MO and TSO. Torque measurement was available from the TSO torque sensor.
where PvTSO, PvMO and PvTarget are the total power in the TSO, MO and target velocity signals in the voluntary frequencies. Voluntary motions are typically considered to have a frequency spectra below 2 Hz [43, 44], as such, the 0–2 Hz frequency range was selected in calculating PCvTSO and PCvMO. The range for tremor includes frequencies above the voluntary ; to capture the power around the fundamental tremor frequency, the 2–10 Hz band was selected in this work. The PSD for the MO also yielded the participants’ fundamental tremor frequency, calculated from the PSD peak amplitude in the 3–10 Hz range.
A large attenuation percentage is desirable for the tremor signal power change, namely PCt. Instead, for the voluntary component a small signal power change, either positive or negative, between each device (MO and TSO) and the target signal is ideal. More importantly, the difference of the power changes (PCvTSO − PCvMO) should be small, indicating no additional interference is introduced by the TSO.
In the time domain, voluntary motion tracking Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE) were calculated for the position and velocity motions between the TSO and the target and between the MO and the target. For the purpose of RMSE calculation, the TSO motion may be considered purely voluntary; instead, the MO motion contains the tremor component. By performing a zero phase LPF of the MO signal (labeled fMO) the tremor can be removed and the MO voluntary motion component can be compared to the target motion. Throughout this text, epTSO, evTSO refer to the TSO position and velocity RMSE’s and epfMO, evfMO to the fMO position and velocity RMSE’s, respectively. The zero phase LPF was designed empirically in Matlab using the filtfilt function and was fixed for all participants. The position signal pass and stop bands were 0.5 and 3 Hz, respectively, while the velocity signal pass and stop bands were 1.5 and 3 Hz, respectively. As in the frequency domain metric, small errors between each device and the target signal are desirable but more important is to have small differences between the devices’ position errors (epTSO − epfMO) and velocity errors (evTSO − evfMO). An equal amount of tracking errors with the TSO and with the fMO relative to the target would indicate no additional interference is introduced by the TSO.
Interaction torque between the user and the TSO was also measured and decomposed online using the ABPF mentioned in section Updates to control system, to obtain the voluntary component. It is desirable to have a transparent orthosis that moves smoothly with the user or, equivalently, that minimizes the interaction torque.
Data from participants was recorded for at least 30 s (up to 60 s in some cases). Twenty continuous seconds were selected in order to compare continuous and representative data from all participants with both devices. Irregularities and discontinuities at data start and end, were thus limited. The procedure for selecting the specific 20 s of data time range essentially involved scanning the whole recording time in increments of 10 s, and selecting the time range with the lowest position and velocity RMSE. As an example, for a data spanning 43 s long, the position and velocity RMSE were calculated for the 10–30 s and 20–40 s time ranges. The time range with smaller RMSE values was then selected. In the sinusoid target case, the fMO and TSO signal time ranges were selected independently, which nevertheless resulted in identical target motion profile throughout the 20 s period, with no phase difference. For the pseudo-random target, 20 s of data for the TSO were selected first, following the procedure outlined above, and then the same time range was used for the fMO in order to compare identical motion profiles.
In total, four motion performance metrics were considered, one for the tremor motion (signal power change) and three for the voluntary motion (position RMSE, velocity RMSE and signal power change). The four motion cases of the pursuit task, i.e. sinusoid slow, sinusoid fast, random slow, and random fast were each performed three times (Table 2). For each participant, the three repetitions were averaged, resulting in 4 values per performance metric, representing the four motion cases. It should be noted, once selected, the same 20 s time range was used for all performance metrics in both the spectral and time domains.
Statistical analyses were carried out in SAS JMP for the tremor and voluntary motions. To assess the effectiveness of the approach to suppress tremor, a hypothesis was tested stating that the mean reduction in tremor with the TSO relative to the MO (PCt) was equal to zero suppression. For this test, a two-sided Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used due to non-normal distribution , with the four protocol tasks averaged per participant. To gain an understanding of the contribution of the target motion type (i.e. sinusoid or random) and velocity (i.e. slow or fast), a two way repeated measures univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed. The ANOVA tested how the two independent factors, target type and target velocity, contributed to the reduction in tremor. The subject random effect was included in the ANOVA model. Post hoc analysis evaluated the suppression levels for the four conditions separately, namely sinusoid, random, slow or fast, and reported statistical differences between slow and fast, and between sinusoid and pseudo-random.
To evaluate the TSO interference to the voluntary motion, the tracking errors (epfMO, epTSO, evfMO, evTSO) and power changes (PCvMO and PCvTSO) obtained with the MO and TSO were compared. Paired t-tests were conducted for the three performance metrics, with the four protocol tasks averaged per participant. As in the tremor analysis, the contribution of motion type and velocity on the differences between the MO and TSO performances were evaluated with a two way repeated measures ANOVA. Due to the within-subjects design in this experiment (participants’ were measured with both the TSO and MO), the error due to the human subject variability can be omitted. Thus, the dependent variables were defined as the performance metrics differences between the TSO and MO (e.g. PCvTSO − PCvMO, for the power change). The ANOVA analysis was repeated for the three voluntary performance metrics. Post hoc analyses involved paired t-tests for the four motion profiles separately to infer their contributions to differences between the TSO and MO. Finally, correlations between the three performance metrics were evaluated to assess if they conform, namely do they similarly improve and deteriorate. A significance level of α = 0.05 was considered for all tests.
The tremor power reduction mean and standard deviation was − 94.37 (7.27)% (Fig. 2a) and was found statistically significant (p < 0.001) when compared to no suppression.
The ANOVA test showed statistically significant effects for the target type and target velocity interaction, as well as for the two main effects, target type and target velocity (Table 3). The ANOVA results suggest to further look at which of the four conditions, namely sinusoid, random, slow or fast, had the most tremor reduction. The tremor reductions, when considering the four conditions separately, were statistically significant (p < 0.001), with a mean and standard deviation of − 91.78 (9.34) for sinusoid only, − 96.96 (2.73) for random only, − 96.76 (2.28) for slow only and − 91.97 (9.57) for fast only. Additionally, better suppression is achieved for both random (p = 0.037) and slow (p = 0.015) motions. The tremor fundamental frequency mean and standard deviation was 4.45 (0.93) Hz (Fig. 2b).
No statistically significant differences were observed between the TSO and MO power change (p = 0.346), comparing PCvTSO and PCvMO, or velocity errors (p = 0.283), comparing evTSO and evfMO. The difference in position errors was, however, marginally significant (p = 0.05), comparing epTSO and epfMO.
The ANOVA analysis indicated the effect of the target velocity factor was statistically significant for both the position and velocity metrics, while the target type factor had an effect on the position metric only (Table 4). The above can be appreciated by observing that faster and slower motions as well as sinusoid and random motions are not evenly distributed (Fig. 3). For example, positive or larger power change values are often associated with random motions while negative or smaller values with sinusoid motions (Fig. 3 a). Conversely, larger values are repeatedly associated with sinusoid or fast motions while smaller values correspond to random or slow motions (Fig. 3b-d). Consequently, it was interesting to analyse the four motion profiles separately. For the slow motion profiles, no statistically significant differences were observed between the TSO and MO for the position (p = 0.586), velocity (p = 0.152) or power change (p = 0.546). For the fast motion profile, no statistically significant difference was observed for the power change (p = 0.269), however, both the position (p = 0.015) and velocity (p = 0.033) errors were statistically different. As for the sinusoid motion profile, no statistically significant differences were observed between the TSO and MO for the position (p = 0.944) or velocity (p = 0.311), however a difference was observed for the power change (p = 0.044). For the random motion profile, no statistically significant differences were observed for the velocity (p = 0.439) or power change (p = 0.825), however a difference was observed for the position (p = 0.003).
The means and standard deviations of the MO and the TSO performance metrics were 4.32 (16.37)% and 10.96 (22.91)% for the power change, 7.3 (1.9) deg. and 8.2 (1.9) deg. for the position RMSE and 0.39 (0.04) rad/s and 0.41 (0.07) rad/s for the velocity RMSE. The TSO interaction torque mean and standard deviations was 0.62 (0.04) Nm.
Representative tracking and PSD plots for participant T06, corresponding to the slow sinusoid and slow random target motion profiles, are shown (Fig. 4). It can be observed in the interaction torque subplots that Fm contains a high frequency component (tremor motion), which is filtered in Fe, representing the voluntary component. In the PSD plots, it can be observed the TSO and MO curves overlap closely around the voluntary motion frequency (~ 0.5 Hz). Instead, in the higher frequencies of the tremor (~ 5–6 Hz) the TSO magnitude is appreciably reduced.
A correlation analysis of the three voluntary motion performance metrics confirms that when there is an increase in interference due to TSO, it affects position similarly to velocity and to a lesser extent to power change (Fig. 5). Narrow ellipses indicate a stronger correlation. It is evident there is a greater variability with more outliers for the TSO resulting in weaker correlations for the power change vs. position RMSE (p = 0.14) and voluntary power change vs. velocity RMSE (p = 0.18). All other correlations were statistically significant (p < 0.01).
This tremor suppression investigation relies on a recently developed suppression approach coupled with a previously tested wearable technology targeting the elbow joint , which has been shown to be central to most activities of daily living [47, 48]. In evaluating the suppression approach, the effects to both involuntary and voluntary motions are considered. The results indicate better tremor suppression than comparable interventions. Moreover, voluntary motion interference is shown to be limited, statistically speaking, albeit not completely eliminated.
All participants in this study were right-handed. For all participants, other than T01, T07 and T08, the tremor was more severe on the right side and all but one participant (T08) were tested on the more severe side. Due to a medical condition, T08 was tested on the right side (left side was more severe). It is interesting to note that in the literature there is conflicting evidence as to whether the more severe side is likely to be the dominant side , the non-dominant side [50, 51] or neither .
Two key observations related to the tremor measures that can be appreciated visually in Fig. 2a are that attenuation was overall higher for random relative to sinusoid target movements and for slower relative to faster target movements. A matching subjective observation of the participants was that tracking faster target motions was easier to perform while inducing less tremor. There was a relatively large variation between ET participants mean frequency in Fig. 2b (T01, T04, T05, T06, T08 and T09). Only two of the recruited participants were identified as PD (T02 and T03); therefore, it is difficult to determine if similar frequency variations would be observed among the PD subjects. The typical bandwidth for ET, however, is considered to be wider, overlapping below and above that of PD . The intrasubject tremor frequency variations in this study are comparable with those in but smaller than in . In instances were a clear tremor peak was not detectable (mainly for T08 and T09), the PSD frequency peak search would occasionally result in a frequency near the search lower limit of 3 Hz. The TETRAS score was fairly consistent across study participants as evidenced by the small standard deviation in Table 1. For participant T09 who had substantially milder tremor, which was barely visible, it is interesting to note also a substantially lower tremor reduction of 85%.
Observations related to the voluntary measures are considered next. Random motion tasks were associated with larger power change values and lower tracking errors as can be appreciated from Fig. 3. Slow motions were also associated with lower tracking errors. The above is likely related to the lower speed and the more gradual increase in motion range of the random tasks. Despite the two weaker correlations in Fig. 5 for the TSO, generally, an improvement in one metric suggests improvements of other metrics. Of key interest in this study is the difference in the voluntary performance of the TSO relative to the MO. A velocity controller was utilized in the suppression approach which may explain the paired difference test marginal result for position RMSE but not for velocity RMSE or voluntary power change, which was also based off the velocity signal. Participant T08 demonstrated the largest difference in the voluntary power change metric (49.88%) between the MO and the TSO (Fig. 3a). The large voluntary power change difference may be related to the limited ROM the participant was achieving with the MO compared to the TSO. The difference in ROM could be due to device fitting issues, or alternatively, to the TSO inherent actuation enabling greater ROM (more signal power). Corresponding large differences do not appear in the subject’s position or velocity RMSE’s, in Fig. 3b and c. For participant T08, only two repetitions for the fast random movement were collected. Beyond paired difference tests, it is important to consider the effect sizes for the differences between the TSO and MO were only 0.9 deg. for the position RMSE, 0.02 rad/s for the velocity RMSE and 6.64% for the power change (section Voluntary motion component). Furthermore, when excluding T08, the power change between MO and TSO increases by only 1.23%. Referring to Fig. 3d, tasks with an overall lower velocity resulted in overall lower interaction torque, as expected from an admittance controlled system.
Potential limitations are recognized, related to the suppression system and approach. Overall, high velocity motions have been shown to have a dominant contribution to degraded voluntary performance. Also, voluntary interaction forces should be further reduced in future work. Some looseness and play between the orthosis and the human arm as well as within the orthosis mechanism exists, potentially resulting in some of the tremor not being detected. Modifications to reduce backlash and play may increase the signal to noise ratio and thus improve the tremor suppression. Follow up explorations should also address limitations to the study design. The study does not evaluate the passive effect of the mass and inertia of the TSO on tremor suppression and on voluntary motion. Thus, in future work the suppression with the TSO in off mode should be demonstrated to assess the mass and inertia contribution. Whether the tremor suppression is primarily caused by the active suppression approach or the passive mass and inertia is, however, deemed less critical so long that the negative impact to the voluntary motion remains limited, as shown in this work. Furthermore, the suppression approach demonstrated significant attenuation using substantially less mass and inertia in previous work . Another potential protocol limitation involves order effects due to fatigue and training when the TSO is tested after the MO. If these effects exist, they may be mitigated by randomizing the TSO and MO order. Fatigue may have also occurred due to the TSO resistance, particularly at later stages in the testing session, and may have worsened voluntary tracking results. TETRAS was used to score two PD subjects in this study despite being targeted at ET. Additionally, TETRAS scoring may have been influenced by the preceding device testing. Nevertheless, if there was an effect due to the device testing, it may be assumed to be roughly equal for all participants. Since this is an assistive device, the TETRAS outcome is not considered crucial for the device’s performance evaluation. Therefore, in this preliminary study, the implication of post testing assessment as well as PD subjects assessment is not considered critical. The study protocol evaluated tremor during active movement. In future work, rest tremor could be incorporated for evaluation. RMSE position and velocity measures could potentially also be used to assess tremor suppression. In this work, the voluntary component contribution to tracking RMSE was much more substantial relative to the tremor contribution, perhaps due to the large voluntary motion amplitude or due to sensor sensitivity. As a result, comparing the MO to the TSO tracking errors resulted in poor RMSE tremor suppression sensitivity. Subjects were asked to abstain from medications for 12 h before testing, yet this time span may not be enough for ET subjects (taking Primidone or Propranolol) to be in a clinically-defined off state. Although tremor was observable in all study subjects, by motion sensors and by TETRAS, the implication is that tremor could be more severe in fully off-medication individuals. It is expected, however, that an increase in tremor signal would result in better voluntary and tremor decomposition, by the control system, and consequently better voluntary motion tracking and noise (tremor) rejection. In future work, recording of medications may help to guide abstinence times. Patients with PD may exhibit involuntary and burst-like movements, other than tremor, such as dyskinesia, with a frequency spectra overlapping both voluntary and tremor motions. It should be noted, our inclusion criteria did not explicitly identify such movement abnormalities. The suppression approach is designed such that motions residing within the frequency band defined for tremor (2–10 Hz) are considered a disturbance and consequently rejected. Our device and control approach successfully rejected motions in this frequency band during the tests as demonstrated in Figs. 2 and 4 (PSD plots). Non-tremor motor disorder movements that overlap tremor frequencies are therefore suppressed along with the tremor. On the other hand, we expect that our system will not be effective in suppressing involuntary movement in the frequency band 0–2 Hz and that voluntary motions will be affected by such motor disorders. Nevertheless, the effect to the MO and TSO voluntary performance may be roughly the same such that voluntary tracking can still be compared and evaluated.
The MO was used in this study mainly as a performance benchmark for the TSO. Nevertheless, in a real world scenario, per user initialization of the ABPF center frequency would be needed and could still be performed with the MO, as was done in this study. Alternatively, initialization and if needed, update of the tremor center frequency may be realized without the MO by modifying the TSO and the tremor estimation algorithm. A few participants commented they noticed a favourable effect of the suppression on their tremor and some expressed interest in such a device if size and weight were reduced. Other studies reported some migration of tremor to nearby joints . A similar phenomenon was not observed in this study. It is expected that by adapting the suppression orthosis to other joints (e.g. the wrist), a similar alleviation of tremor would be observed. However, follow-up investigations would be needed to verify this. Additional studies, involving larger populations, are also needed to validate the technology. The ABPF fundamental tremor frequency was the only subject related parameter requiring calibration in the proposed system, reducing the approach sensitivity to different users or neurophysiological changes.
This preliminary study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a recently developed tremor suppression method. Participants with varying tremor severities were recruited and benefited from a 94.4% tremor reduction. Moreover, the suppression device restriction to the voluntary motion was explicitly addressed and quantified, different from similar studies involving individuals with tremor. Specifically, the mean voluntary position and velocity tracking errors increased by only about 1 deg. and 0.02 rad/s, respectively when using the TSO, while the voluntary signal power change increased by 6.6%. Overall, a marginally statistically significant effect of the TSO was observed only with regard to the voluntary position error. The demonstrated results for both the tremor and voluntary motions suggest the tremor suppression approach can be beneficial for people affected by tremor.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the participants who volunteered in this study. Special thanks to Christy Jones for help with subject recruitment.
This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), and the International Essential Tremor Foundation (IETF).
GH conducted testing with study participants, collected and processed the data. GH also drafted and revised the article. MM participated in the manuscript drafting and has provided approval of the final version to be submitted. CM contributed guidance and advice throughout the process. CM participated in manuscript drafting and has provided approval of the final version to be submitted. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
All experimental protocols were approved by the office of research ethics (study number 2013 s0735) at Simon Fraser University and at the University of British Columbia. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. | https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12984-019-0484-1 |
STEREOTAXIS, INC. (OTCMKTS:STXS) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain OfficersItem 5.02.
99.1 Stereotaxis, Inc. Press Release dated June4, 2018
Stereotaxis, Inc. ExhibitEX-99.1 2 d565962dex991.htm EX-99.1 EX-99.1 Exhibit 99.1 Stereotaxis Announces Changes to its Board of Directors ST. LOUIS,…To view the full exhibit click
here
About STEREOTAXIS, INC. (OTCMKTS:STXS)
Stereotaxis, Inc. is a United States-based healthcare technology company. The Company is engaged in the development of robotic cardiology instrument navigation systems designed to enhance the treatment of arrhythmias and coronary disease. The Company also provides information management solutions for the interventional lab. The Stereotaxis platform helps physicians to provide patient care with robotic precision and enhanced integration of procedural information. The Company’s Epoch solution includes the Niobe ES remote magnetic navigation system, the Odyssey portfolio of lab optimization, networking and patient information management systems, and the Vdrive robotic navigation system and consumables. The Niobe ES remote magnetic navigation system includes the Navigant software user interface and the QuikCAS catheter advancement system. The Vdrive robotic navigation system with Niobe ES magnetic navigation system provides navigation and stability for diagnostic and ablation devices. | https://marketexclusive.com/stereotaxis-inc-otcmktsstxs-files-an-8-k-departure-of-directors-or-certain-officers-election-of-directors-appointment-of-certain-officers-compensatory-arrangements-of-certain-officers-3/2018/06/ |
Cholecystectomy is one of the most commonly performed abdominal procedures with more than 600,000 performed annually in the United States. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, first introduced in the 1980s, offered faster recovery time and a more cosmetic result making it the more favorable approach. In developed countries, up to 90% of cholecystectomies are done via laparoscopy. After the first robotic surgery platform was approved by the FDA in 2000, it provided surgeons with enhanced ergonomic capabilities and visualization and also offered possibility of telemedicine. The first series of robotic cholecystectomies soon followed in the last 15 years, and robotic cholecystectomy has become increasingly popular and has been established as a safe approach. The aims of this chapter are to address the history of robotic-assisted cholecystectomy, the technical aspects of multiport and single-port approaches, use of cholangiography, demonstration of safety and use in both community and academic settings.
Keywords
- cholecystectomy
- robotic surgery
1. Introduction
Today, in the United States, gallstone disease is one of the most common surgical diseases. An estimated 750,000 cholecystectomies are performed annually in the United States .
Management of gallstones has had a remarkable evolution in the last 20 years; however, mankind’s journey in managing biliary disease has spanned more than 1600 years. The first description of gallstones was recorded by a Greek physician, Alexander Trallianus in the 500 AD. Early attempts to manage this disease included “cholagogues,” which were medications thought to increase bile secretions and attempts to induce vomiting in an effort to dislodge the stones. Efforts to “dissolve” the stones were also unsuccessful. By the 1600s, experiments in dogs demonstrated that survival was possible after gallbladder removal. In 1743, Jean-Louis Petit performed the first “drainage” of the gallbladder through a percutaneous trocar [2–4]. It was not until 1867, that the first cholecystotomy was performed by Dr John Stough Bobbs. Bobbs opened the gallbladder, removed the gallstones within and then closed it . This changed the philosophy of the management of gallbladder disease at that time. In 1882, Carl Langenbuch performed the first cholecystectomy in a patient concluding that the gallbladder should be removed “not because it contains stones, but because it forms them.” Cholecystectomy then became a standard surgery for gallbladder disease .
The next landmark in gallbladder surgery was in 1985, when the first laparoscopic gallbladder surgery was performed by Dr Erich Mühe in Germany. Immediately he saw advantages over the traditional open approach with the immediate recovery stating “the approach was like magic.” Unfortunately, he was met with much skepticism by colleagues who rejected this novel approach [6, 7]. It was not until laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed in France that it began to spread globally. Dr Philippe Mouret of Lyon in France was a private surgeon who shared his practice with a gynecologist, who was performing laparoscopy. He too never published his achievement, stating “I did not see any chance for publishing in a surgical journal.” Unlike Mühe, news of Mouret’s success spread throughout France. Francois Dubois, a surgeon in Paris also performed a successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy and together with Jacques Perissat circulated news of this technique to the world [8, 9]. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy gradually became an attractive alternative to open cholecystectomy with its superior outcomes and is now the gold standard. The learning curve for laparoscopic surgery is long, requiring close training, with most complications occurring within the first 30 cases .
The next decade saw the introduction of single-site laparoscopic cholecystectomy, with the first reports published in 1995. This approach hoped to achieve even more enhanced cosmesis and decreased post-operative pain. Early versions of the technique utilized standard laparoscopic equipment via two 10 mm port incisions in the umbilicus. At the end of the procedure, the bridge of skin between the two incisions was cut to permit extraction of the gallbladder . In 1997, this evolved to a single incision surgery technique where multiple ports could be placed through a single incision. In order to perform this type of surgery, surgeons use end articulating instruments and specialized ports. The most popular commercial ports are the TriPort™ (Olympus) and SILS port™ (Covidien) [12, 13]. While the benefits of single-site surgery include cosmesis and are thought to reduce postoperative pain, concerns about the complications and technical aspect of this type of surgery remain a topic of controversy. Several large prospective randomized and case-matched cohorts have demonstrated no significant increases in complications, such as port site hernias or pain scores. While the procedure is slightly longer, with an average operative time of roughly 70 minutes compared to 55 minutes for multiport cholecystectomy, patients report greater satisfaction with the cosmetic result [13–16]. While the overall success and popularity of single-site surgery has been well described, the technical difficulty of the procedure remains a deterrent. Additional concerns about complications such as hernias, wound infection and increased pain have been demonstrated in prospective randomized controlled trials [17, 18]. Furthermore single-site laparoscopic surgery is limited technically due to instrument collisions and the distance needed to travel from the umbilicus to the right upper quadrant. In order to operate effectively through a minimal access port, surgeons need to cross hand a difficult task to do laparoscopically (Figure 1).
Robotic surgery has helped to overcome the challenges of conventional and single-site laparoscopy. In 2000, the FDA approved the first robotic surgery system. The first robotic cholecystectomy was performed on a human the following day . Since then, the robotic-assisted platform has been applied to gynecologic, urologic, thoracic, colorectal and general surgery. Additionally, single-site cholecystectomy has also become increasingly popular.
2. General indications
Indications for cholecystectomy include [21, 22]:
Symptomatic cholelithiasis
Biliary dyskinesia
Acute cholecystitis
Gallstone pancreatitis
Outpatient cholecystectomy can be performed in most patients; however, patients with acute cholecystitis or gallstone pancreatitis should be managed urgently.
Absolute contraindications include :
Inability to tolerate general anesthesia
Suspicion of gallbladder cancer
3. Special considerations
3.1. Obesity
Although once an exclusionary factor, robotic surgery is now performed regularly in obese patients, including single-site surgery. In a series of patients with BMI ≥ 30 mg/m2, the only significant difference in robotic cholecystectomy was a slightly longer operative time in obese patients (69.8 vs. 59.2 minutes,
3.2. Pediatric patients
Although we do not perform robotic cholecystectomy in pediatric patients in our practice, several studies have demonstrated that it can be performed safely. In a series of pediatric patients ranging 10–18 years, both multiport and single-site cholecystectomies were performed without complications . Although laparoscopic cholecystectomy and robotic cholecystectomy have similar postoperative stays, concerns about the increased cost remain .
3.3. Pregnancy
Cholecystectomy in pregnant patients ranges from 1 case per 1100 to 10,000 live births . According the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) guidelines, laparoscopic cholecystectomy is safe during all trimesters . At the time of this writing, robotic-assisted cholecystectomy has not been reported in the literature. However, there are case reports of gynecologic and urologic procedures which include robotic partial nephrectomy, adrenalectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy being performed using the robotic platform. These procedures typically are performed during the second trimester [29–31]. The future of robotic cholecystectomy during pregnancy is yet to be determined.
3.4. Anatomic variations and biliary imaging
Biliary injuries occur in 0.2–0.8% of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy [32, 33]. One of the suggested underlying causes is variant anatomy. Gallbladder and cystic duct anatomy can have many variations in all patients including: anomalous hepatic and cystic artery course (50%), variations in insertion of the cystic duct and the common hepatic duct, duplicate gallbladder and cystic ducts (0.03%), right segmental hepatic bile duct coursing close to cystic duct (5%) or may have an absent cystic duct (rare) [34, 35]. The consequences of biliary injuries can be serious, requiring additional surgeries to reconstruct the biliary anatomy.
Measures to reduce the rate of biliary injuries include intraoperative imaging. For many years, cholangiography has been a mainstay of biliary imaging. Recently, especially in robotic-assisted surgery, fluorescent imaging has become popular as it does not require cannulation of the cystic duct or additional radiation exposure.
The use of indocyanine green (ICG) to image the biliary tree was first described in 1992 . ICG is a tricarbocyanine dye that is excreted into the bile. Peak concentration in the bile occurs at 120 minutes . An intravenous dose of 2.5 mg is given during administration of anesthesia or in the preoperative area. When illuminated with near infrared (NIR) light, ICG will emit light at a peak wavelength of 830 nm. In order to view ICG in structures, the laparoscope must include a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera which can filter out wavelengths less than 810 nm . In 2013, the Firefly™ Fluorescence Imaging Vision System was approved by the FDA for use with da Vinci® robotic platforms. Fluorescent image guidance can be used sporadically as verification or in real time. Use of indocyanine green has been repeatedly demonstrated as a safe technique in both laparoscopic and robotic-assisted cholecystectomy, allowing for visualization of the cystic duct, common bile duct and common hepatic duct in 94% or more of cases [39–41]. ICG can also be used to visualize the cystic artery if assessed within 45 seconds of an injection of ICG, but may lead to confusion between the vascular and biliary structures.
ICG is contraindicated in pregnancy, and in patients with allergies to iodine. Additionally, it is not an adequate tool to assess choledocholithiasis.
In our experience, ICG has been an important tool in cases of severe inflammation, helping to identify biliary structures in fibrinous areas and avoid conversion to open procedures (Figure 2).
4. Multiport robotic cholecystectomy
4.1. Instruments
Fundus grasper
Monopolar cautery hook
Hem-o-lok® clips and applier, or metal clips
Curved scissors
Maryland dissector
Endocatch bag
(Optional) AirSeal® system
4.2. Patient preparation
The patient is placed in the supine position with the arms tucked. General anesthesia is administered and the abdomen is then prepped and draped with the entire abdomen exposed.
If imaging of the biliary tree will be performed, indocyanine green is given intravenously (2.5 mg).
4.3. Port placement, docking
In our operating room, the operating table is rotated 90° after intubation. The robot is docked from the patient’s right and anesthesia is at the head of the bed to the patient’s left. A scrubbed assistant can stand to the patients left (Figure 3).
A 12 mm umbilical incision is made and a 12 mm robotic trocar is placed. After insufflation of the abdomen to 15 mmHg, an additional three ports are placed under direct visualization (Figure 4). In our practice, we use the AirSeal® (SurgiQuest, Inc., Milford, CT), to reduce smoke accumulation in the abdomen.
4.4. Dissection
After identification of the gallbladder, the fundus is retracted cephalad over the liver by the bedside assistant using a third robotic arm, or manually by a scrubbed assistant. In our practice, we do not require the third arm which reduces cost. The surgeon sits at the operating console. Adhesions are taken down using the Maryland dissector. Using an additional grasper, the gallbladder is retracted inferolaterally to expose the triangle of Calot.
The cystic duct and cystic artery are identified and further dissected using blunt techniques (Figure 5). NIR imaging can be used if the patient was given ICG. The critical view is then obtained after further dissection of the posterior peritoneum overlying the liver. The surgeon’s right hand instrument is then exchanged for a Hem-o-lok® clip applier (or similar apparatus). The duct and artery are both clipped three times, with space to allow two clips to remain on proximal end of both the artery and duct.
The clip applier is then exchanged for a curved scissor to divide both the cystic artery and cystic duct. The gallbladder is then dissected from the liver surface using hook cautery. If a posterior branch of the cystic artery is encountered, this can also be ligated with Hem-o-lok® clips or cauterized. An additional option is bipolar cauterization of the cystic duct and arteries which has been demonstrated to be effective; however, the use is limited by additional expense .
Prior to disconnecting the gallbladder, it can be used to retract the liver to examine for bleeding. Additionally, the cystic artery and ductal stumps can be examined. After completion of the gallbladder resection, it can then be placed in an Endocatch bag and removed through the umbilical port.
The trocars are then removed under direct visualization. The fascia at the umbilicus is reapproximated with a figure of 8-0 vicryl stitch. The skin is reapproximated with interrupted 4-0 chromic sutures.
5. Single-port robotic cholecystectomy
In addition to the multiport technique, single port robotic cholecystectomy has become a popular modality made easier with the ergonomics afforded by the robotic platform. The design of the da Vinci® Single Site® platform minimizes instrument collisions by using curved trocars and flexible instruments. The first series on single-port robotic cholecystectomy were published in 2011. Subsequent studies, including randomized prospective trials demonstrated no difference in complications compared to conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy but an increased preference by patients [43–45]. When compared to single-site laparoscopy, the robotic approach is associated with less pain .
5.1. Instruments
da Vinci® Single Site® port
Two 5 mm curved cannulae
5 mm semirigid instruments
Maryland dissector
Monopolar cautery hook
Hem-o-lok® clips and applier, or metal clips
Curved scissors
Endocatch bag
5.2. Patient preparation
Patient positioning is similar to multiport robotic-assisted cholecystectomy. The patient is in the supine position and arms are tucked. General anesthesia is administered and the abdomen is prepped and draped in a similar fashion. If imaging of the biliary tree will be performed, indocyanine green is given at least 45 minutes prior to visualization.
5.3. Port placement, docking
As with multiport cholecystectomy, the operating table is rotated 90° after intubation. The robot is docked from the patient’s right and anesthesia is at the head of the bed to the patient’s left. A scrubbed assistant stands to the patients left. The patient is placed in reverse Trendelenburg position to allow the intestines to fall away from the liver and gallbladder bed.
A 2.5 cm vertical umbilical incision is made and extended to the fascia. A finger sweep is performed to clear the area of adhesions and bowel. A multiport da Vinci® Single-Site® port (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) is then placed inside. Wetting the port and or using an S retractor can help facilitate placement. In our practice, we secure the port in place to minimize movement with 2-0 nylon sutured from the edges of the port superficially to the skin at four points.
The port used with the da Vinci Si Surgical System includes five lumens including an insufflation adapter, accessory port, two-curved cannulae ports and a camera port (Figure 6). After insufflation, the curved cannulae are placed until the first black line is visible within the abdomen. The right-sided cannula is operated by the surgeon’s left hand, and the left-sided cannula is operated by the surgeon’s right hand. Care must be taken to not create a false tract within the single-site port by forcing entry of the cannula.
5.4. Dissection
After identification of the gallbladder, a standard laparoscopic grasper is placed through the accessory port. This must also be accomplished carefully so as not to create a false tract within the single-site port. The bedside assistant retracts the gallbladder fundus cephalad and over the liver. The surgeon sits at the operating console. Adhesions are taken down using the Maryland dissector. Using an additional grasper, the gallbladder is retracted inferolaterally.
The cystic duct and artery are dissected bluntly. If needed, near infrared (NIR) imaging can be used to visualize the biliary anatomy 45 minutes after administration. As with the multiport technique, dissection continues until the critical view is obtained. The surgeon’s right hand instrument is then exchanged for a Hem-o-lok clip applier (or equivalent). Three clips are placed on each duct and artery and transected above the first two clips with robotic Endoshears.
The gallbladder is then dissected from the liver bed using hook cautery, using the same principles described in multiport robotic cholecystectomy. The abdomen is inspected for hemostasis and the gallbladder placed in an Endocatch bag.
The single-site port is then released from the stay sutures and removed. The fascia at the umbilicus is reapproximated with a running 0-vicryl. The skin is reapproximated with interrupted 4-0 chromic.
6. Conversion to open
Indications to convert to an open procedure include adhesions, suspected biliary duct injury, bowel injury and hemorrhage.
Robotic surgery and utilization of ICG may lead to a reduction in rates of conversion to open surgery [47, 48]. In a large series of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the rate of conversion is reported as 2.6–3%, with adhesions being the most common reason for conversion [49, 50]. When compared to robotic surgery in a recent meta-analysis, conversion rate ranged as high as 15.7% for laparoscopic compared to 1.9% in robotic surgery, but did not reach statistical significance .
7. Cost
A significant concern about the utilization of robotic surgery is the associated cost which has been a topic of debate. Analyses of the outpatient costs of robotic-assisted cholecystectomy show higher total charges and costs when compared to laparoscopic surgery. However, proponents cite the numerous benefits of robotic surgery including enhanced surgeon ergonomics and the potential for building skills to perform more complex operations robotically [48, 52]. In pediatric patients hospitalization cost for robotic compared to non-robotic averaged $11,000 vs. $7000 .
The increased cost in robotic surgery, however, may be a related to it being a relatively new technology with limited competition. In hospitals with an established infrastructure for robotic surgery, there is potential for cost efficacy. In a review from one institution, overall savings from supplies and instruments and shortened operating room times resulted in robotic single-site laparoscopic cholecystectomy being more cost effective than laparoscopic cholecystectomy . When comparing cost margin only at a private community hospital, there was no difference in cost between robotic and laparoscopic cholecystectomy .
A similar concern regarding cost existed when laparoscopic cholecystectomy was first introduced. Although laparoscopic surgery had increased costs, the savings resulted from decreased hospital stays . Today, cholecystectomy is performed routinely as an outpatient procedure, and those that are hospitalized are able to be discharged after 1 day. A possible area where robotic surgery can present a cost benefit is in the use of ICG vs. cholangiography and reduction in biliary injuries and subsequent surgeries and hospitalization.
8. Outcomes
8.1. Biliary injury
With the integration of the Fluorescence Visual Imaging System, biliary imaging is readily available following the injection of ICG. In a comparison to laparoscopic cholecystectomy, robotic cholecystectomies were found to have less open conversion, less major biliary injuries and increased identification of biliary anomalies .
8.2. Hernia
Port site hernias remain a concern of single-site surgeries. In the laparoscopic literature, reported rates range between 2.9 and 8.4% [17, 56]. Data from robotic single-site surgery are limited to smaller case series. In a retrospective series of 27 patients, 5 (19%) trocar-site hernias were reported . In a retrospective study of 112 obese patients, there was only 1 incisional hernia (0.9%) . Further long-term studies are needed to further describe the scope of this complication.
8.3. Postoperative pain
Robotic surgery is theorized to cause less post-operative pain due to less torque applied to the incision sites. A retrospective study comparing single-site robotic cholecystectomy and single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy demonstrated lower post-operative pain scores in the robotic group . Conversely, in a randomized double-blind trial comparing single-site robotic cholecystectomy to laparoscopic cholecystectomy, there were no significant differences between the two groups .
9. Robotic cholecystectomy and surgical education
Robotic cholecystectomies are currently performed in a broad range of hospital settings from community to academic teaching institutions. Trainee involvement does not affect outcomes [54, 59]. In our institution, resident trainees develop robotic skills on a simulator, and gradually acquire the skills required to perform the dissection. We anticipate that robotic skills will be an essential part of the surgeon’s toolkit. Further evaluation of the learning curve of robotic surgery in graduate medical education is warranted.
10. Future directions
In addition the da Vinci® platform, several other new systems are being introduced.
The Revo-I® Model MSR-5000 is currently undergoing animal study in robotic cholecystectomy. Similar to the da Vinci® system, it offers 3D visualization, tremor filtration and 7 degrees of freedom. However, the current machine is limited to monopolar and bipolar energy sources .
One criticism of robotic surgery compared to laparoscopic surgery is the absence of haptic feedback. The Telelap ALF-X® provides haptic feedback, and the developers of the Revo-i® are reportedly developing a haptic feedback component . The Telelap ALF-X® has been used to date in gynecologic and urological procedures.
11. Conclusions
Robotic cholecystectomy offers a safe modality to continue treating biliary disease. The continued study of this technique will identify potential safety and cost benefits. Continued development of new robotic technologies may further diversify the field and curb economic concerns. | https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/54474 |
Fig. 1 Design of a robotic setup featuring two robot arms and a 5 m linear axis sitting on a mobile steel platform, a feeding station for 5 m long wood slats equipped with a pneumatic gripper for centralizing and holding slats during cutting procedure, a CNC saw of 600 mm diameter with three controllable axes (360 horizontal orientation, 25–90 tilt, up/down 0–300 mm). Robot 1 (left) is provided with a custom gripping and scanning tool and feeding station. Robot 2 (right) is equipped with two parallel electric grippers. A custom working table was designed with rails for variable fixation of elements of different sizes and scales.
Despite modern timber construction being on the forefront of digital technology in construction, subtractive CNC—fabrication technologies are still predominantly used in the industry.
An important break in the digital chain occurs when prefabricated small building parts have to be assembled manually into functional modules. This can result in a loss of digital information in the process.
Fig. 3 Geometry generation: a cuboid serves as basic element multiple geometrical connections and permutations are possible within its faces
Therefore, a robotic setup for timber construction was specifically developed by the authors enabling large-scale spatial fabrication possibilities using a combination of subtractive external tools for cutting and drilling and additive robotic operations.
Fig. 4 Spatial module design: size, form, and sequential order of the spatial modules produced by the robotic setup have to correspond to functional, fabrication and assembly constraints. In our case study, the complete structure was composed out of 46 separate modules of maximum dimensions of 5 * 2 * 1:5 m
Through automatization techniques and innovative feedback processes, the system can minimize material waste by reacting to different material sizes even during the construction process.
In a case study, which was undertaken in the course of the Master of Advanced Studies program in Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich, a complete digital workflow using additive robotic fabrication processes in timber construction was realized.
Fig. 5 Structural design of double-story structure of dimensions of around 8:5 * 5 * 7 m (h). Left FE analysis showing resulting maximum utilisation of members in relation with wall openings. Right Orientation of bracings following stress lines
We demonstrate the conception of the worldwide first double-story robotically assembled timber structure, explain its fabrication processes including an integrated envelope, and conclude by analyzing the robotic fabrication technologies in terms of their efficiency and structural and functional capabilities and limits.
Fig. 6 Left Different types of full-threaded screws used for the joints. Right Calculation of screw type, length, and angle depending on corresponding geometry and material thickness
Modern timber construction is already highly integrated and digitally mastered (Internationale Konferenz 2006; Jeska and Pascha 2015). An automated prefabrication of singular timber elements has been demonstrated on various research studies and projects in the last decades (Sass 2007; Beyer 1991; Scheurer 2011).
Fig. 8 Assembly sequence of wooden slat in truss element. a 5 m long solid spruce slats are placed on the assembly table and the robot moves in its home position. b The robot grips the beam and moves it towards the saw, where it gets cut the programmed number of times
The degree of prefabrication describes the size and complexity of prefabricated components, which is directly related to the amount of on-site construction labor, material use, construction quality, and, therefore, sustainability performance (Boafo et al. 2016).
Even today, CNC technologies are used predominantly for subtractive processes in the industry (Popovic et al. 2016), which can also be noted in the available manufacturing techniques of current timber production lines (Hans Hundegger 2016).
Fig. 9 Assembly sequence of wooden slat in truss element: the beam gets placed in the truss, where it is fixated manually
These machines are used to precisely manufacture small components like beams and plates, which are later assembled manually into larger components.
A break of the digital chain occurs exactly before spatial and functional building parts are assembled. This can result in a loss of information and precision in the digital process, but also in unexplored spatial, constructive, and fabrication potentials.
Fig. 10 a Shingle tool is equipped with a light-reflex sensor, a vacuum gripper fixated with additional springs and a soft gripping form of the shingle, and two standard nailguns. b Feeding table used for the robotic scanning process. During the scanning process, the robot moves in relation with a specific coordinate system until reaching the shingle edge
Through robotic prefabrication, an extremely high global assembly precision1 can be realized. Since fabrication is directly connected to a precisely planned virtual model, the danger of mistakes in construction is very low and global precision extremely high, resulting in a cost and construction efficient system.
Fig. 11 Robotic fabrication process of shingle facade of unknown geometry: first, the shingle is scanned (a), the geometry is processed and assembly information sent back to the controller, then the robot grips the shingle at a specified position (b) and finally mounted and fixated on the structure (c). d Overall procedure
Experimental results show that robotic fabrication of unique, highly complex volumetric modules for on-site assembly has significant potential. The modules can be produced and integrated with all architectural, technical, and functional parameters.
Off-site prefabrication has the advantage of a controlled and predictable fabrication environment, resulting in high precision and high general building quality.
Fig. 12 a Pre-assembly of floor elements for tolerance control and beam connections for site assembly; b On-site assembly of a large prefabricated module using a small construction crane
Even though transportation is less efficient compared to on-site fabrication due to the abundance of hollow forms, sustainability performance is still higher compared to the conventional fabrication (Chao 2013).
Form and size of modules are also dependent on transportation, which may affect structural and assembly requirements.
Fig. 13 Interior images of final structure on the upper floor, showing seamless integration of balustrade, floor elements, walls, roof structure, and staircase (a). The size of the prefabricated chunks is still visible through the doubling of structural elements b image courtesy of Kasia Jackowska
The current robotic setup is semi-mobile and partly spatially configurable. Like in our case-study project, the full spatial potential can be realized when using it as an on-site prefabrication facility, liberated from transportation constraints.
This also provides the possibility of integrating continuous adjustments and optimization even during the building process.
Fig. 14 Exterior image showing the shingle pattern and opening sequence of the structure
In terms of automation, it still remains a large challenge to find efficient robotic processes capable of integrating all functional requirements such as thermal insulation, air-tightness, and technical systems in continuous fabrication logic. | https://parametrichouse.com/robotic-prefabrication/ |
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