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(This is an incomplete answer since I don't know which eclipse specifically was predicted, nor how it compares to the rest of the world. But it is too long for a comment.)
Because of their cultural association of governmental legitimacy with astronomical/geophysical omens, ancient China was rather obsessed with predicting eclipses. Attempts to do so seemed to have begun in the Warring States era, but naturally were not very successful. Some breakthroughs were achieved in the Eastern Han when it was realised that the moon's motion is inconsistent.
By 20 B.C. the Chinese knew how eclipses were caused ... By 8 B.C. the Chinese could predict eclipses by using the 135 month period; and by A.D. 206 they could predict eclipses by analyzing the motion of the moon. By A.D. 390 they could predict how much of the moon would be in shadow.
- Thurston, Hugh, Early Astronomy, Springer, New York, 1994
These are referring to solar eclipses, as was made clear by the rest of the paragraph discussing ancient disputes over how the moon could block the sun's light. See also:
Astronomers were attached to the royal household as second tier functionaries ... One of the most important events to predict were eclipses. In the first century B.C. (the Han dynasty), an eclipse period of 135 months was recognized during which 23 eclipses were known. By the third century A.D., the astronomer Yang Wei was able to specify times of first contact for a solar eclipse.
Case Western Reserve University: Journey Through the Galaxy-
By about 20 BC, surviving documents show that Chinese astrologers understood what caused eclipses, and by 8 BC some predictions of total solar eclipse were made using the 135-month recurrence period. By AD 206 Chinese astrologers could predict solar eclipses by analyzing the Moon's motion.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Eclipse Through Traditions and Cultures
It would therefore appear that, that by about the early third century, at least some eclipses were predicted.
Of course, these predictions were not very good, especially since the sun's movement had not been understood. That happened much later in the Tang Dynasty. The monk Yi Xing was able to produce better eclipse predictions based on his research. Another notable advancement in Chinese astronomy was achieved in the Yuan Dynasty, by the astronomers Wang Xun and Guo Shoujin.
This actual movement of the sun was fully understood by the famous astronomer Yi Xing (一行, 683-727 A.D), and he used the theory in his computations, for example the calculations for the time fo eclipses, in his Da Yan calendar (大衍歷, 729 A.D), getting accurate results in the process.
Guo and his co-workers were able to make more accurate astronomical calculations, which helped them to make better astronomical predictions, especially in the case of eclipses.
- Tiong, Ngsay, and and Helmer Aslaksen. "Calendars, Interpolation, Gnomons and Armillary Spheres in the Work of Guo Shoujin (1231–1314)."
Again, the eclipse predictions were still not perfect, especially over the course of centuries. However, a failed prediction was cause for commissioning a new calendar. Conversely, this meant that at least some of the predictions even in this early period were accurate, by chance or otherwise.
One major piece of evidence proposed by Xu in favour of the adoption of Western methods concerned eclipse predictions ... [E]clipse prediction was the touchstone. In 1610, when it was first proposed to employ Jesuits for astronomical reform, the miscalculation of a solar eclipse was used to make the case for the necessity of this reform.
- Jami, Catherine, et al, eds. Statecraft and Intellectual Renewal in Late Ming China: the Cross-Cultural Synthesis of Xu Guangqi (1562-1633). Vol. 50. Brill, 2001.
At this juncture the then-extant Chinese calendars were failing in their predicative powers. The Court held a competition (to predict an eclipse) between the Chinese court astronomers and the Westerners, which resulted in a resounding victory for European astronomy. | <urn:uuid:03a8cc44-de98-48ff-b1a5-ed72bb48f237> | {
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MW 11:30am - 1:40pm
Josue Q. Estrada
History of diverse peoples who have come together through conquest and immigration since 1500, including Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Explores contributions of may peoples with special attention to changing constructions of race and ethnicity and evolving understandings of what it means to be American.
Individuals and Societies (I&S)
October 17, 2018 - 9:16pm | <urn:uuid:4ec91a18-658c-421e-af81-b03f54e9bd8d> | {
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Sought after for its sweet and tart juice and antioxidant content, the pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a popular flavoring for beverages and an ingredient in many foods. For the home grower, choosing the right variety of pomegranate tree is vital, since only some of them bear fruit in a Mediterranean climate.
"Angel Red," or Punica granatum “Smith,” is defined by its soft-seed fruit that is more easily used in culinary applications than are other varieties. The variety grows at a moderate pace up to 10 feet tall and produces bright orange flowers in late summer. The fruit on this tree will ripen into a dark red that is deeper than other varieties. Like other pomegranates, the tree requires regular watering and access to full sunlight.
One of the most common varieties grown and often a standard by which other varieties are measured, "Wonderful" is very close to the parent species but bred for higher fruit yield. This tree also grows to about 10 feet and produces orange to red blossoms in late summer. Not as cold-hardy as other species, the plant will fruit only if enough heat is provided during the growing season.
Punica granatum L., or the "Granada," features darker red blooms and a less tart fruit than that of the “Wonderful” or “Angel” varieties. This tree grows up to 15 feet and requires lots of sunlight, well-drained soil and watering every two to four weeks. This variety is also much more cold-tolerant than the “Wonderful” variety and will fruit under colder conditions.
A dwarf variety of pomegranate, “State Fair” grows to only about 5 feet. This species flowers more than larger varieties and also bears miniature fruit that reaches only about 2 inches in diameter. "State Fair" is much more cold-tolerant than larger varieties of pomegranate.
Growing about 8 feet tall, the “Eight Ball” variety of pomegranate tree is unique among its counterparts, producing fruit that is nearly black. The fruit is still edible, and the tree itself is hardier than other tall varieties of pomegranate.
The most common of the dwarf varieties, "Nana" reaches only about 3 feet and produces orange-red flowers that eventually give way to tiny fruit. Like other dwarf varieties, this variant is more cold-tolerant than larger varieties.
- NA/Photos.com/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:a7132ddc-d71a-4cd1-b147-9943a1fd9eb6> | {
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Coleus (Coleus x hybridus) is an annual valued for its brilliantly colored foliage in shades of burgundy, pink, red, yellow, green and bronze. Sizes of coleus plants vary from smaller varieties that grow to heights of 12 inches to bushy types that reach heights and widths of 3 feet or more. Although the spiky blooms that appear in autumn aren't particularly attractive, you can harvest the seeds inside the blooms and save them for planting the following spring.
Tie a colorful string or yarn around one or two of the healthiest coleus plants. When the plants begin to fade in autumn, the string will remind you which are the strongest plants.
Harvest seeds when the petals have dropped from the flowers and the remaining seed pods are plump, dry and brown.
Snip the seed pod with scissors or garden shears. Drop the pods into a paper sack.
Place the sack in a cool, dry location. Shake the sack every day to keep the seeds from sticking together. Shaking the sack also promotes even drying.
Allow the seeds to dry for at least two weeks or until the seeds are completely dry. To check for dryness, press your fingernail into a seed. A dry seed will crack or break. If the seeds aren't dry, check again in two more weeks. Seeds that aren't completely dry are likely to rot.
Pour the contents of the sack on a shallow dish or tray and use tweezers to pick out the leaves and other plant debris.
Place the seeds in a paper envelope. Write the date and type of seeds on the envelope. Never store seeds in plastic, as the seeds may mold.
Store the envelope in a cool, dry, dark location until spring.
Things You Will Need
- String or yarn
- Scissors or garden shears
- Paper sack
- Shallow dish or tray
- Paper envelope
- Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:cdcd5a60-82f9-4ea1-aa13-38c1869d42db> | {
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CSS Font Color Property
Today we are going to discuss Text Color Property in CSS with you. In the previous post we have explained the CSS background property to you. Now we are going to discuss another very important part of the website designing and it is the CSS font color property. There will be no website on the internet that has no text in it. In fact without text you can’t make a website. The text is that important for a website and styling the text is very important as well. The colors are set for three different properties. The CSS border-color property and the CSS background-color property we have discussed them earlier.
CSS Color Syntax
border-color: #efefef;//color set for the border
background-color: red;//color for the background
color: rgb(255, 230, 0);//the text color property in CSS
The third line of code is used for the color of the contents of an element. Some people refer them as foreground colors. The CSS font color property or text color property in CSS can be set in various ways. You can set the color values by the color names that are more than 150 color key words supported by the CSS. It was limited to about 16 color key words in the older CSS. It is the CSS3 that has the extended color support. It has the SVG 1.0 color key word support added now.
Hexadecimal Notation for color
The color key word hasn’t got a very wide variety of colors options. The hexadecimal notation has got a very wide variety of colors to select. It is another way of defining the rgb colors. These are represented with three pairs of values for red, green and blue values.
In the above color representation we have used the hexadecimal representation. The representation has 3a for red color, ef for the green color value and 5b for the blue color value. The representation can be expressed in short notation as well. The rule for the short notation for hexadecimal is that the pairs should be made of similar values. The code #cccccc can be written as #ccc in shorthand notation.
CSS Color Property Values With rgb
The other notation that can be used to define a color in CSS is the rgb value. See the following line of code that how we can set the rgb values.
color: rgb(233, 245, 255);
color: rgb(20%, 40%, 100%);
As you see that the values can be set with simple integer values from 0-255 or you can use the percentage value using the % sign.
HSL Model for CSS Color Property Values
This is the new method introduced in CSS3. HSL stands for Hue, Saturation and Lightness. The Hue of a color is represented as an angle on the color wheel and it ranges from 0-360. The red is 360, green is 120 and blue is 240 and other colors are found in between these values. The saturation is represents the amount of the color. The value 100% means that it is fully saturated and the 0% means the gray scale. The lightness tells that how much bright or dark the color is and it ranges from 0% to 100%. The 0% is the black and 100% means full bright. The browser support for the method is not widely supported as it is new to CSS.
How to use HSL Color Scheme
The HSL color scheme is used as the rgb scheme. See the code below:
background-color: hsl(120,100%,50%);/* green color for background */
See list of HTML color codes with HSL, HSV, RGB and HEX codes. | <urn:uuid:f67c4a20-28e4-4cf1-9a99-79397f1645ef> | {
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Human nature concepts and explaining human behavior
Alexander Bird (University of Bristol)
Stephen Downes (University of Utah)
Moderated by Academy professor Uskali Mäki
AID is the forum for interdisciplinary conversation coordinated by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, University of Helsinki. For the very idea and the programme, see www.helsinki.fi/tint/aid.htm. For further information, please contact Pekka Mäkelä, [email protected].
TOPIC OF THE SESSION:
Philosophers of biology and evolutionary biologists have expressed skepticism about human nature concepts. David Hull summarized some of these concerns and elaborated on them in his 1986 paper “On Human Nature”. Hull argues here that human nature is an essentialist notion and has no explanatory use. Human nature is still appealed to by anthropologists and psychologists and several philosophers have recently re-examined the notions of human nature appealed to in these fields.
Philosophers such as Edouard Machery and Richard Samuels defend the notions of human nature that they find appealed to by social scientists. Both philosophers maintain that the notions of human nature that they delineate avoid the charge of essentialism presented by Hull and others.
Some, such as Timothy Lewens and Grant Ramsey, still maintain that these recently delineated notions of human nature are flawed. They point out that these new human nature concepts do not do well in the face of human variation.
Ramsey, along with Paul Griffiths and Elizabeth Cashdan, proposes a concept of human nature that is supposed to encompass human variation. Ramsey proposes and defends a highly encompassing notion of human nature, which is that human nature consists of all the possible life histories of all humans.
There is still room for much discussion on the viability of human nature concepts. In this session we will introduce some of the challenges the various human nature concepts confront and guide discussion on these topics.
1. Are there defensible human nature concepts? / Is there a defensible human nature concept?
2. Are human nature concepts explanatorily useful?
3. Do human nature concepts adequately confront human variation?
4. Can any human nature concepts help explain human variation? | <urn:uuid:1dd197db-b56b-49f8-b0e6-d75ecb58ea0e> | {
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We can replace your teeth with dentures, dental bridges and dental implants.
Dentures are removable false teeth that offer a natural-looking and affordable solution to gaps in your smile. A partial denture can replace just a few lost teeth and a complete denture can be used to restore a whole set of missing teeth.
The ‘teeth’ part of the denture are usually made from acrylic (or porcelain) and mounted on a plate made from a metal alloy, acrylic or nylon. Modern materials mean dentures now look much more realistic and offer a comfortable way to replace teeth.
- Your soft tissues, gums and bone will be thoroughly assessed to ensure they are healthy.
- Accurate impressions of your mouth will be taken so a model can be produced and checked for fit and comfort.
- When the final set of dentures are ready, you will come in for your final fitting.
- During a follow up appointment, we will check your dentures are settling in well.
It can take a little while to get used to new dentures as eating and speaking may be a little tricky at first. You may also notice an increase in saliva but this should soon subside as your mouth gets used to the replacement teeth.
Dental bridges are an effective and natural-looking way to replace one or more missing teeth. They are usually made from a combination of porcelain and precious metals, and consist of two crowns, positioned either side of a false tooth, which slot over the teeth adjacent to a gap (the abutment teeth). As well as being fixed over natural teeth, they can also be supported by dental implants.
The most obvious benefit of bridges is the way they restore an incomplete smile but they can also improve eating, speaking, your ‘bite’ and the contours of your face, and they can help keep your existing teeth firmly in place.
- The abutment teeth are prepared by removing a layer of enamel so the crowns can be comfortably accommodated.
- Impressions are taken of the teeth so the bridge can be tailor-made to fit.
- After the bridge has been produced in a laboratory, it is fixed in position with dental cement.
If bridges are well looked after, and that includes keeping the surrounding teeth healthy so they can provide a solid foundation, they should last for years.
Dental implants are an effective, long-lasting way to replace one or more missing teeth, and can offer an alternative to dentures. They can improve how you eat and speak, prevent shrinkage of the jawbone, and keep existing teeth firmly in place.
Implants are titanium posts that are surgically placed in the jawbone to act just like tooth roots. These posts eventually fuse with the bone, providing a firm foundation for a crown or bridge.
- We carry out a full assessment of your general health, how your teeth fit together, your oral health and the density of your jaw bone. If we discover you have insufficient bone volume for implants, you may need a grafting procedure to allow for successfully placement of the implants.
- If you are a suitable candidate, the titanium posts are surgically placed in the bone.
- Over a few months, the implants will bond with the bone as titanium is very well-tolerated by the body.
- Once settled in and fully healed, we can fit replacement teeth to the now firmly positioned implants.
You need to maintain good oral hygiene following treatment to ensure your implants remain trouble-free. If well looked after, with a regular brushing and flossing routine, they can last for over 15 years.
1 Hyde Green South | <urn:uuid:1fb4604d-fc14-471f-a5b5-94f0abe543f1> | {
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Hats are pretty simple to knit once you know the basics. Usually a 16 inch circular needle is used (or smaller for infant / baby size). The size will depend on the weight of the yarn. Hats usually also require the same size DPN’s (double-pointed needles).
The cast on number will also depend on the weight of the yarn as well as hat size. Hats are fairly stretchy so this can be tricky. The Craftsy site has advice for figuring out the cast on, by creating a swatch. OR… look at the Simple Hat Calculator at the EarthGuild site – I don’t think it’s so simple really.
Jogless Knitting Stripes
When stripes are made, or more than one color used separately, here is a tip for keeping the color lines even. This is called jogless knitting. This video also shows how to remove the gap that forms while doing so. I really need to learn to do this!
The video below gives some good advice for creating a nice ribbed cuff, which is a popular way to begin a hat, whether it’s a k1,p1 or k2,p2 rib. The pink baby hat below has a k1, p1 rib.
Making a Nice Ribbed Cuff When Beginning a Hat
In the video you will see how to cast on the correct number of stitches for a long tail cast on, knitting in the round and making knits and purls look even, and finishing (weaving in) the tail.
Once you reach the desired height for the hat, it’s time to begin to decrease stitches to round off the top. Patterns will do this in different ways, but usually after a few rounds DPN’s are needed because the stitches are fewer and will no longer fit on the circular needles.
I have added a “How to switch to DPN’s” video tutorial on the Snow Day hat page.
Usually once the stitches have been narrowed down to just a few left, the hat pattern will say to cut the yarn and weave it through the remaining stitches. Keep those stitches on the needles and use a tapestry needle to pull the yarn through every stitch. Then the end of yarn can be pushed down inside the hat to weave in.
More making hats for adults information can be found at the Dummies site.
Some hats look cute with a pom-pom, and I have linked to a tutorial for that.
Check out the helpful knit stitches tutorial page to learn some basic knitting stitches. | <urn:uuid:5d945929-530b-4c68-b776-1ea7d3f24401> | {
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By Beth King
In 1969, 60 to 100 peacock bass imported from Buga, Colombia, were introduced into a pond in Panama for sport fishing. Several individuals escaped. By the early 1970s, they colonized Gatun Lake, the reservoir forming the main channel of the Panama Canal. Forty-five years later, native fish populations in the lake still have not recovered according to a new Smithsonian report.
Peacock bass, Cichla monoculus, originally from the Amazon River and its tributaries, are voracious predators. They are considered delicious game fish and have been intentionally stocked for recreational and commercial fishing around the world.
In 1973, Thomas Zaret and Robert Paine, working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) field station on Barro Colorado Island, published a study in Science magazine showing that 60 percent of the native freshwater fish in Gatun Lake were extirpated after the accidental release. Their study was one of the first to demonstrate how devastating predator introductions can be and remains one of the most highly cited studies on this subject.
“Very few studies have examined the long-term outcome of an invasion by a predatory fish,” said Diana Sharpe, postdoctoral fellow in staff scientist Mark Torchin’s lab at STRI and at Canada’s McGill University. “This is the perfect place to test Zaret and Paine’s prediction that certain species would never return to the lake by repeating their study 45 years later.”
“Bob Paine passed away earlier this year, in his 80s,” Sharpe said. “I had the opportunity to correspond with him just a few months before his death, and he was very excited that someone was finally doing a follow-up. He kindly Fed-Exed a huge stack of unpublished data related to their original work…all the way to Panama!”
Sharpe teamed up with two Panamanian scientists, Luis Fernando De León, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts and research associate at INDICASAT-AIP in Panama, and Rigoberto González of STRI to capture fish in gill nets and beach seines. They photographed, weighed, measured and released most of the fish. Several fish of each species were preserved for reference.
“Seining was very tricky because it involves wading through the shallows dragging a heavy net,” Sharpe said. “The crocodile population in Gatun Lake has increased sharply since the 1970s. We had to abort our seining on more than one occasion after spotting crocs basking in the shallows. At one point, we actually caught a small croc and had to cut the net to release it.”
“Zaret and Paine recorded 12 native fish species in the Trinidad arm of Gatun Lake in 1972 before the peacock bass invasion reached that region of the lake,” Sharpe said. “We recaptured only three of those species after extensive seining. Our study shows that despite the appeal of peacock bass as a sport fish, the introduction of a novel apex predator can have dramatic and long-lasting impacts on native communities, even in diverse tropical communities, which are sometimes thought to be more resistant to invasion.”
Of the 1471 fish they netted in Gatun Lake, 25 were native freshwater species and 10 were freshwater-tolerant marine species, which must have migrated into the lakes through the canal locks. Several other exotic fish have also increased over time, including the Jaguar Cichlid, Parachromis managuesis, the Oscar, Astronotus ocellatus, and the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, not present in the lake in 1972.
As an additional way to test for predator effects, they also compared the fish communities in two invaded lakes, Gatun and Alajuela, with fish communities in Lake Bayano, where there are no peacock bass. Gatun and Alajuela were also invaded by the jaguar cichlid, sometime between 2004 and 2013. The abundance of native fish was much greater in Lake Bayano than in the lakes containing peacock bass, corroborating the pattern observed in Gatun Lake through time.
This is not the first case of an introduced fish doing away with the natives. Nile perch, Lates niloticus, released into Lake Victoria in Africa caused the presumed extinction of 250 endemic cichlid fish in the 1980s.
“This study illustrates the value of historical and long-term data collected at the Smithsonian in Panama,” Torchin said. “The comparison would not have been possible without Zaret and Paine’s work 45 years ago around Barro Colorado. We never know when we’re going to go back and use data from studies in the past, but in Panama we are lucky to have data on fish populations that goes back to Hildebrand and Meek’s studies as part of the Smithsonian’s Panama Biological Survey in 1910.” | <urn:uuid:03c5d84a-1bd5-45f9-96eb-ded3fc7a1a8e> | {
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Having read the first seven chapters of The Kite Runner (2003), you have probably started to get to know some of the important characters. Who is the protagonist? Who is the antagonist? Who is your favorite character and so forth…
A character sketch is a short description of a character based on what the book has told you so far. Remember that you get to know a character not just from descriptions the book makes of him/her, but also through actions, thoughts and conversations this character is shown to have.
Choose a character from The Kite Runner: Amir, Hassan, Baba, Ali, Rahim Khan, Assef, or someone else, and write a character sketch. Find quotations from the book to emphasize your points.
Example of the beginning of a character sketch. Amir is the narrator of the story. He lives in San Fransisco, but grew up in Kabul in the 1970s with his father, Baba, and servants Ali and Hassan. He has a complicated relationship with his father, “He’d close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups’ time with him” (p.4). Amir seems lonely, and it seems like his father wants very little to do with him, or takes little interest in him.” … and then it continues | <urn:uuid:d804c79e-ed80-411a-8abf-34a63c9ea0ee> | {
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Seasonal allergies can hit you without warning. If you’ve ever dealt with hay fever in the past, then you already know what you’re up against, but have you ever dealt with allergic conjunctivitis? This form of pink eye can go on for weeks without proper treatment and can cause a variety of symptoms.
So, can allergies cause eye discharge? Yes. For some people, allergies and eye discharge can go hand in hand, whether it’s caused by seasonal allergies, or an allergic reaction to something in the environment. Seasonal conjunctivitis is a common type of ocular allergy. It’s caused by an allergic reaction to pollen, which releases spores in the spring and summer months. The most prominent symptom is eye redness, but discharge is also common. If you normally experience allergies during the spring and summer, aside from eye discharge you may also deal with a runny nose, sore throat, and eye pain and headache, or dry eyes from time to time. Fortunately, with the right medication and a few home remedies, you can easily manage your seasonal allergies. However, those who have allergic pink eye that’s due to an environmental allergen may have a tough time identifying the culprit, which can make it almost impossible to manage symptoms.
An In-Depth Look at Allergies
An eye allergy can hit you when you least expect it. It occurs when an irritant makes contact with the conjunctiva, a very thin membrane that covers the inside of the eyelid and the eye itself. Just like with any type of allergy, an eye allergy will start when your immune system considers a certain substance an allergen.
So, what happens next? The immune system will produce immunoglobulin antibodies, which will travel to cells throughout the body and release chemicals that will cause an allergic reaction. With an eye allergy, this results in eyes that ache, feel tender, itch, water, and produce discharge. Swelling is also usually present. Seasonal allergies, which involves an allergic reaction to pollen, seem to be the most common, however, many people also experience an allergic reaction to mould spores as well. People that have a history of seasonal rhinitis may also notice that their symptoms tend to worsen the moment they step outdoors, especially on windy days.
But it’s not just allergens outdoors that can cause painful red, irritated eyes. Allergens can also be found indoors in the form of pet dander and dust mites.
The many symptoms associated with an eye allergy can be very distressing since they can be hard to mask. It can also be very embarrassing in the workplace if you’re trying to hide eye discharge and swelling. But unlike the bacterial, or viral pink eye, this form of pink eye is not contagious. Yet it shares many of the same symptoms as that of the highly contagious form of pink eye, which is one of the many reasons it can be so stressful to go about your normal day to day routine.
Perennial Allergic Conjunctivitis
This type of pink eye can occur year-round. As I mentioned, it’s due to an allergic reaction to something present in the environment, including:
- Pet dander
- Air freshener
- Essential oils
- Cleaning products
And other allergens. The symptoms are much milder than seasonal pink eye but tend to also include eye swelling, irritation, discharge, and itchiness. If you are experiencing more than one of the symptoms listed above, especially discharge or swelling, then you should make an appointment with your primary care physician or optometrist for an assessment.
In the past, there wasn’t much to be done to treat seasonal allergies. Instead of medicated eye drops and oral medication, people had to rely on hot compresses to find relief. These days, there are several treatment options available, such as:
Treatment options are often based on how severe or mild your symptoms are. Histamines are the most common symptom associated with seasonal allergies, which is why antihistamine use can be very effective in minimizing or eliminating the symptoms altogether. You may still deal with certain allergy symptoms runny as watery eyes and a runny nose, however, in comparison, these symptoms will be very mild. To learn how to better manage your symptoms be sure to read my guide on how to relieve watery eyes.
An Accurate Diagnosis
For an accurate diagnosis, most physicians will recommend skin testing if they are unable to pinpoint the cause of conjunctivitis. Seasonal and bacterial pink eye are easy enough to diagnose, but allergic conjunctivitis can be tricky, especially since most people tend to develop an allergic response to pet dander or dust, over time.
In order to rule out certain conditions, your eye health specialist may perform some of the following tests:
Using a special type of microscope called a slit lamp, the physician will examine the front of your eyes, searching for eyelid swelling, conjunctival swelling, and dilated blood vessels. These are all indications that the underlying cause of your eye irritation is due to an allergic response.
In severe cases, the physician may need to check for eosinophils. This is done by scraping the conjunctiva. Eosinophils is a white blood cell that’s associated with allergies.
The allergy specialist may also perform other types of tests that can help to identify the root cause of the allergic reaction. This will usually involve a finger prick test. Other blood work may be needed to test for certain types of allergic antibodies.
Minimizing your exposure to these allergens can significantly improve symptoms, however, eliminating exposure can clear up any symptoms completely, but this isn’t always possible.
Different Types of Eye Drops
Over the counter and prescription drops can be used to treat this type of allergy. Drops that are available by prescription only can provide long or short term relief of symptoms. If you’ve been dealing with your allergies for more than a period of two weeks with no relief from over the counter medications, then it’s time to make an appointment with an allergist.
A child can also be treated with prescription or over the counter medications. Products such as artificial tears are generally safe for children of all ages, just as long as they’re preservative-free. Some types of drops, such as the antihistamine drops can only be used in children over the ages of two or three. To learn more, click here to read my article on what causes eye discharge in babies.
Artificial tears: These drops work by washing allergens out of the eyes while helping to keep them moist and protected. This is especially important after the eyes have become red, dry, and irritated. These drops can also be kept in your fridge for a boost in relief. My guide to red eyes can explain further, regarding other ways you can instantly reduce redness and irritation.
Decongestants: This is another popular treatment option since it’s fast-acting and can provide immediate relief. These drops will minimize discharge and redness as they quickly and efficiently reduce the size of the blood vessels in the eyes. You can also find decongestant drops that contain antihistamines for twice the allergy-fighting power. These drops should not be used for longer than seventy-two hours since ongoing use can cause what is referred to as the rebound effect. When this occurs, you’ll notice an increase in symptoms that can last for several days after you’ve ceased using the drops. This also occurs with decongestant nasal drops.
Antihistamines in oral form: Always be careful when using antihistamines since they can worsen symptoms in some people. They can also cause certain side effects such as drowsiness or dizziness.
Antihistamine drops: In drop form, antihistamines tend to be more effective, since they don’t have to first go through the digestive tract, then the liver, before they’re released into the bloodstream. Instead, you’ll apply them directly to the affected area, for immediate relief from itching and irritation.
NSAID drops: These drops can help with swelling and itching. However, they can cause a slight burning sensation that some people will find unpleasant.
If you’re dealing with a serious eye allergy, your doctor may opt for more aggressive treatment in the form of mast cell stabilizers or steroids.
Mast cell stabilizers: These drops have the ability to cause changes to occur in cells in the body that contain histamines. However, this type of treatment may take several days or weeks before you experience the full effects. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, your doctor may prescribe the drug several weeks before allergy season is expected to hit. This means the medication will be in full effect just in time for spring.
Corticosteroid drops: These drops can be prescribed to provide faster relief. However, they aren’t the go-to treatment for eye allergies since prolonged use can cause cataracts and glaucoma.
How to Determine if You’re Really Dealing with Allergies
While both bacterial pink eye and allergic conjunctivitis are two very different things, they do have some of the same symptoms, which is what can make your condition difficult to diagnose. The symptoms for both allergies and bacterial pink eye can look the same. Both will cause eye discharge, tearing eyes, and redness. The difference between the two all boils down to the root cause of the conjunctiva inflammation. Allergic conjunctivitis is caused by a variety of irritants including exposure to chemicals, pet dander, or pollen. Your doctor should be able to determine which type of pink eye you have by learning more about your medical history and examining your eyes.
With allergic conjunctivitis, the eyes will feel tender and itchy. The person affected may also have that classic gritty feeling in the eye, with some swelling present. A runny nose and sneezing are also common. However, this can also be caused by viral conjunctivitis which presents much in the same way that allergic conjunctivitis does, however, it can resolve on its own in just a few days. To learn more, you can read my guide on can a cold cause eye discharge.
Bumps on the eyelids can also indicate seasonal allergies, however, the bumps can also be mistaken for styes. Styes are unsightly bumps that are painful, and inflamed. You may only have one bump, or you can have dozens covering your eyelids. While these growths don’t look very pleasant, they’re not exactly life-threatening. Fortunately, in most cases, these bumps will go away on their own, without medical treatment. That is, as long as a secondary infection doesn’t occur. An experienced physician will be able to determine papillae from styes. Papillaes are bumps that often indicate allergies and are found under the eyelids. These bumps can also be very uncomfortable and can be responsible for that gritty feeling in the eyes that some people experience during allergy season.
Blepharitis is an eye condition that can easily be misdiagnosed as allergies because it shares many of the same signs and symptoms. However, this condition primarily affects the eyelids. Discharge is usually present and can cause the eyes to become crusted shut during the night. Crust can often be found stuck to the eyelashes as well. This condition is caused by inflammation found at the very base of the eyelashes.
Unfortunately, chronic blepharitis is the most common form and it can flare up without warning. Treatment often consists of washing the eyes two to three times daily for several days and using artificial tears and hot compresses until symptoms subside. If you’re dealing with the chronic form of blepharitis, click here to read my guide on how to get rid of blepharitis for good.
Discharge-Can Allergies Cause Yellow Discharge?
The answer is yes. Discharge due to allergies is usually yellow or white in color. It can range from mild to severe, causing you to frequently wipe your eyes to prevent blurred vision. Using hot compresses can help to cut down on discharge production and can even help to reduce any swelling that’s present.
But what is eye discharge exactly? It’s a combination of skin cells, oil, and mucus that accumulates in and around the eyes during sleep. Discharge is usually crusty, sticky, and wet. Eye discharge, which is also called rheum, removes waste and harmful debris from the eyes as we sleep. Did you know that the eyes actually produce mucus around the clock? However, a continuous film of tears will cleanse the eyes whenever you blink, working to flush out the mucus before it is able to harden.
When we sleep, the discharge is able to collect and dry, since the tears cannot wash away the rheum since we don’t blink when we sleep. This is where the term sleep in your eyes comes from. Most types of discharge produced by the eyes consist of meibum, which is an oily substance that comes from the meibomian glands, and a watery, thin mucus that’s made by the conjunctiva.
When Discharge is Not Normal
While it’s normal to wake up with some crust in the eyes and lashes, an excessive amount can indicate allergies or an infection, especially if the discharge is yellow or green in color. Pain, light sensitivity, and blurry vision can also be indicative of allergies or an infection. So, while eyes that are slightly crusted in the morning shouldn’t set off any alarms, if you notice a change in the color of the discharge, or your eyes are crusted shut, then you will need to make an appointment with your physician to determine if you’re dealing with allergies or an infection.
You can use a warm compress over your eyes to help relieve some itchiness and discomfort, while also removing built-up discharge. If you wake in the morning with your eyelids crusted together, use a hot wet washcloth to gently soften up and remove the dried on discharge, doing so carefully can prevent further irritation.
Eye Allergies Pain
You don’t hear about it as often as the discharge, but pain can also be a symptom of allergies. With the eyes, pain can take the form of a dull ache, throbbing, or pressure, in or around the eyes. The eyes can also become very tender from rubbing or wiping since the skin around the eyes is already tender and somewhat inflamed. Typically, an over the counter pain medication, such as acetaminophen, should be enough to manage this type of pain. Additionally, learning how to soothe irritated skin around the eyes and eyelids can also help to minimize pain and discomfort. Aloe vera gel, coconut oil, or even Vaseline, can help to protect the sensitive skin around the eyes from further irritation and damage.
In some cases, when the pain is severe and accompanied by swelling, tearing, discharge, and redness, there is something more serious going on than an infection or allergies. In this case, medical treatment should be sought immediately.
Eyes that constantly itch can be pretty maddening. Rubbing or scratching at your eyes can worsen symptoms, increase their overall itchiness, and can even damage the eyes. Fortunately, if itching is the main symptom you’re dealing with then there are a few home remedies you can try that have a reputation for being effective in mild to moderate cases. If your symptoms are severe enough to affect your vision or impact your day to day life then make sure you make an appointment with your doctor.
Over the counter eye drops can help to reduce itchy eyes, especially if they contain antihistamines. However, for milder cases, plain artificial tears can also help.
A cold compress three to four times a day can help soothe the eyes and relieve itching. To do, use a clean wet washcloth and place it over your eyes for ten to twenty minutes. This treatment can be repeated as often as needed.
Itchy eyes will not last very long and often resolve on their own. However, you should see your doctor if:
- You have a gritty feeling in your eyes
- Swelling is present
- Your vision is affected
- Itching is accompanied by pain
Scratching and rubbing your eyes will not only worsen symptoms, but it can also damage the delicate skin around and under the eyes. This is especially true in men and women over the age of forty who use anti-aging products that can actually make this skin even more sensitive. Read my guide on how to get rid of wrinkles under your eyes when you smile. This guide will discuss how to safely treat aging skin and improve its firmness and texture, without causing eye irritation.
How to Stop Watery Eyes from Allergies
Do you know how to relieve watery eyes? Since allergies are pretty common these days, there are many over the counter drops to choose from that are specifically designed to reduce tearing caused by allergies. If your symptoms are mild, you can get by with some over the counter drops for some fast relief. These drops work really well and can be reapplied every two hours. They’re also a more affordable solution to prescription eye drops.
However, if you’re dealing with severe symptoms, swelling, irritation on and around the eyes due to constant tearing and discharge, then it may be time to make an appointment with your physician. Your doctor will prescribe stronger medication that can help you get the tearing under control, reduce the itchiness and swelling, and allow you to get on with your day.
If the treatments listed above are not effective in treating your conjuncitivitis then your doctor may prescribe immunotherapy. This will require you to see an allergy specialist who will inject you with allergens in order to help you build up an immunity, gradually. This can work to significantly reduce the severity of your allergic reactions.
This condition can cause severe changes in vision due to inflammation that occurs to both the cornea and the conjunctiva. This type of pink eye typically affects men more commonly than women. It’s also commonly found in people who have atopic dermatitis during their adolescence. This condition causes eye discharge, redness, and itchiness. The discharge is so significant that it can cause the eyelids to crust and scale. In some cases, the affected person may also become very sensitive to light and will develop very thick eyelids. Without treatment, permanent scarring can occur on the corneas because of the frequent scratching and rubbing that most people give into since this form of conjunctivitis is even more itchy and uncomfortable than bacterial or viral pink eye.
So what causes this type of pink eye, exactly? An allergic reaction to wheat, soy, milk, peanuts, and eggs can be to blame, as can certain airborne allergens such as pet dander and dust mites.
Treatment can consist of strong antihistamines to control the itching, as well as mast cell stabilizers and steroids. In severe cases, the affected person may contract a staph infection, which will worsen the symptoms. In this case, antibiotics would also be prescribed. In ten percent of cases, when left untreated, this type of pink eye resulted in cataract formation. In very rare cases, permanent blindness occurred.
Managing Your Allergies
You’ve read about the different types of pink eye, how eye allergies can affect you from day to day, and some of the common treatment options available. You now know there is a difference between indoor allergies and seasonal allergies, although both types share many of the same symptoms. So, now what?
The first step toward getting a handle on your allergies is obviously avoiding any type of allergen that can trigger the symptoms. In some cases, eliminating the offending allergen can be enough to get rid of symptoms, but for some people, pinpointing exactly what is causing this onset of symptoms can be almost impossible.
If you’re aware of what’s causing an allergic reaction, then you’re one step closer to getting the relief you deserve. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to make your home allergen-free. There are also some great tips and tricks you can follow that can help to reduce your seasonal allergy symptoms whether you’re dealing with hay fever or indoor allergens.
- If you’re dealing with seasonal allergies, try to stay inside as much as you can, especially when the pollen count is at a higher level than usual. This type of peak typically occurs around midmorning and at dusk. Of course, you’ll also want to avoid going outside on windy days.
- Never place a box fan in the window since this can draw in pollen and mold spores.
- When outside, always protect your eyes by wearing sunglasses. This can help to reduce the chances of pollen getting in your eyes.
- Avoid scratching and rubbing your eyes, which will only worsen the symptoms and irritation.
- If possible, only use air conditioning in your house or when you’re in the car. Avoid opening any windows.
- If you’re allergic to dust mites, purchase sheets, blankets, and pillowcases that are mite-proof. Your bedding should be washed in hot water once or twice weekly.
- If you’re allergic to mold spores then it’s crucial that you lower the humidity level in the home. You can purchase a dehumidifier and make sure you clean your kitchen and bathroom at least once a week. If you’re dealing with visible mold in the home then use a mixture of bleach and water to kill it. Just be sure that while doing so you wear a face mask and gloves.
- If you’re allergic to pet dander, then try to keep it outdoors as much as possible. If your animal is a strictly indoor pet then at the very least, do not allow it to sleep in bed with you or lay on the furniture. Always wash your hands after touching the pet and wash your clothes twice a week.
- Closing the air ducts to your bedroom can also help to cut down on the amount of pet dander that finds its way into your personal space.
- Instead of carpet in the home, if you’re dealing with a pet dander allergy, opt for tile, vinyl, or hardwood flooring.
- If the allergist has identified dust mites as the culprit, you can use a dehumidifier to lower the humidity levels in the home since mites tend to thrive in humid environments.
- Use a HEPA filter
- Bathe your pets one to two times a week depending on the season. Shedding season your pet should be bathed more often.
- If mold in the home is causing an allergic response insure that there is no standing water or water leaks, especially in your basement.
Since the majority of allergens that can worsen symptoms are airborne, it can be difficult to avoid them. Speak with your physician to determine what treatment will work the best for you and what other steps you can take to prevent another episode.
Eye allergies that are accompanied by discharge, swelling, itching, redness, and general irritation, can make your life miserable and can significantly impact your productivity at home and at work. While in some instances, it can be almost impossible to avoid triggers, by following some of the tips here, you can make life more manageable. Seeking treatment is always recommended, especially if you’re dealing with an unknown allergen in the home. Seasonal allergies are much easier to manage in the sense that many over the counter and prescription medications can help to reduce or even eliminate certain symptoms, whereas environmental allergens can be more difficult to pinpoint and manage. By meeting with your doctor for an assessment you can learn what you can do reduce symptoms associated with allergies, and what types of treatment can help to prevent flareups, in order to get back to your normal day to day life. | <urn:uuid:1f2ae6f2-5516-454e-9a28-f8a02462b683> | {
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A novel approach can allow the massive infrastructure powering cloud computing to run as much as 15 to 20 percent more efficiently.
To show it, Google has already applied this model, said computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, and Google.
Computer scientists looked at a range of Google web services, including Gmail and search. They used a unique approach to develop their model. Their first step was to gather live data from Google’s warehouse-scale computers as they were running in real time. Their second step was to conduct experiments with data in a controlled environment on an isolated server. The two-step approach was key, said Lingjia Tang and Jason Mars, faculty members in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.
“These problems can seem easy to solve when looking at just one server,” said Mars. “But solutions do not scale up when you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of servers.”
The work is one example of the research Mars and Tang are pursuing at the Clarity Lab at the Jacobs School, their newly formed research group. Clarity is an acronym for Cross-Layer Architecture and Runtimes.
“If we can bridge the current gap between hardware designs and the software stack and access this huge potential, it could improve the efficiency of web service companies and significantly reduce the energy footprint of these massive-scale data centers,” Tang said.
Researchers sampled 65 K of data every day over a three-month span on one of Google’s clusters of servers, which was running Gmail. When they analyzed that data, they found the application was running significantly better when it accessed data located nearby on the server, rather than in remote locations. But they also knew the data they gathered was noisy because of other processes and applications running on the servers at the same time. They used statistical tools to cut through the noise. But they had to do more experiments.
Next, computer scientists went on to test their findings on one isolated server, where they could control the conditions in which the applications were running. During those experiments, they found data location was important, but competition for shared resources within a server, especially caches, also played a role.
“Where your data is versus where your apps are matters a lot,” Mars said. “But it’s not the only factor.” Servers come equipped with multiple processors, which in turn can have multiple cores. Random-access memory is on to each processor, allowing quick access to data regardless of where it is. However, if an application running on a certain core is trying to access data from another core, the application is going to run more slowly. And this is where the researchers’ model comes in.
“It’s an issue of distance between execution and data,” Tang said. Based on these results, computer scientists developed a novel metric, called the NUMA score, which can determine how well random-access memory ends up allocated in warehouse-scale computers. Optimizing the NUMA score can lead to 15 to 20 percent improvements in efficiency. Improvements in the use of shared resources could yield even bigger gains—a line of research Mars and Tang are pursuing in other work. | <urn:uuid:664975b8-4138-4429-beb2-0bd03f1ae508> | {
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Apush dbq great depression
Apush dbq 2004
She really transformed the position of First Lady. Okay, how about race? First, and very serious, Negro sharecroppers and cash tenants would be left out. Okay, what about class? However, it was considered so revolutionary and redefining that it sparked extreme debate. Some claimed that "the authority of the federal government may not be pushed to such an extreme Document F. The Great Depression was a time of opportunity and danger, and the people of the United States met the challenge and seized the opportunity Correct Answer: C; Kennedy argues that because certain events happened in tandem at the same time , national history needs to be understood in the context of global events. More from Magoosh. Answer: The correct answer is D. Purpose: Why was this document created? Because, the United States didn't give up capitalism. Now, this is one of two main essays that are on the exam. For example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Francis Perkins, the first ever cabinet secretary who was a woman.
This is not English class! What is the New Deal? Therefore this population is left out from the old-age annuity, and that represents approximatelyNegroes.
We recall that the New Deal was this series of programs implemented by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration, to try to combat the Great Depression. This differed with the Roosevelt administration as they used different tactics and programs to try and combat the Great Depression.
WPA- Created jobs for millions of unemployed people construction roads, hospitals, post offices, parks, and many other projects.
In the administration submitted a reorganization plan that many saw as an attempt to give more power to the president. It was mostly administrators at the local level who might have prevented African-Americans from reaping those benefits.
It contained a real alphabet soup of agencies which aimed at trying to get work to Americans.
One is based on documents that are provided to you and the other is based on your own knowledge of the subject. Now, let's ask ourselves, whether in each of these themes, the New Deal was something that was radical or something that was conservative?
Great depression dbq prompts
Well, I think there's a good argument to be made that government was conservative in this time period. The social security program further defined the government's new role as an insurer of the public welfare. Because of the Great Depression the role of the Federal Government changed. In most cases, the economic pressure of the Great Depression meant that many people who are minorities, many women actually lost their jobs because of a racist idea that White men were more deserving of those jobs. There must be a return to a belief in the pledged word, in the value of a signed treaty. In the administration submitted a reorganization plan that many saw as an attempt to give more power to the president. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. More from Magoosh. From the Stanford History Education Group. Somewhere in between. What outcome is desired? And, also to try to make sure that something like this never happened again. So that's what these questions are about and how you should go about answering them.
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By Chris Ebright
EMS responds to a local convenience store for a 24-year-old male having a seizure. The patient presents lying on the floor supine and convulsing in a tonic-clonic motion. He is unresponsive to verbal commands, and there is blood oozing from his mouth. A friend who accompanied the patient states that both of them had been drinking all day while binge-watching old episodes of Game of Thrones. When they arrived at the carryout to purchase more beer, the patient complained that the lights in the store were bothering his eyes. Almost immediately after saying that, he suddenly collapsed. The friend caught the patient and lowered him slowly down to the floor, where he immediately began shaking. The shaking has been ongoing now for over ten minutes. According to the friend, similar events have occurred this past year since the patient was in a motorcycle accident and hurt his head. Initial vital signs reveal ventilations 30/minute, shallow and gurgling; pulse 112/minute and regular; blood pressure is unobtainable; pulse oximetry 91 percent on room air; blood glucose 134 mg/dL; skin is diaphoretic and warm to the touch.
What is a Seizure?
A seizure is a sudden attack from abnormal electrical discharges within the brain that produces various physical manifestations (convulsions, sensory disturbances, alterations of consciousness).1 There are many types of seizures, which range in severity, and vary by where and how they begin in the brain. Most seizures last from thirty seconds to two minutes but can last much longer. A seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, or a patient having more than one seizure within five minutes without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes, is called status epilepticus.2 This rare condition is more common in young children and elderly adults and can lead to permanent brain damage or death.
Seizures are classified into two groups: Generalized seizures and Focal seizures (also known as partial seizures). Generalized seizures are a result of abnormal neuronal activity that rapidly emerges on both sides of the brain, while focal seizures originate in just one part of the brain. Focal seizures are frequently described by the area of the brain in which they originate (frontal lobe, temporal lobe, etc.) and about sixty percent of patients with epilepsy have focal seizures.3 Be aware that not all seizures can be easily defined as either focal or generalized. Some patients have seizures that begin as focal seizures but then spread to the entire brain.
- Absence seizures: Termed also as petit-mal seizures, these often occur in children. It may cause the patient to stare blankly into space and appear to have become temporarily disconnected from reality. These seizures may occur multiple times throughout a day and induce subtle body movements, such as eye-blinking or lip-smacking.
- Tonic seizures: These seizures cause stiffening of the back, arms and legs muscles. They usually last less than twenty seconds and often happen during sleep. However, if a patient is standing up at the time, he or she can lose their balance and fall. This seizure is more common in patients who have a specific type of epilepsy.
- Atonic seizures: They are also called drop seizures and cause a loss of normal muscle tone, which often causes a patient to fall or drop their head involuntarily. This presentation appears similar to a marionette having its strings cut. Because of the risk of falling, patients who tend to have atonic seizures may be wearing a helmet when you arrive on scene.
- Clonic seizures: Characterized by repeated jerking movements of muscles on both sides of the body, usually affecting the neck, face, and arms.
- Tonic-Clonic seizures: Also known as grand-mal seizures, these cause a combination of symptoms; including a sudden loss of consciousness, body stiffening and shaking, and sometimes loss of bladder and/or bowel control. Additionally, the patient may bite their tongue or cheek, and a posterior head injury may be discovered during a physical exam.
- Myoclonic seizures: These usually manifest as sudden, brief jerks or twitches of the arms and legs, as if the patient had been shocked. As an example, he or she may suddenly throw both hands into the air. Typically, there is no loss of consciousness.
- Simple focal seizures: A small part of the brain is affected. These seizures may cause twitching of the fingers, arms or legs and make a patient smell, hear, feel or taste something strange. They may also see flashes of light, become acutely nauseous, dizzy or diaphoretic, but do not lose consciousness. The patient may experience sudden and unexplainable feelings of joy, anger, or sadness as well.
- Complex focal seizures: The part of the patient’s brain that controls emotion and memory evokes these type of seizure. Unlike simple focal seizures, the patient will have a change of consciousness or awareness. They may display strange, repetitious behaviors such as eye- blinking, lip-smacking, hand-rubbing, mouth movements (chewing or swallowing), or even continuously walk in a circle. These repetitive movements are called automatisms.
Signs and symptoms of focal seizures may be confused with other neurological disorders, such as migraine, narcolepsy or mental illness. Some patients with focal seizures may experience auras – unusual sensations that warn of an impending seizure. These auras are usually focal seizures without interruption of awareness (e.g., dejà vu).3
Seizure causes and management
The most common cause of seizures is epilepsy, but not every patient who has a seizure has epilepsy. Other causes include: hypoxia; hypoglycemia; renal or liver failure; high fever, which can be associated with an infection such as meningitis; sleep deprivation; specific pain relievers/antidepressants/smoking cessation therapies; head trauma; stroke; brain tumor; abuse of illegal or recreational drugs; alcohol withdrawal or extreme intoxication.4 The physical exam can be helpful to distinguish an actual seizure from other causes of loss of consciousness with convulsions. Specifically, lateral tongue biting and urinary incontinence are more suggestive of an actual seizure than a syncopal event.7 Always follow an organized approach to rule out all possible causes and don’t let past medical history lead you to a premature diagnosis.
It’s crucial to treat seizures symptomatically and protect patients from injuries that may occur during seizure activity.5 If the seizure is post-trauma or fall, the cervical spine and airway should be managed with a chin-lift and jaw-thrust until a cervical collar can be applied. This applies to all patients found at the bottom of the stairs or whenever a fall from height is suspected. Maintain the airway by suctioning, as needed, and turning the patient on his or her side to avoid airway obstruction by the tongue. Patients should be protected from harm by keeping them from sharp objects and possibly falling off an unsafe surface.
A reversible cause should be remedied specific to its etiology, along with basic and advanced interventions to attain and maintain adequate oxygenation, ventilation, and circulation. An infection where the patient can be treated with antibiotics or the hypoglycemic patient that can be administered glucose via an appropriate route are examples. Non-reversible causes, in addition to the initial appropriate care, need to be managed with anticonvulsant drugs such as lorazepam, diazepam, or midazolam via the intramuscular, intravenous or intranasal route. Keep in mind, these drugs don’t cure seizures or epilepsy, but rather work to control these conditions. Regardless, the highest priority is to stop the seizure activity. Respiratory depression is a side effect of benzodiazepines, which can be detected immediately when monitoring waveform capnography. Assist ventilation with a bag-valve mask if respiratory depression occurs, and titrate ventilation rate and tidal volume to maintain an EtCO2 between 35 and 45 mm Hg.6
The patient’s airway is suctioned, and a properly-sized nasopharyngeal airway is easily placed in the patient’s right nostril. Oxygen is administered via a non-rebreather mask at an initial rate of fifteen liters per minute to attempt to attain a pulse oximetry level higher than 94 percent. Despite the oxygen, the patient continues to seize, and intravenous access is temporarily unattainable. The decision is made to administer ten milligrams of midazolam by the intramuscular route, as per protocol guidelines. The seizure stops almost instantly following administration, and the patient becomes postictal with a Glasgow Coma Score of seven. Peripheral intravenous access is attained, and blood pressure of 88/50 is auscultated. Fluid boluses of 250 milliliters normal saline are infused to correct the hypovolemia, and the patient is positioned left lateral recumbent on the ambulance cot. The patient is placed in the ambulance for transport, and seven minutes later his GCS score improves to 13, still very lethargic and drowsy. Blood sugar is rechecked, reading 112 mg/dL. He now has a pulse of 102 beats per minute, breathing at 18 times per minute – still tolerating the nasal airway, and has a SpO2 of 97 percent. The remainder of the transport is unremarkable. He is admitted for overnight observation and is released in the morning with no neurological deficits additional to his underlying history.
- “seizure.” Merriam-Webster.com. 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seizure (5 May 2019).
- Status Epilepticus. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/status-epilepticus.
- What are the different kinds of seizures? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Hope-Through-Research/Epilepsies-and-Seizures-Hope-Through#3109_10.
- Seizures (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seizure/symptoms-causes/syc-20365711.
- Edgerly, D. (2011, August 2). Patient Presents with a Seizure. Retrieved from https://www.jems.com/articles/2011/08/patient-presents-seizure.html.
- Sullivan, B. (2016, June 13). 3 things paramedics need to know about seizures and respiratory compromise. Retrieved from https://www.ems1.com/capnography/articles/99193048-3-things-paramedics-need-to-know-about-seizures-and-respiratory-compromise/
- Dingle, H.E., Slovis, C. (2017, April 10). Guidelines for Treatment of Prolonged Seizures in Children and Adults. Retrieved from https://www.jems.com/articles/print/volume-42/issue-4/features/guidelines-for-treatment-of-prolonged-seizures-in-children-and-adults.html.
About the Author
Chris Ebright is an Education Coordinator with the National EMS Academy, managing all aspects of initial paramedic education for Acadian Companies, Inc. in the Covington, Louisiana area. He has been a Nationally Registered paramedic for 24 years, providing primary EMS response along with land and air critical care transportation. Chris has educated hundreds of first responders, EMT’s, paramedics, and nurses for 23 years with his trademark whiteboard artistry sessions. Among his former graduates is the first native paramedic from the Cayman Islands. Chris’ passion for education is currently featured as a monthly article contributor, published on the Limmer Education website. He has been a featured presenter at numerous local, state and national EMS conferences over the past 12 years, and enjoys traveling annually throughout the United States meeting EMS professionals from all walks of life. Chris is a self-proclaimed sports, movie and rollercoaster junkie and holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. He can be contacted via email at [email protected] or through his website www.christopherebright.com | <urn:uuid:28a67ae6-d354-415d-94af-90749d4045a4> | {
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Table of contents
About this book
The importance of power system reliability is demonstrated when our electricity supply is disrupted, whether it decreases the comfort of our free time at home or causes the shutdown of our companies and results in huge economic deficits.
The objective of Assessment of Power System Reliability is to contribute to the improvement of power system reliability. It consists of six parts divided into twenty chapters. The first part introduces the important background issues that affect power system reliability. The second part presents the reliability methods that are used for analyses of technical systems and processes. The third part discusses power flow analysis methods, because the dynamic aspect of a power system is an important part of related reliability assessments. The fourth part explores various aspects of the reliability assessment of power systems and their parts. The fifth part covers optimization methods. The sixth part looks at the application of reliability and optimization methods.
Assessment of Power System Reliability has been written in straightforward language that continues into the mathematical representation of the methods. Power engineers and developers will appreciate the emphasis on practical usage, while researchers and advanced students will benefit from the simple examples that can facilitate their understanding of the theory behind power system reliability and that outline the procedure for application of the presented methods. | <urn:uuid:6f4d375a-7de1-4aa4-bab9-b16f0c7f845c> | {
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A theater in Providence, Rhode Island is making an effort to get more people interested in Shakespeare, regardless of the language they speak. A touring production of Romeo and Juliet was performed in both English and Spanish. The theater first put on the play in Providence, where nearly 40 percent of the population is Latino. Listen to the story to hear the experiences of the director and actors to learn how putting on this production was a chance to showcase the culture of Latinos.
Story Length: 5:22
Socrative users can import these questions using the following code: SOC-1234 | <urn:uuid:49d5d33c-ca70-439c-8a84-2f6c7bf5af88> | {
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Linguistics has five core branches, and several interdisciplinary branches. The core branches are phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Interdisciplinary branches draw from linguistics and another field of knowledge. These interdisciplinary branches include sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, computational linguistics, lexicography, clinical linguistics, and forensic linguistics, to count but a few. In what follows, I will briefly define the core branches of linguistics.
Phonetics is the study of articulation, transmission and perception of speech sounds. Of all the sounds that the human vocal cords can produce, only the meaningful sounds which are critical to language are considered by phonetics. Phonetics studies sounds in all languages. Click here to join our phonetics course.
Phonology is the study of the sound patterns of a given language. Unlike phonetics, phonology is confined to a specific language, e.g. English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and so on. Interesting issues in phonology is the constraints which are imposed on the sound system of a given language. For instance, English permits /kr/ word initially, as in “cry”, but it cannot allow /kp/ word initially. Click here to join our phonology course.
Morphology is the study of word structure, i.e. how words are formed from morphemes. Morphemes are the building blocks of words, and they can be roots, prefixes, suffixes, infixes or circumfixes. Words are formed in a battery of ways, e.g. blending, coinage, clipping, backformation, compounding, and borrowing. Click here to join our free morphology course.
Syntax is the study of the structure of language. It begins where morphology ends. That is, syntax examines the structure of sentences. It does not stipulate how you should construct a sentence. No, that is the work of grammar books. Syntax examines how sentences are generated in the human brain. A very influential theory of syntax is that of Generativism, proposed and advocated by the well-known American linguist Noam Chomsky.
5. Semantics and pragmatics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It is involved with the surface meaning of words, sentences, passages, and texts. A sentence may be syntactically correct, but semantically meaningless. The famous sentence invented by Noam Chomsky is the best example of this:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
You can see that the above sentence is an accepted English sentence in terms of structure. However, it is meaningless. How come something is colorless and green in the same time? Semantics does not investigate the hidden meaning. For example,
You are very smart.
For semantics, it means that someone is very smart, and it is you and someone is asserting that you are very smart. However, think of this situation when you speak sarcastically to someone and you mean the opposite. In this case, you are leaving semantics to pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of the hidden meaning in language.
In conclusion, these core fields of linguistics may look independent. However, they are inter-related. Phonetics and phonology are closely related to each other. Morphology and syntax are also related to each other, and the term morpho-syntax denotes such relation. Semantics and pragmatics are closely related too. Things keep dwindling between the surface meaning and the hidden meaning. | <urn:uuid:646f755c-76e0-43ec-a921-6d9e454b1131> | {
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Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus Infection (Rhinitis) in Cats
Feline viral rhinotracheitis (FVR) is an upper respiratory infection of the nose and throat in cats. It is caused by, and also know as feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV-1). Cats of all ages are susceptible, but kittens are at a higher risk and may be infected at about five weeks of age. Pregnant cats or those suffering from a lowered immunity due to a pre-existing disease are also at higher risk.
Symptoms and Types
Some infected cats can remain without symptoms, yet act as carriers and spread the infection to other non-infected cats. The following symptoms may also be sporadic in a FHV-1 carrier:
- Sudden, uncontrollable attacks of sneezing
- Watery or pus containing nasal discharge
- Loss of sense of smell
- Spasm of the eyelid muscle resulting in closure of the eye (blepharospasm)
- Eye discharge
- Inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye (conjunctivitis)
- Keratitis (inflammation of the cornea causing watery painful eyes and blurred vision)
- Lack of appetite
- General malaise
- Loss of pregnancy
This condition is caused by an infection with the feline herpesvirus 1 infection. It is common in multicat households or animal kennels due to overcrowding. Poor ventilation, poor sanitation, poor nutrition, or physical or psychological stress are other important risk factors for acquiring FHV-1.
You will need to give a detailed history of your cat’s health, along with the onset and nature of the symptoms. Your veterinarian will perform a thorough physical exam to evaluate all body systems, and to evaluate the overall health of your cat. Routine tests include a complete blood count, biochemistry profile, and urinalysis. In some patients the complete blood count may reveal temporary low numbers of white blood cells (WBCs), termed as leukopenia, followed by an increase in the number of these cells, termed leukocytosis.
More advanced tests are available for the detection of FHV-1; your veterinarian can take samples of secretions from the nose and eyes of the cat to send to the laboratory for confirmation. Samples taken from the conjunctiva of the eye are stained to detect the intranuclear inclusion bodies -- the viruses that are present in the nucleus of the cells seen in some viral infections. X-rays are also helpful in determining changes in the nasal cavity, especially those due to chronic infections.
Broad spectrum antibiotics will be prescribed for the prevention or treatment of secondary bacterial infections. Ophthalmic medications can be used to prevent further eye damage or for control of an existing eye infection. Ophthalmic antiviral preparations are also available, and are usually prescribed for these patients. To minimize nasal congestion, nasal decongestant drops may be prescribed for regular use.
A lack of appetite is common in patients with viral infections, so good nutritional and fluid support is important for maintaining a healthy energy level and hydration.
Living and Management
It is important to minimize or remove any stress, which may lengthen the course of the disease. You will need to set up a place in the house where your cat can rest comfortably and quietly, away from other pets, active children, and busy entryways. It is also important that you isolate your cat from any other cats in order to prevent the spread of the virus to other cats. Make the recovery period easier for your cat; place a litter box close to where your cat is resting so that it does not need to make a lot of effort, and the feeding dishes as well. While you will want to give your cat as much peace as possible, you will need to check in on your cat frequently, observing its breathing pattern and rate. It is important that your cat is not left alone for extended times, as this can be very stressful for the cat.
During the recovery period, offer easily chewed and easily digestible food at regular times throughout the day, along with plenty of water. Proper diet is the single most important factor for determining the outcome of the disease, and some patient may die due to inadequate nutritional and fluid support. Dehydration, especially, can lead to a fatal condition very quickly. If your cat stops eating for a number of days, your veterinarian will need to use a stomach tube to force nutrients into your cat's body.
Due to respiratory system involvement, the feeding tube may cause discomfort, so proper care and vigilance will be required to prevent any complications due to the feeding tube. For at home care, your veterinarian will demonstrate the right way of feeding, cleaning, and maintenance of the feeding tube. In cats with prolonged anorexia, the feeding tube may be directly placed in the stomach by giving a surgical incision to the abdominal wall.
In most cases, and given that there is not a secondary bacterial infections, symptoms improve within 7 to 10 days. The overall prognosis is good if proper nutrition and fluid is provided. | <urn:uuid:446e375f-b621-48fd-8685-114c2f15e247> | {
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Ventilation systems have become a lot more elaborate in the last few decades, providing monitoring, cooling and automated functions to allow for optimal clean air distribution.
As battery-electric vehicles and machine automation start to impact the underground environment, Dan Gleeson spoke to several of the major solution providers to find out how they are reacting to this evolution.
The need to go deeper in search of ore is causing mining companies to reconsider the use of innovative and digitallyenhanced technologies to look for profitable ways to develop new mining horizons. With increasing depth comes increasing complexity, whether that is water ingress, heat, or exposure to harmful gases. This makes having a robust, efficient and cost effective ventilation system integral.
The ability to electrify underground mining equipment on a large scale has helped alleviate some of the cost and energy pressure put on miners plunging deeper underground. For instance, the use of electric vehicles at Glencore’s Onaping Depth project, in Sudbury, Canada, which is set to reach 2,600 m below surface, is expected to reduce its energy usage by 44% for ventilation systems and by 30% for cooling equipment, compared with an equivalent diesel-fuelled operation. | <urn:uuid:2b0a3cb8-bb1a-46d4-b7d7-e962765d2357> | {
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In London, back in 2013, the world’s first stem cell burger was tasted by its inventor and two volunteers in front of more than 200 journalists and guests. This burger was made from ‘cultured beef,’ which is grown in Petrie dishes using the stem cells of a cow. It was grown in three months and took a budget of $330,000. Lab-grown beef might seem like a pretty creepy, science fiction, futuristic-like project, but Dr. Mark Post of Maastricht University didn’t make his burger just for fun. He also didn’t do it to give the world’s vegans and vegetarians another option.
Dr. Post was thinking about our inevitable future as a species. His cultured beef burger is meant to serve as a logical solution to the world’s addiction to factory-grown meat, which is about to reach its peak. The way we produce meat globally is unsustainable and posing a serious risk to our water, our air, our health and the possibility that humans will continue to remain a living species on this planet in the near future.
Humans slaughter 3 billion animals worldwide for meat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations expects global meat consumption to rise by about 73% by 2050 to accommodate the 9.1 billion people who will be attempting to live on planet Earth at that point. However, the chances that humans will even be a thing in 2050 are looking pretty grim, and a big reason for that is our large-scale factory farming industry.
Agricultural pollution is the largest source of water pollution in the world. Animals who are raised for food, in a confined space, consume more feed, and therefore, create more waste. According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, confined livestock generate 450 million tons of manure each year — that’s three times the amount of waste that American humans generate.
Because everything is covered in raw shit at a factory farm, more water is required to wash it away. One hundred and fifty gallons of water, in fact. Per cow. Per freaking day. That’s a serious amount of clean water, especially when you consider that one cow is being slaughtered every 30 seconds at many of these operations. And it usually takes them 6 months to reach a typical ‘market weight’ of 1,200 pounds. So that’s about 13,500 gallons of water per the life of an average doomed cow — and that’s just to clean the place.
Vice journalist Isobel Yeong went to a factory pig farm in Duplin County, North Carolina last Feb. to shoot Vice’s episode on the world’s addiction to meat. There, she interviewed Larry Baldwin from the Waterkeeper Alliance standing next to an open-air lagoon that’s meant to serve as a container for the gallons and gallons of liquified pig waste these operations are dumping daily. Baldwin told Yeong that the public would be outraged if human waste was handled in the same way — being dumped in mass quantities into a stagnant pond right next to creeks and streams.
And then he asked, “What’s the difference?”
When I heard that, I wanted to open my window and scream because, seriously, what is the difference? What’s the difference between pig shit and human shit when you’re dumping it into our world’s precious water supply? The thinking is that it will just be absorbed into the ground, but if you know anything about the very simple way water conducts itself, you’d know that’s extremely wishful thinking.
Yeong was taken up into a helicopter so she could see hundreds of these brown, sludge lagoons in just that one area, many of them dangerously close to a nearby creek which runs into the Cape Fear River Basin — North Carolina’s largest watershed and one that 1.5 million people drink from. Thousands of North Carolina creeks, stream beds, and the Cape Fear River Basin itself have been found to be contaminated with raw feces and toxic chemicals — most recently high levels of 1-4 dioxane, which has been proven to cause cancer even at low levels of ingestion.
North Carolina is not the only example of a place that is getting thoroughly screwed by factory meat production. These kinds of practices — keeping livestock in confined spaces, using massive quantities of water to keep them alive, and dumping their antibiotic-ridden waste onto the land or into the water supply — have become just the way we do things. In Brazil, in the Great Plains, in New Mexico, Kansas, in Texas, in Missouri…
So how do we turn back? How do we get off this one-way ticket to human extinction bus that we’ve been chartering since the Industrial Revolution?
Maybe now, Dr. Post’s stem cell burger doesn’t sound like such a trippy concept. The good news is that three years after that $330,000 burger was sampled for the first time, it now costs less than $10 to make and is currently being served at one restaurant in New York City as the ‘Impossible Burger.’ Within 10 years, we should be able to buy it in the grocery store for a reasonable price. If the public embraces the concept of laboratory-grown meat in the same way that we embrace McDonald’s Dollar Menu, we can expect to cut the amount of land and water used to support these factory farms by 90 percent.
But in the meantime, is it too much to ask, for the sake of the human species, to just not eat factory-farmed meat? You don’t necessarily need to become a vegetarian or a vegan, you just need to consider your buying power. At this point, there are organic farms and farmer’s markets all across the country, and most of them accept food stamps. Buy your meat weekly from a local farmer, or pay for a larger share of small-scale, responsibly-grazed meat that will last you through an entire season. Go in on an entire local cow or pig with your family or your roommates. If you go out to dinner and no one is able to tell you exactly where their meat came from, don’t freaking order it — you’ll be healthier as a result. And maybe tell the restaurant owner why. HBO’s Portlandia made a huge joke about this in its very first episode 5 years ago — but nowadays, the concept behind that sketch doesn’t sound all that funny, does it? | <urn:uuid:ec86c5a1-dca0-4cbf-b04b-469a75ef8a48> | {
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Recently, The Tennessee Department of Human Services, which regulates rules for child care centers across the state, has issued new rules/guidelines regarding the care of infants and, specifically, safe sleeping. Effective October 2016, infants may only sleep in a crib with a tight fitted sheet. Blankets of all types are prohibited as are sleep sacks. Additionally, babies should be dressed lightly to avoid overheating. One-piece footed sleepers are an acceptable alternative for keeping infants warm without the use of potentially dangerous loose bedding.
Other Safe Sleep Tips
- Always place babies on their backs to sleep at night and at nap time. Babies who sleep on their backs are less likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- Babies should always sleep in a crib. The safest place for a baby is in the same room as the parents but alone in a separate sleep area.
- Keep loose objects, soft toys, and bedding out of the baby’s sleep area. Do not use pillows and blankets in a baby’s sleeping area. A baby should sleep in a crib with only a tight fitting sheet.
- Avoid letting your baby overheat during the night. A baby should be dressed lightly for sleep. Set the room temperature in a range that is comfortable for a lightly clothed adult.
- Do not use crib bumpers. These do not reduce injuries and can cause suffocation.
- Avoid smoking. Both maternal smoking during pregnancy and secondhand smoke after birth should be avoided.
- Breastfeeding is recommended for at least the first six months of life. Breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of SIDS. | <urn:uuid:267457e6-791d-4aed-9aab-8bd578681694> | {
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Green tea helps mice keep off extra pounds
Green tea may slow down weight gain and serve as another tool in the fight against obesity, according to Penn State food scientists.
Obese mice that were fed a compound found in green tea along with a high-fat diet gained weight significantly more slowly than a control group of mice that did not receive the green tea supplement, said Joshua Lambert, assistant professor of food science in agricultural sciences.
"In this experiment, we see the rate of body weight gain slows down," said Lambert.
The researchers, who released their findings in the current online version of Obesity, fed two groups of mice a high-fat diet. Mice that were fed Epigallocatechin-3-gallate -- EGCG -- a compound found in most green teas, along with a high-fat diet, gained weight 45 percent more slowly than the control group of mice eating the same diet without EGCG.
"Our results suggest that if you supplement with EGCG or green tea you gain weight more slowly," said Lambert.
In addition to lower weight gain, the mice fed the green tea supplement showed a nearly 30 percent increase in fecal lipids, suggesting that the EGCG was limiting fat absorption, according to Lambert.
"There seems to be two prongs to this," said Lambert. "First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat."
The green tea did not appear to suppress appetite. Both groups of mice were fed the same amount of high-fat food and could eat at any time.
"There's no difference in the amount of food the mice are eating," said Lambert. "The mice are essentially eating a milkshake, except one group is eating a milkshake with green tea."
A person would need to drink ten cups of green tea each day to match the amount of EGCG used in the study, according to Lambert. However, he said recent studies indicate that just drinking a few cups of green tea may help control weight.
"Human data -- and there's not a lot at this point -- shows that tea drinkers who only consume one or more cups a day will see effects on body weight compared to nonconsumers," said Lambert.
Lambert, who worked with Kimberly Grove and Sudathip Sae-tan, both graduate students in food science, and Mary Kennett, professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, said that other experiments have shown that lean mice did not gain as much weight when green tea is added to a high fat diet. However, he said that studying mice that are already overweight is more relevant to humans because people often consider dietary changes only when they notice problems associated with obesity.
"Most people hit middle age and notice a paunch; then you decide to eat less, exercise and add green tea supplement," said Lambert. | <urn:uuid:ed61652e-8fc4-4133-aa90-5d0485e4b08e> | {
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My students are currently working on completing their first science project based learning unit. One of our standards in 5th grade is that students are able to identify the land forms that are present in our state. In order to make this a hands on project and experience for them I have based our learning around this essential question.
“How can I as a civil engineer design a light rail system that goes from Idaho Springs to Aurora Colorado taking into account the land forms and environments along the way.”
By posting this question I was able to address important vocabulary and spark interest. Entering the project I thought “Hey, this will be easy for them because they already have knowledge of the light rail and they learned land form skills in 4th grade”. Boy, was I wrong!
I have quickly realized that my students lack an understanding of basic geography. In order to answer this question they must be able to locate Idaho Springs and Aurora on a Colorado map. Many of my students had never used a “real map” before. I knew that this was something I needed to get into their hands! I got maps from AAA travel agency donated and we were off! I created an awesome map scavenger hunt for them! While it was very challenging my students now know how to locate different things on a map!
We are not yet finished with this project but I am excited for the new phase, “How to map out the light rail”. | <urn:uuid:d99b343e-8a31-420f-afba-1e15cf91c7d2> | {
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at measure 6 , the soprano starts with the G so shouldn't the alto not go over the G till the next measure ? but you could see the alto is getting higher then the G through the measure.. is this a part interrupt ?
I believe you're discussing what is commonly called a voice overlap. A voice overlap occurs when, from one chord to the next, a voice moves into the register of a neighboring voice. In the example below, a voice overlap occurs on beat 4 because the bass is higher than the tenor was in the previous chord.
Your example would be a voice overlap if the chords moved immediately from beat 1 to beat 3. However, since your example has beat 2 between those two chords, it is no longer a voice overlap. Voice overlap occurs over the span of two chords. Since your example occurs over the span of three chords, it is acceptable.
Voice overlap is not to be confused with a voice crossing, which is when voices move into the register of a neighboring voice in the same chord. In the example below, a voice crossing occurs on beat 4 when the soprano line (the stemmed-up E) moves below the alto (the stemmed-down A). | <urn:uuid:99a8255f-53c1-4c60-959b-aad25d50198f> | {
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While there are no specifically direct references to solar or lunar eclipses in Norse mythology, if we pick through The Poetic Edda, an anonymous collection of old Norse poems, we can find a narrative that supports some of the folkloric rituals that accompany an eclipse.
Through the poems, we learn the sun and moon are personified by the figures of Sol and her brother Mani, two figures that move through the skies each day:
Mundilferi is he who begat the moon,
And fathered the flaming sun;
The round of heaven each day they run,
To tell the time for men.
VAFTHRUTHNISMOL – Stanza 23
Sol is carted through the skies in a chariot, pulled by two horses, specially equipped to withstand the burning heat of the sun:
Arvak and Alsvith up shall drag
Weary the weight of the sun;
But an iron cool have the kindly gods
Of yore set under their yokes.
GRIMNISMOL – Stanza 37
Now if dragging the weight of the blazing sun across the sky each day wasn’t challenging enough, the two horses also had Skoll, one of the children of the great wolf Fenrir, chasing after them, while his sibling, Hati, chased after the moon:
Skoll is the wolf that to Ironwood
Follows the glittering god,
And the son of Hrothvitnir, Hati, awaits
The burning bride of heaven.
GRIMNISMOL – Stanza 39
Now the Norse believed in Ragnarok (the fate of the gods), a series of battles in which the world as we know it would end; many of the old gods would be fated to die, and the world would be destroyed through a series of cataclysmic events eventually sinking beneath the waters until it was born anew. One of the signs of Ragnarok would be that Skoll and Hati would finally catch both the sun and moon and devour them:
The giantess old in Ironwood sat,
In the east, and bore the brood of Fenrir;
Among these one in monster’s guise
Was soon to steal the sun from the sky.
VOLUSPO – Stanza 40
So, what does this have to do with an eclipse? There are reports of folkloric traditions where people would bang drums or pots and pans during an eclipse to scare away the wolves, which given the mythology, suggests that they believed an eclipse was caused by either Skoll catching Sol in the event of a solar eclipse, or Hati catching Mani during a lunar eclipse. So, regardless of academic arguments over whether this is truly eclipse mythology or not, the fact that rituals have sprung up around it means that for many there exists belief.
We used the Henry Adams Bellows translation of The Poetic Edda which you can get here: | <urn:uuid:d7edbe9d-0935-4707-862e-7c18d52ab860> | {
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Key point: Moscow's deadly weapon is pointless but is still apart of mutually-assured-destruction.
On May 22, 2018, the Russian submarine Yuri Dolgoruky slipped beneath the waves of the Arctic White Sea. Hatches along the submerged boat’s spine opened, flooding the capacious tubes beneath. Moments later, an undersea volcano seemingly erupted from the depths.
Amidst roiling smoke, four stubby-looking missiles measuring twelve-meters in length emerged one by one. Momentarily, they seemed on the verge of faltering backward into the sea before their solid-fuel rockets ignited, propelling them high into the stratosphere. The four missiles soared across Russia to land in a missile test range on the Kamchatka peninsula, roughly 3,500 miles away.
You can see the launch sequence in this video.
Like the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) operated by United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, and India, the primary purpose of Borei-class submarines is almost unimaginably grim: to bring ruin to an adversary’s cities, even should other nuclear forces be wiped out in a first strike.
Each of the submarine’s sixteen R-30 Bulava (“Mace”) missiles typically carries six 150-kiloton nuclear warheads designed to split apart to hit separate targets. This means one Borei can rain seventy-two nuclear warheads ten times more destructive than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima on cities and military bases over 5,800 miles away.
The Borei is the most advanced SSBN in the Russian Navy, and is designed to replace its seven Soviet-era Delta-class SSBNs. Throughout most of the Cold War, Soviets submarines were noisier than their Western counterparts, and thus vulnerable to detection and attack by Western attack submarines.
This problem was finally appreciated by the 1980s, when the Soviets managed to import technologies from Japan and Norway to create the Akula-class attack submarine, which finally matched the U.S. Navy’s workhorse Los Angeles-class attack submarines in acoustic stealth.
Concept work on the Project 955 Borei began during the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1996 cash-strapped Russia decided to lower costs by taking three incomplete Akula hulls and convert them into a revised Borei design.
Construction proceeded at Severodvinsk, and lead ship Yury Dolgoruky (named after the Russian prince who founded the city of Moscow) launched in 2008 and was commissioned five years later in January 2013.
An SSBN’s primary purpose is to remain undetected long enough to unleash its terrifying firepower—a strategy made easier thanks to their nuclear reactors allowing them remain submerged for months at a time. Towards that end, the Borei is designed to higher standards of acoustic stealth than Soviet-era designs, and is more capable of evading enemies that do get an inkling of its position.
The Borei’s sleek 170-meter-long hull is considered more typical of Western-style submarine engineering, than the boxier Delta-class. Both the hull and the machinery inside the gargantuan 24,000-ton (submerged) submarine are coated in sound-dampening rubber.
The Borei’s OKF-650B 190-megawatt reactor powers a pump-jet propulsion system that allows it to remain unusually quiet while cruising near its maximum underwater speed of thirty knots. This probably makes the Borei quieter, and able to remain discrete at higher speeds, than the propeller-driven Ohio-class submarine. Russian media claims its acoustic signature is one-fifth that of the Typhoon and Delta-IV class SSBN and that the Borei was also uniquely suited to perform nuclear deterrence patrols in the southern hemisphere, though Russian SSBNs have historically remained close to friendly waters for protection.
For defense against enemy ships and submarines, the Borei also has eight 533-millimeter torpedo tubes and six countermeasure launchers atop its bow. Should things go terribly wrong for the relatively small crew of 107, the Russian SSBN has a pop-out escape pod on its back.
The Borei was originally intended to carry twelve larger and more advanced R-39 “Bark” submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). But the R-39 was canceled in 1998 after failing in three test launches.
Thus, the Borei had to be redesigned to carry sixteen smaller Bulava missiles derived from the land-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile. The Bulava also proved very troubled, however, failing in ten out of twenty-seven test launches due to manufacturing defects. Two failures occurred after the Bulava was operationally deployed on the Borei in 2013.
The Bulava has an unusually shallow flight trajectory, making it harder to intercept, and can be fired while the Borei is moving. The 40-ton missiles can deploy up to forty decoys to try to divert defensive missiles fire by anti-ballistic missiles systems like the Alaska-based Ground-based Midcourse Defense system.
However, publicized specifications imply the R-30 may be nearly four times less accurate than the Trident D5 SLBMs on U.S. and British submarines, with only half of shots landing within 350 meters of a target. This implies the R-30 is a purely strategic weapon lacking the precision to reliably take out hardened military targets like nuclear silos in a first-strike scenario.
The New Generation Borei-A
Of the three active Boreis, the Yuri Dologoruky is based at Ghadzhievo (near Murmansk) assigned to the Northern Fleet, while the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh are part of the Pacific Fleet, based at Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Between 2012 and 2016, the Severomash shipyard laid down five new generation Project 955A Borei-II/Borei-A submarines. Lead boat Knyaz Vladimir (Prince Vladimir) launched in 2017 and is due to be commissioned in 2019.
While retaining the same basic tear-drop profile, Knyaz Vladimir appears to be six meters longer based on satellite photos. The 955’s distinctive forward-slanted sail (conning tower) has been replaced with a more conventional tapered design in the 955A. As you can see in this diagram, 955A’s tail has a larger pump jet, an all-moving rudder and new end plates to its horizontal fins for improved maneuverability. A new long blister on the lower hull may house an improved flank-array sonar, or serve as a stowage hangar. You can see detailed imagery, deck plans and analysis of the Borei-A at the website Covert Shores.
Other upgrades include modernized combat, sensor and communications systems, improved acoustic stealth and crew habitability. One Russian source claims the new model is optimized “to decrease launch time to the minimum.”
All five Boreis-A are due to be commissioned by 2021, though Russian shipbuilding frequently falls behind schedule. Nonetheless, given the Russian Navy has had to cancel, downsize or downgrade numerous projects in the last few years, the money invested in completing the subs testifies to the importance Moscow places on submarine nuclear deterrence. The boats cost slightly less than half the cost of their American Ohio-class counterparts at $890 million, but Moscow’s defense budget is only one-twelfth that of the United States.
The eight Boreis would maintain, but not expand, on a standing force of eight Russian SSBNs evenly split between the Pacific and Northern fleets—enough for multiple submarines to perform deterrence patrols at the same time.
Russian media has variously indicated two or six more Boreis could be built in the mid to late 2020s, for a total of ten to fourteen Boreis of both types. Two of these could potentially be a cruise-missile-carrying Borei-K variant that would parallel the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class SSGN cruise missile submarines.
However, the Borei represents only half of the Russian Navy’s future sea-based nuclear deterrence force. The other half will come from a unique fleet of four Khaborovsk-class submarines each carrying six nuclear-powered Poseidon drone-torpedoes designed to swim across oceanic distances to blast coastal cities and naval bases with megaton-yield warheads. Moscow, it seems, would like a little more redundancy in its ability to end civilization as we know it in the event of a nuclear conflict.
Sébastien Roblin holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This first appeared in June 2019 and is being republished due to reader interest. | <urn:uuid:71160177-53d7-4e4e-9a59-92fab1bd5228> | {
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SHELL-ter: Art as Infrastructure for Coastal Resilience and Education
Over the past three years a team of landscape architects and sculptors from Rhode Island School of Design has been collaborating with scientists from the University of Rhode Island, Roger William University, and Rhode Island College to integrate art and science for a coastal restoration project at an urban waterfront site in Providence.
Coastal ecosystems in Rhode Island and around the world are experiencing the impacts of increased storms and sea level rise, both of which are predicted to increase in future years. One strategy to improve the resilience of coastal ecosystems is the creation of constructed reefs colonized with bivalve filter feeders such as mussels and oysters.
Building on previous research on constructed reefs, the Rhode Island team of scientists and artists developed three prototypical forms with a steel structure and concrete tiles that encourage bivalve settlement.
The forms are designed to improve the resilience of coastal habitats in response to global climate change, host settlement of marine organisms, stabilize the coastline, and establish conditions conducive to the reestablishment of salt marsh vegetation. In addition, the bivalve filter feeders that settle on the reefs have the ability to filter large amounts of water, improving water quality.
The forms can be deployed individually or in aggregations, creating a new model for coastal edges that contribute to the restoration of critical ecological services. Unlike other constructed reefs that are large and require a crane or barge to install, these forms are modular and can be constructed and installed by community groups.
On Saturday, June 18th, a group of designers, scientists, and members of the community worked together to install the modular forms in the intertidal zone at Providence's India Point Park. During a three year flagship installation period, nine forms will be tested — three each of the three different prototypes — and will be monitored for shellfish settlement and ecosystem restoration.
Faculty members and students who contributed to the project are: Scheri Fultineer (RISD LDAR Chair), Marta Gomez-Chiarri (URI Professor), Emily Vogler (LDAR Assistant Professor), Dante Gamache (LDAR 2016), Austin Bamford (LDAR 2018), Jose Menendez (GD 2017), Gavin Zeitz (LDAR 2018), Angela Hang (ARCH 2015), Jessica Wilson (LDAR 2018), Hugh Patterson (LDAR 2017), and Ha-Na Lee (LDAR 2015).
The collaborative nature of the project and its installation will continue to extend to a broader community. Through presentations at local schools, community involvement in the construction of the forms, ongoing citizen-science to monitor shellfish settlement on the forms, and the high visibility of the forms at an urban waterfront site, this project uses the sculptural forms as a platform for public outreach and education about coastal ecosystems.
Thanks to the ongoing support of Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR and Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC). | <urn:uuid:1f46d4e8-bd61-4244-9c24-98cf39421538> | {
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- The research, published in January in the journal Scientific Reports, used genetic information and changes to the topography of the region to surmise that Asian elephants arrived in Borneo between 11,000 and 18,000 years ago.
- The authors hypothesize that elephants moved from nearby islands or the Malaysian peninsula to Borneo via land bridges.
- It’s an indication that the elephants are ‘native’ to Borneo, the scientists argue, and points to the need to bolster conservation efforts.
The backstory behind the world’s smallest elephants has always been something of a mystery. For one thing, scientists aren’t sure exactly when — and how — Bornean pygmy elephants got to the island of Borneo from other parts of Asia. A 2003 probe into their genetics found that they’ve been genetically distinct from their closest elephant cousins for 300,000 years and could have arrived in Borneo some time after that point. Another conjecture has been that they’re a feral population descended from elephants introduced by humans only a few hundred years ago.
Now, a new study published on Jan. 17 in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that they’ve been in Borneo since the end of the Pleistocene, around 11,000 to 18,000 years ago, when Borneo was part of a much larger land mass.
“The elephants in Borneo are much more than an introduced population and are not coming from a few introduced individuals,” said Benoit Goossens, a wildlife biologist, director of the Danau Girang Field Centre in Malaysian Borneo and co-author of the paper. “Elephants have been there for thousands of years, and they are Bornean.”
The study used far-reaching genetic data gleaned from nearly 800 DNA samples collected for an earlier study. The team then compared that information to a series of statistical models covering different historical scenarios for the elephants. From that comparison, they discovered that Borneo’s elephants passed through a “genetic bottleneck,” when their population dipped to low levels — and thereby diminished the amount of genetic diversity within the population — about 11,000 to 18,000 years ago.
The team postulates that the conditions of the Earth’s surface around that time may have forced Bornean elephants through this genetic window. During the Pleistocene, which began more than 2.5 million years ago and ended about 11,700 years ago, sea levels were on average a lot lower, and Borneo was part of a larger land mass connected to other parts of Southeast Asia.
Toward the end of the Pleistocene, rising sea levels began to swallow the land bridges between Borneo and the islands of Java and Sumatra, as well as Peninsular Malaysia, that had previously allowed animals to move around. Once the land bridges were gone, it cut Borneo’s elephants, not to mention other large mammals, off from their kin, according to Goossens and his colleagues’ hypothesis.
Pruthu Fernando, a conservation biologist with the Centre for Conservation Research in Sri Lanka, who was not involved in the current study, called it “a good example of what can be elucidated from genetic information.”
Fernando led the 2003 research leading to the conclusion that Borneo’s elephants split off genetically from Malayan and Sumatran populations of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) — now considered an Endangered species by the IUCN.
He also said the new study backs up his team’s conclusions “that the elephant population in Borneo is indigenous to the island and not a feral population, and that colonization happened in the Pleistocene.”
The elephants’ long history on the island sends “a message that people should be proud of elephants, and they should feel that they belong to Sabah,” Goossens said.
Their unique origins also strengthen the case for their protection, Fernando added.
“The fact that it is an indigenous rather than a feral population, one of only three island populations and a population at the edge of Asian elephant distribution, makes it very important that it is conserved,” he said in an email, referring to elephant subspecies that live on the islands of Sumatra (E. maximus sumatrensis) and Sri Lanka (E. maximus maximus). “However,” he added, “these conclusions are not new.”
John Payne, a biologist with nearly four decades of experience working in Malaysian Borneo, who was also not involved in the current research, said the study was “good and interesting.” But he added that it does not rule out the possibility humans could have introduced the island’s elephants just a few hundred years ago.
In 2008, Payne and several colleagues examined the historical record and found evidence that a 17th-century sultan in the Philippines may have introduced a few elephants from the Sulu Islands. The lineages of these animals could likely be traced back to the Javan elephant (Elephas maximus sondaicus), which went extinct in the 1700s.
“It might have been that the big bottleneck the population went through went could have actually happened in Java,” Payne said.
Still, he argued that the elephants’ origins in Borneo shouldn’t affect efforts to protect them.
Bornean elephants — considered by some scientists, though not all, to be a bona fide subspecies (E. maximus borneensis) of the Asian elephant — are under threat. The remaining 1,500 to 2,000 exist primarily in a narrowing patchwork of habitat squeezed between oil palm plantations in northeastern Borneo. What’s more, the scourge of poaching for ivory seems to have found its way to Borneo, with two males apparently killed for their tusks in 2017.
“We really need to make sure that we manage those populations very carefully,” Goossens said, “and that we stop losing males and breeders in the population.”
Cranbrook, E., Payne, J., & Leh, C. M. U. (2008). Origin of the elephants Elephas maximus of Borneo. Saraw Mus J, 63, 1-25.
Fernando, P., Vidya, T. C., Payne, J., Stuewe, M., Davison, G., Alfred, R. J., … & Melnick, D. J. (2003). DNA analysis indicates that Asian elephants are native to Borneo and are therefore a high priority for conservation. PLoS Biology, 1(1), e6.
Goossens, B., Sharma, R., Othman, N., Kun-Rodrigues, C., Sakong, R., Ancrenaz, M., … & Chikhi, L. (2016). Habitat fragmentation and genetic diversity in natural populations of the Bornean elephant: Implications for conservation. Biological Conservation, 196, 80-92.
Sharma, R., Goossens, B., Heller, R., Rasteiro, R., Othman, N., Bruford, M. W., & Chikhi, L. (2018). Genetic analyses favour an ancient and natural origin of elephants on Borneo. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 880.
Banner image of elephants in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary courtesy of Rudi Delvaux.
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Follow John Cannon on Twitter: @johnccannon | <urn:uuid:a21e8022-6e23-4421-a3c6-1ac6acdd6218> | {
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Intrinsic value often results from the enjoyment an activity produces for the participant (Wigfield, 1994). When students enjoy scholastic tasks, they are intrinsically motivated to do well. Both interests and personal relevance produce intrinsic value for a student. Generally, students are intrinsically motivated to pursue activities that are moderately novel, interesting, enjoyable, exciting, and optimally challenging. When schoolwork is too easy, students become bored. When tasks are too difficult, students become frustrated and anxious (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Teachers should try to create classroom environments that foster intrinsic motivation by providing students with opportunities to engage in interesting, personally relevant, challenging activities. Students bring a variety of experiences and interests to the classroom, and learning becomes personally meaningful when students’ prior knowledge and diverse experiences are connected with their present learning experiences. Educators can do this by creating an enriching environment and providing opportunities for students to explore their interests. In a recent study, researchers used self-selected enrichment projects based on students’ interests as a systematic intervention for underachieving gifted students. This approach specifically targeted student strengths and interests and helped reverse academic underachievement in over half of the sample (Baum, Renzulli, & Hebert, 1995). Emerick (1992) also found underachievers responded well to “interventions incorporating educational modifications which focus on individual strengths and interests” (p. 140). | <urn:uuid:a1d1980b-4aba-492e-bcd6-b3900019c19e> | {
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The white clawed crayfish is the UK's only native crayfish and our largest crustacean; its distribution and numbers have declined catastrophically in recent years, and now it is the rivers and streams of Cumbria that are its main stronghold.
|White clawed crayfish.|
White clawed crayfish inhabit clean mineral rich water, usually in limestone areas; this releases calcium carbonate into the water which the crayfish needs to build its hard carapace or outer shell. It is intolerant of pollution, so its presence is often a sign that the water quality is good. It plays an important role in maintaining a stable water ecology. It certainly does not thrive when cattle waste mixed in with mud and silt threaten to overwhelm water courses.
|Part of the fencing work.|
For this reason, N.T Rangers based at St. Catherine's were given the go ahead to fence off hundreds of metres of a watercourse, with known populations of crayfish upstream; However, the cattle still needed to drink, and a way to reliably provide water for them from the original source was needed. -The answer was to pipe water by gravity feed from a header dam into a water trough put in place many metres further downstream. The following images illustrate the most recent phase of the project, which is still ongoing.
|Building the header dam...The fun bit but COLD!|
|The completed dam.|
|The blue alkathene pipe on its way to the water trough.|
|through the wall......|
|........and into the trough.....|
|....and back out through the wall into the stream again!|
|The water trough fills up rapidly.|
|a new gate was needed to allow stock movement past the fenced off beck.|
|The new gateway.|
|Ideal habitat for crayfish, with plenty of watercress for the juveniles to take cover!|
|The water pipe is well hidden, and the gap in the wall normally has a hurdle placed across it to deny access to stock.|
The main reason for the massive losses in native White Clawed numbers was the introduction of the American Signal Crayfish in the Seventies. It is a voracious predator that has annihilated the White Clawed from many waterways, especially in the South of the country. It breeds much more prolifically, outcompetes it for food and worst of all, carries a fungal plague that is fatal to the native species. The Signal does major harm to the eco systems of rivers in the UK. It severely depletes fish stocks by devouring fish eggs and small fish, as well as impacting on plants, invertebrates and snails. The Signals burrow into river banks in such numbers, that in the worst infested sites, people have reported seeing banks retreating under the relentless pressure.
Please help maintain the populations of the White Clawed Crayfish in Cumbria; clean and dry any equipment. you may use around rivers and lakes. This will reduce the risk of spreading the "Crayfish Plague" , the fungus of which thrives on damp boots, fishing gear etc. | <urn:uuid:8df7bcc0-06f0-4f1f-90db-53d6c9dc72d6> | {
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advertisements, Ahitophel, American history, American Judaica, American Revolution, Barbados, bookstore, British, chocolate, Christian, Christianity, coffee, colonial British America, Congregational Church, Continental Army, Cork, economy, Europe, fig, France, genealogy, George Washington, ginger, goldsmith, Halle, Haym Solomon, Hebrew, Isaac Franks, Jewish, Jews, King David, King of Sweden, Long Island, Maine, Manhattan, molasses, Moors, Moses Cohen, Napoleon, New Jersey, New York, newspapers, Paris, Philadelphia, Poland, Portland, prunes, Prussia, Prussian, raisins, Rare Books Division, Ronald Rubin, rum, runaway apprentice, sherry, sugar, Talleyrand, tea, treaty, United States, vinegar, Yorktown
Dr. Ronald Rubin has donated five newspapers to the Rare Books Division with notices that depict American Judaica in late colonial British America and the early United States.
Dr. Rubin, with his frequent and diverse gifts to the Rare Books Division, helps add to the breadth and depth of our collections. Thank you, Dr. Rubin, for each of these important pieces of American history.
The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser
Saturday, April 26, 1783
Two Jewish brokers ran advertisements in this issue. Haym Solomon (1740-1784) informed readers that he arranged for Bills of Exchange with France. Isaac Franks (1759-1822), on George Washington’s staff during the American Revolution, invited the public to his office on Front Street where he bought and sold Bills of Exchange. Also advertised in this issue are a goldsmith, a bookstore, the sale of raisins and figs, and a reward for the return of a runaway apprentice. The lead story was the signing of a treaty between the King of Sweden and the United States, signed at Paris.
Haym Solomon immigrated to New York from Poland in 1772. In 1777, he married Rachel Franks, sister to Isaac. Solomon helped convert French loans into ready cash, aiding the Continental Army. Completely short of funds, George Washington is said to have made this direct order for help: “Send for Haym Solomon.” Solomon quickly raised $20,000 to help Washington conduct his Yorktown campaign, the final battle of the American Revolution.
Solomon’s obituary in the Philadelphia newspaper, Independent Gazetteer, described him as “an eminent broker of this city…a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment.”
Although Isaac Franks was Jewish, he married into the Christian faith. At the age of 17, he joined the Continental Army and fought the British in the battles of Long Island. Captured in Manhattan, he escaped to New Jersey where he joined Washington. The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser was founded in 1767.
The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser
Tuesday, August 8, 1786
In an advertisement on the front page of this issue of The Pennsylvania Packet, broker Moses Cohen informed his readers that he had moved his office. Also advertised in this issue were voyages to Cork, Barbados, and other ports; the sale of a schooner; a lost and found notice; the lease of homes; the sale of a Negro; the services of a private tutor; the lease of a forge; the sale of sugar, rum, port wine and sherry; groceries such as molasses, tea, coffee, chocolate, ginger, vinegar, prunes and raisins; cotton cloths including chintzes, calicos, and jeans; and the burglary of a store.
Moses Cohen opened one of the first employment agencies in the newly formed United States. For 18 cents, Cohen would contact workers about job openings. Through his brokerage, Cohen also sold cloth.
The Pennsylvania Packet was founded in 1771 as a weekly. In 1784 the paper became a daily publication, adding “and Daily Advertiser”to its title. This was the first daily newspaper printed in the United States. On September 21, 1796, it was the first to publish George Washington’s “Farewell Address.”
United States Gazette for the Country
December 11, 1806
An article, in the form of a translated letter, enthusiastically reported what Jews in Europe felt about Napoleon’s recent triumph over Prussian troops, including a genealogy connecting Napoleon to King David: “From him is our emperor and king descended, of this doth he now make his boast, and called us together, to prove his high descent and restore Sion. And he has also vouchsafed to inform us that the great Talleyrand is no less a personage that the sage Ahitophel resuscitated, to regulate the world by his counsels; who hath in his turn made known unto us, that the emperour and king with his whole court will in grand gala, in presence of the empress, and queens, and all the princesses of his august House, submit to the operation enjoined by our holy law; and moreover he hath commanded the pope and cardinals in full conclave, together with all the kings of his creation, to submit to a curtailment, which will secure to us a complete triumph over the uncircumcised!”
The United States Gazette for the Country was published between 1823 and 1847.
June 12, 1817
A front page report by an anonymous writer described an ancient battle to the death between six Jews traveling with loaded donkeys and a group of Moors in a place called, for this reason, “The Jews Leap.” “It is,” said the writer, “enough to produce dizziness, even in the head of a sailor, and if I had been told the story before getting on this frightful ridge, I am not certain but that my imagination might have disturbed my faculties, and rendered me incapable of proceeding with safety along this perilous path.”
The Salem Gazette was founded in 1790. Other front page news included a report on the European economy and an essay on courage.
November 28, 1828
The Christian Mirror was published between 1822 and 1829 on behalf of the Congregational Church in Maine. Its focus, as the name suggests, was Christianity. In this issue, a front page article, in the form of a letter written from Halle, discussed the problems facing the American Society for Meliorating of the Jews in Prussia and Poland. | <urn:uuid:e7f53624-cb8d-4939-afe1-9ed9b38287d2> | {
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India has notched up yet another space success with ISRO’s launch of Astrosat on 28 September. This is the country’s first extra-terrestrial observatory. Very few countries have such observatories. India’s Astrosat joins the US Hubble, Russia’s Spektr R and Japan’s Suzaku in studying celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena from the special vantage point of an orbit around Planet Earth.
It is also a matter of pride that Astrosat’s launch vehicle PSLV-C30 has placed in orbit four American satellites. Recall that 40 years ago, India had leased a satellite from America’s space agency NASA. Much has changed since then. The PSLV-C30 also carried with it a couple of other satellites of international customers, marking the success of ISRO’s commercial arm, Antrix, which offers space services to other countries for a fee. There was one each from Indonesia and Canada, to be placed in the Earth’s lower orbit, and these are meant for maritime surveillance. Antrix has been selling its services as being especially economical, and the Rs 178 crore Astrosat mission will seal ISRO’s reputation on that count as well.
Coming on the back of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, which stunned observers across the world with its cost efficiency, the latest launch has drawn global attention to the rapidly advancing capabilities of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Its past successes have included the launch of its GSLV rocket, which had an indigenous cryogenic engine that not many thought it could build. In another experiment, ISRO is closely working with NASA on an advanced radar imaging project called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR). This is expected to help map the planet down to its minutest detail and is scheduled for a 2020 launch.
For now, researchers are excited about what Astrosat could offer by way of new knowledge. The space observatory will be dedicated to studying a wide range of objects and phenomena, including black holes, far-flung stars, galaxies, quasars, pulsars and white dwarfs. A multi-wavelength satellite, the 650 kg-spacecraft is equipped with X-ray payloads and an ultra-violet imaging telescope and will generate data that would be of use for future space exploration.
The spacecraft is expected to operate for five years and during its life span will scan space spectra of various kinds and will relay the findings to an earth station for assessment and research.
The Astrosat mission was originally planned for 2005 but given the need for high-tech measuring and observatory equipment, it was delayed for almost a decade.
Astrosat is being touted by some as a ‘mini-Hubble’. However, it must be noted that comparisons with the Hubble Space Telescope do not stand scientific scrutiny. While the latter is capable of capturing extremely high-resolution images with an optical mirror of a 2.4 metre diameter, Astrosat cannot match it with its 30 cm mirror. However, there are other things that Astrosat captures well. And if all goes well, researchers will soon have plenty of data to crunch so that we acquaint ourselves a little better with the universe. | <urn:uuid:439ff55e-8dea-4243-96c3-b6eb2d1263e2> | {
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The rock art in Alta, Norway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In actual fact, what look like paintings are carvings into the rocks surface. When the site was discovered in the 1970’s they coloured in the images so that they could be seen more easily, this technique is no longer practiced making some of the carvings less prominent than others.
There are several sites within the museum and walking the outside viewing route takes about 45 minutes. The age of the carvings ranges from 2000 to 6000 years old. The carvings in the photography above are thought to be between 5300 to 6000 years old. What is interesting is why this particular spot was so interesting to the artists and how long the carvings went undetected before they were discovered.
This isn’t the only time I have visited historical rock art. I have also visited a few locations in Kakadu National Park, Australia and you can see those photographs and my experiences HERE. | <urn:uuid:d7ad218a-7342-43d8-abd6-f86499bf9dd4> | {
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Hydroponic Lettuce | You Can Grow It Too!
What comes straight into your head when you think of salad? Lettuce. A simple but versatile leafy green that makes a steady appearance on my dinner table. I have always been reserved when buying lettuce from my local grocery store. It never looks clean, which gets me thinking of bugs and pesticides. Sometimes you can find clean and healthy looking lettuce, I prefer to have peace of mind. I grow lettuce hydroponically and it’s not as complicated/time consuming as you might have thought. For an environmentally friendly, healthy and surprisingly satisfying project give growing lettuce hydroponically a chance, you won’t regret it. Now let's get started; I will give you all you need to know to make a hydroponic lettuce system.
What Is Hydroponics You May Ask?
If you’re new to hydroponics I’ll give in layman’s terms, to grow plants without soil, instead placing the plant roots in
What’s The Best Method To Grow Hydroponic Lettuce?
Technically the best hydroponic method for growing a hydroponic lettuce system is a Deep Water Culture (DWC) method. Sounds complicated but it’s simply allowing the roots to become submerged in a water reservoir (with nutrients). Your lettuce pot slots into a hole (think of the tray to hold 4 coffees when you get takeaways but with holes in the bottom) and the roots dangle through into the water. Not so fancy is it. So how do you do this? Read on.
DIY hydroponic Lettuce System: What You Need.
I’m going to give you a step-by-step guide of a simple DIY method for making a hydroponic lettuce system. Remember it’s letting the roots come out of the bottom of the pot into the water. It's practically growing lettuce out of a plastic bottle, a great project to do with the kids and educational no matter the weather because it’s inside! And this DIY method takes up practically no space, so it will fit in any house!
This is what you need to get started:
- A large plastic container or fish tank
- Polystyrene (like those foam looking disposable cups)
- Net pots
- Clay pebbles as a growing medium (to replace the soil)
- Plant food (fertilizer)
- Lettuce seeds!
- Optionally an air pump.
DIY Hydroponic Lettuce System: Lets Build.
I’m going to tap out here. Because without images I will just confuse you, especially those visual learners like me. I have found a very easy DIY guide for setting up your system just see the link below.
What Lettuce Should I Grow?
Picking a lettuce is easier than you think unless you have a specific variety in mind types of lettuce are separated by environmental climate. It’s as easy as choosing a variety that suits where you live, this makes growing lettuce hydroponically so much more simple. This means no fuss about altering the climate with fans, misters and what not. So the top 4 varieties I found, I hadn’t even heard of some but I’ll give you a quick summary that I managed to find on this super helpful blog:
1. Green Ice Variety. This lettuce has a bright green color with loose leaves and has a super long picking season (most climates)!
2. Red Fire Variety. For those who are not color biased, this lettuce is a deep red color. Also, a loss leaf and awesome news can grow in both cool and warm climates.
3. Tango Variety. Gets its name from its frilly appearance with close intertwined leaves. Picture tango dances that are green! This variety requires cooler conditions ONLY. Sorry!
4. Royal Oak Leaf Variety. This variety is the easiest type to grow hydroponically. It’s a darker green and is more hardy for warmer climates.
What Conditions And Nutrients Do I Need To Grow My Hydroponic Lettuce Once Everything Is Set Up?
Hydroponic lettuce plants are pretty hardy (see varieties above) and are perfect for the first time hydroponic gardeners and perfect for kids. They can withstand a wide range of temperatures (not too cold); they just need natural light and lots of it. Just place your hydroponic lettuce system by a window, easy.
Now let’s talk nutrients for your water reservoir, fertilizers come in liquid or salts and they don’t necessarily need to be hydroponic specific fertilizers. They also come in stage-specific packs (usually 3) or a standard all in one. The most popular fertilizer hands down in the stage-specific liquid fertilizer by General hydroponics. Stage-specific sounds confusing but it’s really not. It makes sense, as your hydroponic herb garden grows it needs different nutrients. It’s as simple as that, and it comes at a very reasonable price. Going for around 20 bucks from your local gardening store.
How Long Will It Take For My Hydroponic Lettuce To Grow?
Lettuce plants grow deceivingly quick so depending on its exposure to light (around 12 hours if possible) the quicker it will grow. It’s hard to give a solid figure, but definitely within a couple to a few weeks. Also, you can pick the outer leaves as they grow so you will have an endless supply instead of
Let's go through and make sure I’ve covered everything you will need to grow hydroponic lettuce.
- Basic Hydroponics ✓
- Construction of your Hydroponic system ✓
- Lettuce Type and climates ✓
- Nutrients ✓
- Lettuce growth rates ✓
Don’t forget here is a lot of information out there on growing hydroponic lettuce and it shouldn’t be a daunting process. You're supposed to enjoy the process. You can always ask for help at your local garden store or you can always refer to my DIY link. Once you see your lettuce sprouting and when you harvest your first lettuce you will never look back. Who knows you might grow other vegetables, herbs or even flowers. That's it from me.
Good luck and happy growing. | <urn:uuid:315fdf21-ebc2-46a6-af01-79e1920aac69> | {
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Most very young children can navigate a cell phone. Why not teach your young children how to look up your “ICE” contact if there is a problem?
ICE stands for “In Case of Emergency.” Medical personnel are increasingly aware of ICE contacts and will look in a person’s cell phone in hopes of finding emergency contacts that may be able to provide critical medical information when a patient arrives unconscious or unable to answer questions.
Here are the 3 simple steps:
- Create a new contact in your cell phone.
- Label the name “ICE” followed by who will be contacted (examples: your husband-Mike, you-Mom, etc.)
- Make sure the listed person can answer the critical questions (medical history and medications taking).
Do the same thing for everyone in your family who has a phone, and spread the word. Who knows, it may save your life one day.
Some of the Products I Love
Everybody should have a few common, key items in their medicine cabinet. These few items should help in a pinch, and save you from making trips to the store in the middle of the night. Here are the must haves to any medicine cabinet: Tylenol (generic is...
One of the questions I get a lot include, "What is the best booster seat?" and "What are the top-rated booster seats?" Here's what I know, and what I use: Booster seats are car seats designed to be used by children between the ages of 4-8 years-old. The seat belt in a...
If you are having a baby and planning on breastfeeding, you may want to consider buying a breast pump. The most valuable time to have a breast pump is generally in the first few days after having a baby. So if you’re going to invest in one, do so early. Consider... | <urn:uuid:92527292-21d6-4bd4-b523-7696b5cfa6da> | {
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What does the word ‘common’ imply? When we say that someone has ‘common sense’ we are being complimentary. But when we refer to something as ‘common or garden’ it’s a bit of a put-down. Back in the seventeenth century, during the Civil War, Parliamentary soldiers were fighting for the House of Commons, and succeeded in replacing the monarchy with a ‘Commonwealth’ – but they refused to be called ‘common soldiers’ which they regarded as an insult.
Despite these various and shifting meanings, there has been one consistent usage over the centuries: the use of ‘commons’ as a name for assets or resources accessible to all. Today, the term appears in the debate on climate change, where the Earth itself is coming to be understood as a common resource; and in the debate on the future of the internet which some regard as ‘digital commons’.
But the archetype of ‘commons’ is common land: land available to the rural poor. This was an intrinsic part of the medieval economy, and for much of its history Penge was just such a piece of common land. And it had an additional value because it was heavily wooded, and timber was a scarce resource.
Penge Common no longer exists. Instead, on the land which it once occupied, is the Penge that we know: houses and shops, roads and railways. This transformation was achieved, with due legal process and an Act of Parliament, in the early nineteenth century. Modern Penge only exists because Penge Common doesn’t.
Most of the people who lived on Penge Common before the nineteenth century, or had an interest in it, left no trace. But some did. Some of their stories survive in the archives. It’s an unrepresentative sample, skewed towards the rich and literate because they were the ones who produced the legal documents, contracts, accounts, letters and minutes which the archives hold. But even so, we are able to recover some sense of the past meanings of the place where modern Penge now sits.
I did a fair bit of archival research when working on my book, The Making of a London Suburb, about the history of Penge. But the story of the Common was only one chapter in that book, and there is lots more out there which I’ve never investigated.
So, over the next few months I will be burying myself in the archives, ferreting out scraps of material on Penge Common, and surfacing again to post progress reports here. And I hope to pull it all together in a public talk during the Penge Festival in June 2020.
As ever with research, I anticipate a heady mix of excitement, frustration, and more excitement. Excitement because I already have a whole lot of unanswered questions in mind; frustration because I know I won’t find answers to most of them; and then more excitement because failure to answer the first set of questions will inevitably throw up a second set.
One final comment. One of the most important archival sources is Bromley Historic Collections, accessed through the Local Studies section of Bromley Central Library. I have been a regular user over the past twenty years, and have benefitted from the presence of helpful, professional archivists and librarians. But for some months now they and their colleagues have been on strike in defence of the library service. The least I can do is repay their professionalism with a bit of solidarity. So Bromley’s archive is out of bounds until the dispute is settled.
Instead, early in the New Year, I’ll be heading for one of the other archives in the hope of shedding a bit of light on Penge’s lost common. | <urn:uuid:0a9830d0-c879-4f77-8f24-a43bad196ea0> | {
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Objective-C is C++ Smalltalk (the first OOP language). It’s effortless to understand, easy to design, faster to develop and more handy in modifications. Since this is a strict superset of C, knowledge in C helps mastering Objective-C. Objective-C is used to program Applications for iOS and OS X. Objective-C and Xcode are the tools used by the developers to Develop iOS Applications. Objective-C is a straightforward Object Oriented language because its syntax is small and explicit which makes it very easy to learn and attractive to work with.
It is dynamic in environment where the compiler preserves information about objects for use at run time. The complete functionality of application framework used by Objective-C, Cocoa frameworks, can only be delivered through object oriented techniques. Since Objective-C incorporates-C, we can choose to Develop Applications in object oriented way or in procedural programming.
Objective-C accommodates a simple architecture that helps us in creating interactive user interfaces. Our skilled Developers makes the best interactive UI for the best user experience. The dynamic nature of this language gives a power and unusual flexibility in the language which reflects in our works too. | <urn:uuid:89d5a91e-b090-45c8-8dc6-b5a1ed624c37> | {
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Do you know when it's safe to hang out in a trench, versus when the trench requires some extra support? Know how to safely use a ladder, work on a scaffold or keep yourself protected around electrical systems? Prove your construction safety IQ with this quiz!
Around 6.5 million people in the United States head to work on one of more than a quarter million construction sites each day. according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Sadly, not all of these workers will make it home. In fact, OSHA names the construction industry as one of the most dangerous for workers.
In 2016, 21 percent of all private industry employee deaths in the U.S. involved construction -- the highest of any industry in the nation. Nearly 1,000 of the 4,693 workers who died on the job that year lost their lives in the building trade. These workers suffered fatal falls from roofs or other elevated surfaces, found themselves suffocated in collapsed trenches, experienced deadly electrical shocks and ended up victims of falling scaffolds, cranes and other equipment.
Yet with all the hazards construction workers face, this industry is vital to building the homes and businesses that are so integral to people's everyday lives. So what's a worker to do to stay safe? Check out these construction safety questions to see how much you know about construction site dangers! | <urn:uuid:3409c94d-3710-429c-8c37-392f596fe6e7> | {
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Researchers Offer More Tips For Growing WA 38, Including Girdling.
Stefano Musacchi, research horticulturalist for the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, discusses the “click” technique of management on Cosmic Crisp plantings during a field day at WSU test plots. The effects of the click system were less evident in a V-trellis, shown above, because trees are planted closer together.
Researchers are already finding Washington State University’s latest apple variety, WA 38, to be grower friendly, but they’re learning more about it each season as commercial production grows closer.
That includes how to horticulturally manage this highly vigorous, tip-bearing variety, whose apical dominance can result in large caliper branches that present significant blind wood.
“When we get these highly vigorous situations, renewal pruning is going to be a critical component of the horticultural program,” said Tom Auvil, research horticulturist with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. “We have to be very careful about how we prune and thin a vigorous orchard.”
Stefano Musacchi, Washington State University horticulturist and endowed chair in tree fruit physiology and management, notes that this cultivar can produce a high number of secondary clusters, or lateral clusters, on one-year wood, which in some cases can range from 20 to 40 percent of the total flower count on a WA 38 tree.
That’s according to data from WSU’s Sunrise research orchard near Quincy, Washington.
And unlike most other varieties, WA 38, known under the brand name Cosmic Crisp, produces high-quality fruit on spurs and one-year wood.
Managing the blind wood also offers other benefits: It reduces the amount of bloom that could be struck by fire blight, minimizes transplant issues and keeps the fruit all in one place, next to the tree, which will be ideal for mechanical harvest, Auvil said.
“And technically, I think it will improve yields, because the more sites where fruit can grow, the less blind wood, the more fruit we’ll harvest,” he said.
Researchers presented their latest findings on WA 38 horticultural practices in April during tours of two plantings at WSU’s research orchards in Quincy and Prosser, Washington.
Reducing The Blind Wood
Musacchi recommends notching and girdling just as deep as the bark and phloem to reduce blind wood. He says bending tends to result in two to three more nodes of blind wood than clicking-type pruning methods.
Researchers have examined a number of ways to minimize the other effects of apical dominance in WA 38, including girdling and notching the central leader and different pruning techniques — a “click” system vs. bending limbs and fastening to the trellis wire.
Musacchi is adopting a click pruning technique. This method involves tipping the end of the branches on one-year wood to minimize the blind wood.
Tipping once at 1 year old, then returning the following year to tip again, leaving two to three vegetative buds, will help to increase bud swelling at the base of the branch and reduce the blind wood.
Bending tends to result in two to three more nodes of blind wood than clicking-type pruning methods, Musacchi said.
Girdling is ideal for WA 38 trees on a bi-axis training system, because growers don’t want to lose 2 feet of crop to blind wood, especially in a fruiting wall, Musacchi said.
He recommends a very light girdle around just the bark and the phloem, “every foot, sometimes even more often — every 5 to 6 inches — if necessary.”
“Honestly, the girdling did extremely, extremely well,” he said. “There is no blind wood through all the length of the fruiting wall.”
Musacchi did not girdle a spindle block planted as finished trees, which had significant feathers — 20 to 30 feathers per tree for trees on Geneva 41 rootstocks, and 10 to 15 feathers per tree for those on Malling 9 Nic 29 rootstocks. This means that girdling can be adopted only if necessary.
Generally, the click system is resulting in better bud breaks the following year, but it’s more effective in vigorous conditions, Musacchi said.
However, in a V system, because the trees are planted closer together and are less vigorous, the effects were not as evident, because the length of the branches is shorter.
In addition, a mechanical pruning trial at the Prosser, Washington, site is showing promise. Mechanical pruning cuts off the tips of branches, thus removing their inherent apical dominance, and helps to stimulate bud break closer to the trunk, or axe, of the tree and minimize blind wood, Musacchi said.
Researchers mechanically pruned for the first time last year, then did so again in February.
The result: Every cut is resulting in one, two or three buds close to the axe, minimizing the blind wood and ensuring short limbs that improve fruits’ exposure to sunlight.
Mechanically pruning also prepares a fruiting wall for mechanical harvest in a couple of different ways, Auvil said.
Eliminating longer fruiting limbs from rows reduces the potential for damage by limbs that could be sucked into a vacuum harvester, damaging fruit that enter the machine when a limb is in the wrong place.
“The other really, really big advantage for the robotics format, particularly for the bi-ax system, in looking at mechanical pruning, is the uniformity of color and maturity,” he said.
Researchers are also reminding growers who intend to plant WA 38 to remember to order their pollinizers.
Growers should strive to get two different pollen sources distributed in each block — every 30 feet for every row — such as a Mount Everest and a Snowdrift, or midseason commercial apple varieties, such as Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Cameo, Auvil said.
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INFORMS defines analytics as:
“Analytics — the scientific process of transforming data into insight for making better decisions.”
I believe that optimization is a critical part of analytics. As Jean Francios Puget states, “Optimization seems covered by the ‘making better decisions’ part.” As an optimizer, I am completely biased in favor of this answer. The real question Jean Francios asks is not about optimization, but how analytics ultimately seems to start with data, even optimization. Is a data-centric view essential to analytics?
For the past few years, I thought “yes.”I did not have the foresight to take data-centric courses in graduate school. I have been trying to make up for that ever since. We live in a world that collects increasing massive and complex data sets. Being able to analyze data is generally a critical starting point from which to start doing analytics.
Some of my research is in the area of emergency medical services. Locating ambulances, for example, is a classic application of facility location, p-center, and p-median problems. Ambulance location models existed before ambulance data was routinely collected. Being able to build models without data necessitated assumptions regarding what the data would look (e.g., assuming that calls arrive according to a Poisson process, although I often find that assumption to be realistic!) Other models were built with limited data that was painstakingly collected: I like this model of fire engine travel times that led to the so-called square root law. Having a simple model for fire engine travel times made it easier to build models that were not data-driven. Having access to oodles of data today is a huge help in building good models and understanding which assumptions are okay to make. The more data the merrier.
Now, I think differently. Building new models imposes a new and potentially useful way of looking at a problem. Data isn’t necessary to build a model (although it is surely helpful) nor should a data set be the ultimate starting point of every model. My students found it useful when I argued that bus accidents are a Poisson process. Without any real data, we could gain useful insights for how to view a cluster of bus accidents that occurred in the Richmond area one week.
Most data that is collected is not analyzed. Much of the analyzed data is “analyzed” using summary statistics. In my experience, statistical models often provide useful explanations of what happened in the past. Analytics is not backward-looking; it is forward-looking. “How would you improve what you do as a result of this data analysis” is a question that is not asked enough. Today, it’s hard to imagine data not being part of the answer, but it certainly could be excluded as part of an “analytics” solution. It is certainly possible/desirable to use a non-data driven approach to look to the future.
I realize that arguing for data not being included as part of analytics is going to be a tough sell. The “analytics” culture is aimed at those who are knee deep in data on any given day. Maybe people like me who have been trained more on the models/optimization side than on the data side just don’t want to be left behind. I hope there is some legitimate truth to this blog post.
A case study | <urn:uuid:01563aca-2723-44a3-8c6c-6af95658259a> | {
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There is often confusion about the term “dementia” and Alzheimer’s disease. While Alzheimer’s disease is a kind of dementia, they are not interchangeable words.
The simple answer to “what is the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia?” is this: Dementia is not a disease. Alzheimer’s is a disease. Dementia is a symptom of that disease.
Dementia refers to a set of symptoms, not the disease that is causing them. The symptoms include memory loss, poor judgement, difficulties with language and changes in behaviour. When we say that someone “has dementia” we mean that they are exhibiting a set of symptoms.
By conducting a series of tests, doctors can determine what is causing the dementia – which may or may not be Alzheimer’s disease. While Alzheimer’s is diagnosed in 60-70% of dementia cases, there are other diseases and disorders that also cause dementia, like Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and vascular dementia. Because it’s the most common cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is commonly equated with the term dementia.
Comments are closed. | <urn:uuid:7b09a838-d092-475e-bc4c-5723349c752b> | {
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The world’s largest education Development Impact Bond enables 30% more students to overcome learning gaps and achieve basic literacy and numeracy skills in Year 1.
• In addition, 40% of participating schools met or exceeded their targets in improving proficiency levels, outperforming non-DIB comparison schools after one year of implementation
• The DIB uses innovative funding method that drives results-based outcomes to improve the quality of education in India
The coalition behind the world’s largest education development impact bond (DIB), reveals that year one education projects funded by the DIB in India, have helped to increase the overall number of children achieving basic education outcomes by 30%.
First year results* also show that 40% of schools participating in the DIB programmes either met or exceeded their targets for literacy and numeracy skills when compared to non-participating schools. Based on the learning outcomes from year one of the programme, the outcome payment for risk investors is on track, with the results averaged out over the lifetime of the DIB.
The Quality Education India DIB, launched in September 2018, set out to improve the quality of literacy and numeracy. The DIB seeks to develop a new funding approach that is focused on learning outcomes, ensuring the maximum impact is achieved for the investment provided. Working across four programmes in the states of Delhi and Gujarat, the DIB has helped to deliver at scale these programmes to 600 schools, reaching over 100,000 students aged 5-11 in year one. The DIB is a four year programme, set to finish in 2022.
Commenting on the first year results, Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive, British Asian Trust said: “In many ways, year one was a start-up year for both the DIB and NGOs testing the concept and allowing for adjustments to make improvements along the way. The ambition remains that the learnings from the DIB will be used to create an education ‘rate card’, an assessment of costs for tried-and-tested delivery outcomes against funding, to improve the quality of education.”
The governance of this DIB is led by a Steering Committee comprising of British Asian Trust, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and Tata Trusts, together with Comic Relief, the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Mittal Foundation, BT and the Lawrence Ellison Foundation. The results for year one were independently assessed and analysed by Gray Matters India (GMI).
The ultimate goal is to improve education standards in India, with the DIB paving the way for developing an outcome-based funding approach that has the potential to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
Geeta Goel, Country Director, India, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, said: “The early signs are that outcome-based funding models, with an incentive attached, have the potential to drive quality in education and attract new forms of capital to sustain it. The key test for this DIB has been on proving the scalability of education programmes, without diminishing the quality of outcomes. There are a number of key learnings from year one, which will help to inform the remainder of the programme, as well as future DIBs and government policy decisions.”
Having analysed closely the year 1 results of all implementers, the coalition has taken the decision not to continue with one of the underperforming programmes, due to its declining efficacy compounded with some operational challenges.
Society for All Round Development (SARD) will now only deliver its direct remedial education programme, removing its indirect teacher training programme. However, the DIB will continue to deliver four programmes as it adds Mind Spark, a tech based online tool that helps children to improve their skills.
“The UBS Optimus Foundation takes the same business-minded approach to philanthropy that we do in all aspects of our work at UBS, so our clients can be sure it delivers the social return they should be getting from their contribution. We closely monitor the programmes we’re funding, we challenge assumptions regularly, and we hold grantees to extremely high standards of performance. That’s why we decided to discontinue one of our under-performing programmes”, said Phyllis Costanza, CEO UBS Optimus Foundation.
*All results for year one are based on a study of a random sample of 12,473 students from 155 schools participating in the DIB and 14,585 students from 180 non-participating schools that are chosen as comparison groups for the participating population | <urn:uuid:e36601b2-e707-4a84-a4f7-112060582f8a> | {
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While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed big mountains it has branched into specializations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists of three areas: rock-craft, snow-craft, and skiing, depending on whether the route chosen is over rock, snow or ice. All require experience, athletic ability, and technical knowledge to maintain safety.
Luxury may be an element, as in early 20th century African safaris, but including accommodations in fully equipped fixed structures such as high-end sporting camps under the banner of “camping” blurs the line.
Camping as a recreational activity became popular among elites in the early 20th century. With time, it grew more democratic, and varied. Modern campers frequent publicly owned natural resources such as national and state parks, wilderness areas, and commercial campgrounds. Camping is a key part of many youth organizations around the world, such as Scouting, which use it to teach both self-reliance and teamwork.
The general orientation of the Trench is an almost uniform 150/330 degree geographic north vector and has become convenient for north/south aviators. | <urn:uuid:05d612fb-4d42-444d-8541-d33df8ba4673> | {
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There are many compelling reasons to use miniature horses as guide animals. Horses are natural guide animals and have been guiding humans for centuries. In nature, horses have been shown to possess a natural guide instinct. When another horse goes blind in a herd, a sighted horse accepts responsibility for the welfare of the blind horse and guides it with the herd. With humans, many blind people ride horses in equestrian competitions. Some blind people ride alone on trails for many miles, completely relying on the horse to guide them safely to their destination. Through history, Cavalry horses have been known to guide their injured rider to safety. The Guide Horse Foundation finds several characteristics of horses that make them suitable to guide the blind.
Long Lifespan – Miniature Horses can live to be more than 50 years old, with the average lifespan being 30-40 years. According to guide dog trainers, guide dogs have a useful life between 8-12 years.
Cost Effective – Training a guide dog can cost up to $60,000, according to the Guide Dog Users national advocacy group. According to Lighthouse International, there are more than 1.3 million legally blind people in the USA, yet only 7,000 guide animal users. Hence, a Guide Horse could be more cost-effective and ensure that more blind people receive a guide animal.
Better acceptance – Many guide dog users report problems getting access to public places because their dog is perceived as a pet. Most people do not associate a horse as a pet, and Guide Horse users report that they are immediately recognized as a working service animal.
Calm Nature – Trained horses are extremely calm in chaotic situations. Cavalry horses have proven that horses can remain calm even in the extreme heat of battle. Police horses are an excellent example of well trained horses that deal with stressful situations. Guide Horses undergo the same systematic desensitization training that is given to riot-control horses.
Great Memory – Horses possess phenomenal memories. A horse will naturally remember a dangerous situation decades after the occurrence.
Excellent Vision – Because horses have eyes on the sides of their heads, they have a very wide range of vision, with a range of nearly 350 degrees. Horses are the only guide animals capable of independent eye movement and they can track potential danger with each eye. Horses can see clearly in almost total darkness.
Focused Demeanor – Trained horses are very focused on their work and are not easily distracted. Horses are not addicted to human attention and normally do not get excited when petted or groomed.
Safety Conscious – Naturally safety oriented, horses are constantly on the lookout for danger. All horses have a natural propensity to guide their master along the safest most efficient route, and demonstrate excellent judgment in obstacle avoidance training.
High Stamina – Hearty and robust, a properly conditioned Guide Horse can easily travel many miles in a single outing.
Good Manners – Guide Horses are very clean and can be housebroken. Horses do not get fleas and only shed twice per year. Horses are not addicted to human affection and will stand quietly when on duty. | <urn:uuid:ee599b8b-d943-49b1-8034-6440cff5c438> | {
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Electrification, Explosivity, Flash, Lightning, Near-vent lightning, Plume lightning, Vent discharges
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Volcanic lightning is a manifestation of electrical processes that occur in rising ash columns from explosive eruptions. Recent studies show the existence of three types of lightning: (1) vent discharges (small scale, short duration flashes right at the vent at the time of eruption), (2) near-vent lightning (medium scale, medium duration flashes above the vent in the first few minutes), and (3) plume lightning (sub-kilometer to large scale, long duration flashes beginning several minutes after eruption onset and lasting many minutes as the plume drifts downwind). The plume lightning resembles ordinary thunderstormlightning, and water and ice play important roles. Lightning has been reported at nearly 400 eruptions at 152 volcanoes. Although detailed studies are in the early stages, lightning has good potential to improve monitoring for explosive eruptions.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Volcanic Lightning, in H. Sigurdsson (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes (2nd Ed.), Academic Press, p. 1059-1067
Scholar Commons Citation
McNutt, Stephen R. and Thomas, Ronald J., "Volcanic Lightning" (2015). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 1436. | <urn:uuid:3d3a6f56-ce02-47af-8a17-de3434c9e0c7> | {
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Grateful teenagers have been proven to be more resilient, happier and healthier. So how can we teach our teens gratitude in a time when they often feel like the world revolves around them? Here are a few key strategies that will help you raise a grateful teenager.
Lead by example
Don’t make it just a lesson for your teens- it’s the perfect excuse to practice it more for yourself as well! Go back to the basics by sharing frequently and using your manners. This means interacting with everyone in positive ways- from sharing your food with your spouse to thanking a stranger who holds the door open for you. Eventually your role model behaviour will rub off on your teens!
Share the gift of giving
The more material things you gift your teens, the harder they will find it to appreciate the things they have. While receiving gifts is fun, we mustn’t forget to share with our teens how fulfilling it feels to give. One way you can share the joy of giving with your teen is by having your kids help make birthday or thank you cards. Carrying out random acts of kindness as a family is also a great way to teach the joy of giving.
Volunteer with your teenagers
Through volunteer work, your teenager will quickly learn that there are people less fortunate in the world. By opening their eyes to different perspectives, your teen will gain a greater appreciation for what they have. There are tons of options for volunteer work. Find one that your teen holds the most passion for- maybe it’s spending time with the elderly, cooking for a soup kitchen or volunteering at an animal shelter.
Give your teens responsibility
It’s important that your teen understands that chores and housework is something that the entire family is responsible for. It’s simple- you should take care of and respect the home you live in. Therefore, chores and housework is for everyone, including your teens! By helping around the house, they learn first-hand how much effort it takes to keep a household afloat and will become more grateful for it.
Start each day with gratitude
Each morning before your teen starts their day, have them practice gratitude. This can be something as simple as standing in front of the mirror and stating 3 things they are thankful for. By practicing gratitude first thing in the morning, your teen will start the day on a positive note and immediately set themselves up to have a great day!
By raising a grateful teenager, you will have achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in life, as gratitude is one of the most important lessons in life. The more your teen is grateful, the more they will appreciate the things they have in life. They’ll learn to be happy with what they have and who they are- allowing your teenager to live the most positive and fulfilling life possible! | <urn:uuid:2557b49b-f157-40f5-ae6f-a0e92d37601b> | {
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There’s a problem in Nigeria that no one disagrees with: when people here die young, they usually die from diseases that could have been prevented or treated.
Doctors say child mortality is rising in places like Zamfara State in the north, where a lead poisoning outbreak has killed more than 400 children under the age of five since March 2010.
Families in the southern Niger Delta region, an area activists call “the world’s largest oil spill,” say their children’s immune systems are weakened from drinking toxic water, and that children frequently die from diseases like cholera and malaria.
Dr. Adamu Onu, a family practitioner in Abuja, says health crises across the country have the same root cause: poverty. Earlier this year, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics released a report that said the number of people living in “absolute poverty” has increased from 54.7 percent in 2004 to nearly 61 percent in 2010. He says most of the people in Nigeria simply don’t have access to health care because they live far away from the nearest clinic and don’t have the money or the means to travel to the city. Dr. Onu says there are almost no doctors in the countryside where most of the population lives.
John Brisbe, an elder in a fishing community in Delta State, says when children in his remote region get sick they often die because it can take up to six hours to get to the hospital in a canoe. "They are not taking care of any of our communities. So we are suffering," he said. "Different types of sickness are harming our children because of this river water that we are drinking." | <urn:uuid:150c6d05-5ac1-4a04-b7fb-c74cf5d8e30d> | {
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Pattern Matching for Construct Validity
The idea of using pattern matching as a rubric for assessing construct validity is an area where I have tried to make a contribution (Trochim, W., (1985). Pattern matching, validity, and conceptualization in program evaluation. Evaluation Review, 9, 5, 575-604 and Trochim, W. (1989). Outcome pattern matching and program theory. Evaluation and Program Planning, 12, 355-366.), although my work was very clearly foreshadowed, especially in much of Donald T. Campbell’s writings. Here, I’ll try to explain what I mean by pattern matching with respect to construct validity.
The Theory of Pattern Matching
A pattern is any arrangement of objects or entities. The term “arrangement” is used here to indicate that a pattern is by definition non-random and at least potentially describable. All theories imply some pattern, but theories and patterns are not the same thing. In general, a theory postulates structural relationships between key constructs. The theory can be used as the basis for generating patterns of predictions. For instance, E=MC2 can be considered a theoretical formulation. A pattern of expectations can be developed from this formula by generating predicted values for one of these variables given fixed values of the others. Not all theories are stated in mathematical form, especially in applied social research, but all theories provide information that enables the generation of patterns of predictions.
Pattern matching always involves an attempt to link two patterns where one is a theoretical pattern and the other is an observed or operational one. The top part of the figure shows the realm of theory. The theory might originate from a formal tradition of theorizing, might be the ideas or “hunches” of the investigator, or might arise from some combination of these. The conceptualization task involves the translation of these ideas into a specifiable theoretical pattern indicated by the top shape in the figure. The bottom part of the figure indicates the realm of observation. This is broadly meant to include direct observation in the form of impressions, field notes, and the like, as well as more formal objective measures. The collection or organization of relevant operationalizations (i.e., relevant to the theoretical pattern) is termed the observational pattern and is indicated by the lower shape in the figure. The inferential task involves the attempt to relate, link or match these two patterns as indicated by the double arrow in the center of the figure. To the extent that the patterns match, one can conclude that the theory and any other theories which might predict the same observed pattern receive support.
It is important to demonstrate that there are no plausible alternative theories that account for the observed pattern and this task is made much easier when the theoretical pattern of interest is a unique one. In effect, a more complex theoretical pattern is like a unique fingerprint which one is seeking in the observed pattern. With more complex theoretical patterns it is usually more difficult to construe sensible alternative patterns that would also predict the same result. To the extent that theoretical and observed patterns do not match, the theory may be incorrect or poorly formulated, the observations may be inappropriate or inaccurate, or some combination of both states may exist.
All research employs pattern matching principles, although this is seldom done consciously. In the traditional two-group experimental context, for instance, the typical theoretical outcome pattern is the hypothesis that there will be a significant difference between treated and untreated groups. The observed outcome pattern might consist of the averages for the two groups on one or more measures. The pattern match is accomplished by a test of significance such as the t-test or ANOVA. In survey research, pattern matching forms the basis of generalizations across different concepts or population subgroups. In qualitative research pattern matching lies at the heart of any attempt to conduct thematic analyses.
While current research methods can be described in pattern matching terms, the idea of pattern matching implies more, and suggests how one might improve on these current methods. Specifically, pattern matching implies that more complex patterns, if matched, yield greater validity for the theory. Pattern matching does not differ fundamentally from traditional hypothesis testing and model building approaches. A theoretical pattern is a hypothesis about what is expected in the data. The observed pattern consists of the data that are used to examine the theoretical model. The major differences between pattern matching and more traditional hypothesis testing approaches are that pattern matching encourages the use of more complex or detailed hypotheses and treats the observations from a multivariate rather than a univariate perspective.
Pattern Matching and Construct Validity
While pattern matching can be used to address a variety of questions in social research, the emphasis here is on its use in assessing construct validity.
The accompanying figure shows the pattern matching structure for an example involving five measurement constructs – arithmetic, algebra, geometry, spelling, and reading. In this example, we’ll use concept mapping to develop the theoretical pattern among these constructs. In the concept mapping we generate a large set of potential arithmetic, algebra, geometry, spelling, and reading questions. We sort them into piles of similar questions and develop a map that shows each question in relation to the others. On the map, questions that are more similar are closer to each other, those less similar are more distant. From the map, we can find the straight-line distances between all pair of points (i.e., all questions). This is the matrix of interpoint distances. We might use the questions from the map in constructing our measurement instrument, or we might sample from these questions. On the observed side, we have one or more test instruments that contain a number of questions about arithmetic, algebra, geometry, spelling, and reading. We analyze the data and construct a matrix of inter-item correlations.
What we want to do is compare the matrix of interpoint distances from our concept map (i.e., the theoretical pattern) with the correlation matrix of the questions (i.e., the observed pattern). How do we achieve this? Let’s assume that we had 100 prospective questions on our concept map, 20 for each construct. Correspondingly, we have 100 questions on our measurement instrument, 20 in each area. Thus, both matrices are 100x100 in size. Because both matrices are symmetric, we actually have (N(N-1))/2 = (100(99))/2 = 9900⁄2 = 4,950 unique pairs (excluding the diagonal). If we “string out” the values in each matrix we can construct a vector or column of 4,950 numbers for each matrix. The first number is the value comparing pair (1,2), the next is (1,3) and so on to (N-1, N) or (99, 100). Now, we can compute the overall correlation between these two columns, which is the correlation between our theoretical and observed patterns, the “pattern matching correlation.” In this example, let’s assume it is -.93. Why would it be a negative correlation? Because we are correlating distances on the map with the similarities in the correlations and we expect that greater distance on the map should be associated with lower correlation and less distance with greater correlation.
The pattern matching correlation is our overall estimate of the degree of construct validity in this example because it estimates the degree to which the operational measures reflect our theoretical expectations.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Pattern Matching
There are several disadvantages of the pattern matching approach to construct validity. The most obvious is that pattern matching requires that you specify your theory of the constructs rather precisely. This is typically not done in applied social research, at least not to the level of specificity implied here. But perhaps it should be done. Perhaps the more restrictive assumption is that you are able to structure the theoretical and observed patterns the same way so that you can directly correlate them. We needed to quantify both patterns and, ultimately, describe them in matrices that had the same dimensions. In most research as it is currently done it will be relatively easy to construct a matrix of the inter-item correlations. But we seldom currently use methods like concept mapping that enable us to estimate theoretical patterns that can be linked with observed ones. Again, perhaps we ought to do this more frequently.
There are a number of advantages of the pattern matching approach, especially relative to the multitrait-multimethod matrix (MTMM). First, it is more general and flexible than MTMM. It does not require that you measure each construct with multiple methods. Second, it treats convergence and discrimination as a continuum. Concepts are more or less similar and so their interrelations would be more or less convergent or discriminant. This moves the convergent/discriminant distinction away from the simplistic dichotomous categorical notion to one that is more suitably post-positivist and continuous in nature. Third, the pattern matching approach does make it possible to estimate the overall construct validity for a set of measures in a specific context. Notice that we don’t estimate construct validity for a single measure. That’s because construct validity, like discrimination, is always a relative metric. Just as we can only ask whether you have distinguished something if there is something to distinguish it from, we can only assess construct validity in terms of a theoretical semantic or nomological net, the conceptual context within which it resides. The pattern matching correlation tells us, for our particular study, whether there is a demonstrable relationship between how we theoretically expect our measures will interrelate and how they do in practice. Finally, because pattern matching requires a more specific theoretical pattern than we typically articulate, it requires us to specify what we think about the constructs in our studies. Social research has long been criticized for conceptual sloppiness, for re-packaging old constructs in new terminology and failing to develop an evolution of research around key theoretical constructs. Perhaps the emphasis on theory articulation in pattern matching would encourage us to be more careful about the conceptual underpinnings of our empirical work. And, after all, isn’t that what construct validity is all about? | <urn:uuid:2da68dd6-256f-4586-bda6-f0419d3f686c> | {
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Modern society is reliant on manufactured chemicals to meet our everyday needs in food production, medicines, clothing and technological applications. Traditional approaches to building molecules have largely ignored the detrimental environmental impacts of the manufacturing processes, but this has changed. In this unit you will study contemporary methods used to create life-changing molecules, from pharmaceuticals and bulk chemicals to polymers in the context of the environmental impact of chemical manufacture and the challenges of ensuring both sustainability of source materials and sustainability of waste treatment. You will gain an understanding of the principles and practices of chemical manufacture, the application of catalytic processes, and the methods used to tailor molecular properties, including the spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques of chemical analysis. In this unit you will address the general issues of renewable and non-renewable resources and waste recycling. Sustainable Chemical Manufacture (Adv) differs from CHEM2522 in that the laboratory consists of open-ended discovery-oriented exercises. By doing this unit you will develop an integrated understanding of the challenges of sustainable chemical manufacture and the fundamental basis for continued study in the topics of organic synthesis, environmental chemistry, polymer science and industrial processes. These same lectures are also covered in CHEM2532 Concepts in Sustainable Chemical Manufacture but with the laboratory program replaced by a series of classroom workshops and assignments.
3 x 1hr lecture/week for 13 weeks, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week for 13 weeks, 6 x 4hrs laboratory class
2 x in-semester test (10%), 13 x pre-lecture quizzes (10%), 4 x laboratory reports (18%), 2 x laboratory presentations (7%), final exam (55%)
A mark of 65 or above in (CHEM1111 or CHEM1911 or CHEM1991 or CHEM1011 or CHEM1101 or CHEM1901 or CHEM1903 or CHEM1001) and a mark of 65 or above in (CHEM1112 or CHEM1912 or CHEM1992 or CHEM1012 or CHEM1102 or CHEM1902 or CHEM1904 or CHEM1002)Prohibitions
CHEM2522 or CHEM2532 or CHEM2404 or CHEM2914 | <urn:uuid:4261ad98-6830-4309-a449-4f54561bc3d5> | {
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Community Leadership Training
(An outline of the program follows; to read a more detailed description and analysis in the form of a published article from the peer-reviewed journal Education and Urban Society, click here). Beginning in 2002 with generous support from the Hazen Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York Community Trust, and the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute has organized programs of community leadership training for parents and community leaders in low income, minority, and new immigrant communities to enhance their participation in the New York City Public Schools. The program has involved Latino groups in Queens, Haitian-American and African American groups in Brooklyn, a South Asian group in Queens, and others. Over 200 community activists have participated in the program which has helped them to increase parent participation and to lead successful campaigns in the public school system.
Our strategy includes direct assistance for the groups involved, leadership training, and technical assistance. We address each component in turn below.
Direct assistance, which is the single largest financial category in the program, involves the regranting of funds to participating groups to enable them to carry out educational organizing in their neighborhoods. Typically, the money has gone to hire organizers or to increase the hours of organizers already working.
More specifically, direct assistance has enabled the groups involved to
- Develop strategies for enhancing parent involvement
- Devote resources to understanding and disseminating the implications of the reorganized school system in terms of structure, process, and organizational details
- Identify opportunities for parent involvement in the new system⦁ Identify the most pressing issues at the level of individual parents, groups of parents, entire schools, and regions
- Create local training workshops
- Create social spaces in which parents can interact to increase knowledge, self confidence, skills, and social capital
Leadership Training Seminars
Leadership Training Seminars take place every two weeks for eight sessions on the Queens College campus; Professors Krasner and Pierre-Louis, Jr. teach the classes. Before each class, we provide a hot meal, served buffet style. Children are welcome. The seminars provide essential information and hands-on training on the following topics:
- The governmental and political forces influencing New York City public school politics including
- The federal system
- Federal/state/city relations
- New York City’s government and politics
- The History of School Politics in New York City
- The struggle for Community Control
- The Decentralization Act of 1969
- The System of Community School Boards, 1970-1996
- The new, revised system of New York City public school governance
- Parent participation in the new system: Opportunities and Obstacles
- School Curriculum
- Issue definition and research techniques
- Basic Organizing strategies and techniques
- Media relations
- Power Analysis
- Identifying and Distinguishing Problems and Issues
- Building Relationships with other Groups, Institutions, Officials and Individuals
- Conducting one-to-one meetings
- Recruiting New Leaders
- Maintaining and Strengthening a Grass Roots Organization
As this brief description should make clear, groups are rewarded for expanding the number of involved parents and simultaneously provided the resources to organize parents and to mobilize the community. Thus, the program helps to broaden the organizations’ bases, to strengthen indigenous leadership, to empower individuals, and to avoid leader “burnout.”
Evaluations of the program though anonymous questionnaires and confidential, in-depth, bi-lingual interviews have demonstrated that the program raises participants’ political self confidence and leadership skills and promotes successful campaigning. (These findings have been presented in a social capital theoretical framework at the 2006 Urban Affairs Association Annual Meeting and at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. An article based on this work was published in the refereed journal Education and Urban Society) As the program has developed since its inception in 2002, an advanced leadership training course and a program of technical assistance to participating groups have been added. The advanced course is geared to the issues and campaigns in which groups are currently involved and provides more in-depth training in research, organizing, media relations, and lobbying. Typically groups prepare for actual events such as meeting with legislators.
In a similar vein, our program of technical assistance makes support and advice available through face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and e-mail. This component formalizes the relations that developed after the first training course when technical assistance was not part of the program. As leaders of the participating groups continued to call on the directors of the program for assistance and advice, it became clear that a systematic provision for this activity was needed. | <urn:uuid:c92e989a-b448-41d6-8622-dccea70debfb> | {
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Written by Nicola Dalrymple
The mental health of young people is just as important as the mental health of adults. According to a survey carried out in England in 2017, one in eight 5-19 year olds were suffering from at least one mental health disorder. Tragically, suicide is the number one cause of death for both boys and girls in this age group. Strong foundations of good mental health in childhood has been proven to promote positive wellbeing and resilience later in life. Unfortunately, mental health disorders account for a large proportion of burden on the lives of young people today. While mental health issues are often detected later in life, most mental health disorders begin in adolescence.
Mental health disorders most common in young peopleJust like adults, young people can experience a wide array of mental health problems. Some common disorders which effect young people include;
- Anorexia, Bulimia and other eating disturbances
- Bipolar Disorder
- Mania and Hypomania
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Common mental health problems and symptoms in young people
Often symptoms of poor mental health in young people are mood related. Children may report stress, anxiety, anger, worry, feeling down, fatigue and lack of concentration.
Many symptoms are a result of life events or circumstances. Events which often trigger such symptoms include abuse, grief and loss, parental separation/divorce, bullying, body image issues, exam stress, problems at school, poverty and homelessness, long term physical illness and sleep problems.
Promoting positive mental health in young people
There are things both young people and those around them can do to prevent potential mental health difficulties and promote wellbeing. Such tools include:
- Staying physically healthy through a balanced diet and regular exercise
- Free play
- Positive and cooperative relationships within the family
- Positive and cooperative relationships in school
- Getting involved in local activities and/or team sports
- Feeling loved, accepted, and trusted
- Having a sense of belonging
- Having the opportunity to learn and succeed
- Having support in dealing with change and other risk factors
For young people
Often it can feel like you just can’t get better. That you won’t get better. That there is no support. There is no motivation to feel good again. However feeling good is always worth the effort. You can get better. There is support. Simple changes in life can make a real difference and can step you closer towards positive wellbeing.
Simple steps towards positive mental health
- Believe in yourself
- Ask for help
- Take time to relax
- Talk to family and friends
If you are worried about your child’s mental health it is crucial you don’t ignore the signs. Don’t be hard on yourself and remember there are ways your child can get better.
Steps to take for parents
- Try to maintain a strong relationship with your child ensuring they know how much you love them
- Embrace your role as a parent knowing that you may have to make tough decisions
- Talk to your child and let them know why you are worried
- Listen to your child and try to understand how they are feeling
- Ask your child what they think would help
- Seek professional help if you think it is necessary (see more information below)
Intervention in young people’s mental health
The types of help available to young people suffering from mental health difficulties include the following
As discussed above, warm relationships with supportive parents can be vital to support the young person struggling with their mental wellbeing. Parents should be encouraged to listen, support, and offer time and care for their children. They should let them know they want them to get better and they are there to help.
Often young people’s mood and mental health difficulties will pass. However, if there are no signs of improvement or symptoms worsen it is best that professional help is sought. Schools may be able to offer support through a school nurse or educational psychologist. A GP is a useful resource to consult. Such support networks may refer your child to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Private support may also be an option with professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists.
Childhood is a time when roots are grounded and foundations are laid for the rest of the individual’s life. Don’t ignore mental health difficulties in children and adolescents’. Take time to offer support and seek professional help where necessary.
Contact us, The Blue Tree Clinic, for private help with mental health difficulties. | <urn:uuid:265fd1e7-e3c8-4a1f-8c8f-adad9e9d7b58> | {
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Exploring the isotopic 'landscape' helps physicists build models of nuclear interactions. Precision mass measurements from TITAN will improve our understanding of the astrophysical reaction paths that create all visible matter.
Fundamental Symmetry Studies
Combining TITAN data with other results from ISAC will allow physicists to test predictions made by the standard model. Compelling evidence for new physics will be confirmed if new measurements agree with existing data.
The TITAN Experimental Program
Measuring the mass of short-lived isotopes with high precision
Radioactive isotopes from ISAC are sent to TITAN to undergo cooling, charge-breeding and trapping. The entire process occurs in about 10 milliseconds, allowing radioactive isotopes with short half lives to be studied.
Just as we study an atom's electron structure to understand chemical reactions, the nuclear structure can be probed to gain a better understanding of nuclear reactions. TITAN will be used to look at a class of isotopes that can change states to reduce their internal energy.
Laser & X-ray Spectroscopy
Nuclear models can be checked against their predictions for the nuclear charge radius, and spectroscopy is one way to perform this check. TITAN will study isotopes previously inaccessible to other experiments, and use highly charged ions for increased sensitivity.
Neutrinoless double beta decay, an extremely rare decay if it exists, would violate the Standard model and help characterize the neutrino's nature. At TITAN, the Q-value of Ca-48 has been directly measured, and its nuclear matrix element has been calculated using diagrammatic many-body perturbation theory to the second order. The increase in both quantities strengthen the case for a Ca-48 double-beta-decay experiment.
Year 2014: IOP Physics Scripta publication highlights 2013:
Two TITAN publications featured.
You can now view the Highlights collection and booklet online
November 2012: Nobel laureate Dave Wineland visiting Jens Dilling and the TITAN experiment
Brad Schulz on the left, explains the Cooler Penning Trap system (21 November 2012).
May 2012: Anomaly explained
Recent high-precision mass measurements of 9Li and 9Be, performed with the TITAN Penning trap at the TRIUMF ISAC facility, are analyzed in light of state-of-the-art shell model calculations. We find an explanation for the anomalous isobaric mass multiplet equation behaviour for the two A=9 quartets.
January 2012: First direct mass-measurement of the two-neutron halo nucleus 6He and improved mass for the four-neutron halo 8He
The first direct mass-measurement of 6He and a mass-measurement of 8He at improved precision has been performed at TITAN. The 6He value shows a deviation from the literature of 4 sigma. We present a detailed comparison to nuclear theory for 6He, including new hyperspherical harmonics results. A correlation plot of the point-proton radius (calculated using the new masses) with the two-neutron separation energy demonstrates clearly the importance of three-nucleon forces.
Year 2012: Performance of TITAN Penning trap in sub-ppb level!
The TITAN Penning trap has been built and optimized in order to perform high precision mass measurements with an accuracy in the sub ppb-range on both singly and highly charged ion. A detailed characterization of the TITAN Penning trap is presented and a new compensation method is derived and demonstrated, verifying the performance in the range of sub-ppb.
Year 2011: Hello halos!
The TITAN Penning trap measured the masses of several neutron halos. Combined with laser spectroscopy measurements of isotopic shifts, precise masses can be used to obtain reliable charge radii and two-neutron-separation energies for these halo nuclei. It is shown that these results can be used as stringent tests of nuclear models and potentials providing an important metric for our understanding of the interactions in all nuclei.
Year 2011: Short Lived, but Highly Charged.
The results of TITAN's first mass measurements of highly charged, short-lived nuclides in a Penning trap have been published in Physical Review Letters ([DOI
). The studies have been performed in charge states q=8-12+ and include the nuclide 74Rb with a half-life of only 65 ms. You can have a look at
May 10: TITAN collaboration meeting.
From May 24 to May 26 a TITAN collaboration meeting took place at TRIUMF. During this meeting the current status of TITAN was presented and road maps for TITAN's different experimental devices were defined. Please follow this link
to view the group picture.
Oct 09: New mass measurement of 6Li published in PRC.
The frequency ratio of 6
Li to 7
Li was measured using the TITAN Penning trap mass spectrometer. This measurement resolves a 16-ppb discrepancy between the 6
Li mass of 6.015 122 795(16) u from the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2003 (AME03) [DOI
July 09: Systematic studies for future EC-BR measurements.
Towards the determination of 2nbb matrix elements, we performed systematic studies with 124Cs and 126Cs. First, the radioactive ions were identified by their half life. Afterwards, we stored them inside the Penning trap and observed X-rays following an electron capture. A first summary of the run can be found here
May 09: The 8, 9, 11Be high-precision mass measurement are published in PLB.
The results of the High-precision Penning trap mass measurements of 9,10Be and the one-neutron halo nuclide 11Be
are published in Phys. Lett. B 675, 170 (2009)
Nov 08: The 11Li mass measurement paper is published in PRL.
The results of the First Penning-Trap Mass Measurement of the Exotic Halo Nucleus 11Li
are published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 202501 (2008)
Nov 08: First resonance in a highly charged ion (He-like Oxygen) with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer.
Nov 08: First test run for future electron-capture branching ratio (ECBR) measurements in singly charged ions.
In-107 ions were injected and trapped into the EBIT -used in the Penning trap mode- and we observed X-ray / Gamma lines and Beta electrons from In-107 ions.
Oct 08: Highly charged ions are extracted from the EBIT
For the very first time, highly charged nitrogen and oxygen ions are extracted from the EBIT and sent to the switch yard and the Penning trap.
Sept 08: First ions into EBIT
The EBIT is now completely connected to the TITAN beam line and first ions were shot through the trap and detected on a MCP at the gun position.
Aug 08: TITAN-EBIT revival
The TITAN-EBIT is revived after two years of
inactivity. A new electron collector was installed, trap electrodes were
cleaned from spark-burned cryogenic vacuum grease, and an EPICS-controlled
(PLC) vacuum system was installed. The electron gun cathode is being
conditioned and producing a 20-mA electron beam.
Aug 08: TITAN cooler trap meeting
A meeting with collaborators from the University of Manitoba was held to coordinate the design and construction of the new TITAN cooler trap.
Jul 08: TITAN's 8He mass measurement published in Physical Review Letters
The result of the first Direct Mass Measurement of the Four-Neutron Halo Nuclide 8He is published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 012501 (2008).
Dec 07: Second Li run
- 8Li and 9Li measured with an uncertainty of ~200eV.
- First Penning trap mass measurements of 8Li and 9Li.
- Mass measurement of shortest lived isotope ever trapped: 11Li with an uncertainty of ~1keV.
- 1200 ions/sec from ISAC and a RFQ repetition rate of 50Hz.
Nov 07: First Penning trap mass measurements of 8He at TITAN
- First direct mass measurement of 8He with an uncertainty of ~400eV.
- H2 used in RFQ as buffer gas.
- Yield of ~3100 ions/sec from ISAC.
Aug 07: First on-line mass measurements at TITAN
TITAN's 1st Experiment Takes Precision Mass of On-line Lithium Ions (more).
- 6Li source installed on the beamline in front of the RFQ.
- First tests with the MPET (axial excitation).
- Installation of the new EBIT collector. The coil of the first one was shorted.
June 07: Commissioning of the MPET
Commissioning of the MPET beamline vacuum system. The MPET vacuum chamber
is connected to the rest of the ISAC beamline.
April 07: MPET alignment
- Determination of the longitudinal magnetic field axis (Bz) using a hall
- Alignment of the MPET vacuum chamber with respect to Bz using an
March 07: OLIS beam time
Emittance measurements of the RFQ with the OLIS source and reversed extraction carried out.
Dec 06: First reverse extraction
The first reversed extraction from the RFQ was demonstrated using our offline test source.
Aug 06: Precision Penning trap magnet arrives
The magnet will be charged shortly and tested for field homogeneity.
April 06: EBIT arrives
The EBIT arrived safely from MPI in Heidelberg. Work continues on the TITAN platform, which recieved electrical power recently.
TITAN cooler trap development has started
G. Gwinner at the University of Manitoba has received the grant to develop the HCI cooling trap. The trap will be used at TITAN to increase the setup efficiency when working with highly charged short-lived isotopes.
First tests of TITAN EBIT are successful!
TITAN EBIT transmits electron beam of up to 50mA in the first tests.
TITAN collaboration meeting TRIUMF, Vancouver, June 10-11, 2005
TITAN collaboration meeting and workshop materials can be found here. | <urn:uuid:e77fdff0-9ee2-4d7f-85ce-4aaeb3eac3c5> | {
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Indulgences—speak the word and Protestants will immediately shake their heads in disapproval. Here we have a doctrine that definitively undermines the good news of God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Anglican Articles of Religion describe indulgences as “repugnant to the Word of God.” The Westminster Confession describes them as a “cunningly devised fable, invented by designing men to impose upon the credulous, and to fill their own treasures.” In the Smalcald Articles, Martin Luther states that “purgatory, and every solemnity, rite, and commerce connected with it, is to be regarded as nothing but a specter of the devil.”
It is plain to be seen that indulgences have acquired a terrible reputation. However they need not be so quickly rejected. The problem with indulgences is that they are almost entirely misunderstood. And not just by their opponents! Even many Catholic proponents of the doctrine often get indulgences wrong and end up pronouncing theology which does indeed serve to nullify the good news of the Gospel. I propose that the best way to interpret indulgences, is to look at them through the lens of reformation theology, specifically the doctrine of Sola Fide, and so interpret indulgences as merely another expression or aspect of God’s unconditional, salvific promise.
A Shift in Paradigm
An Indulgences is defined in the Catholic Catechism as “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions“. This definition betrays a very medieval understanding of theology, in that is talks about temporal “punishment”. The focus is very much on God’s justice here: sin leads to punishment but this punishment can be waived. It’s all very “legalistic” and the scene of a courtroom is apt to represent the situation.
In recent years, the doctrine of purgatory has shifted from a “satisfaction” model to a “sanctification” model in the popular mind. This shift is reflective of a more broad movement in Catholic theology away from the retributive paradigm of “Sin as a crime which deserves punishment” to a more remedial paradigm of “Sin as a sickness which requires healing”. In short, no longer are we thought to “pay for our sins” in purgatory; instead we are thought to be “purified of the spiritual dirtiness which has clung to our soul as a result of sin”. This is a welcome change, as it is more in accord with the image of God as a loving father who desires the best for his children, rather than the image of God as a wrathful and angry judge who demands justice in the form of brutal punishment for sin.
However this shift in the understanding of purgatory demands a corresponding shift in the understanding of indulgences. It simply does not make sense to say that “My soul is drenched in sin, however I have gained an indulgence, which means I don’t have to go through the hassle of purification and cleansing. My ‘temporal punishment’ has been remitted: God accepts me just as I am, warts and all”. This is nonsensical and contradicts the clear biblical principle that “nothing unclean will enter heaven”. The solution to this problem lies in the doctrine of the communion of the saints.
The doctrine of the communion of the saints states that we are all mystically joined to Christ and each other. This union is much closer than we realise in our day to day experience. The union is in actual fact so close, that the purifying effects of my penances flow between all the members of the church, such that they do not purify my soul alone, but instead serve to purify all of humanity. Likewise, the infinite penances of Christ, Mary, and the saints flow around the entire church. In this way, my soul can be cleansed by the penances of other people. I do not have to personally make temporal atonement for my sins; I do not have to clean myself; instead, Christ has the ability to clean me directly apart from any penances which I may attempt, by simply applying the infinite penances of the communion of saints to my soul. All that I need to do to allow this to happen is to willingly consent to the cleansing through faith.
With this in mind, Indulgences can be reinterpreted as “A soul being cleansed of it’s sinful dirtiness directly by Christ, through the superabundant penances of the communion of the saints, apart from any penance directly undertaken by that soul”
Indulgences as Promise
We have already seen in this series that God makes a variety of unconditional promises to humanity (or one single promise with many aspects). A summary:
- God promises us that we are Righteous (Justified), right here and now, because Christ lives within us. And therefore we need not fret and feel spiritual angst about being a bad person.
- God promises that all of our sins are forgiven, both past sins and future sins. Therefore we do not need to feel guilty about any of our moral failings
- God promises that we are predestined to heaven. Therefore we do not need to fear being stuck in a state of alienation from God forever. We do not need to despair at the prospect of walking in darkness for eternity. We can have an invincible Hope that we will eventually achieve beatitude.
Now, it seems to me that indulgences are just another unconditional promise that God makes to us. This promise states “You are clean, because Christ has cleaned you; You are perfect, because Christ has purified you; No temporal punishment for sin remains”. In biblical language, we have been washed in Christ’s blood, which is to say that the superabundant sufferings of Christ function as a penance which are applied to all souls in order to cleanse them from all stain of sin. Mary and the saints are able to add their penances to Christ’s sufferings and in this way participate in his passion, however this is not strictly necessary because Christ’s blood is sufficient to clean the souls of the entire world, nevertheless it is a great honour to be united to Christ in such a way that we participate in his salvific work and mission.
It is important to note, that just like the other three promises, the promise of indulgence is Universal and Unconditional. That is to say, God implicitly speaks the promise to every individual who has ever lived, even if they do not explicitly hear the promise spoken to them during life. Again, like the other promises, it is helpful to have this Universal promise personalised and spoken directly to someone. This is where the idea of “Indulgences as promise” intersects with the traditional doctrine.
Indulgences and Sacraments
Sacramentally, the promise of a plenary indulgence is spoken during Baptism and Last Rites. When we are baptised, we are “washed completely clean”. This is an indulgence by another name. Just as with the other promises of God, this promise of indulgence is received “by faith alone”. The degree to which the promise takes effect in my subjective experience of life, is determined by the degree to which I respond to this promise in faith. God says “You are clean”, and I believe, and therefore I experience cleanliness. On the other hand God says “You are clean” and I doubt, and therefore I experience dirtiness.
This experiential situation carries on into the afterlife and takes the name “purgatory”. If you have a perfect faith in the promise of Indulgence, then when you die you will not experience purification, because the promise of God is that there is nothing left to purify: he has already purified you. In this way you “escape the punishment of Hell”. If however you die with an imperfect faith in the promise of Indulgence, then you will enter into the Hellish torments of Purgatory. The degree to which you doubt the promise is the degree to which you are tormented. As all the sins of your life are laid out before you during the particular judgement, you behold your past crimes and perceive them as staining your soul. You are tormented by your sins. All that needs to be done to escape this situation is to hear the promise of Indulgence and throw yourself upon it completely in faith. You must repent by turning away from these sins and trusting the promise of Christ that “you are already clean”. Once you realise that you are already clean, the torments will cease and be revealed to have been completely illusory the entire time.
Similarly to how it is useful as life goes on to have the promise of Justification which was spoken in Baptism reiterated in the Sacrament of Confession, so as to more easily place our faith in it; so too it is useful to have the promise of Indulgence reiterated many times throughout our life, so that we can more easily place our faith in it. This is where the traditional system of “Indulgences attached to works and prayers” comes into play.
To recap: a perpetual plenary indulgence is granted to everyone at all times and in all places. This indulgence takes the form of the scriptural promise that “we have been washed and sanctified by the blood of the lamb. We are completely clean, right now”. However it is useful to have this promise spoken to us personally, so as to allow us to receive it in faith. This is why there are many prayers and actions which are attached to the idea of indulgences.
The most important of these actions are the sacraments of Baptism and Last Rites. However there are many minor prayers, actions and pilgrimages which have indulgences attached. These need to be understood not as “doing a work so as to earn an indulgence”, instead they need to be understood as “demonstrating faith in the promise of Indulgence by concrete actions”. An example: someone who goes on a spiritual retreat for three full days is granted a Plenary indulgence. This does not mean that this person has “earned” the indulgence, instead it means that this person has demonstrated faith in the promise of Indulgence by his actions. At the end of the retreat, the promise of Indulgence is explicitly spoken. It was always implicitly spoken, however it is useful to have this promise explicitly reiterated, so that we may more easily anchor our faith in it. In this way indulgences are similar in purpose to the sacraments.
To summarise, the Promise of Indulgence is unconditional, universal, and perpetual. The works attached to indulgences do not “earn” indulgences, they are simply concrete ways in which faith in this promise is demonstrated. If you do a work or say a prayer with a “partial indulgence” attached, this simply means that you have demonstrated a “partial faith” in the promise. If you do a work or say a prayer with a “plenary indulgence” attached, this simply means that you have demonstrated a total faith in the promise.
The Final Assault of Satan
The main purpose of Last Rites, or Extreme Unction, is to sacramentally speak the promise of Plenary Indulgence to a soul right when they need to hear that promise most. The soul is about to go through the process of dying. As we pray in the Hail Mary, “Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death“. It is a common theological opinion that Satan will make a final assault on a soul who is dying, in the last moments of their life, while they are at their weakest. He will try to drag the soul down into doubt and despair concerning the promises of God. The Devil will do his best to tempt the soul into a state of subjective damnation by attacking their faith. Meanwhile Mary, Christ and all the angels and saints are praying and interceding and doing intense battle with the Devil and his demons. Spiritual warfare is waged over the dying soul.
The sacrament of Last Rites prepares us for this final battle by reiterating the promise of Indulgence to us so that it is fresh in our memory. The last thing that we hear before slipping away into this terrifying process of dying is the promise of God that we are clean. This is essential. Because the Devil is going to swoop in in those last moments and taunt us by saying “You are dirty. You are Guilty. Look at all of your sins. You are going to be damned for sure”. In the face of these taunts, we need to be able to throw ourselves upon the promises of God which instead say “You are clean. You are perfect. You are righteous. Christ lives within you. You are predestined to Heaven”: it is much easier to do this if we have the promises fresh in our memory.
In this way the sacrament of last rites gives us strength to face the process of dying, by reiterating the unconditional promise of God right when we need to hear it most.
Penance is Supererogatory
Someone who depends on penance on order to be clean is simply doing it wrong. This is another manifestation of the “salvation by works” mindset. Objectively, their works of penance do indeed contribute to the cleansing of themselves as well as the other members of the church via the mystical union in the communion of the saints. However, if they do not have faith in the promise of Indulgence that they “are clean, right now, and have been completely washed by the blood of Christ”, then subjectively they are going to experience dirtiness, damnation and condemnation. In this way it is once again a case of “salvation by faith alone”. The way in which the promise becomes active in their subjective experience of life is through faith in that promise. People do not experience cleanliness by doing works of penance, people experience cleanliness by completely trusting in the promise of Indulgence.
An important consequence of these reflections on Indulgences, is that they make penance completely supererogatory (An action is supererogatory if it is good to do but unnecessary). When someone goes to the sacrament of confession and receives absolution, the priest will also specify some penance that needs to be performed. Strictly speaking, this penance is unnecessary and all that is really required in order for the soul to be clean is for that person to place their trust in Christ’s perpetual promise of Indulgence. However the church in her wisdom has decided that penance is spiritually beneficial. In this way, even though penance is a supererogatory act, the church mandates that we do some penance after confession of our sins.
Interestingly, all penance is supererogatory, because Christ’s passion was enough to secure a cleansing of the entire human race. Nevertheless it is a beneficial spiritual exercise to engage in acts of penance. The harm comes when people think that they must perform acts of penance in order to be saved. This will lead to spiritual angst and there are many testimonies of ex-priests and ex-monks who experienced exactly this spiritual angst and it drove them to abandon the faith. Instead we must understand all penance as being supererogatory: Our salvation and escape from the fires of Hell/Purgatory does not depend on the amount of penance we do. Instead it depends entirely on Christ and is subjectively apprehended by faith in Christ’s promise of Indulgence. Faith is the key to a subjective experience of salvation in every respect.
To summarise, an Indulgence is not something which you earn by works and prayers. Indulgence is instead the promise of God that “you are totally clean, right now”. This promise is apprehended by faith alone, and that faith is demonstrated by the works and prayers which have indulgences “attached” to them. In this way, you do not need to work your way out of Hell or Purgatory by many and varied acts of penance: Christ has already done that for you and all you need to do is trust him.
God makes a variety of wonderful promises. “You are clean, you are righteous, you are Justified, you are forgiven, you are predestined, you will persevere”. He speaks these promises to us personally in the sacraments. We apprehend these promises by faith alone and by faith these promises invade our life and enrich it, leading to an experience of heaven on earth; salvation here and now. These promises are unconditional, which is to say they depend on God rather than us for their fulfilment. And God, being omnipotent and omniscient, is able to actualise these promises despite any resistance we might throw at him. In this way we can have invincible faith, confident hope, overflowing joy and untameable love: we can experience salvation right now. All praise be to Christ the king, who was victorious over Hell, abolished death, defeated the Devil, conquered sin. We have an amazing future to look forward to, hope for and pray for. God promises it and God guarantees it. What else can we do but have faith and rejoice?
Alex is a Prophet, Bishop, Priest, Apostle and ASM (Ascended Spiritual Master). On his good days he is often also the one true God incarnate. He enjoys writing theology and philosophy articles and spreading the Gospel promise of Universal Salvation | <urn:uuid:c32eebe1-1817-406c-9be6-c35a9526b4fa> | {
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What is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, abdominal organs, and/or heart. It is a rare and very painful form of cancer. It kills quickly once symptoms appear, but it is an excruciating death. Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure.
How is mesothelioma different from lung cancer?
Lung cancer is cancer of the lungs themselves. Mesothelioma is cancer of the protective lining that surrounds the lungs, called the pleura. Asbestos exposure can also cause lung cancer.
Is mesothelioma contagious?
No, like other forms of cancer, mesothelioma is not contagious. It is caused by exposure to asbestos.
However, if you live or have lived with someone who has developed mesothelioma, you may need to get checked for it yourself. If the exposure happened in your home, you have also been exposed. People who are exposed at work and other places away from home, such as at school, can carry the fibers home on their clothing and in their belongings and expose their entire household.
How do you get mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is caused by inhaling or ingesting asbestos fibers.
Asbestos can be found in older homes and buildings, at the workplace in many industries, and in many household products. Some people believe that asbestos has been outlawed and that exposure is no longer possible or no longer common. That is incorrect.
Symptoms usually take at least 10 to 20 years to appear and can take up to 50 years to appear, after you have been exposed. In rare cases of extreme exposure, symptoms can appear much more quickly.
Does smoking cause mesothelioma?
No. Smoking can increase your chance of developing lung cancer and other cancers, but asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma and lung cancer in people who have never smoked.
If you have been told that your mesothelioma was caused by smoking or that you do not have a case because you are or were a smoker, you have been misinformed. If you have developed lung cancer and suspect that you have been exposed to asbestos, you should talk to your doctor about the possibility of other asbestos related conditions, even if you smoke or used to smoke.
Is there a cure for mesothelioma?
Unfortunately, no. New mesothelioma treatments and possible cures are being researched. The prognosis for mesothelioma patients has improved over the years, however, to be eligible for the best treatments you must be in the early stages of the disease.
Are there different types of mesothelioma?
Yes. All types of mesothelioma affect the mesothelium which is the protective lining around the organs in the body. The types of mesothelioma are defined by the area of the body they affect:
- Lungs – pleural
- Heart – pericardial
- Abdomen and testicles – peritoneal
If you have been exposed to asbestos in the past and have been diagnosed with any of the diseases related to it, you may very well deserve compensation. Click on your state on the above map to contact a mesothelioma lawyer in your state. Alternatively, please e-mail or call us at 1-877-LOSS RECOVER (567-7732) today to speak with a mesothelioma lawyer near you. | <urn:uuid:c587dba3-8516-409d-bbf6-fecc65b3a3c1> | {
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Our mission is to understand ecosystem function and change across space and through time and to approach this understanding by examining interactions within and between natural and human systems. Through discovery and education, we contribute to understanding and sustaining ecosystems and their services. We examine these in the context of current stresses such as changing climate, species introductions, land-use change and intensification. Our department uses state-of-the-art technologies and approaches to provide a quality education to future scientists, educators and decision makers, conducts cutting edge interdisciplinary research, and delivers culturally relevant outreach programs that empower our students and the general public locally, nationally, and internationally.
Dr. John Moore serves as the Department Head, as well as the Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.
Our department is the fifth and newest department of the Warner College of Natural Resources. The CSU Board of Governors approved the formation on February 17, 2011. It is the only program in Colorado that focuses exclusively on scholarship and discovery in the area of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. Sustainability is a critically important concept to the future quality of American society, and training in ways to think about sustainability is beginning to be conducted at only four other universities in the United States.
This department is joined with the world premier Watershed Science program, which was originally part of the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship. Watershed Science is the study of the natural processes and human activities that affect fresh water resources. Water is a critical component of Earth’s ecosystems and is used for human consumption, agriculture, energy production, transportation, and recreation. Management of fresh water resources is an increasingly important and complex challenge in Colorado and worldwide.
Our faculty members are fully dedicated to students, working side-by-side with them in the classroom, in the laboratory and in the field. This faculty brings together over forty years of leading research at CSU’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. | <urn:uuid:4424555b-8a4f-40f7-9885-f67c03174a32> | {
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Fresh and clean water is considered a limited resource. Natural occurrences such as droughts limit our access to fresh water, making it especially important to reduce the amount of water we use each day. Not only does water conservation help prevent pollution in our local lakes and rivers, but it can also help with lowering your utility bill.
Want to know how you can start conserving water in your Delaware home? Read below to get started!
- Check for leaks. A small drip from your faucet can waste 20 gallons of water every day and even more if the leak is larger. You should regularly check for leaks in your faucet, pipes, and toilets to prevent wasted water.
- Take a shorter shower. Try to keep your shower less than five minutes as much as you can. A four minute shower uses somewhere between 20 to 40 gallons of water. By keeping your shower under 5 minutes you will ultimately save 1,000 gallons of water per month!
- Water Yard Early. Waiting to water the plants later in the day when the temperatures start to increase is extremely wasteful because most of the water is evaporated before the plants are able to drink it. We suggest watering the yard early when temperatures are cool, however if this is not possible then you should wait until late evening.
- Turn off water when brushing teeth. There is really no point in having the water kept on in between brushing. You can save up to 8 gallons by turning the water off while brushing your teeth!
- Use a bucket and sponge. When washing your car and/or bike, you should always fill up a bucket and use a sponge to rinse rather than using a hose. Leaving a hose running can potentially waste 6 gallons of water every 60 seconds.
If you have questions about water conservation, contact the experts at Waste Masters Solutions | <urn:uuid:6ce6ed2b-0e67-49a7-8ecc-8f0ad4ea2bda> | {
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My child came home talking about a “Grace and Courtesy lesson,” what in the world is this!?
A note on Grace and Courtesy lessons…
Grace and Courtesy lessons are important and necessary for the environment of Children’s House. Grace and Courtesy lessons help establish the harmonious and cooperative environment. Oftentimes we expect children to know how to behave but they have never actually been shown or told how to behave in certain situations. There are special traditions and standards that each culture holds dear to their very being. There are many unspoken expectations that children are required to know. Grace and Courtesy lessons help children adapt to their time and place in history and culture.
The absorbent mind that is present in all children from birth to six is internalizing all of the words and movements around the children. From three to six, children are psychologically ready to try and understand how they are supposed to behave. Through Grace and Courtesy lessons, children learn how to live in their society and can carry this knowledge throughout their lives. We are trying to help guide the child’s character through Grace and Courtesy lessons. We cannot teach character, however, we can support the process of the child seeking to develop her character. Implementing dramas, scenarios, discussions, conversations, and modelling, we offer children support in the development of their character.
In order to support the children, we must be conscious of how we behave in our own lives. We need to model Grace and Courtesy in our everyday thoughts and actions. There are specific guidelines for Grace and Courtesy lessons as explained by Molly O’Shaughnessy.
1. When we present Grace and Courtesy lessons, use natural words and try to make the lessons as natural and organic as possible.
2. Grace and Courtesy lessons should be presented right away at the beginning of the year and continued daily throughout the year.
3. We encourage frequent practice and repetition of the Grace and Courtesy lessons.
4. We always model proper Grace and Courtesy in daily activities.
5. These lessons can be given individually, in a small group, and occasionally collectively. (Generally only in phasing in period)
6. Grace and Courtesy lessons must be given in a neutral moment They should not be presented in the heat of a conflict.
7. Lesson should be brief, fun and interesting. (Can be only a minute or two)
8. Lessons should be presented daily.
9. We do not interrupt a child’s work in order to give a lesson.
10. No one is singled out. Grace and Courtesy lessons are not about shaming or correcting, it’s about inspiring children.
11. Adults should anticipate social situations before they occur. They can help with a new child entering the environment, holiday celebration, help children with the proper language and behavior.
12. If Grace and Courtesy are not shown at an early age, it’s much more difficult to learn later in life.
Some example lessons include; How to introduce yourself, how to say excuse me, how to make peace, how to observe, how to walk in the environment, how to take turns, how to introduce a friend, how to shake hands, and many others.
The results of Grace and Courtesy lessons are astonishing. Children become responsible members of their community. There is normalization of the environment and the child. Children are capable of finding their place in the world. They have a mutual respect for all human beings and their environment. Children are confident and full of grace. Grace and Courtesy lessons are an important aspect of the Children’s House. Children gain a foundation of good manners, confidence, and respect that stays with them forever. They are capable of having conversations with anyone they meet and are prepared with the social skills to know how to introduce themselves, shake hands (if that’s present in the culture), introduce friends, draw someone’s attention, and many other purposeful life skills.
We see normalization of the child and the environment.
We see mutual respect.
We see confident children.
We see children with inner equilibrium and grace.
We see children being able to find their place in the world.
We see children who are responsible members of the community. | <urn:uuid:5386cc6c-738f-4b74-ba93-c2b57dd02d34> | {
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Architect Louis H Pilié built New Orleans’ most famous landmark, Place d’Armes, in 1721. Pilié based his design on the seventeenth century Place des Vosges in Paris, France. Clark Mills‘ statue of Battle of New Orleans hero and future US President Andrew Jackson, for whom the square was renamed in 1815, was erected in 1856. Baroness Micaela Almonester-Pontalba designed its benches, iron fences, walkways, and Parisian-style landscaping in 1851.
Prior to 1856, Jackson Square was used as a military parade ground and public execution site of criminals and runaway slaves before it was converted to a park. The pedestrian mall surrounding Jackson Square was created in 1971 when three streets, Chartres, St Peter and St Ann, were closed to vehicles. Life in the French Quarter centers on Jackson Square with its collection of artists, musicians, and tarot card readers. Formal concerts and the French Quarter Festival are held annually in Jackson Square. Across the street, the Café du Monde serves its famous beignets and café au lait 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
The St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytère, the Cabildo and the Pontalba Apartments overlook Jackson square. The St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States. Its formal name is the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France. Directly across from Jackson Square is the Jax Brewery building. After Jax Brewery ceased to operate independently, the building was converted for use by several businesses, including restaurants and specialty shops. In recent years, retail space has been converted into riverfront condominiums. Behind the Jax Brewery lies the Toulouse Street Wharf, the regular pier of the steamboat, Natchez.
Originally, Jackson Square overlooked the Mississippi River across Decatur Street, but its view was blocked when large levees were built along the river in the nineteenth century. The scenic boardwalk along the river across from Jackson Square is known as the Moon Walk in honor of Mayor Moon Landrieu. In the late 1980s, wharves and warehouses were demolished to create Woldenberg Park, thereby extending the riverfront promenade up to Canal Street. | <urn:uuid:35e29043-1918-43be-a1a8-af61218fca9f> | {
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Last Updated on
When the web browser loads a web page, the HTML parser begins parsing the HTML code and creating the DOM.
Let’s start by defining what <script> without any attributes does. The HTML file will be parsed until the script file is hit, at that point parsing will stop and a request will be made to fetch the file (if it’s external). The script will then be executed before parsing is resumed.
async downloads the file during HTML parsing and will pause the HTML parser to execute it when it has finished downloading.
defer downloads the file during HTML parsing and will only execute it after the parser has completed. defer scripts are also guaranteed to execute in the order that they appear in the document.
When should I use what?
Typically you want to use async where possible, then defer then no attribute. Here are some general rules to follow:
- If the script is modular and does not rely on any scripts then use async.
- If the script relies upon or is relied upon by another script then use defer.
- If the script is small and is relied upon by an async script then use an inline script with no attributes placed above the async scripts.
IE9 and below have some pretty bad bugs in their implementation of defer such that the execution order isn’t guaranteed. If you need to support <= IE9 I recommend not using defer at all and include your scripts with no attribute if the execution order matters. Read the specifics here. | <urn:uuid:e5f92406-b7fc-41e8-9a33-e5116d9041e4> | {
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bio-, bi-, -bia, -bial, -bian, -bion, -biont, -bius, -biosis, -bium, -biotic, -biotical
(Greek: life; living, live, alive)
Don’t confuse this element with another bi- which means "two".
The most important things in life are not things.
2. An earlier form of cinematograph or motion-picture projector; used in about 1900.
3. A South African word for cinema or movie theater.
2. The examination of vital functions; such as, respiration, heart beat, and pulse to determine whether an individual is alive.
The biosensor can also be used in the laboratory or placed within the body.2. A device to monitor and to transmit information about biological processes; such as, the effect of motion on an animal in space: After many trials, the scientists developed a biosensor that worked in the weightlessness of the space capsule.
2. Relating to, or involving, an interaction or combination of social and biological factors.
2. A nutrient-rich organic material, or byproduct, resulting from the treatment of municipal wastewater.
Biosolids can be safely recycled; for example, for fertilizers.
Biosolids contain nitrogen and phosphorus along with other supplementary nutrients in smaller doses; such as, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, calcium, copper, and zinc.
Soil that is lacking in these substances can be reclaimed with biosolids use. The application of biosolids to land improves soil properties and plant productivity, and reduces dependence on inorganic fertilizers.
There are some obstacles to sewage sludge reuse because in modern societies; especially, with sewage biosolids reuse in agriculture. Even if problems of pollutant contamination (heavy metals, organic contaminants, pharmaceuticals) and public opinion were resolved, considerable obstacles would still remain.
Cities and intensive livestock production units both lead to localized surpluses of nutrients. Biosolids have relatively low nutrient content compared to high water content.
2. The use by certain animals of echoes of sounds they produce to locate objects in the perceptual field as with bats as they move around.
2. A species defined primarily on biological characteristics: "An interesting fact of biospecies is that it establishes the likeness of DNA of people, or groups of people. One technique is using genetic fingerprinting." | <urn:uuid:d25730f9-6457-4d1c-874a-d666ab7c0d33> | {
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This is how the feudal society began
Once upon a time there was this great civilised empire, named the Roman Empire. It lasted for quite some time, six to eight centuries, depending on how one counts, but eventually its internal contradictions prevailed, and it split into a poor and unstable western half and a rich and stable eastern half, and in the 5th century the western half fell to pieces.
The economy of the fallen western half of the empire crashed, and the population shrank, and the remaining people lived in small, almost isolated and almost self-sufficient communities.
And in this fallen world some strongmen had the idea of providing protection and a semblance of safety and a sort of justice, in exchange for food and clothes and, most importantly, fealty. Their position was naturally inherited by their heirs, and lo and behold, just two or three centuries later their descendants became known as noble feudal lords.
(And of course the economic basis of the society changed too, with money becoming scarce, and trade shrinking to a shadow of its former importance. For the society was pulverised into a multitude of feudal domains, which ate what they grew, and clothed in fabrics made from the wool of their sheep, and seldom if ever had any surplus produce to sell abroad.)
The bonds of fealty worked both ways, with the vassal owing consilium et auxilium, advice and support, to his lord, and the lord owing protection to his vassal. And this hierarchical society where every man owed fealty to some other man and so on up to the top where the king or duke sat endured for about a thousand years, which period is commonly known as the Middle Ages. | <urn:uuid:f386526d-cb75-4a00-ab6c-a1b32299f2fa> | {
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3D rendering is defined as a creative process that is comparable to cinematography and photography. This is because individuals are staging and lighting scenes and creating images. However, unlike regular photography, the scenes that are being pictured are imaginary and everything that appears in 3D rendering must be created or re-created in a computer prior to being rendered. There are lots of tasks that need to be completed but 3D rendering allows countless creative control on how the scene appeared and depicted.
This particular type of three-dimensional process is one of the most technically intricate components of three-dimensional or 3D production. This process however can be easily understood when looking at the analogy context. 3D rendering is very similar to film photography wherein the photographer must first develop the photos and print them before they can be completely exposed or displayed. When artists are working on three-dimensional scenes, the 3D models that they are manipulating are actually mathematical representations of surfaces and points more specifically polygons and vertices in 3D spaces.
3D rendering also pertains to specific calculations done by three-dimensional software package rendering engine to interpret scenes from mathematical approximations up to finalized image. During the said process, the scene’s over-all textural, lighting and spatial information is joined together to identify color value of every pixel in flattened images.
Two Types of 3D Rendering
3D rendering is a method wherein 3D models are graced with depth, colors and realistic look in order to make them look more appealing and attractive to audience. There are about two types of 3D rendering that is typically utilized these days and these types are as follows:
This type of 3D rendering is frequently utilized for object renderings, where objects are not necessarily required to have background setting or environment. Taking for instance sphere rendering, this can be rendered in non-photorealistic means for the reason that despite being in plain background, sphere remains to be effective.
This is another type of 3D rendering that is frequently utilized when rendering 3D homes or house models since houses require unique background environment. This seems to be a great impact in rendering especially if these are nestled on plain background. There are instances that in photorealistic 3D rendering, actual photos are utilized for background. This type of three-dimensional rendering is especially designed to offer ultimate detail the eyes can focus and appreciate quickly.
Advantages of 3D Rendering
Three dimensional rendering has set beneficial and remarkable change in the engineering and architectural industries. This has also delivered huge efficiencies in many other types of industries. This process has been widely used in representing machine components for ideal analysis and design. 3D rendering services are also made available for individuals and companies.
One of the great advantages of 3D this process is that this allows companies achieve great improvements in terms of productivity and efficiency. This also aids in reducing costs and simplifying and speeding up design processes and cycles hereby streamlining manufacturing process and accelerating product launchings. These are just few of the many benefits 3D rendering can offer. | <urn:uuid:1f3be2c9-5450-4194-b80d-a040dabb698d> | {
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The existence of modern graphic designing tools and software in this world led to the creation of innovative graphic designs that are very useful in several kinds of businesses. Such graphic designs represent in the idea of 3D Design which refers to the most realistic type of images or models that people can use to express their creativity and the power of imagination. All kinds of visible or tangible objects in this world can be provided with excellent three-dimensional designs that only an expert graphic designer can create with the use of some special examples of software that are actually allotted for graphic designing.
Three-Dimensional images can never be created without the different examples of electronic devices that are available in different parts of the globe nowadays like personal computers. Such images needs to be planned and constructed in the interface of an electronic device with the use of several kinds of software that are equipped with graphic designing and photo editing tools. The main purpose of this technology is to provide an object with a very realistic image with the use of the x, y and z axes that are very necessary in the process of graphic designing.
The images that were created with the use of the 3D Design technology are very useful in advertisements and electronic presentations. In fact, several companies in this world at the present time are already using this technology while introducing a wide variety of tangible items in the international market. The main purpose of three-dimensional design is to help people to see the actual image of a new object which is meant to be introduced in this world electronically. People can easily image the formation of the bones in the skeletal system of an animal with the use of this new technology.
New models of cars can be easily introduced and showcased also in the international market with the use of three-dimensional design. Right now, the images that were created with the use of this technology can be printed already to create three-dimensional models that are very useful in several kinds of presentations and exhibits. The technology has successfully transformed the process of creating two-dimensional images into a more entertaining process. This new technology is something that will really enhance the creativity of all graphic designers who are willing to entertain people and to help businesses to grow faster with the use of three-dimensional images.
3D Design contributed a lot of things in the world of film production and cartoon network. Animation became more interesting and much easier for the graphic designers to perform when this new technology was introduced in the field of graphic designing. And actually, several examples of three-dimensional images are already available in the internet and television industry at the present time to entertain people. This graphic design represents that most creative way of self expression through graphic designs. Soon, it will already replace all the examples of two-dimensional images and models that were used to introduced the old anime characters in television and old consumable items that were introduced in the international market before. | <urn:uuid:c1721077-7e72-4441-a45d-d2f1c43c8ddf> | {
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Atopic dermatitis is a skin disease caused by inflammation of the cutis, seen mostly in the first years of life. It is characterised by dry, itchy skin and may cause children notable discomfort: intense itching may even make sleeping difficult.
This chronic-recurrent disease cannot be linked to one single cause. Rather, it is the result of a complex interaction between various factors.
What can be done to make living with this disease easier and mitigate discomfort?
Genuine help comes from plants, with their complex mixture of natural substances. To reduce inflammation, jojoba oil, borage oil, St John’s wort oil and evening primrose oil are all quite effective and help hydrate and protect the skin, reducing discomfort.
Paediatrician Vitalia Murgia is a professor at the 2nd level Master’s Programme in Herbal Therapy at La Sapienza University in Rome and at the 2nd level International Master’s Programme in Herbal Medicine at the Universities of Trieste and Madrid. She is the author of numerous scientific articles and books. | <urn:uuid:e3a5d8c7-2a60-457f-a784-1d53eb976b72> | {
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What molecule am I?
Psilocybin is a psychoactive prodrug that is found primarily in so-called “magic” mushrooms of the Psilocybe genus. In the body, it converts to psilocin, which has psychedelic properties similar to those of LSD and mescaline.
In 1958, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann and co-workers isolated psilocybin and smaller amounts of psilocin from the mushroom P. mexicana. (More than 20 years earlier, Hofmann began to study LSD, including ingesting it himself. Because of this work, he became known as the “father of LSD”.)
Hofmann and Franz Troxler reported the synthesis of psilocybin in a 1963 patent. Forty years later, Osamu Shirota and colleagues at the National Institute of Health Sciences (Tokyo) developed an efficient large-scale synthesis.
But until recently, the biosynthesis of psilocybin was a mystery. Because the hallucinogen is of interest to pharmaceutical researchers as a basis for useful drugs, Dirk Hoffmeister and colleagues at Friedrich Schiller University (Jena, Germany) delved into the biosynthesis and identified four enzymes that mushrooms use to make the compound. They then sequenced the genomes of two mushroom species to find the genes that cause the fungi to produce psilocybin.
Finally, the researchers used three of the enzymes to synthesize psilocybin from 4-hydroxy-L-tryptophan in one pot. One natural-products researcher commented, “This work clearly sets the stage for bioengineered psilocybin production and/or for analogues that may serve as compelling alternatives to existing synthetic strategies.”
Psilocybin fast facts
|CAS Reg. No.||520-52-5|
|Molar mass||284.25 g/mol|
|Melting point||224 ºC|
|Water solubility||2 g/L (est.)|
Learn more about this molecule from CAS, the most authoritative and comprehensive source for chemical information.
Stay Ahead of the Chemistry Curve
Learn how ACS can help you stay ahead in the world of chemistry.
Find Out More | <urn:uuid:116964f4-2e4b-420c-bf5b-35069e8a8d60> | {
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We have different types of temperaments. What are these temperaments, their implications on life and education? How do people born with different types of temperament generally feel and act towards people? Do enjoy yourself as you read on.
Temperaments are generally divided into Introvert and Extrovert.
Introverted Temperaments are subdivided into Melancholic and Phlegmatic. While
Extroverted Temperaments are subdivided into Sanguine and Choleric.
Melancholic means low-spirited. They can find fault with anyone, themselves inclusive. They are thinkers and analyzers. They are more gifted in areas that require a great deal of self-discipline and concentration. They are very exacting and perfectionist-oriented. They like precisions. They are always good as engineers, musicians, mathematicians, chess players. Sometimes, they feel insecure. Melancholic tell stories for accuracy. They are very emotional.
Phlegmatic means slow to act, but sometimes make people laugh. They get along with everyone. They are very nice, quiet, and diplomatic. They have a great sense of humor and make jokes to diffuse unpleasant situations. They procrastinate due to lack of motivations. They are not perfectionists in nature, unlike the melancholic. They are indecisive; they don’t take a decision on time, the reason being that they love details and precision. This makes them great engineers and Mathematics teachers. They can be selfish because of their conservation. They are anxious and worry a lot, this may be the cause of their frugality and ‘stinginess.’ They don’t like wasting things, they like to preserve to then use at the right time, hence their ‘stinginess’ is a plus if you can be patient with them.
Sanguine are the super extroverts. They are not generally academic inclined. They don’t normally excel in Mathematics or Spelling (Don’t take them out for Spelling Bee Competition), but they do well in History and Political Science. They have tremendous charisma and ability, and very optimistic. They lack self-discipline and have a hard time in channeling their efforts in the right direction (don’t kill your children or students for this; you only need to help them). One great trait I love about the Sanguine is that they are very compassionate. Sanguine tell stories for effects. Sanguine, just like melancholic, are also very emotional. When they get angry, they forget about it immediately. They don’t keep malice.
Choleric are the managerial extroverts. They can be stubborn because they are tough and determined. They thrive in opposition. They are visionaries, and very decisive. Some of their weaknesses are a lack of emotion, they are impetuous, they are domineering and unforgiving. Choleric are hot tempered and quick to get angry but he has a hard time letting go of it, this is the reason they keep malice
Implications on Buying and Reading Books
Melancholic buy and read good books. They want to be sure of the content before buying. They love and enjoy reading good contents.
Phlegmatic don’t buy many books. They don’t like reading as such. They can sleep at any time when reading. Will you help any of your children or students that exhibit this habit?
Sanguine love books! They would buy as many as possible, but they would never have time to read. They are not generally academic inclined.
Choleric love books! They would buy and make sure they read them. They are academically inclined.
Melancholic: reserved, self-disciplined, accurate, conservative, feel insecure, emotional, shy, pessimistic, and indecisive.
Phlegmatic: cool, unruffled, calm emotions, and good followers.
Sanguine: Super extrovert, sunny i.e. cheerful, optimistic, and tender hearted.
Choleric: Managerial extrovert, Visionaries, Decisive, thrive in opposition, can be stubborn, lack of emotion, harsh, domineering, unforgiving, quick to get angry, weak in Mathematics and Spelling.
Researched from books by:
Peter F. Adewumi (2017).
Photo Credit: Pixabay | <urn:uuid:9e0c4eb8-5892-48f3-ab7f-5051aae6c51d> | {
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The Genesis of Roman Architecture
January 2017 (121.1)
The Genesis of Roman Architecture
By John North Hopkins. Pp. xiv + 254, figs. 120. Yale University Press, New Haven 2016. $65. ISBN 978-0-300-21181-8 (cloth).
This publication is a valuable contribution to the study of early Rome. It is particularly useful as an independent assessment of recent excavation at key sites in the ancient city’s center. Hopkins shows full awareness of the archaeology, and there is little published, or unpublished, that escapes his notice. The author applies this up-to-date view of the evidence to long-standing questions. When did Rome take on an unusually large and complex urban aspect? What is “Roman” about Early Roman architecture, considering that it is neither Greek nor Etruscan, but displays features associable with both? Hopkins approaches these issues under the rubric of connectivity: Greek, Roman, and Etruscan are blurry categories; the “influence” of non-Roman styles on Roman architecture does not devalue the latter but instead comes as an expected result of the constant interaction that characterized Mediterranean society.
Four chapters follow developments from the Late Bronze Age to 450 B.C.E. Focus is chiefly on areas made visible through excavation (the Palatine, Forum Romanum, Capitoline, and Forum Boarium), but since Hopkins pays attention to both stone masonry and terracotta adornment, the result is a synthetic architectural history, which includes objects such as the Esquiline Amazon found elsewhere in the city. The author holds that while the separate hilltops communicated in an earlier period, they coalesced into a single settlement in the mid seventh century. In approaching the city’s earliest phases, Hopkins mostly sets aside theoretical discussion of state formation in Iron Age Italy (cf. F. Fulminante, The Urbanisation of Rome and Latium Vetus: From the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era [Cambridge 2014]) and instead pursues clear physical markers that imply the cooperative efforts of those populations living on the hilltops. The late seventh-century raising of the Forum basin is thus key. Its creation facilitates more permanent architecture, including buildings made with stone masonry and terracotta roofs by the very beginning of the sixth century.
For both the range and depth of its argument, the long chapter on the late sixth century is the book’s best. Starting ca. 540 B.C.E., Roman architecture takes a turn, exhibiting significant monumentality and more international style. Paradigmatic is the Capitoline Temple of Jupiter. Hopkins vigorously defends the interpretation of the temple as the largest Italian religious structure of its day; he ranks it among Greek colossal temples in Asia Minor and Sicily. The wide span of its post-and-lintel superstructure is unproblematic if we imagine the use of trussed beams. Further support might be found in recent work on Greek roofing systems (e.g., A. von Kienlin, “Überlegungen zur Entwicklung weitspannender Dachtragwerke in Anatolien,” Byzas 11 81–92), rather than in the Diribitorium, mentioned here, whose massive beams do not seem to have been compound and were anyway unable to be replaced after their collapse (cf. Cass. Dio, 55.8.4). Hopkins points out that many colossal Mediterranean temples in fact postdate the Temple of Jupiter, if just barely. Thus, Rome does not follow a trend in colossal temple construction, but is on the vanguard, particularly in the West.
This narrative is resolutely centered on architecture. For example, Hopkins proposes a Samian connection in the building of the Temple of Jupiter based on the iconography of terracotta revetments, as well as a particular relationship in plan between the Roman temple and the Samian Heraion. The construction of the Samian Heraion pauses ca. 540–530 B.C.E. and restarts a generation later; in the interim, the Temple of Jupiter is built at Rome. Could it be, he wonders, that out-of-work Samian masons brought their skills to Rome? The idea, based solely on architectural affinities, is ingenious. Further food for thought now comes from Gruben, who also sees Samian masons traveling west, but to Syracuse, not Rome (Der Polykratische Tempel im Heraion von Samos. Samos 27 [Bonn 2014] 195–99). But it is also worth noting the very different story told by our sources in which the Tarquins complete the temple by summoning builders from central Italy, including the Veian coroplast Vulca (e.g., Plin., HN 35.157). Hopkins suggests instead that some reputedly Italic features, such as the tripartite cella, appear first at Rome, not elsewhere, while he emphasizes links between late sixth-century Roman architectural statuary and Greek kouroi.
Still, the preference of one narrative over the other raises the perennial question of the relative usefulness of texts and archaeology for our reconstruction of early Rome. This forms the topic of the final analytical chapter. In expressing skepticism toward Rome’s earliest kings, Hopkins gives voice to widely shared opinion. However, the author will forgive me if I am less convinced by his reading of the later monarchy. He maintains that the texts do not accurately depict the architectural grandeur of late sixth-century Rome and therefore contain little utility. That is, no doubt sixth-century Rome was grand, but it was not the grand Rome of the Tarquins. Since ancient authors ascribe fewer monuments to the later kings than to their predecessors, for example, he argues that the Tarquins are not remembered as eminent builders. But indeed the sources grant unparalleled space to the topic of how the Tarquins went about building those monuments attributed to them. Tarquin Superbus’ brutal corvées, or the fabri coacti who build the Temple of Jupiter, are central to ancient depictions of his reign. Brutus allegedly inveighs against Tarquin because “Roman men, conquerors of all surrounding peoples, were turned from soldiers into builders and stonecutters” (Liv., 1.59.9). So the tradition does focus extensively on the Tarquins as builders because such focus lends color to the political character of the last kings. Indeed, one fact we owe to the sources is that most archaic states building colossal temples were ruled by tyrants: Polycrates at Samos, Peisistratus and his sons at Athens, Peithagoras at Selinus, Theron at Acragas, and the Tarquins at Rome—that is, exceptional as it may have been in some ways, the monumentality that Hopkins demonstrates in late sixth-century Rome can also be fit into a narrative about the sorts of architecture that reflect the ideology and economic capacities of tyrannies. Thus, while this book gives a cogent account of architectural developments in early Rome, one comes away still interested in this architecture’s historical context, especially because the sort of Mediterranean connectivity the author describes here circulated not only building styles and technologies but also (and not unrelated) political and social ideas.
Finally, as a physical object, this book is exemplary. Yale University Press includes copious illustrations, very many in color, in a reasonably priced hardback edition. Hopkins’ effort is readily on display in producing his own plans and drawings, something that is regrettably not standard practice in studies of this period’s architecture. Especially noteworthy are numerous three-dimensional renderings of many monuments. Such visualization is the first of its kind for the period and will undoubtedly help the author’s intention of placing early Rome in dialogue with the broader study of Roman architecture. The book does not include a gazetteer of sites but is usefully read alongside such catalogues in Cifani’s L’architettura romana arcaica (Rome 2008), or, for central Italian temples, Potts’ Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900–500 BC (Oxford 2016).
Department of Classics
University of Toronto
Book Review of The Genesis of Roman Architecture, by John North Hopkins
Reviewed by Seth Bernard
American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 121, No. 1 (January 2017)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's first Orion flight will test key systems of the capsule in the harsh environment of space. Here's what happens during the flight test and what NASA engineers hope to learn:
1. As Orion heads into Earth orbit, it will jettison its launch abort system. That system, shaped like a Hershey's kiss with a tower on top, sits above the capsule to blast astronauts off the booster rocket if something goes wrong on the launch pad. There are no astronauts on board, but the test will confirm the abort system will leave Orion in space as designed.
2. in the second of the test flight's two orbits, Orion will climb to 3,600 miles above the Earth. This is the crucial orbit pushing the capsule through the Van Allen belts and their dangerous radiation. Unblocked radiation would fry Orion's guidance system, computers and other electronics. The flight will show NASA if new radiation shielding will protect Orion's sensitive instruments on the trip out and back. Similar shields will have to protect astronauts on later flights.
3. On the way back to Earth, Orion's jets will fire to turn the capsule toward the Earth with its heat shield facing down. This maneuver is also critical because, if Orion isn't positioned just right, it will burn up on re-entry.
4. When Orion hits the atmosphere 75 miles above the Earth, it will be going 20,000 miles per hour. Air particles heated by that blazing passage will create an envelope of hot plasma around Orion reaching 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA loses communication with Orion here, but onboard computers will fire thrusters to keep Orion pointed correctly and slow its descent to 300 mph. This will also be the first test of a new heat shield designed to protect Orion and its crews from that incredible heat on future re-entries.
5. Finally, a series of special parachutes will open in phases to assure a controlled, slow landing. "Controlled" is the critical word, because jerking humans too quickly could cause them to black out. First, two drogue chutes will slow Orion to 170 miles per hour. Then, three main parachutes will open slowly to cover an area the size of a football field. Orion will slow gradually to 20 mph at splashdown.
When it hits the water, the test becomes about teamwork between NASA and the Navy to recover Orion and its data from the sea. The data on the electronics, heat shield, thrusters and parachutes will then be compared to NASA's models, the models will be adjusted if necessary, and any needed changes will be made in the hardware. | <urn:uuid:df0dfc31-69d0-44f1-bf32-aad2d0b3c736> | {
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Through his writing, Aldo Leopold left a legacy of conservation knowledge and philosophy to inspire future generations. In its second year, the Wisconsin Aldo Leopold Writing Contest has challenged high school students to study a selection of Leopold’s writings and respond to a related question or writing prompt. This year students were invited to read Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic” essay from A Sand County Almanac and tell the story of a local leader who exemplifies Leopold’s land ethic.
In partnership with the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and sponsors, Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation and CTI Meeting Technology, we are pleased to share with you the 2017 winning essays in a series of posts here on the Building a Land Ethic blog.
A Lesson in Balance
By Paul Kalifatidi
Grade 12, Verona Area High School
Ice caps melting, air becoming toxic, dying forests, and unprecedented rates of extinction… are human issues. Yet, an inconceivable and conceited belief that climate change is a hoax, a lie, and something not worth our attention plagues much of this country’s population. At this point in natural history, land ethic has never been more important for the health of the Earth and the tight-knit community of fish, reptiles, insects, plants, mammals, and humans who inhabit it. Sustainability should not be viewed in terms of humanity, but rather it should be understood that there will be no humanity if we do not care for every living thing that crawls, swims, flies, and walks upon this planet’s surface.
I learned this from many people and experiences, but the most inspirational voice belongs to my AP Environmental Science teacher, Mr. Tiller. Yes, his class is about the environment and the way humans are part of it, but he takes it a step further. He takes what he teaches us in the classroom, and makes us apply it outside. Currently, he is heading an effort to improve the stormwater management system of our town – Verona, Wisconsin. Mr. Tiller is trying to modify the current system to be more both effective at controlling stormwater while also providing essential environmental services such as water filtration and habitat for animals. To date, Mr. Tiller and his classes have modified two of the main storm water detention ponds in our town, turning them from unsightly puddles into thriving ponds teeming with life.
Surrounding the ponds, which are now deep enough to sustain life during the winter, we planted prairies of native Wisconsin plants. These prairies serve as a habitat for beautiful flowers, but more importantly, they filter incoming rainwater, reduce soil erosion, and provide homes for yellow garden spiders, garter snakes, moles, field mice, and insects. Every year, these prairies are burned to replicate the natural cycle of life and fire that occurs on the great plains. In a study comparing the biodiversity of these “natural” ponds to the yet unmodified ponds, the natural ponds contained 23 species, including fish, as opposed to the five species found in the unmodified ponds. Fish are an indicator that the natural ponds are extremely healthy and have sufficient oxygen levels to maintain high biodiversity.
Mr. Tiller has taught countless students that the world does not belong to humans. We are just one species living amongst millions of others. Sadly, we are making it a struggle of life and death for many species to survive. This is why Mr. Tiller is improving our town’s stormwater system. He wants to create a much-needed haven for biodiversity, but still provide the infrastructure needed by the town. He has taken the philosophy of the land ethic and has passed it on to his students.
Paul Kalifatidi is a senior at Verona Area High School in Verona, Wisconsin. At home, he keeps aquariums and spends his free time fishing, rock climbing, hiking, and spending as much time as possible outside. The outdoors are his home; a place of endless entertainment and serenity. Next year, Paul will be majoring in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Explore the rest of the winning essays!
Links will become available for the other winning essays as they are published to the blog. Check back throughout the summer!
- The Land Ethic Ideal
- Joe Clark
- My Father’s Land Ethic
- The Voice of the Maples
- At the Crossroad of Leopold Lane and Conservation Trail | <urn:uuid:b5184027-c295-488f-ae7f-86e1facd3c0e> | {
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This is the second of a two-part article on the development of an allergy and asthma management plan for the home. This article will deal with products that can help with the control of exposure to allergens through their removal or treatment.
These can include:
- Vacuum cleaners
- Carpet washers
- Washing machines
- Air filters
- Cleaning products
- Air conditioners
A vacuum cleaner is a key part of allergen control, whether you have laminate or carpeted flooring. Using a brush on laminate flooring can aerosolise dust and particulate matter and should be avoided. Not all vacuum cleaners are created equal however, and there a number of characteristics that should be assessed when purchasing or using a vacuum cleaner.
- Allergen removal efficacy – removal from laminate flooring should be easy enough, but can the vacuum cleaner remove allergen sufficiently from a carpet? Has it been tested to do this? Some carpets can be appropriate for use in a house where there are sensitivities to allergens, however they must be cleaned appropriately; in order to do this, the vacuum cleaner must be capable of this level of allergen removal.
- Filter integrity – as the vacuum cleaner sucks in air, it must also exhaust air. It is very important that the integrity of the filter means that allergen is not simply exhausted out the back of the vacuum cleaner.
- Bag change or receptacle emptying – an important aspect of use of a vacuum cleaner for allergen exposure control is that the user is not then exposed to high levels of allergen at bag change or receptacle emptying stage. While bags do provide more containment for allergen exposure, dependent upon the type of bagless vacuum cleaner, these can also be appropriate, dependent upon the particle dynamics that occur on emptying. If you are unsure, this task should be completed outdoors in order to ensure maximum dilution of any released allergens.
- Has your vacuum cleaner been tested to determine its allergen removal efficacy on carpeted flooring?
- Vacuum cleaners can have varying abilities to remove particles and allergens from carpeting, based on suction capability, as well as cleaning head used. Most vacuum cleaners are tested against ‘synthetic dust’ which has a very well defined particle size, but is however very different to normal house dust. Ideally you should select a vacuum cleaner that has been tested for its ability to remove real allergens from a carpet.
- Have the filters and filter system been tested to ensure no release of allergens?
- Filters and filter systems must retain their integrity to ensure no release of allergen once vacuumed.
- What are your exposure risks at bag change and receptacle emptying, and has this been tested?
- Particle measurements by reputable companies can determine both the particle size and amount that a user may be exposed to, as well as allergen load – ask your vacuum cleaner provider if this has been done for their model.
While laminate type flooring is often recommended for those suffering from asthma and allergies, carpeting can also be an appropriate option. This may be based on its ability to retain, and not easily release allergens, and to be cleaned appropriately in order to remove retained allergen. One way to remove allergen from carpeting is to wash the carpet. As with vacuum cleaners, not all carpet washers are created equally. The carpet washer should be capable of deep removal of allergen from the carpet through the action of washing, and should utilise an appropriate detergent. In addition, the amount of water used for washing the carpet should not be excessive; if the carpet does not dry appropriately it can make an ideal breeding ground for mold. Finally, the emptying of the receptacle should not expose the user to excessive allergen, although this is much less likely to occur in carpet washer than a vacuum cleaner due to the allergens being retained in the water.
- Has your carpet washer been tested for its ability to remove allergens from carpet?
- While allergen retention is a capability of many carpets, this has to be effectively removed at some point to avoid over-loading and re-release of allergen. A carpet washer should be capable of effectively removing this allergen load.
- Does the carpet dry in a reasonable period of time following cleaning?
- Excessive use of water by a carpet washer will leave the carpet wet, and dependent upon the heating system in the home, may allow mould to grow.
A washing machine is a key part of an allergen reduction plan – there are a number of items in the home that can accumulate allergen that can be rendered ‘safe’ following washing. These include:
- Pillow cases
- Duvet covers
- Mattress encasements
Dust mites are sensitive to elevated temperatures, and the ingredients of some washing detergents can degrade proteins (including the dust mite proteins that can induce an allergic response). The key measure for a washing machine therefore is that it can reach the temperature indicated on the wash cycle – for killing dust mites, this needs to be at least 130°F (54.4°C). While all washing machines will include a hot wash cycle, this temperature must be achieved in a consistent way within the drum, rather than peaking at a particular hot spot.
- Does your washing machine consistently reach a minimum of 130°F (54.4°C) and has this been tested?
- This is the critical kill point for the house dust mite, some washing machines may reach this temperature but only at certain spots in the drum (‘hot-spots’). Ensure that your washing machine has been tested appropriately that a consistent high temperature is reached in order to kill house dust mites.
Many homes and work environments have HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), for central control of their air systems. HVACs draw air in from outside and circulate through the home and as such have a filter in place to ensure that particulate matter from outside is not drawn inside. For those suffering from asthma and allergies, this plays a central role in controlling exposure to outdoor allergens such as pollen. Filters are generally ranked according to the particle size that they will trap, in line with this, the smaller the particle size, the more power that is required to draw air through the filter. Over time filters will need to be replaced as they become clogged and, in a similar way to vacuum cleaners, the exposure of a sensitive individual needs to be considered when establishing a removal and replacement protocol. The efficacy of a filter is dependent upon the integrity of the seals into which it is placed and when such a system is put in place, you should ensure that replacement of filters does not result in compromising the filter system.
- What particle size does my filter remove?
- In general filters which can filter out a minimum of 10µm (this is 1/100th of a millimetre or less than 1/1000th of an inch) are appropriate for allergen removal.
- How long should it last under normal use?
- This will depend on the area that you live in and how often the system is used, however for cheaper fiberglass filters (which may be less effective at filtering) every month may be necessary, and for more expensive, effective filters, once every 6 months may be sufficient.
- How is it replaced?
- In general, filters slot out from a receptacle in the wall or unit, you should be careful of having your breathing zone too close to the filter when removing, in case of allergen release.
- What are my exposure risks during replacement?
- The function of a filter is to retain small particles (including allergens), as such they will be a significant source of allergen, which may become released during filter change. It is possible for filter companies to determine particle size and amount, as well as allergen load of released particles during changeover – you should ask your filter supplier if this has been done, and if so, what the recommendations were.
Cleaning products are a vital part of keeping a clean house and removal of allergens. In general, cleaning products will not pose an allergenic risk. Some cleaning products do contain natural compounds, and this is where any allergenic response may come from. The vast majority of cleaning products contain predominantly synthetic compounds and so any reaction risk may come from skin contact or inhalation of irritant chemicals which may cause breathing problems in sensitive individuals. Prior to use of any cleaning product, you should review the ingredients for compounds that you know that you are either allergic or sensitive to.
- Do you have allergies to natural compounds in the cleaner?
- Some cleaners may contain natural compounds such as tea tree oil, plant extracts and essential oils; in general any allergic reaction is more likely to be due to a skin exposure, rather than inhalation.
- Are you sensitive to any of the chemicals that it contains?
- If you have allergies, you should find out specifically what you are allergic to, in order for you to be able to better control your exposure.
- Does it remove allergens effectively; has this been tested?
- There are a wide range of cleaning products, for a wide range of applications. For someone who suffers from allergies, a vital function of a cleaning product is to remove or degrade allergens. It may be assumed that cleaning products will do this as a matter of fact, however it must be established that the products remove, rather than redistribute the allergen, and that they don’t introduced allergen into the breathing zone.
- Does it introduce chemicals or VOCs into the breathing environment of the user?
- Many cleaning products are delivered through a spray system, of either aerosolised or droplet particles. These products may contain irritant chemicals that, on inhalation, may cause breathing difficulties. In particular, for those with inhalation sensitivities, testing should be performed to ensure that the droplets, or aerosolised particles, drop out of the breathing zone in a rapid period of time.
Air conditioners provide a dual function of controlling temperature and relative humidity in home environments, as well as potential removal of allergens through a filter system. House dust mites proliferate at relative humidities above 50%; maintaining home relative humidity at less than 50% can therefore assist in the control of this pest. The ideal relative humidity for comfort and health is between 40-50%, an air conditioner is an ideal way to keep this control. Most air conditioning systems will have a filter system in place as it circulates the air, while it is not the primary function of air conditioners to remove allergens, change of filter should be considered as allergen may have built up on the filter during use.
- Does the air conditioner control relative humidity appropriately between 40-50%?
- The optimum relative humidity levels for comfort and health are 40-50%, relative humidity levels above 50% can support the proliferation of house dust mites. As such air conditioning units need to be capable of strictly controlling the relative humidity within the 40-50% range.
- Does the air conditioner filter the air?
- If the air conditioner does filter the air, the particle size it retains should be determined (see HVACs above). In addition, you should also review how the filter is changed to minimise allergen exposure.
There are two sides of the same coin for managing your allergies – control your exposure to sources of allergens and take appropriate measures to remove allergens from your immediate environment. The key part of this is to have the appropriate information to make positive decisions about your exposure potential. There are a range of products that can contribute to allergen exposure, however these do not have to control your life and steps can be taken to minimise exposure. Where the introduction allergen into your immediate environment cannot be prevented, there are a range of removal and treatment measures that can be taken, and have been summarised above. Information is critical, as well as the informed analysis of this, I hope that the information contained in this series provides some help on this!
About the Author
Thanks to Dr. Tim Yeomans for this insightful article.
Dr. Tim Yeomans is the Centre Manager for Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, a collaboration between two third level colleges in Ireland. Tim holds a PhD in Microbiology and postgraduate qualifications in Technology Commercialisation and Innovation Management. Tim has worked in research and development for 20 years, both in industry and academia. In his role in Shannon ABC, Tim is responsible for the scientific direction of the Centre, intellectual property management and business and technology development.
allergen avoidance, allergens, home, asthma and allergy friendly, healthier home, allergy insights, vacuum cleaners, carpet washers, air filters, cleaning products, air conditioners
AAFA – DUST MITE ALLERGY If you have allergies or asthma, a tiny creature living in your home could be making big problems for you. They are dust mites and they live in many homes throughout the world. | <urn:uuid:353862eb-fbcc-42aa-9ac5-f3f14685a202> | {
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Battlezone © 1980 Atari, Incorporated.
Click to enlarge
|Battlezone went into the arcades in November 1980 and created such a sensation that the U.S. army ordered modified versions of the games to use in training. |
Battlezone was the first environmental 3-D landscape game. The game used a system of bit-slice processors called a 'mathbox' to do 3-D calculations for the display. This kind of 'squeezing the most out of minimal hardware' mindset was what led Atari to create the innovative games it did in the 1980's. Approximately 15,020 units were produced.
As Battlezone was so innovative for its time, the US Army commissioned Atari to create a version of the game for infantry vehicle training (called "Bradley Trainer"). Ed Rotberg was assigned the project, but was very opposed to it. Major Dave Robinson and General Donn Starry of the U.S. Army were responsible for bringing Atari the idea of making a military version to be used in training.
* The Creation of Battlezone : The idea of a tank simulator was championed by Morgan Hoff, who became the project leader for Battlezone, while Ed Rotberg was the principal programmer.
Ed Rotberg: 'Morgan Hoff more or less championed it and decided to put together a team to implement the game. Given the technology that we had, the real challenge was how to make the game appear as if we had more technology than we did. And the question was always : How do we involve the player? Meeting those needs was where the artistry was involved in designing a game in those days.'
The developers used brilliant software code and innovative circuitry to create a high tech look. But some low-technology tricks were used as well. For example, a simple band of red cellophane was applied to the inside of the Battlezone screen. Placed across the top of the screen, the result was red colors for the radar and warning messages, even though Battlezone didn't have a two-color display.
A game takes on a life of its own, Rotberg said : "Most games rarely turn out exactly the way that you plan them. Every time that you play the game, you try to amplify those things that are fun, and you try to pare away those things that are annoying and really not enjoyable. It is kind of like a story that grows in the telling.".
* Remembrances from the Video Game Masters : On the erupting volcano in the background of Battlezone, Ed Rotberg said : "One of the other programmers who was working on another project in the same lab kept saying, "Why don't you make the volcano active?" I had enough to do just to make the game play. And everyday he would say "You know, you really need to make that volcano active". He is really currently one of my very best friends, and he is a wonderful guy. But he kept pestering me about this. One day I said, "You're a programmer. If you want the volcano active, you write the code and I'll put it in". So I came in the next day and there was this chunk of code on my desk describing the motion of the rocks and such. I took an afternoon off and put the code into the program. That's how the volcano became active. It was never in the design.".
Atari engineers were always amazed by the abilities of the players out in the arcades.
Morgan Hoff : "I remember a game that contained a succession of increasingly difficult mazes ranging from easy to difficult, to those requiring super human skill in timing. I was completely surprised to find players who could complete the most difficult levels. They were in a world of their own. They played the game with incredibly accurate hand and eye coordination and memory. One day I was in an arcade and... the best player was seven. He was extraordinary and he was standing on a chair to reach the controls.".
Although Atari engineers uniformly praised the best players out in the arcades, many of the engineers were awesome players themselves. Once two Atari engineers went on a skiing vacation in Utah and Dan Pliskin came back with the following story : "We were at Snowbird, and we had only been there a few days when we started to miss video games. So, we found a little arcade and my friend got onto a Missile Command (which was a pretty old game by then) and I got onto some pinball machine. We broke the high-score tables, and he had, like, 200 free cities and I had, like, 60 free games. When we got tired of playing, we just left them to these kids that were just wide-eyed, staring at us. The kids were standing there with their mouths open. They had never seen pinball wizards and video game masters.".
* Popular from the Start : As Battlezone took shape, engineers in the lab wanted to play it, a lot.
Ed Rotberg : 'Usually when you have a winner you leave your lab for awhile and when you return there are people standing around playing your game, and that happens over and over again. You end up having to kick them off your machine to get any work done. That is your first indication that you have a winner. And I have never seen a really strong game that did not have that appeal. The guys in the labs are pretty good barometers".
Another barometer, though after the fact, was to go into the arcades to watch others playing it. Rotberg continued : "The best feeling for a game designer is to go out into an arcade and see people having fun playing the game that they created. There is nothing better than that. To walk around and see all the other games, and know that people can choose from anything in there, but they are playing your game. That is pretty heavy stuff.'
* The Great 25-Cent Escape : Battlezone provided great escape for a quarter.
Rich Adam : 'Battlezone was a great one. I did love that game. Why was that business so phenomenal then? For a quarter you could be in a tank simulator, a pretty darn good one. That was pretty good value. That's what made Battlezone a phenomenon.'
Dan Pliskin : 'There's a certain class of games where you just get into a trance when you're playing them. As long as you're in this trance, you're doing fine.'
The attraction of Battlezone's world was so strong that many players wanted to turn their back on the fighting and drive their tank up into the mountains to go exploring. The designers of the game had to put in a routine to send a missile after would-be explorers so that arcade owners wouldn't lose money on the peaceful tourists who didn't want to fight. Many great legends emerged from the arcades that centered on finding a way to leave the fighting behind.
Lyle Rains : 'One letter came in from a Battlezone fan who said that a friend of his had told him that if you drove far enough you finally got to the volcano, and if you drove over the top of the volcano, you could go down into the crater. And he said that inside the crater there was a castle, and that you could go inside and explore the castle. Of course, none of this was true. It was a great little story to get from a fan. Who knows, we may yet do a volcano with a castle in it.'
David Palmer holds the official record for this game with 23,000,000 points on August 30, 1985.
A Battlezone unit appears in the 1982 movie 'Tron', in the 1983 movie 'Joysticks', in the 1984 movie 'The Philadelphia Experiment' and in the 1986 movie 'Running Scared' (the cab appears in Billy Crystal's apartment).
In 1982, Atari released a set of 12 collector pins including : "Missile Command", "Battlezone", "Tempest", "Asteroids Deluxe", "Space Duel", "Centipede", "Gravitar", "Dig Dug", "Kangaroo", "Xevious", "Millipede" and "Food Fight".
An upright Battlezone unit appears in the 38 Special music video 'Caught Up In You'.
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In general, Pap smear is for detecting cervical cancer by tracing the abnormalities in the cervix. With the help of introduction, the rate of death due to cervical cancer has been alleviated dramatically. Though cancer expands much progressively yet it can be fatal if left untreated for a long period of time.
This test is effective enough to detect the minimal changes in the cervix. According to the guidelines all women aged between 21 and 65 must undergo Pap smear once in every 3 years. Moreover the women aged between 30 and 65 also undergo the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) screening once in every 5 years at the same time.
It is the main virus that causes cervical cancer. Pap smear is usually performed at the time when you get tested for other STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections) especially HIV.
What is expected when abnormality gets detected by Pap smear?
Whenever any abnormal cells in the cervix are found with the help of Pap smear, your healthcare provider will suggest you to perform colposcopy. The process involves the utilisation of the low magnification to get a closer view of the surrounding area of cervix.
After that, biopsy may be recommended too by collecting a small tissue from the cervix for the laboratory examination. Recently, the trace of HPV can be done easily with the help of DNA testing.
DNA testing is also done by collecting the tissue as the sample similarly to that of the Pap smear. Most of the clinics perform this test at the same day when you visit there for Pap smear too.
Availability of the HIV tests
As per the top medical experts, anyone aged within 13 to 64 can get an HIV test once in their lifetime. You can choose anyone from the availed options of at-home testing or getting tested at the office of the healthcare provider. If anyone performs the HIV testing annually, it’s no more a specific test.
Rather than that it becomes a regular part of your routine screening. You must be concerned about your sexual health status and talk with the healthcare provider regarding this. The park can also be put over the right time to perform various STI screenings at the same time.
Basically, the right time depends on the age, behaviours and health status of the individual. There are also other considerable factors as well to determine the perfect time to get tested.
What are some lab screen tests available for HIV?
If you choose to visit the STI clinic in London, then from the following three options any one test will be performed:
- An RNA test helps in checking for presence of genetic viral material in the blood
- An antigen and antibody test helps in detecting the HIV-related protein in the blood
- An antibody test that uses both saliva or blood for detecting the proteins which produced by the immune system due to the response of HIV
Nowadays, advanced rapid tests never require analysing of the results in the lab. It effectively checks the antibodies and can provide you with the result within 30 minutes. Primary test will be performed with the help of antigen/antibody test but blood tests can even detect antigen of lower level relatively much better than that of the saliva samples.
It clearly depicts that blood tests can detect HIV sooner. If you are found as positive, follow-up will be performed immediately to detect whether it is HIV-2 or HIV-1. It is more likely to be performed with the help of the immunoblot test.
Is there any home tests screening available for HIV?
Varied at-home HIV screening test kits are widely available throughout the country. With the help of these kits, you have to collect the pinprick of blood as the sample and send it to the recognised lab for HIV detection. You can also collect swab of saliva as sample and can send it to the lab as sample.
It will consume maximum 2 days to provide you with the report. If the report is positive it is highly advisable to consult with your healthcare provider for retesting to get the confirmation. Rather than blood sample, saliva is more effective in giving the accurate results. Sometimes, results can be obtained within 20 minutes at the same time.
What can highly concerned people about HIV do?
Early test is the prime way to get the right treatment on time. According to the top medical experts, everyone should get tested for HIV detection once in their lifetime. By this way, your doctor can trace the abnormality that weakens the immune system.
Rather being uncompromising, the treatment will be provided as earliest as possible. If you observe any risk factors of HIV then you must undergo the necessary assessment. You can go for either at-home testing kit or fixing an appointment with your healthcare provider to perform the lab test.
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Posted on September 25, 2019
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is proud to share our latest infographic “Asbestos: Still Legal and Lethal in the USA today | The Deadly Legacy of Asbestos” detailing facts and stats about asbestos. ADAO’s new infographic tells a story — the real story about the deadly legacy of asbestos.
Asbestos, a known carcinogen, claims the lives of nearly 40,000 Americans each year. Since the Environmental Protection Agency tried to ban asbestos in 1989, more than 1,000,000 Americans have died from preventable asbestos-related diseases.
While promising research continues, prevention remains the only cure.
ADAO isn’t alone. Nearly 60 Members of Congress, 20 organizations, and 18 Attorneys General support the bicameral Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2019. This comprehensive bill will ban asbestos imports and use, without any exemption or loopholes.
Knowledge is power — please share this infographic with your family, friends, and network.
Together, we make change happen. | <urn:uuid:1aac6be0-e27e-4e3d-b4bd-78b4e4640d33> | {
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Try removing some filters or checking your spelling to bring the results out of hiding.Search all Master degrees worldwide
All of our paper planes and database hamsters are currently occupied by millions of students who want to study abroad!
Materials Engineering degrees are interdisciplinary studies that incorporate elements of Applied Chemistry and Physics. Materials Engineering students advance their knowledge of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology as part of courses offered by international engineering schools. Besides manipulating metals, ceramics, polymers, or biomaterials, materials engineers create new materials, advancing technological discoveries.Read more about studying a Materials Science & Engineering degree | <urn:uuid:780abcda-a6c9-4f93-9182-c4e3ac16176c> | {
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A practical approach to deter deer
Deer are a common problem in many yards, gardens, and landscapes, where they forage and browse on a wide range of plantings. Vegetable and ornamental gardens seem to be favorites of these animals, but many flowers, shrubs, and plants are at risk including tulips, hosta, yew bushes, and fruit trees to name just a few.
Considering an adult deer consumes about six pounds of plant material daily, you can easily imagine the kind of damage they can cause once they've established themselves in your landscape.
Add that to the fact that deer can also carry ticks and you'll probably be looking for solutions to keep these unwanted visitors away. Unfortunately, deer management can be a frustrating challenge for homeowners. Deer feed all year long and quickly adapt to most home remedies and even some commercial products that claim to keep them off a property.
The most practical approach to deer management for most landscapes is a repellent programme that uses several different products. Bartlett's repellent programmes are based on the specific time of year, amount of deer pressure, and client preferences.
In the fall, we recommend a heavy film repellent that typically deters feeding for 90 days or more. For summer treatments, we use a product that leaves no visible residue, but requires application more frequently. All products used have been tested at our Research Labs to help ensure they effectively reduce damage to valuable plantings by keeping deer away.
This service is not available in your current region. | <urn:uuid:f7ec214c-a6d2-4451-be9b-0f9bc10ebb57> | {
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Abstract HTML Views: 619 PDF Downloads: 364 Total Views/Downloads: 1251
Abstract HTML Views: 394 PDF Downloads: 259 Total Views/Downloads: 869
Few studies have examined adolescents' predictions of aggression involving other adolescents; previous
research has focused mainly on studying the perceptions of physical aggression. Therefore, the aim of this study is to
explore adolescents' predictions of physical, verbal, and indirect aggression in hypothetical scenarios of aggression and
to establish any sex differences in these predictions. A total of 653 adolescents aged 14 to 18 participated in the study.
The sex of the aggressor and the sex of the target were manipulated, and participants' predictions of the likelihood of
aggressive behavioral patterns were measured through the use of a questionnaire. Results showed a significant interaction
between the two independent variables. More specifically, results showed that (i) when the aggressor and the target were
both males, the subjects more often predicted that the aggressor would use physical and verbal aggression; (ii) when
the aggressor and the target were both females, subjects predicted that the aggressor would use more indirect aggression;
(iii) males predicted the use of physical aggression more readily when the target was a male; (iv) females predicted the use
of verbal and indirect aggression more readily than males when the target was a female; and (v) the situations in which
subjects predicted that the aggressor would use more physical, verbal and indirect aggression were when the aggression
took place between peers, followed by situations in which aggression took place in a domestic context. | <urn:uuid:f2e684f3-5e27-4487-a585-1a287835b8c0> | {
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The soil ecosystem plays a vital role in climate change as it regulates soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions.
The world’s soil, however, is in trouble. Experts calculate that, in the last 150 years, the world has lost half of its topsoil, mostly due to wind erosion. According to John Crawford, a professor at the University of Sydney: “A rough calculation of current rates of soil degradation suggests we have about 60 years of topsoil left.” Degradation, which is often caused by human activities including agriculture, is another threat to the health of the world’s soil as it depletes the soil of nutrients and hinders its ability to provide ecosystem services. Today, the majority of soil resources are considered to be in fair, poor, or very poor condition.
In 2015, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released Status of the World’s Soil Resources, a publication which warned of falling agricultural productivity as soil continued to be lost and degraded. The report cites a number of factors that contribute to soil loss and degradation including crop-based agricultural practices, overgrazing, deforestation, and the overuse of agrochemicals. Worldwide, soil loss is responsible for the reduction of arable cropland, water system pollution, an increase in floods, and desertification, that is a process in which once-fertile land becomes desert.
For arid and semi-arid regions of the world, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the consequences of soil degradation and loss are compounded by climate change, water access, and demographic shifts, which place greater burdens on agricultural productivity. Of the 14.9 million sq. km.of land that make up the countries of, among others, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, only 6.8 percent is arable. Land degradation in these countries could cost an estimated 9 USD billion per year and is expected to result in decreased crop yields by 2050.
While irrigation is an integral aspect of farming for many areas in the MENA region, the inefficient use of irrigation systems can lead to soil salinization, or a build-up of water soluble salts in soil. This process can hinder crop growth as excess salts prevent plants from taking up water. Water and wind erosion are also major concerns for MENA countries. An estimated 41 million hectares are impacted by water erosion which is exacerbated, in part, by agricultural practices that reduce land cover. Wind erosion is the most prevalent form of environmental degradation in the region and is responsible for roughly 66 percent of soil degradation. Combined, wind and water erosion lead to a loss of fertile topsoil, a reduction in the efficiency of irrigation systems, and hamper agricultural productivity.
There are, however, a number of solutions that can reduce soil loss and improve the health of the soils.
A number of crop practices can reduce soil erosion. Tilling, which creates ridges and furrows in the soil, reduces wind erosion. Providing soil cover, through processes like allowing crop residues to remain in fields after harvesting or intercropping are both sustainable methods of reducing erosion. Crop rotation is another method of erosion reduction and, along with the avoidance of excessive agro-chemical use, can improve soil fertility.
Dr. Abdullah Alshankiti, senior soil management scientist at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) advocates for policy solutions to help ill-equipped communities manage their soils. Dr. Alshankiti cited Iran as an example for the country’s implementation of nine strategies for sustainable development. Likewise, Egypt has developed strategies for each agro-ecological zone and the United Arab Emirates have developed programs to improve ecological systems, fight desertification, mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect its biodiversity.
Research is also a key component of combatting soil loss and degradation. Gathering data is an essential first step in the process of developing sustainable agricultural strategies. Using remote sensing, terrain analysis, geostatistics and GIS technologies allows soil surveys to be conducted in both a timely and cost- effective manner. Another example of research is a drylands project, carried out through a partnership between ICBA, Young Water Scientists Partnership (YWSP) Small Grants Program, USAID, and Arabian Gulf University. The project examined the use of soil amendments to improve crop productivity in sandy soils and reduce water consumption.
What is more, education and awareness are needed to keep soil issues at the forefront of policy conversations, research agendas, and the general public. Since 2013, the FAO has designated 5 December as World Soil Day in an effort to raise awareness of the issues surrounding soil. Aligned with the celebration of World Soil Day, the Emirates Soil Museum is slated to open on 5 December 2016. A joint project between ICBA and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the museum will serve as an information hub for the role of soil in the environment, agriculture, and food security.
“As soil is a non-renewable resource, it is essential to ensure its preservation for food security and a sustainable future,” Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Director General of ICBA explained. “This requires continued public awareness of the importance of soil and the negative impact of unsustainable uses of soil.” | <urn:uuid:fb924368-aac4-4631-9a3f-118985767835> | {
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The latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report, published today, shows that the Welsh breeding Curlew population has fallen by 68% between 1995 and 2017, not good news for a bird that has long been associated with Welsh upland and farmland. As a result of the precipitous decline in breeding numbers, the Curlew (Numenius arquata) is one of UK’s most pressing conservation issues. Its decline in Wales is mirrored with an overall decline of 48% across the UK. It’s not good news for Welsh Swifts (Apus apus) either; their breeding population is down by 69% over the same period.
THE latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report shows that the Welsh breeding curlew population has fallen by 68 per cent between 1995 and 2017. As a result of the precipitous decline in breeding numbers, the curlew (Numenius arquata), long been associated with Welsh upland and farmland, is one of UK’s most pressing conservation issues. Its decline in Wales is mirrored with an overall decline of 48% across the UK. It's not good news for Welsh swifts (Apus apus) either. Their breeding population is down by 69 per cent over the same period.
Population data for European mountain birds have been for the first time combined in a recent study, with worrying results: the abundances of mountain-specialist birds has declined by as much as 10% in the 2000s. The recently released study examined the population trends of 44 bird species in the 2000s in the mountain and fell regions of Fennoscandia, Great Britain, the Alps and the Iberian Peninsula. A decline was seen in 14 of the observed species.
The kiwi (Apteryx haastii) is in swift decline, disappearing at a rate of 2 per cent per year. Around 200 years ago, millions of kiwi inhabited New Zealand, but in 50 years’ time there may be none left. Old Mout Cider has joined New Zealand-based charity Kiwis for kiwi in the fight to help save this extraordinary species — a nocturnal, colour-blind bird that has survived millions of years against the odds. In fact, its heritage is special: the kiwi shares DNA with the tyrannosaurus rex.
New research reveals that hummingbirds and bumble bees are being exposed to neonicotinoid and other pesticides through routes that are widespread and complex. The findings are published in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry. To measure exposure to pesticides in these avian pollinators, investigators made novel use of cloacal fluid and fecal pellets from hummingbirds living near blueberry fields in British Columbia. They also collected bumble bees native to Canada, and their pollen, and blueberry leaves and flowers from within conventionally sprayed and organic blueberry farms.
Recognisable by its black plumage and striking red beak, the Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) is found in low numbers all over the planet. European populations migrate to Sub-Saharan Africa in the winter and during the summer an estimated 470 pairs can be found in Spain, a large proportion of which are found in the north of Extremadura. They are threatened.
More than half of Scotland’s upland birds, including the curlew and lapwing, have suffered a “significant long-term decline”, according to official statistics published yesterday. Scottish Natural Heritage’s latest Index of Abundance for Scottish Terrestrial Breeding Birds, reveals that ten of the 17 upland species fell in numbers between 1994 and 2016, contributing to an 16 per cent decrease among upland birds over the period.
Striking, widespread and widely recognised, thanks in part to the Harry Potter books, the Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus was previously listed as Least Concern, the lowest threat category of the IUCN Red List. However, this assessment was based on earlier figures that estimated the global population to number around 200,000 individuals, and the absence of evidence of significant declines.
New Zealand’s charismatic kea (Nestor notabilis) - and 2017‘s Bird of the Year - has just been reclassified to “endangered” by global conservation group BirdLife International. The alpine parrot was upgraded from “vulnerable” to “endangered” in BirdLife International’s reassessment of the threat status of birds for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
A 16-year study of mountain forest songbirds across New York and New England, including thrushes, warblers and other iconic species, has documented their population changes. Although species like Black-capped Chickadee and Swainson’s Thrush have thrived in the mountains during recent decades, some species that depend on the region’s evergreen forests of spruce and fir – notably Blackpoll Warbler – appear to have undergone substantial declines. | <urn:uuid:7f63f743-0d8e-46c9-9e68-f7a72ae5e02d> | {
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How Are Waves Formed? The Anatomy of a Perfect Wave
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These days, we have surf reports, swell reports, and surf forecasts that show us when and where we should be hanging ten next. Reasonably accurate online charts save surfers the hassle of deciphering complicated weather forecasts. However, the more you know about how waves are formed, the easier it is to predict the optimal surfing conditions all by yourself.
You don’t necessarily need to be a surfer to be fascinated with waves. All beach lovers are in awe of the ocean’s rolling waves, a trance-inducing sound and sight. But have you ever found yourself wondering how exactly are waves formed? Let me give you a hint – the wind is the very reason surfing exists in the first place.
So, what is it exactly that makes the ocean so restless, and how are great surfing conditions created? To help you understand this natural phenomenon, we’ll break down the anatomy of a wave, from how it is formed far out at sea to the way it breaks close to shore.
What is a wave?
Water does not travel in waves. Instead, waves travel through water. Does this sound confusing? Then let me break it down for you.
Water transmits energy, and waves are the result of energy passing through water. This energy is most often caused by the wind, but there can be other factors too, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and even melting of Arctic ice caps. When not obstructed, this energy travels in oscillating movements on the surface of the ocean, sea, or lake until it reaches the shore. Simply put, waves transport energy.
The most common types of waves found throughout the planet are produced by winds and are called wind-driven waves, or friction waves. These are the result of the friction between the wind and the body of water. When the wind blows on the surface of the ocean in a shorewards direction, it causes the water to move and produce a wave crest.
What is a swell?
When strong winds begin to blow on a stretch of calm water far out at sea, ripples are formed on the surface. These gradually turn into waves that make their way towards the coast.
A swell is a collection of waves produced by winds. Strong winds blowing hundreds of miles off the coast can produce some of the best waves on the planet, and surfers can’t wait to try their hands at them. However, sailors do not revere swells as they capsize boats.
When it comes to the quality of a swell, there are some variables to take into account:
- The wind’s strength – how fast it blows on the surface of the ocean;
- Duration of the wind – the longer it blows without interruption, the bigger and more powerful the waves will be;
- The wind’s ‘fetch’ –the surface of open water on which the wind blows in the same direction without hitting obstacles.
These factors influence the size of the swell and the wave period (the time in between successive waves). To this extent, there are two types of swell: windswell and groundswell. Let’s take a quick look at each of them:
Successive waves with short periods (10 seconds or less) in between sets are usually produced by local winds closer to shore. These waves are typically less consistent, weaker, and sometimes even messy. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t find top-notch windswells too.
Wave periods of 13 seconds are the result of strong winds blowing farther offshore. These sets of powerful waves are known as groundswell, and are produced by longer-lasting winds and bigger ‘fetch’, which means that more energy is transferred into the water. The waves are of far better quality and can travel long distances without losing their power.
How do you know when and how the wind is blowing?
Winds are formed when bodies of air move from a high-pressure area to a low pressure one. You can find out where, when and in what direction the wind will be blowing by studying pressure charts.
Low-pressure systems are associated with rainy weather and cloudy skies and are responsible for strong, quality groundswells. These mean strong winds that generate powerful waves, which can travel thousands of miles before reaching an obstacle (usually near the shore). If these winds blow on the surface of the ocean for a longer period, the swell will get even bigger. If the wind blows on a greater area on the surface of the ocean (the ‘fetch’ we talked about before), the waves will be more powerful.
So, what do you need to look for? Why, onions, of course! And no, not the ones that make you cry in the kitchen, although the ones I’m talking about will probably make you cry with joy. The onions I’m talking about are used to describe deep low pressures on weather charts. Closely packed isobars mean strong winds, and they tend to resemble an onion when displayed on a pressure chart. If these isobars stay in one place for longer, the surf will be pumping!
Onshore winds blow from the sea towards the beach and tend to push in the direction of the wave, making it unstable. The stronger the onshore winds, the messier the waves will be – they break too soon, are less steep, and usually mushy. If these winds get any stronger than 20mph (32kph), then the waves will most likely be unsurfable.
Wind blowing out to sea makes for optimum conditions, creating swell that is neatly ordered. Offshore winds produce waves that are strong enough to keep moving even in shallow water, forming steep faces before they break. They are fast, hollow and exciting to ride.
In many surf spots, offshore winds occur in the morning.
The anatomy of a wave
We all know waves break, but do you know how? When waves travel through deep water without obstacles, they head to the shore with a massive force. As soon as they reach shallow water, they slow down and their crest starts to grow. As with icebergs, the crest we see moving on the surface of the water is only a small part of the wave, which actually extends all the way down to the ocean floor.
When a wave hits an obstacle, the lower part of the wave slows down, while the upper part continues to move, spilling over. Now, it is the way the wave spills over that surfers are interested in.
» Not sure how to assess and anticipate waves when surfing? Read our article and find out how to read a wave.
There’s that one point when the wave tilts forward just enough, creating that sought-after shape of a rolling wave. This shape depends on the seabed – the steeper the seabed, the steeper the wave will be. Barreling waves, the holy grail of surfing, are formed when deep water suddenly meets shallow water. When the transition on the seabed is smoother, gentler waves are formed, which are ideal for beginner surfers.
Types of surf breaks
Depending on the seabed, there are four main types of surf breaks:
- Beach breaks – the waves break over the sandy seabed. These are the best types of breaks for beginners to learn to surf. However, there are beach breaks in the world that can hold waves up to 20ft (6 m) tall. One such example is Hossegor in France.
- Reef breaks – the waves break over a rocky seabed or a coral reef. These are the classic waves you often see in surfing videos but can be quite treacherous if you happen to wipe out badly.
- Point breaks – the swell hits a rocky point at a certain angle, causing the wave to break along the shoreline. A good example is Bells Beach in Australia.
- Rivermouth breaks – the wave breaks over a sandbar formed by a rivermouth at the shoreline. Sandbars tend to change over time, which makes these surf spots rather unreliable.
Rights & lefts
Depending on the direction in which a wave breaks, there are left-hand and right-hand waves. Just remember that this is as seen from the surfer’s standpoint (out at sea, opposite from what you would see from the beach). For example, if a surfer is paddling towards a wave that is breaking from right to left, then the surfer must turn left to ride it; this is a left-hander.
Some waves peel in both directions starting from the same point. These are called A-frame waves, and can be surfed by two riders at the same time in different directions.
There are also waves that don’t break at all, break all at once or too fast to be surfed. These are called close-out waves, and approach the shore parallel to a straight coastline. These are usually unsurfable.
The gravitational pull of the sun and moon causes a periodic rise and fall of the water of the ocean. This can affect the surfing conditions in more ways that one.
First of all, tides can determine the shape of the seabed over which the wave will break. For example, a low tide usually means the wave will break in shallow water and will be steeper. Some spots are better to surf on high tide, some on low tide, and others on all tides, like the famous Spanish Left on Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Secondly, an incoming tide (when the tide is on the rise) may help with the momentum of the waves, as it pushes in the same direction and supplies more power.
On average, there is a six-hour-and-12 minute period between low and high tide, but this can vary on certain coastlines.
Now that you know what you are surfing, head to BookSurfCamps.com, choose your next surfing trip and test the best waves on the planet! | <urn:uuid:0145b6d4-3375-4793-bfcb-12094ecb5b39> | {
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The leaders of the 1956 women’s march – (l to r) Rahima Moosa, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, and Sophie Williams – hold the petitions against passes.
(Image: South African History Online)
• Tanana Cornelius Monama
Chief director: communications
Dept of Women, Children and
People with Disabilities
+27 12 359 0224 or +27 82 578 4063
Women’s Day, celebrated every year on 9 August, and the annual activities around it honour all the women who, through the years, have led South Africa out of colonialism and apartheid and into democracy.
Women’s Month 2013 marks the 57th anniversary of the famous 1956 anti-pass march, which saw over 20 000 women, led by struggle heroines Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn – who is still alive today – marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August to register their outrage over laws that forced black people to carry passbooks.
These documents condescendingly gave black people permission to be outside their homelands or designated areas, and failure to produce one on demand often resulted in arrest and imprisonment.
As part of the South African government’s commitment to restore the identity and dignity of people, especially women, the machines that print the country’s just-introduced Smart ID cards were recently named after the four female stalwarts.
Speaking at the government printing works in Pretoria at the ceremony in July, President Jacob Zuma said: “This gesture is intended to further immortalise their contribution to the struggle for liberation and of building a better South Africa, which is home to all who live in it, black and white.”
It was fitting that machines printing identification documents be named after women “who fought for justice, human rights and dignity for all”, said Zuma.
Women rising up
This year Women’s Day also commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1913 anti-pass demonstration by women of the then Orange Free State, which was the first province to require passes for women. Back then, the provincial government announced that women living in townships and rural areas of the province could only get into urban areas if they had entry permits – which were only valid for a month, so new ones had to be bought regularly.
Permits were needed for various other reasons – to be able to reside on the employer’s premises, to seek work, to visit certain areas – and to use public bathhouses. It’s thought that the introduction of this final insult was the tipping point – the women of the province were not amused. They organised demonstrations and protests and this ultimately led to the 1913 anti-pass defiance campaign.
In those days, according to the Human Sciences Resource Council’s publication Women in South African History, pass laws were introduced and implemented by municipal authorities, so on 28 May 1913 some 200 women marched to the offices of the Bloemfontein City Council to petition the mayor to abort this plan. He wasn’t available, and so they returned the next day, only to hear him say that the matter was out of his hands, directly contradicting what the women had believed to be the case.
They were not satisfied with the mayor’s response, and burned their passes outside the municipal offices. Eighty women were arrested for not having their passbooks. The day after that, 600 women marched into town, intimidated police, and persuaded the magistrate to drop the charges against those who were arrested.
Two weeks later, police attempted to arrest a woman for not carrying her passbook. A riot broke out, resulting in the arrest and imprisonment of 34 women, who each served a two-month jail term.
The campaign escalated. Hundreds of signatures were collected in a petition. There was also a passive resistance component, where black women simply refused to carry the required documents. In addition, women of all races began to voice their indignation.
In August 1913 Sol Plaatje, editor of Tsala ea Batho (Friend of the People), visited the 34 women who were still imprisoned at Kroonstad Prison, and was horrified at the conditions there. He wrote of his experience in his book Native Life in South Africa, saying: “A severe shock burst upon us, inside the prison walls, when the matron withdrew the barriers and the emaciated figures of ladies and young girls of our acquaintance filed out and greeted us.”
The plight of the prisoners affected Plaatje deeply. “Was ever inhumanity more cold-blooded?” he asked. “Tears rolled down our cheeks as we saw the cracks on their bare feet, the swellings and chronic chilblains, which made them look like sheep suffering from foot-and-mouth disease.”
In Tsala he wrote that they were fighting for the freedom of all women in the Free State, and that they were prepared to die for the cause.
The women were released – Plaatje noted that a month later, most of them had returned to their homes.
One of the leaders of this particular struggle was Charlotte Maxeke, who received a BSc from Wilberforce University in the US in the early 1900s, becoming the first black South African woman to obtain a degree.
Maxeke later founded the Bantu Women’s League, South Africa’s first organisation for black women. It was a branch of the African National Congress (ANC), which didn’t accept women members at the time. According to South African History Online, although the pass requirements had been relaxed in 1914 because of the breakout of the first world war, the threat arose again four years later, prompting Maxeke to establish her organisation.
The league’s structure was later adopted by the ANC and re-launched as the ANC Women’s League, with Maxeke as its first president.
She died in Johannesburg in 1939.
Advances in women’s rights
Since those repressive days, the country has made great progress in advancing women’s rights, although it wasn’t until the Bill of Rights came into play in 1993 that women were recognised unconditionally as being equal to men. In article one, point one, the Bill of Rights states that all South Africans are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and in point three, that men and women shall have equal protection under the law.
The Constitution guarantees that no woman – or man, for that matter – shall suffer discrimination for any reason. In section nine, dedicated to equality, we read: “The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”
Sadly, though, many South African women are still disadvantaged, especially in economic terms. They also have to endure one of the world’s highest rates of domestic violence, rape and other forms of abuse.
However, according to the minister of women, children and people with disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill has been submitted to the cabinet committee. This piece of legislation will supply guidelines for promoting the empowerment of women, gender equality, and compliance in the public and private sector with women’s rights.
The weeks of Women’s Month have been allocated certain themes, said Xingwana. The focus of weeks one and two is the restoration of identity and dignity, while the focus of week three is job creation, and that of week four is the development of rural women. | <urn:uuid:0d6a048f-720a-4229-9525-a1378d42bc4c> | {
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Girls Score Better On Math Tests Than Boys Unless The Teacher Knows Their Gender, Because Sexism Is Alive And Well
For all those people who think that we've achieved gender equality, I'm here today to say HAHA nope. According to a recent study in the National Bureau of Economic Research, girls score better than boys on math tests... unless the teacher knows their gender. This is really not the kind of thing I wanted to wake up to this morning, but as we all know, sexism doesn't just go away because we want it to. The study, published last month, followed three groups of Israeli children from sixth grade through their graduation from high school, Jezebel reports. They were given two tests in various subjects; one was graded by the teacher, who knew students' names and genders, and the other was graded by an outsider who wasn't given any names. Girls did better than boys on the math tests when graded anonymously, but when the teachers scored the tests, boys received higher grades. This effect wasn't seen in tests for other subjects such as Hebrew or English, so researchers concluded that it was teachers' biases against girls' mathematical skills that led them to overestimate boys' abilities. Furthermore, they found that the teachers' attitudes had a huge effect on whether their students went into these fields later on. From the New York Times:
The boys who had been encouraged when they were younger performed significantly better [on national exams]... After controlling for other factors that might affect their choices, they concluded that the girls who had been discouraged by their elementary schoolteachers were much less likely than the boys to take advanced courses.
The study was conducted in the first place because women are tragically underrepresented in the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and math. For a while there, (male) scientists shrugged it off because girls are totally just bad at math, amiright? In recent decades, however, people finally started to question that assumption (thanks, feminism!), and surprise! Researchers found that women aren't bad at math, we're just brainwashed to think we are, discouraged from expressing any interest in the subject from day one, and can't get hired even if we do choose a career in math because employers are unconsciously biased against us. It's no wonder that only 14 percent of physics faculty members in the U.S. were female as of 2013. Honestly, with all the factors against women in STEM fields, it's amazing that we find careers in them at all.
This isn't to say that elementary school teachers are horrible sexist pigs who plot against gender equality as they're grading tests. Teachers are as much a product of our society as any of us, and as such they're susceptible to unconscious bias. In light of the results of the study, however, they do have a responsibility to be aware of their internal prejudices and minimize them wherever possible. As co-author Victor Levy pointed out to the Times, "it’s not the students or the home, but the classroom teacher’s behavior that explains part of the differences over time between boys and girls." We can't discourage girls from math and science at every turn only to turn around and claim it's women's fault the fields are overwhelmingly male. There is a bright side, though: the study also indicates that even a little encouragement from teachers can have an enormous impact later in life. If we maintain awareness of our internal biases and keep encouraging girls to explore whatever subject interests them, like many are already doing, we might see that gender gap start to close. | <urn:uuid:7ff0147b-d39d-4e87-99ca-8ae204b5c8c8> | {
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Without the benefit of body language, which can help soften or defuse tense conversations, online discussions are ripe for misunderstandings and heated exchanges. How can we make social media a kinder place for the healthy exchange of views?
Here are a few common scenarios and suggested solutions:
Situation: the shutdown. A disgruntled ‘friend’ strongly suggests that you pipe down on a topic that you feel strongly about. They might say something along the lines of: “Get over it”; “Maybe you should ‘unfriend’ me”; or “You’re making people not like you.”
Solution: Women, in particular, are frequently the targets of the ‘play nice’ card. If the issue is important to you, ask yourself: ‘Why does my difference of opinion scare this person? Am I willing to risk alienating myself from some people by voicing my thoughts? Are those individuals really my friends to begin with?’
Quietly unfriending these folks is the best solution. Otherwise, respond with curiosity: “Why do you feel I should ‘unfriend’ you?” “Why do my thoughts on this matter bother you?”
Situation: Contempt. Instead of empathizing, or at least listening to your concerns, a friend or a family member responds in a dismissive way. For example: “How dumb. Maybe you should run for office if you have such strong opinions.”
According to the English Oxford dictionary, contempt is defined as “the feeling that a person is beneath consideration or deserving scorn.”
Solution: Disarm with compassion: “Clearly, I touched a nerve. Would you like to talk about it?” If this person frequently meets your thoughts with disgust, you can respond with: “I don’t allow people to talk to me/treat me that way.” If the toxic behavior continues, say good-bye or put that person at a healthy arm’s-length if you can’t completely dump them from your life.
Situation: Online confrontation. Your post or comment unleashes the fury of another person in your network. You dig your heels in. Friends jump in to take sides. Trolls show up. And the virtual mudslinging commences.
Solution: Dale Carnegie once said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” In other words, when people are on the defensive, it’s impossible to change their opinion, no matter how well you make your point. First, consider if a comment is worth addressing. Trolls bait people by dropping inflammatory comments into a thread. Don’t bite.
If you do respond, take the higher road. Avoid personal attacks and excuse yourself from mean-spirited conversations: “As you’ve decided to make this personal, I’m exiting this conversation before I say something I regret.” Or, “While I disagree, I appreciate hearing a different opinion.” Reinforce positive exchanges by saying, “Thank you for the healthy debate.”
Situation: Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying isn’t only a problem that affects kids. According to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, nearly 65 per cent of young adults between 18 and 29 have experienced some sort of online harassment. Overall, 40 per cent of adults have been victims of cyberbullying or online stalking.
Solution: Respond to inflammatory remarks or name-calling by instructing the offending party to respectfully move along. If they refuse, block them. Avoid retaliating, which can only escalate the issue. If the person continues to attack you through private messaging, either ignore the message or calmly tell the person to stop contacting you. If the cyberbullying continues, save the messages in case you need to alert law enforcement.
Manage your emotions. You read something on a friend’s page that enrages you. Do you immediately blast off an angry comment or walk away?
Solution: Give yourself a 24-hour cooling off period. This is a form of self-care and a healthy way to manage anger. Work through your anger in a private journal or talk to an empathetic friend. Take a walk, put on some soothing music, or engage in an activity that steadies your heartbeat. By disengaging, you can put the situation in perspective, avoid making a remark you might later regret, and preserve a relationship that you care about.
Freelance writer and communication researcher Christa is the author of Happy, Healthy & Hyperconnected: Raise a Thoughtful Communicator in a Digital World.
Calgary’s Child Magazine © 2020 Calgary’s Child | <urn:uuid:39612ac8-7065-4c79-8377-b51a87e2ce45> | {
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Appendix D5: Preparedness Checklist for Community Containment Measures
Supplement D: Community Containment Measures, Including Non-Hospital Isolation and Quarantine
Public Health Guidance for Community-Level Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Version 2/3
This website is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
- Establish an incident command structure that can be used for SARS response.
- Establish a legal preparedness plan.
- Establish relationships with partners, such as law enforcement, first responders, healthcare facilities, and the legal community.
- Plan to monitor and assess factors that will determine the types and levels of response, including the epidemiologic profile of the outbreak, available local resources, and level of public acceptance and participation.
- Develop communication strategies for the public, government decision makers, healthcare and emergency response providers, and the law enforcement community.
Management of cases and contacts (including quarantine)
- Develop protocols, tools, and databases for:
- Case surveillance
- Clinical evaluation and management
- Contact tracing, monitoring, and management
- Reporting criteria
- Develop standards and tools for home and non-hospital isolation and quarantine
- Establish supplies for non-hospital management of cases and contacts
- Establish a telecommunications plan for “hotlines” or other services for:
- Case and contact monitoring and response
- Fever triage
- Public information
- Provider information
- Plan to ensure provision of essential services and supplies to persons in isolation and quarantine, including:
- Food and water
- Medicines and medical consultations
- Mental health and psychological support services
- Other supportive services (e.g., day care)
- Transportation to medical treatment, if require
- Plan to address issues of financial support, job security, and prevention of stigmatization
Non-hospital-based isolation of cases
- Identify appropriate community-based facilities for isolation of patients who have no substantial healthcare requirements.
- Develop policies related to use of these facilities.
- Identify facilities for persons for whom home isolation is indicated but who do not have access to an appropriate home setting, such as travelers and homeless populations.
- Ensure that required procedures for assessment of potential isolation or quarantine sites are available and up to date.
Community containment measures
- Ensure that legal authorities and procedures are in place to implement the various levels of movement restrictions as necessary.
- Identify key partners and personnel for the implementation of movement restrictions, including quarantine, and the provision of essential services and supplies:
- Law enforcement
- First responders
- Other government service workers
- Transportation industry
- Local businesses
- Schools and school boards
- Develop training programs and drills.
- Ensure fit-testing and training in PPE for responders and providers as necessary.
- Develop plans for the mobilization and deployment of public health and other community service personnel.
- I. Rationale and Goals
- II. Lessons Learned
- III. Management of SARS Patients in Isolation
- IV. Management of Contacts of SARS Cases
- V. Community-Based Control Measures
- VI. Enforcement of Community Containment Measures
- VII. Roles and Responsibilities
- Appendix D1: Interventions for Community Containment
- Appendix D2: Frequently Asked Questions about Use of Community Containment Measures
- Appendix D3: Guidelines for Evaluating Homes and Facilities for Isolation and Quarantine
- Appendix D4: Threshold Determinants for the Use of Community Containment Measures
- Appendix D5: Preparedness Checklist for Community Containment Measures
View Page In:Cdc-pdf PDF [245K]
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While the summer and fall of 2018 are long over, their unusual weather will undoubtedly impact lawns well into the spring of 2019 and beyond. The middle and late summer of 2018 was very hot, setting records in many New England states, especially during August. This high heat was followed by above average rain in in the fall, particularly in October. If you lawn survived the summer heat, the one-two punch of a wet October likely placed it in a stressful situation entering the winter making it more susceptible to winter damage.
So what impact does this type of weather have on your lawn? To answer this question, we must first understand how grass is affected by high heat and excessive water as it relates to plant and soil science.
Like people, plants need to breathe. During transpiration, as water leaves the grass blades there is a cooling effect, much like sweating. To do this successfully, there needs to be adequate soil moisture, sufficient energy reserves in the roots, and soil/air temperatures below 85°.
During the day, the plants transpire and help cool themselves using energy and water from the root system. Normally during cooler nights, this process shuts down – saving valuable sugar, water, and energy reserves for the following day. Unfortunately, with extreme soil temperatures the plants could not shut down the cooling process of transpiration during the night. This resulted in the loss of valuable energy reserves leading to a deficit as days turned into weeks, much like a battery being used and never recharged.
Depending upon the initial health of the root system and energy reserves entering the summer, plants would begin to not only brown out, but die as a result of simply starving. If this was not enough, the rains that came weeks later further compounded the problem.
To explain the effects of heavy rain on your lawn, we must briefly discuss the soil below your carpet of green or brown, depending upon how your grass faired during August. Soil is made up of three primary parts: air, water, and the physical soil particles themselves. Ideally, these components should each be one-third of the whole, depending upon the type of soil you have with sand having more air and clay having less air.
The air component is very important because grass roots must “breathe” below ground. When periods of rain occur beyond normal parameters, the air pocket becomes smaller as the water saturates the soil. At some point all air space is depleted, literally drowning the root system, resulting in decline and even death.
Think Proactively for 2019
Despite having gone through three difficult seasons, if the spring weather gods are good to lawns (early snow melt, warming temperatures and normal rainfall), your spring lawn may not need any additional attention beyond a normal lawn program. However, if we have a late snowmelt combined with cold and too wet or too dry weather, then your lawn is likely to need extra help to recover and prepare for another summer. Services that focus on restoring soil health are crucial, including aeration/overseeding, Chippers’ new stress-reduction spray (containing amino acids), compost tea, and seaweed.
For Chippers new clients, we will be recommending a series of beneficial treatments after an onsite evaluation to determine the best course of action. To proactively help their lawns in 2019, our existing clients may see additional recommended services in their winter contracts based on past history and service notes. | <urn:uuid:bde772f5-6b0d-4281-91ed-646dcd7168c7> | {
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German govt adopts major climate law, set of measures to meet 2030 targets
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government cabinet has adopted Germany’s first Climate Action Law and a detailed programme of measures to reach 2030 climate targets in all sectors of the economy. With today’s decisions, the coalition of Merkel’s Conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) fleshed out the general package it presented with a long-anticipated decision on 20 September. The measures now have to be translated into legislation and decided by the federal parliament over the coming months and well into next year.
“Today is an important day for climate action in Germany,” said environment minister Svenja Schulze at a press conference in Berlin. “However, it does not mark a final point, it’s a new beginning. I will only be satisfied when the greenhouse gas emissions actually go down sufficiently.”
Economy minister Peter Altmaier called today's decisions "a central step towards reaching our climate targets without damaging the competitiveness of our industry." He said while the energy sector and industry were well on track, buildings and transport still had some catching up to do.
The coalition’s climate package now consists of (A) the framework Climate Action Law, which enshrines the 2030 greenhouse gas emissions target into law, assigns sector-specific annual emissions budgets and says Germany will “pursue” greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. [Find a factsheet here.]
And (B) the Climate Action Programme 2030, which sets out measures to reach 2030 climate targets in each sector, such as a CO2 price for transport and buildings, a slew of incentives and regulatory actions such as efficiency standards. Schulze called the programme “the binding to-do list which describes in detail what the cabinet will get on its way over the coming weeks”.
The government adopted the two climate policy pieces as hundreds of protester from the Extinction Rebellion movement blocked key streets in the political centre of Germany’s capital Berlin, with many activists gathering in front of Merkel’s chancellery.
Stefan Kapferer, head of utility association BDEW, called the plans “not thought through and not coherent with the objectives of the energy transition”, while environmental NGOs said Germany would miss its targets with the proposed measures.
After a prolonged boom in renewable energy, Germany's planned transition to a low-carbon, nuclear-free economy – the famed Energiewende – has slowed in recent years. The country is set to miss key national energy transition targets in 2020 – among them reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent – and the governing parties CDU/CSU and SPD have now put their focus on reaching the 2030 goals. Merkel set up the so-called climate cabinet – a group of ministers with responsibilities in key climate policy fields – earlier this year to decide necessary legislation. The group presented a general strategy on 20 September, and the government must now mould the details presented today into legislation and regulations.
Legislative process has only just begun
With today’s announcements, the legislative process is far from over. The government aims to decide all necessary legislation by the end of 2019 - but implementing the whole package will be a “major legislative task”, said the German Energy Agency (dena) recently. Federal parliament (Bundestag) will now get to work on the framework Climate Action Law, as well as the packages of legislation the cabinet adopts throughout the rest of the year – which could lead to changes.
Spiegel Online reported that the “clock is ticking for the government”, as anything that is supposed to come into force at the beginning of 2020 must be adopted by the cabinet in October to allow for enough time for parliament debate.
Many measures also need to be approved by the council of state governments (Bundesrat). The Green Party – which forms part of a majority of state government coalitions – has said it will try to amend at least some of the legislation. The process on many of the measures will therefore drag well into 2020.
Climate Action Law includes net-zero target 2050
Schulze called the climate law “progress and an answer to past shortcomings”. It holds ministries accountable for reaching targets in their areas of responsibility, and thus “fundamentally improves cooperation within the government cabinet.”
Some had criticised that, contrary to earlier drafts, the government no longer said net-zero emissions by 2050 “shall be reached”, instead calling to “pursue” the goal. Schulze defended the new wording: “It’s in no way weakened. We have updated it, because at the Climate Action Summit in New York we committed to doing it, as well as on the European level, and that’s now in the text. So it’s a tad more binding than before,” she told public broadcaster ZDF.
“We will be greenhouse gas neutral by 2050,” said Schulze at today’s press conference. Including the goal also creates planning stability for Germany’s economy, she added. “Now it's perfectly clear: all sectors are well advised to prepare in time for the post-fossil age.”
In a last-minute change, the government included a paragraph in the Climate Action Law which stipulates that Germany will assign annual emissions budgets for the years after 2030 by 2025. This was necessary, as the Paris Agreement calls on countries to regularly raise ambitions, and European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has announced she aims to raise EU climate targets. “Of course, Germany will also do more then,” said Schulze.
BDEW head Stefan Kapferer said that the government’s aim to raise the share of renewables in power consumption to 65 percent by 2030 is “hardly attainable” with the climate action programme proposals.
The renewables expansion targets for onshore wind and solar PV have changed slightly compared to early drafts of the climate action programme. The targeted installed capacity of solar was raised to 98 gigawatt (GW) by 2030 (from an earlier draft’s 85 GW), and the target for onshore wind lowered to 67-71 GW (from 80 GW).
However, particularly onshore wind expansion grapples with issues such as hurdles in planning and approval procedures, also due to acceptance issues among the population. The programme therefore stipulates a minimum distance rule for onshore wind turbines to the nearest settlement of 1,000 metres.
Renewables association BEE’s president Simone Peter said: “With the Climate Action Programme 2030, the federal government de facto says goodbye to the 2030 renewables expansion target.”
However, solar energy association BSW Solar welcomed plans to raise expansion targets for the sector as a “step in the right direction”, which needed to be followed up by the relevant legislation.
“Instead of getting rid of hurdles, the expansion of wind energy is made more difficult with blanket minimum distances,” said BDEW's Kapferer. He also criticised the “timid” entry-level price for CO2 emissions in transport and buildings and the “insufficient” decrease of power prices. Arguing it would prevent an overburdening of the population, the government had decided a slow-starting CO2 price with a low entry-level of 10 euros per tonne in 2021.
NGOs criticise package
Environmental NGO Greenpeace said Germany will not reach its 2030 target with today’s decision. “The government's package again postpones overdue CO2 reductions by years. This means that neither the gap in the 2020 climate protection target will be quickly closed, nor will the target for 2030 be reached,” said the organisation’s Andree Böhlin. “The implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and the 1.5° C target are thus completely out of sight for the government.”
WWF Germany’s head of nature conservation, Christoph Heinrich, welcomed that the country would “finally get a legislative framework to make climate action binding in all policy fields”. However, the attached programme of measures was not enough to reach mid- and long-term targets, he added. “The gap between what’s necessary from a scientific perspective and what the federal government has put on the table cannot be bridged by this package.” | <urn:uuid:f3c383a6-a952-4037-94c5-3352b01e3c21> | {
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By Joan Ballester, 4 July 2019
Temperature and human mortality
The environment is continuously and silently reshaping human’s behavior and physiological response. The long-term exposure of human populations to environmental conditions and natural hazards determines the risks that are associated with the way we live our daily life and we design the structure of our societies.
Urban and coastal settlements exemplify the constant fight between the periodic occurrence of natural phenomena and the transformation of the natural environment to accommodate human activities. Sea storms eroding the front line or flash floods causing landslides for instance represent permanent challenges for the security of people and infrastructures.
An important example of the risks associated with the interaction between humans and the environment is nowadays the exposure to ambient temperatures. In regions such as Europe, average summer temperatures can be up to a few tens of degrees Celsius warmer than in winter. On top of that, temperatures experienced during the most extreme heat waves and cold spells of the year can in turn exceed by about ten degrees or more these average summer or winter conditions, respectively.
The wide range of temperatures to which people are exposed, as well as the temperature variations from one day to the following, represent a major challenge for human well-being. There is indeed a temperature point at which human mortality tends to be at its minimum value, the so-called comfort or optimum temperature, which typically occurs in mid-latitude countries twice per year around late spring and early fall [N Christidis et al., 2010]. This comfort temperature defines two separate periods of heat- and cold-related mortality in summer and in autumn, winter and spring, respectively, with rising daily mortality counts as temperatures get warmer or colder [A Gasparrini et al., 2015].
The value of the comfort temperature is actually different in each country, region or city, but the relationship between temperature and mortality is similar everywhere, generally characterized by an asymmetric U-shape with minimum mortality for the temperate days, and maximum for the central part of the winter and summer seasons [FC Curriero et al., 2002].
The range of temperatures to which people are exposed characterize the kind of habits and activities that societies and individuals do. This also affects the type of preventive measures that each country adopts. For example, in cold areas such as Siberia and Northern and Eastern Europe, inhabitants experience little cold-related mortality because they protect themselves by wearing more clothing [GC Donaldson et al., 2001], or by having thermally isolated housing [GC Donaldson et al., 1998]. This behavior contrasts with the less strict habits and prevention measures in warmer countries such as in southern Europe, where mortality at the same cold temperature is generally much higher [J Ballester et al., 2011]. As a general rule, populations tend to adapt to the typical environmental conditions, the so-called climatological values, so that the warmer is a region, the warmer is the comfort temperature, and the more vulnerable people are to cold temperatures [J Ballester et al., 2016].
Climate change and early adaptation
Global warming is however modifying these relationships that resulted from the long-term adaptation process of human populations over periods of several decades or centuries [H Achebak et al., Under Revision]. The release of increasing amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere is progressively warming the atmosphere, and this is redefining the range of temperatures to which people are exposed [IPCC, 2013].
This progressive warming poses two interesting questions: if temperatures are warming, should we expect more deaths due to heat in summer, but at the same time, fewer deaths due to cold in winter? And if so, what is the overall net effect? These questions are far from trivial, and no universal answer is available [AJ McMichael et al., 2006].
For example, the record-breaking summer 2003 heat wave caused more than 70,000 additional deaths in 12 countries in Western Europe, and showed that these societies were not ready to deal with the negative effects of very extreme heat [JM Robine et al., 2008]. Several authors actually showed that temperatures observed during this event were similar to those that are expected to be normal at the end of the century if the climate is warming at the current pace [C Schär et al., 2004], suggesting that global warming might have a severe impact on human health if societies do not succeed to adapt to rising temperatures.
But interestingly, the 2003 heat wave also triggered the design and implementation of a wave of national and regional action plans against the negative effects of heat waves [IPCC, 2014]. It is generally believed that these adaptation measures are starting to reduce the additional health burden caused by warmer summer temperatures, but no systematic analysis is available yet. This potential beneficial effect would however depend on the socioeconomic and demographic situation of each society, and it is reasonable to expect that poorer countries will have more problems to deal with the new challenges associated with climate change.
The picture for winter mortality is even more interesting and uncertain, because it is not even clear if and to what extent rising temperatures are contributing to reduce the death toll due to cold temperatures. A major factor explaining this uncertainty is that many of the deaths in winter are due to influenza and other respiratory viruses, and not directly to cold temperatures themselves, and therefore temperature rise might not contribute to the decrease in winter mortality if the impact of these diseases is not similarly reduced.
The 2008 recession and life expectancy
Human health is not only affected by temperatures and climate change, but also by a myriad of factors that exacerbate some existing health threats, such as urban air pollution, pre-existing or chronic diseases, low income, fuel poverty or the gender gap, even in high-income countries [Global Change Research Program US, 2016].
Atmospheric pollution is one of the most important environmental threats to human health, particularly in cities, mostly due to the increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer [Health Organization World, 2013]. Over four million people die every year as a result of household exposure to smoke from dirty cook stoves and fuels, and three million premature deaths are due to outdoor ambient pollution [A Prüss-Ustün et al., 2016], 400,000 of which occur in Europe alone [Environmental Agency European, 2016].
Environmental air pollution is one of the many factors that explain one of the most surprising and counterintuitive findings regarding human mortality. Several authors have shown that the increasing trend in human lifespan [J Oeppen and JW Vaupel, 2002] is larger during recessions, and slowed down or even reversed during periods of macroeconomic expansion [Granados JA Tapia and Roux AV Diez, 2009]. This result has been repeatedly confirmed for many countries [A Baumbach and G Gulis, 2014] and economic cycles during the twentieth century [Granados JA Tapia, 2005], and recently re-confirmed for the disruptive 2008 recession in Europe [E Regidor et al., 2016]. These results are apparently in contradiction with the general belief that recessions worsen human health and the quality of life by increasing unemployment and affecting the life conditions of the most vulnerable population groups [J Ballester et al., 2019].
And indeed, this contradiction has been the focus of vivid scientific debate. Periods of macroeconomic recession typically end up with crises of national public debt some years later, as happened in Europe in the early 2010s. These crises in turn result in austerity programs in which governments are obliged to reduce the budget in public health care and social protection, therefore directly affecting the most vulnerable people. These effects, however, usually occur some years after the beginning of the crisis, such as in the Mediterranean countries in the recent 2008 recession [E Regidor et al., 2017].
Instead, other factors have a nearly immediate effect on human health. For example, recessions reduce industrial activity, and therefore the exposure to atmospheric pollutants mainly in urban environments. Moreover, the general reduction in available household income and the increase in social inequality generate side effects such as the reduction in occupational and traffic accidents [RB Noland and Y Zhou, 2017] or in bad habits, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption. Unexpectedly, the latter effects, which are rather immediate, seem to be stronger and thus show up in the majority of scientific studies [VF Haaland and K Telle, 2015].
The description and understanding of the environmental determinants of human health is a complex issue. Climate change can be quantified by means of climate models, but the impact that these changes will have on human societies is hard to quantify and therefore remains highly uncertain. The future well-being of individual citizens cannot be assessed yet because the observed warming has been small, and we do not fully understand if and to which extent we are adapting to a changing world and climate.
In addition, there are so many non-climate factors that interfere in the way we are affected by climate that it is difficult to separate their relative contributions. Among those, the demographic revolution that many societies have been experiencing during the last decades, with a continuous and sustained rise in life expectancy, define a complex network of interplaying factors affecting human health. Despite these adversities, it is our job to join efforts from different disciplines, such as climate, health, demography and economy, to define cross-disciplinary collaborations to better understand these interactions.
J.B. gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 727852 (project Blue-Action), 730004 (project PUCS), and 737480 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship ACCLIM).
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It was on Aug. 12, 1949, that the nations of the world, with Nazi atrocities still in mind, updated what are known as the Geneva Accords. This constituted an effort to once again set limits on the wartime behavior of states and their agents.
Among other things, the accords set the range of acceptable behavior toward prisoners of war, established protections for the wounded and the sick, and the necessary protections to be afforded civilian populations within and approximate to any war-zone. Some 193 countries, including the United States, have ratified these agreements. Now, as of August 2016, they are 67-years-old. Have they worked? The answer is, in all too many cases, no.
In just about every major conflict since 1949 the Geneva Accords have been partially or completely ignored. Certainly that was the case in the Vietnam War, where civilian deaths came close to 1.5 million people. The treaties have had minimal impact in Afghanistan (during both the Russian and U.S. invasions), Iraq, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, Russia’s military activity in Chechnya, and various conflicts in Africa and Asia.
The International Red Cross, which oversees observance of the accords, has not been able to do much more than shine lights on the breaches of the law and pick up the bloody pieces in the aftermath. At the rate our nation-states slaughter the innocent, it is a wonder there is an overpopulation problem.
Honored Only In the Breach
There are likely two main reasons why the Geneva Accords have had so little influence on behavior: hypocrisy and ignorance.
As to hypocrisy, it is the case that, except in rare instances, there are no serious consequences for violating the law. Particularly, if you are agents of a strong state, or the ally (like Israel) of a strong state, the chances of state leaders or agents being arrested for war crimes or crimes against humanity is exceedingly low.
One wonders why nations bothered writing and enacting the Geneva Accords in the first place. The reason might have been specific to the moment. Faced with the atrocious behavior of leaders and soldiers (it is most often the behavior of the defeated party that is pointed to, so think here of the Holocaust), and the immediate outcry this behavior produced, the pressure for some sort of reaction carried the world’s leaders forward to make and ratify agreements to prevent future repetitions of such crimes.
Yet, as it turns out, these were not serious efforts except when applied to the defeated and the weak. For the strong, it is one thing to enact an international law, it is another thing altogether to apply it to oneself or other strong states.
As to ignorance, to date it is obvious that the politicians and soldiers who wage war, or who are responsible for the arming and training of allies who do so, do not regard seriously, and in some cases are not even familiar with, the Geneva Accords. In my experience, they often cannot, or will not, discuss them when asked, and regard statements referencing the disobeying of illegal orders in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to be rightfully honored only in the breach.
And that is the important point. We can safely say that when it comes to waging war, or for that matter, aiding and abetting others doing so, the accepted behavior of both soldiers, statesmen, and diplomats is that called moral idiocy.
Moral Idiocy is not something this writer, creative as he is, has simply made up. It is a real concept in psychology that has been around for over a century. However, in our increasingly relativistic societies, it has fallen into disuse.
Briefly, it means the “Inability to understand moral principles and values and to act in accordance with them, apparently without impairment of the reasoning and intellectual faculties.” The key word here is “understand.” It is not that moral idiots do not know, intellectually, that something called morality exists, but rather they cannot understand its applicability to their lives, particularly their professional lives.
At best they think it is a personal thing that operates between friends or relatives and goes no further – a reduction of values to the narrowest of social spaces. This is paralleled by the absence of such values as guiding principles for one’s actions in the wider world.
There are innumerable examples of such apparent moral idiots acting within the halls of power. The following short list specific to the U.S. reflects the opinion of this writer: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Oliver North, Richard Nixon and, my favorite, Henry Kissinger. Those reading this both in and outside of the United States can, no doubt, make a list of their own.
A particular incident related to Henry Kissinger’s behavior gives us an excellent example of this moral failing. The story is told by Stephen Talbot, a journalist and documentary producer, who in the early 2000s interviewed Robert McNamara, who had been U.S. Secretary of Defense for much of the Vietnam War years and was, by the 1990s, full of remorse and feelings of guilt for his behavior while in office.
Then, shortly thereafter, Talbot interviewed Kissinger, who had been Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State and National Security Advisor during the Vietnam War’s final years. Here is how Talbot describes what, for us, is the relevant part of his interview with Kissinger:
“I told him I had just interviewed Robert McNamara in Washington. That got his attention. . . . and then he did an extraordinary thing. He began to cry. But no, not real tears. Before my eyes, Henry Kissinger was acting. ‘Boohoo, boohoo,’ Kissinger said, pretending to cry and rub his eyes. ‘He’s [McNamara] still beating his breast, right? Still feeling guilty.’ He spoke in a mocking, singsong voice and patted his heart for emphasis.”
Kissinger obviously held McNamara and his feelings of guilt in utter disdain. He had actually committed greater crimes than McNamara – crimes documented in Christopher Hitchens’s 2001 book, The Trial of Henry Kissinger – and yet apparently felt no remorse at all. How does one get like that?
A Learning Deficiency
Let’s start our speculation in this regard by stating that none of us is born with a gene that tells us right from wrong. Those notions are cultural, though some basic principles (say, seeing murder within one’s tribal or clan network as morally wrong) come close to being universal.
Nonetheless, because we are not dealing with something genetic, it is quite possible that all of us have a potential for this moral failing. That being said, the vast majority of folks do successfully learn from their cultures that moral indifference is wrong and that committing what their society deems bad behavior should result in remorse and feelings of guilt.
It also seems that a minority does not learn this, or learn it only superficially. Most of this minority, realizing that such indifference is viewed negatively, keeps it hidden as much as they can. Yet when, on occasion, these closet moral idiots reach positions of power and influence, they can cause enormous damage.
There is a corollary to this. One can get socially sanctioned subgroups within which one is expected, at least temporarily, to act without reference to moral values. The military is a good example of this environment. And, under certain circumstances, so is the State Department or other foreign offices. In such a situation, most people “go with the flow” even if they know better, and then, in later life, some suffer from the trauma of the experience.
Moral idiocy can be seen as a very long-standing cultural flaw that often gives license to the violence that law and cultural mores are, simultaneously, trying to control. And, who are those who most often take advantage of this loophole? Ironically, it is the very people who lead our societies and those assigned to defend the culture and enforce the law. Lack of accountability makes for very poor public hygiene. | <urn:uuid:c662005e-ca2e-4dcc-8d47-7e3d147cb06a> | {
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During the Soviet occupation Lithuania lost about 800,000 residents. Many died as the result of hunger or exhaustion or were killed by the Soviet authorities. Deportation operations were held at the same time also in Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
Based on data from the Genocide and Resistance Research Center, from 1940-1958 every third Lithuanian became the victim of the Soviet genocide and terror.
Lithuania marks this Day by hoisting mourning flags and with many commemorating events.
Source and photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Permament Representation of Lithuania to the European Union. | <urn:uuid:d44f2c51-cb7d-4143-9224-c7e40316a937> | {
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If you want to see the world`s most important historical sites, you should go to Poland, a country on top of the UNESCO World Heritage List
Warsaw Old Town – reconstruction masterpiece
Poland, being a country of great cultural and natural beauty, which takes care of its preservation, is not only one of the first State Parties of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, but also one of the most represented on the World Heritage List. Till July 2008, thirteen Polish properties were included to this prestigious “Inventory” of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It gives to “our native heritage” the 8th place in Europe (the 8th of 46 European countries) and the 17th in the world (the 17th on United Nations 197 independent states list).
In this way, Medieval Town of Toruń, Old City of Zamość as well as Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Churches of Peace in Jawor and Świdnica, or Wieliczka Salt Mine, stand by these extraordinary sites such as Banks of the Seine in Paris, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Taj Mahal in India or the Pyramids of Egypt. The Historic Centre of Warsaw, called the Old Town (Starówka) was inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in September 2, 1980. It happened 41 years and 1 day after the Nazi invasion of Poland.
Warsaw Old Town as the result of the determination of the inhabitants and the support of the whole Polish nation
During World War II Poland suffered from a brutal nazi occupation and Warsaw was deliberately annihilated in 1944 as a repression of the Polish resistance. The capital city was literally reduced to ruins with the intention of eliminating the centuries-old tradition of Polish statehood. The rebuilding of the historic city, 85% of which was completely destroyed, was in fact the result of the determination of the inhabitants and the support of the whole Polish nation. It was another example of nation`s solidarity which has always been the Poles` virtue. The reconstruction of the Old Town in its historic urban and architectural form was the manifestation of the care and attention taken to assure the survival of one of the most important testimonials of Polish culture. The city was rebuilt as a symbol of elective authority and tolerance, where the first democratic European constitution, the Constitution of May 3, 1791, was adopted. The reconstruction included the holistic recreation of the urban plan, together with the Old Town Market, townhouses, the circuit of the city walls, the Royal Castle, and important religious buildings. The reconstruction was so precise that one can hardly tell if the the building survived the war or if it was rebuilt. That`s why the Warsaw Old Town was honored by the UNESCO.
The reconstruction of Warsaw’s historic centre was a major contribution to the changes in the doctrines related to urbanisation and conservation of cities in most of the European countries after the destructions of World War II. Simultaneously, this example illustrates the effectiveness of conservation activities in the second half of the 20th century, which permitted the integral reconstruction of the complex urban ensemble.
The reconstruction project utilised any extant, undamaged structures built between the 14th and 18th centuries, together with the late-medieval network of streets, squares, and the main market square, as well as the circuit of city walls. Two guiding principles were followed: firstly, to use reliable archival documents where available, and secondly, to aim at recreating the historic city’s late 18th-century appearance. The latter was dictated by the availability of detailed iconographic and documentary historical records from that period. It was what luckilly survived the war and remained to next generations. Additionally, conservation inventories compiled before 1939 and after 1944 were used, along with the scientific knowledge and expertise of art historians, architects, and conservators. The Archive of the Warsaw Reconstruction Office, housing documentation of both the post-war damage and the reconstruction projects, was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2011.
Warsaw – the invincible city
The rebuilding of the Old Town continued until the mid-1960s. The entire process was completed with the reconstruction of the Royal Castle opened to visitors in August 30, 1984. The reconstruction of individual buildings and their surroundings, in the adopted format of residential housing, featuring public functions dedicated to culture and science, as well as services, carried with its numerous challenges posed by the need to adapt to the social norms and demands of the time. In order to highlight the defensive walls and the city panorama as viewed from the Vistula, the reconstruction of some buildings was deliberately foregone. The urban layout was retained, along with the division of the street frontages into historic building plots; however, the properties within these quarters were not rebuilt, thus creating communal open areas for residents. The interior layout of buildings and residential flats was revised to meet the standards in force at the time. However, both historical room plans and interior designs were recreated in many of the buildings intended for public use. A highly regarded feature was the decoration of exterior elevations carried out by a team of renowned artists, who drew in part on designs from the interwar period. Polychrome decoration was executed using traditional techniques, including sgraffito. In spite of the adaptations and the changes introduced, the site, along with the city panorama as seen from the Vistula (which has become a symbol of Warsaw), presents a cohesive picture of the oldest part of the city.
Combining extant features with those parts of the Old Town reconstructed as a result of the conservation programme led to the creation of an urban space unique in terms of its material dimension (the form of the oldest part of the city), its functional dimension (as a residential quarter and venue for important historical, social, and spiritual events), and its symbolic dimension (an invincible city).
The cohesive rebuilding process came to an end with the reconstruction of the Royal Castle. Since then, the Historic Centre of Warsaw has fully retained its authenticity as a finished concept of post-war reconstruction. This World Heritage property includes two categories of structure. The first comprises extant structures predating the damage of World War II. This applies to most basements, some ground floor storeys and certain sections of wall up to the level of the first floor. The second category encompasses reconstructed features – this group includes buildings recreated in accordance with pre-war records (some of the Old Town’s townhouses, the Sigismund’s Column, churches, and the Royal Castle), and those rebuilt based on historical and conservation studies pertaining to the architecture of the 14th to 18th centuries (e.g. the façade of the cathedral, and the Old Town walls with the Barbican). The state of preservation of individual types of structure and entire buildings is satisfactory. Their maintenance requires the implementation of systematic conservation measures.
The Warsaw Old Town, the gateway leading into memory lane
The Warsaw Old Town is a place where our nation`s heart was given. When I was living abroad in late 80`s and early 90`s I was encouraged to remain in exile and discouraged to go back to homeland which was still a member of so-called the Eastern European Block. At those days we were unsure whether the Polish Round Table Talks would change our geopolitical situation and we were afraid of experiencing martial law once again. Nothing was obvious then but whenever I was thinking about staying in exile the same image came to my mind, The Warsaw Old Town, my love and my favourite place on Earth. I knew if I had chosen migration my way to my homeland, home town and Old Town might have been closed for long time. The Historic Centre of Warsaw does not have only our big affection and is the gateway leading into memory lane but it also has fascinating history and if you want to learn it you will need a journey to the past, old days much earlier than WWII. Shall we go back to the 13th century when The Old Town was established?
Initially surrounded by an earthwork rampart, prior to 1339 it was fortified with brick city walls. The town originally grew up around the castle of the Dukes of Mazovia that later became the Royal Castle. The Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta) was laid out sometime in the late 13th or early 14th century, along the main road linking the castle with the New Town to the north.
The Old Town Market Place (Rynek Starego Miasta), which dates back to the end of the 13th century, is the true heart of the Old Town, and until the end of the 18th century it was the heart of the whole Warsaw. Here the representatives of guilds and merchants met in the Town Hall (built before 1429, pulled down in 1817), and fairs and the occasional execution were held. The houses around it represented the Gothic style until the great fire of 1607, after which they were rebuilt in late-Renaissance style. Nowadays you can find here restaurants and cafes which offer mainly Polish specialities. However, one also sees barrel organ players and portrait painters. Since 1855 there has been a bronze sculpture (The Warsaw Mermaid) at exactly the same place. It’s the symbol of Warsaw. The four house sides of the marketplace also are still named after one of their famous inhabitants: Zakrzewski (mayor), Barss (solicitor), where you can find the Mickiewicz Literature Museum in house number 20, Kollataj (priest) and Dekert (mayor), where you now find the Historical Museum entrance in house number 42.
The Barbican was built in 1548. It is directly situated where the Old Town merges into the New Town. It served as an access gate to the Old Town and it is integrated directly into the Warsaw City Wall that surrounds the Old Town. The most part of the Warsaw Old Town Wall has survived since the time it was built in the 14th century. It took the workers about 200 years till it was fully completed.
The Warsaw Old Town, historical site and gathering place
Let`s meet there
Before you get to the heart of The Warsaw Old Town, i.e. The Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta) you will find Castle Square (plac Zamkowy) which is both meaningful historical site, place of interest and nowadays gathering place. It`s also a visitor’s first view of the reconstructed Old Town, when approaching from more modern center of Warsaw. Enclosed between the Old Town and the Royal Castle, Castle Square is steeped in history. Here was the gateway leading into the city called the Kraków (Cracow) Gate (Brama Krakowska). It was developed in the 14th century and continued to be a defensive area for the kings. The square was in its glory in the 17th century when Warsaw became the country’s capital and it was here in 1644 that King Władysław IV erected the column to glorify his father Sigismund (Zygmunt) III Vasa, who is best known for moving the capital of Poland from Cracow (Kraków) to Warsaw (Warszawa). This is a bronze statue which was errected in 1644 and is 22 meters high. It towers above the beautiful Old Town houses. Steps at the bottom of the column are always occupied by people who have arranged meeting there. It`s where most of them begin their walk through The Warsaw Old Town. You can also find some nice restaurants here if you are hungry and also some city tours have their starting point at the Castle Square.
The Royal Castle`s historical value
As written above the Royal Castle was the place where the Constitution of May 3, 1791 was adopted. It remained in effect for little over a year before being overthrown by Russian armies allied with conservative Polish nobility in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, also known as the War in Defense of the Constitution. With the wars between Turkey and Russia and Sweden and Russia having ended, Empress Catherine was furious over the adoption of the document, which she believed threatened Russian influence in Poland. Russia had viewed Poland as a de facto protectorate. “The worst possible news have arrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become almost sovereign” was the reaction of one of Russia’s chief foreign policy authors, Alexander Bezborodko, when he learned of the new constitution. The contacts of Polish reformers with the Revolutionary French National Assembly were seen by Poland’s neighbours as evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy and a threat to the absolute monarchies. The Prussian statesman Ewald von Hertzberg expressed the fears of European conservatives: “The Poles have given the coup de grâce to the Prussian monarchy by voting a constitution”, elaborating that a strong Commonwealth would likely demand the return of the lands Prussia acquired in the First Partition.
Magnates who had opposed the constitution draft from the start, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Seweryn Rzewuski, and Szymon and Józef Kossakowski, asked Tsarina Catherine to intervene and restore their privileges—the Cardinal Laws abolished under the new statute. To that end these magnates formed the Targowica Confederation. The Confederation’s proclamation, prepared in St. Petersburg in January 1792, criticized the constitution for contributing to “contagion of democratic ideas” following “the fatal examples set in Paris”. It asserted that “The parliament … has broken all fundamental laws, swept away all liberties of the gentry and on the third of May 1791 turned into a revolution and a conspiracy.” The Confederates declared an intention to overcome this revolution. We “can do nothing but turn trustingly to Tsarina Catherine, a distinguished and fair empress, our neighboring friend and ally”, who “respects the nation’s need for well-being and always offers it a helping hand”, they wrote.
Russian armies entered Poland and Lithuania, starting the Polish–Russian War of 1792. The Sejm voted to increase the army of the Commonwealth to 100,000 men, but owing to insufficient time and funds this number was never achieved and soon abandoned even as a goal. The Polish King and the reformers could field only a 37,000-man army, many of them untested recruits. This army, under the command of Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, defeated or fought to a draw the Russians on several occasions, but in the end, a defeat loomed inevitable. Despite Polish requests, Prussia refused to honor its alliance obligations. Stanisław August’s attempts at negotiations with Russia proved futile. As the front lines kept shifting to the west and in July 1792 Warsaw was threatened with siege by the Russians, the King came to believe that victory was impossible against the numerically superior enemy, and that surrender was the only alternative to total defeat. Having received assurances from the Russian ambassador Yakov Bulgakov that no territorial changes will occur, the Guardians of the Laws cabinet voted 8:4 to surrender. On July 24, 1792, King Stanisław August Poniatowski joined the Targowica Confederation, as the Empress had demanded. The Polish Army disintegrated.
Many reform leaders, believing their cause was for now lost, went into self-imposed exile. Some hoped that Stanisław August would be able to negotiate an acceptable compromise with the Russians, as he had done in the past. But the King had not saved the Commonwealth and neither had the Targowica Confederates, who governed the country for a short while. To their surprise, the Grodno Sejm, bribed or intimidated by the Russian troops, enacted the Second Partition of Poland. On November 23, 1793, it concluded its deliberations under duress, annulling the constitution and acceding to the Second Partition. Russia took 250,000 square kilometres (97,000 sq mi), while Prussia took 58,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi). The Commonwealth now comprised no more than 215,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi). What was left of the Commonwealth was merely a small buffer state with a puppet king, and Russian garrisons keeping an eye on the reduced Polish army.
For a year and a half, Polish patriots waited while planning an insurrection. On March 24, 1794 in Kraków (Cracow), Tadeusz Kościuszko declared what has come to be known as the Kościuszko Uprising. On May 7, he issued the Proclamation of Połaniec (Uniwersał Połaniecki), granting freedom to the peasants and ownership of land to all who fought in the insurrection. Revolutionary tribunals administered summary justice to those deemed traitors to the Commonwealth. After initial victories at the Battle of Racławice (April 4), the capture of Warsaw (April 18) and the Wilno (April 22) — the Uprising was crushed when the forces of Russia, Austria and Prussia joined in a military intervention. Historians consider the Uprising’s defeat to have been a foregone conclusion in face of the superiority in numbers and resources of the three invading powers. The defeat of Kościuszko’s forces led in 1795 to the third and final partition of the Commonwealth.
Jan Kiliński, a cobbler who commanded the Kościuszko Uprising
One of the commanders of the Kościuszko Uprising was Jan Kiliński (1760 in Trzemeszno – 28 January 1819 in Warsaw), a cobbler by trade, a member of provisional government. In 1780 he settled in Warsaw, where he became a shoemaking master in 1788. One of the most prominent burghers of the time, he was elected member of the city council three times in a row between 1791 and 1793. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1794, Kiliński formed a unit of National Militia and led his forces, along with the forces of the regular army, against the Russian occupation forces. On April 19 of that year, following the Russian withdrawal, he signed the Access of the city of Warsaw to the Kościuszko’s Uprising and entered the Provisional Temporary Council, a temporary ruling body of the city.
The council was soon disbanded and passed its powers to Tadeusz Kościuszko, and Kiliński focused on strengthening his militias. His forces grew to over 20,000 men at arms and on June 28, 1794 were dispatched to the front to link up with the regular Polish Army. On July 2 of the same year Kościuszko promoted Kiliński to the rank of Colonel. After the failure of the uprising, Kiliński was arrested by the Prussian authorities and handed over to the Russians, who then imprisoned him in the Peter and Paul Fortress, in St. Petersburg. Upon his release in 1796, he lived in Vilna for a short time. However, he was yet again arrested for conspiracy against the tsarist authorities and forcibly resettled to Russia. Upon his return he settled in Warsaw, where he died January 28, 1819. Kiliński was buried in a crypt at the Powązki Cemetery Church. His memoirs were posthumously published in 1830 and 1899 (1st and 2nd volume, respectively).
Said to embody the Polish virtues of bravery and patriotism, his statue was erected in 1936 and originally located on pl. Krasińskich. In reprisal for an attack on the Copernicus Monument, Nazi troops hid Kiliński inside the vaults of the National Museum. Within days, boy scouts had daubed the museum with the graffiti ‘People of Warsaw! I am here, Jan Kiliński.’ After the war the cobbler was returned to his rightful place, before being finally relocated to ul. Podwale in 1959.
Approaching the end of this story I shall give to you one more thing. A Polish legend says that there is one townhouse in the Old Market Place where a cat was immured alive. This cat was unlucky since whenever it came to the city its appearance always caused flash flood. The government decided to punish poor animal and immured it alive in the corner of the house situated on the crossroad of The Old Town Market (Rynek Starego Miasta) and ul. Wąski Dunaj. And believe it or not but this townhouse corner was only one remain while the rest of The Old Town was badly damaged by the German Luftwaffe.
And we are back again in 2016. I am in a Castle Square now writing this text. I see a lot of people, languages are mixed like in the mythical Tower of Babel. I can hear noises of the city but walking the streets of the Old and New Towns will allow me to rest from the the bustle of central city life. And while strolling I will be able to see the world heritage site. And you can do the same when you come to my lovely town. I am leaving you here and going towards The Old Market Place. Good bye and to see you here.
By Agata Szostkowska
Photos: Michał Stanisławski:
On the first photo Agata Szostkowska and Michał Stanisławski in the Old Town discussing the new article.
On the second photo: Michał Stanisławski in the Old Town during the photo session.
© Copyright www.communications-unlimited.nl, 2016. All rights reserved.
Photos from the author’s archives: Old Town
Photos taken in the 50s
Photo taken in 1962
Photo taken in 1964 | <urn:uuid:0a234493-afa0-471b-9b46-13a9f3afd5db> | {
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How many dollar bill in 1 dollars?
The answer is 1.
We assume you are converting between dollar bill and dollar bill.
You can view more details on each measurement unit:
dollar bill or dollars
The main non-SI unit for U.S. currency is the dollar.
1 dollar is equal to 1 dollars.
Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results.
Use this page to learn how to convert between dollars and dollars.
Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units!
1 dollar bill to dollars = 1 dollars
5 dollar bill to dollars = 5 dollars
10 dollar bill to dollars = 10 dollars
20 dollar bill to dollars = 20 dollars
30 dollar bill to dollars = 30 dollars
40 dollar bill to dollars = 40 dollars
50 dollar bill to dollars = 50 dollars
75 dollar bill to dollars = 75 dollars
100 dollar bill to dollars = 100 dollars
You can do the reverse unit conversion from dollars to dollar bill, or enter any two units below:
dollar bill to quarter
dollar bill to cent
dollar bill to nickel
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dollar bill to twenty dollar bill
dollar bill to hundred dollar bill
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dollar bill to two dollar bill
ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 100 kg, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more! | <urn:uuid:d7b1d55a-87b8-4ccc-bb67-92d609827096> | {
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Radio waves help see moisture inside walls
The building community soon may have radio vision - a new way to 'see' moisture inside walls. Building researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US have joined forces with Intelligent Automation Inc. to develop a way to use ultra wide-band radio waves to non-destructively detect moisture within the walls of a building.
As any homeowner who's suffered with leaky plumbing or mould problems will tell you, the current state of the art for pinpointing moisture problem areas relies mostly on guesswork and a drywall saw.
Based on hardware developed by Intelligent Automation, the new NIST technique involves sending a broad range of radio frequencies through typical drywall construction to look for a 'moisture' signature in the signal that is reflected back.
Laboratory experiments conducted with a simplified wall section made of gypsum board, fibreglass insulation and oriented strand board (similar to plywood), demonstrated that the new method can locate moisture pockets to within one centimeter.
The presence of water within the model wall produced a stronger reflection of radio waves at specific frequencies. The elapsed time between transmission of the waves and their arrival at a receiving antenna helps determine the location of the water. By processing the reflected signals with computer software, the researchers can create detailed three-dimensional maps that highlight wet areas.
Research is continuing to see how well the apparatus performs with real walls that include studs, wires, pipes and windows that may complicate the readings.
Telstra, Verizon, Vodafone América Móvil, KT Corp and Rogers will collaborate on...
The database covers ways to boost the security, reliability and interoperability of...
The acquisition boosts Mission Critical Partners' ability to modernise wireless... | <urn:uuid:ba05d863-75d9-4b88-9648-8e7fc3474b24> | {
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Can archaeologists make artifacts talk?
Perhaps, as I asserted in an earlier post today, the greatest challenge to archaeologists is successfully relaying the nuances of our discipline to a broad audience. In order to be successful we must try to make the mute artifacts talk. The Johannes Kolb site on the Great Pee Dee River at Mechanicsville in Darlington County, South Carolina, USA provides a unique opportunity to dovetail archaeological research with a concerted public education program. This archaeological site spans the last 13,000 years with evidence for repeated occupations all thru time. Prehistoric Native Americans, 18th century European immigrants, 19th century slaves of African descent, Early 20th century loggers, and hunters and fisherman of the mid 20th century all called the Kolb site home. If home is truly where the heart is, the site offers a chance to breathe life into the past and make it’s pulse come alive by investigating the home place of past peoples. In reality we strive to make artifacts talk and oh but if only we could make walls and artifacts talk. Instead we rely on our science and our collective imagination to transcend time in an effort to better understand the human past in South Carolina and we ask you to listen and invoke your own imagination. | <urn:uuid:ffd7aa7f-da51-42ae-b848-fc37a6f75675> | {
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New York: Recently, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres addressed the budget-setting committee of the General Assembly and stated that the organisation was in deficit of USD 230 million. The world body may run out of money by the end of this month i.e. October.
Guterres said: “This month, we will reach the deepest deficit of the decade. We risk entering November without enough cash to cover payrolls.” He also said the work and reforms of the organisation were at risk.
The United Nations has an overall annual operating budget of several billion dollars, covering everything from humanitarian work to disarmament. But right now, it's just trying to make sure its employees get paid after this month.
The question arises how the world body ended up more than USD 200 million in the red?
The answer is that many member states have not paid their expected contributions, including the United States.
In all, 64 countries owe money to the organisation. The UN, however, did not publicly identify those countries, but sources said the main culprits are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Iran. Also on the list of budget delinquents are Venezuela, North Korea, South Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 129 countries had paid their dues for 2019 so far, which amounted to almost USD 2 billion.
In a press conference, Dujarric said the last country to have paid up was war-wracked Syria.
UN chief indicated that if the world body had not taken the initiative to cut spending since the start of the year, the hole would have been even bigger in October -- possibly USD 600 million.
The United States is the largest contributor -- responsible for 22 per cent of the more than USD 3.3 billion regular budgets for 2019, which pays for work including political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs and communications.
Presently, Washington owes some USD 381 million for prior regular budgets and USD 674 million for the 2019 regular budget.
An official from the US mission said the United States “will be providing the vast majority of what we owe to the regular budget this fall, as we have in past years.”
US President Donald Trump has said Washington is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations and has pushed for reforms of the world body.
Speaking about UN peacekeeping missions, those are funded by a separate budget, which is USD 6.7 billion for the year to June 30, 2019, and USD 6.51 billion for the year to June 30, 2020.
The United States is responsible for nearly 28 per cent of the peacekeeping budget but has pledged to pay only 25 percent - as required by US law. Washington currently owes some USD 2.4 billion for peacekeeping missions. As of July 2019, the United Nations paid USD 1,428 a month per soldier.
The United Nations said its peacekeeping operations cost less than half of 1 percent of world military expenditures.
To limit expenditures from now till year’s end and cope with the shortfall, the UN chief has raised the possibility of postponing conferences and meetings, limiting all but essential official travel, and reducing services. Guterres said vacant posts cannot be filled, only essential travel will be allowed, and some meetings may have to be cancelled or deferred.
The UN operations in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi and at regional commissions will be affected. | <urn:uuid:782ca765-3d68-4539-9656-42664597acbe> | {
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Chemicals prevalent in everyday products may be partly to blame for the deaths of more than 1,000 ducks during the winters of 2007 and 2008, according to a study released Tuesday by federal wildlife officials.
The study, led by the U.S. Geological Survey and prompted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began in fall 2008, after abnormally high numbers of birds were dying at various wastewater-treatment plants along the Front Range.
The ducks, mostly northern shovelers, were exposed to a class of chemicals known as surfactants that break down surface tension in water, the study concluded. The compound was found on their feathers and apparently compromised their ability to shed water.
“No one expected it,” said John Wegrzyn, a Fish and Wildlife biologist who worked on the study. “When we got the results back, we were like, ‘Really?’ “
Surfactants are added to many products, including cleaners, detergents and fabric softeners, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The chemical also is used as a defoaming agent in food and is in soda pop as well, Wegrzyn said.
The specific type of surfactant discovered on the birds’ feathers was polyethylene glycol. PEG is considered to be a compound of “emerging concern” by some regulators, scientists and others.
“A few short years ago, they couldn’t even measure it,” said Steve Frank, a spokesman for the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. “Now, the list of compounds is on our horizon, and we are aware of it.”
About 92 percent of PEG is removed by Metro’s sewage-treatment system, the district’s chief chemist said.
Although the study did not blame PEG alone for the bird deaths, many of the ducks died from hypothermia or drowning because of a change in the physical makeup of their feathers. The barbules on their feathers were no longer interlocking to repel water, so it soaked their skin and feathers, Wegrzyn said.
But PEG also was found on the feathers of some birds that did not lose their ability to repel water.
Northern shovelers have unique feeding patterns compared with other ducks, Wegrzyn said. They feed mostly on microorganisms, such as algae, in water, while other ducks feed on a variety of food sources such as vegetation and insects. In addition, northern shovelers stay in the water longer to feed.
During the heavy snows and extended periods of cold weather during the winters of 2007 and 2008, much of the duck habitat in the region was covered with ice. This sent birds looking for open water at wastewater-treatment plants. There, they fed on microorganisms in the secondary clarifier and the chlorine-contact chambers.
The secondary clarifier is where single-cell organisms and bacteria eat away at the waste.
The chlorine-contact chamber is the final step before the water flows out into the South Platte River. At this stage, two chemicals are added to the water. First, a bleach equivalent is added to disinfect it, then another chemical is mixed in to neutralize it.
Neither of these chemicals contains surfactants, Frank said.
Researchers still would like to do more work to determine what combination of chemicals present in wastewater-treatment systems affects the “waterproofing” of ducks.
“We spent a lot of time, money and effort getting to this point, and we still don’t have a lot of answers,” Wegrzyn said.
Sarah Horn: 303-954-1638 or [email protected] | <urn:uuid:3be9e09c-e42e-4821-91e4-2f2678c12005> | {
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A team from Nagoya University in Japan has discovered that an inorganic semiconductor with which they are working—crystals of zinc sulfide—performed differently in the dark compared to in the light. While the crystals were brittle when exposed to light, they were flexible and showed remarkable plasticity when kept in the dark at room temperature.
The research shows promise for using this type of inorganic semiconductor with the next generation of flexible electronics. This application demands strong, electrically conductive materials that have more stretch than traditional semiconductors, researchers said in a press release.
Inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon and gallium arsenide, are indispensable in modern electronics because they possess tunable electrical conductivity between that of a metal and that of an insulator.
A semiconductor’s band gap—the energy difference between its valence and conduction bands—controls its electrical conductivity. A narrow band gap results in increased conductivity because it is easier for an electron to move from the valence to the conduction band.
Inorganic semiconducting crystals generally tend to fail in a brittle manner. This is true for zinc sulfide, shown here with catastrophic fracture after mechanical tests under ordinary light-exposure environments (A). However, researchers at Nagoya University in Japan found that these crystals can be plastically deformed in complete darkness even at room temperature (B). Moreover, the optical band gap of the deformed zinc sulfide crystals decreased after deformation (C). (Image source: Atsutomo Nakamura, Nagoya University)
With inorganic semiconductors, the problem that electrical engineers are running into is that they are brittle. This characteristic is incompatible with the development of the new generation of flexible electronics. Brittleness can lead to device failure and limits to the application range.
Scientists found that the reason for the zinc sulfide’s change in performance had to do with electrons in the material, or lack thereof, explained Atsutomo Nakamura, one of the researchers from the Department of Materials Physics at Nagoya University.
“In the dark, photoexcited electrons and holes are not present in materials,” he told Design News. “The electrons and holes in the light are known to affect electric properties, but little was known about the effect on mechanical properties. We showed an intense effect of photoexcited electrons and holes on mechanical properties. As a result, we found the best mechanical performance in the dark,” Nakamura said.
The work from the Nagoya researchers now demonstrates that the inorganic semiconductors are not intrinsically brittle; this characteristic could potentially be controlled through light exposure, Nakamura said.
“This is one example in an inorganic semiconductor, but one giant leap to realize the best materials with high hardness and flexibility,” he explained. “The significance is in the plasticity, which is the ability to be deformed without fracture,” he added.
Researchers published a paper about their work in the journal Science. They plan to continue to work with the material to solve issues with the mechanisms involved in the relationship between the inorganic semiconductor’s mechanical properties and light exposure, Nakamura said. Researchers also aim to explore the same study with other materials to find the best type of inorganic semiconductors to work with in the future.
Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer who has written about technology and culture for 20 years. She has lived and worked as a professional journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, traveling, music, yoga, and cooking. She currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. | <urn:uuid:10793487-770b-4715-a2a5-e26aad54513b> | {
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[Dr. Compton speaking]
Over its 45 years of existence Monitoring the Future study has adapted to changing times.
What this means is that as drug use patterns change, they have to change the questionnaire.
For instance, we had no questions about use of synthetic cannabinoids.
These are these dangerous products that might be synthetic marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids that we needed to learn more about and the survey added those questions just a few years ago.
Now we also see that the Monitoring the Future study has modified the pharmaceuticals or medications that are included as examples of different categories, so that when oxycontin became popular, they added oxycontin as a specific medication that was assessed in the survey, so we could track what youth were doing with this dangerous painkiller medication.
One of the most important changes to the Monitoring the Future Survey has been the addition of questions about e-cigarettes, vaping, and even this year, for the first time, we have questions about the joule device.
For the last two years that it since 2017 the survey has included questions about the different time periods of the use of vaping products.
So that means used during the past year, the past month, or even any time during a 8th, 10th and, 12th graders lifetime.
So we can understand the use patterns of vaping products by teenagers all across the country in detail.
These modifications to the Monitoring the Future study are one of the key advantages of this survey is that it stays reasonably consistent, but adds new information as we learn about emerging drug trends and drug threats. | <urn:uuid:adae5076-4235-4dc1-a0d3-f0646c077163> | {
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Arthritis Foot Care
Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Foot and Ankle
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease that attacks multiple joints throughout the body. About 90% of the people with rheumatoid arthritis eventually develop symptoms related to the foot or ankle. Usually, symptoms appear in the toes and forefeet first, then in the hindfeet or the back of the feet, and finally in the ankles. Other inflammatory types of arthritis that affect the foot and ankle include gout, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and Reiter's syndrome.
The exact cause of RA is unknown, but there are several theories. Some people may be more likely to develop RA because of their genes. However, it usually takes a chemical or environmental "trigger" to activate the disease. In RA, the body's immune system turns against itself. Instead of protecting the joints, the body produces substances that attack and inflame the joints.
Signs & Symptoms:
- Common symptoms consists of the following:
- Foot pain
- Pain in joints or in the sole of the foot
- Joint may be warm
- Walking can be affected
- May develop corns or bunions
- Your toes can begin to curl and stiffen called claw toe or hammertoe | <urn:uuid:c4a03ac7-0842-4fd3-87f3-39a1cfbb55db> | {
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Teaching English as a foreign language (or TEFL) can be a rewarding career for those individuals who possess the necessary skill set. But how does one know if TEFL is right for him or her? For that matter, how does one identify which age groups he or she would like to work with, or which location to teach in? For those with an interest and ability, teaching English as a foreign language can involve travel all over the world—while working for corporations or school systems, or independently.
However, teaching is not for everyone. Luckily, there are certain characteristics that can indicate whether or not you would be successful as a TEFL instructor, and you should consider them before you begin to plan your move. Here are five to start with:
1. You can provide accessible explanations
One of the most important skills to possess when teaching any subject is the ability to explain a concept, idea, or process in a simple and accessible way. This is especially true of teaching a language, where elements like grammar and structure can dramatically change the meaning of a word or phrase. Moreover, those who teach English as a foreign language sometimes teach groups of students with varying levels of skill.
If you are wondering whether you would be a great TEFL teacher, consider your ability to explain information to others who may have little or no understanding of the subject. If you realize that you are particularly good at providing easily comprehensible explanations with strong examples, TEFL might be right for you.
2. You are patient
Whether you are teaching children, teenagers, or adults, you will require a great deal of patience. Everyone learns in different ways and at different speeds, which can be challenging in a classroom setting, particularly when students become frustrated with their progress. You cannot simply enter a classroom, teach a lesson, and expect everyone to immediately absorb and remember what you have said. In some cases, you might have to repeat yourself several times, or devise different methods to accommodate those who struggle with the material. Nevertheless, teachers who are able to remain extremely patient in the face of adversity may find the field to be very rewarding.
3. You are interested in other languages and cultures
One of the primary qualifications of a TEFL teacher is a mastery of the English language. After all, your job is to teach that language to others. But some of the best teaching methods are based on a two-way exchange, rather than a one-directional lesson. For example, if you are teaching English to a student from China, it could significantly improve your lessons to knew some things about Chinese culture and the languages of the country. Not only does this demonstrate an investment in the students, which can be very motivating, it also makes the learning experience a collaboration in which you and the student can learn from one another.
4. You are flexible and creative
As previously noted, everyone has a different learning style. This means that while you may have a plan in mind for how you will teach a given lesson, that plan can easily change. You would then have to develop a second plan on the fly. For those individuals who tend to be more flexible and creative, these situations can be very productive. They can also lead to exciting and beneficial learning experiences. On the other hand, if you are not the kind of person who can adapt to unexpected changes, teaching a foreign language in a classroom of diverse learners could be very challenging.
5. You are organized and communicate effectively
Being well-organized and articulate can be an asset in most jobs, but it is particularly important for teachers. In a TEFL class, you may teach people from various countries, and you would need to be able to articulate your lessons in different ways so that everyone can follow along easily.
If you are the kind of person who tends to be very orderly and has no trouble expressing your thoughts and ideas in different ways, you would probably make a great TEFL teacher.
David White is a contributing writer for UniversityTutor.com, the world’s largest global marketplace for finding independent tutors. | <urn:uuid:11e15ca7-27b2-4420-8a6a-18fb7e9d88c7> | {
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JUNE 10, 2019 | WRITTEN BY MOLLY
One of the best parts of being a dog owner is taking your dog outside.
Dogs love going for a walk or a run and playing in open spaces.
But -- especially as the summer approaches -- taking your dogs outdoors means increasing their exposure to ticks, and unfortunately increases the risk of Lyme disease in dogs.
Ticks are parasitic insects that latch onto a host and feed off the host’s blood. These little creatures like to live in tall grass and shady shrubs.
We know that ticks love to latch onto humans when they can, but ticks love other creatures too, especially dogs.
Dogs walk at a lower level than humans and closer to the tall grass. Plus, they love to stick their snouts in shrubs and grass to pick up new scents.
These new scents might be nice, but the tick bite your dog could receive is not so nice.
Tick are notorious for carrying Lyme disease.
All dog owners should be aware of Lyme disease, its symptoms, how it is treated, and how it is prevented.
If you are a dog owner who wants to learn more about Lyme disease in dogs, then the following information is important for you to know.
Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi (have fun pronouncing that).
It can cause joint pain, fevers, depression, and, when left untreated, it can become life-threatening by causing kidney failure.
Fortunately, Lyme disease is treatable with antibiotics.
It is best to catch the disease early-on to avoid the development of kidney problems.
But, this is easier for humans since we can vocalize and identify that we have a tick bite or Lyme disease-related symptoms.
Dogs are not as effective at letting us know there is a problem!
Examine your dog regularly for ticks, and ask for a tick screening from your dog’s vet when you take your dog for a check-up.
You may know that the tell tale sign of Lyme disease is the distinct bullseye rash.
But with dogs, that bullseye won't be so obvious to see since their skin is covered with hair.
But there are other ways to tell if you dog may have been infected.
When infected with Lyme disease, dogs usually develop joint pain and experience difficulty moving around because the disease causes inflammation in the joints.
You may notice that this discomfort lasts for days or is sporadic in its intensity. Inflamed joints can also become swollen and feel hot.
As with humans, dogs with Lyme disease are at risk of kidney failure.
Identifying the disease’s symptoms and seeking treatment can help prevent this from happening.
If your dog has been bitten by a tick, it may take up to 48 hours to see signs of Lyme disease.
Within a day or two of discovering the tick bite, observe your dog for the following symptoms:
If Lyme disease has gone unnoticed up to the point of kidney inflammation or failure, you may notice the following symptoms:
If you notice any of these symptoms, your dog may have Lyme disease.
The next step is to get your dog to his veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.
If your dog is in the early stages of Lyme disease, his veterinarian may prescribe antibiotics for you to take and administer at home.
Most of the time, you will see results within a day or two. This treatment is usually complete after four weeks.
Your dog’s vet may also prescribe pain relievers if the inflammation and joint pain are severe.
If Lyme disease has begun affecting your dog’s kidneys, the vet may require your dog to undergo inpatient treatment in the veterinary clinic.
Lyme disease would be much scarier if we did not have any tools to prevent it.
You can help your dog lower his risk of developing Lyme disease by helping him repel ticks.
Many insect repellent sprays, collars, and ointments are available to help your dog fight off ticks.
Vaccinations are also available to help your dog prevent Lyme disease, but some skeptics claim these could make the symptoms of Lyme disease worse.
For safe recommendations on tick and Lyme disease prevention, you should consult your dog’s veterinarian.
Your four-legged pal will be glad you did! | <urn:uuid:124b47ea-a876-4302-b1da-b7e728d414a6> | {
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Mann, Thomastō´mäs män [key], 1875–1955, German novelist and essayist, the outstanding German novelist of the 20th cent., b. Lübeck; brother of Heinrich Mann. A writer of great intellectual breadth, Mann developed literary themes that not only delved into the inner self but also related inner problems to changing European cultural values. To coordinate this dual focus Mann often wrote in a symbolic vein, although in general he was less experimental than many of his contemporaries.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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