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ERIC Number: ED240388
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1983
Reference Count: 0
Entrepreneurship: A Career Alternative. Information Series No. 273.
Hanson, Garth A.
This paper, a resource for vocational and adult education teachers who teach entrepreneurship education, reviews selected literature on entrepreneurship published since 1970. It includes periodicals, monographs, books, and miscellaneous publications produced by the U.S. Small Business Administration and similar organizations. The literature reviewed is synthesized into guidelines for use by vocational educators responsible for teaching entrepreneurship skills. The paper organizes the synthesized literature into these five chapters: (1) characteristics of entrepreneurs, (2) industry selection factors, (3) getting started in an industry, (4) the entrepreneurial industry, and (5) learning how to be an industry entrepreneur. Each of the chapters begins with an introduction to the topic with some support from the literature. A list of suggested activities follows, and the chapter concludes with a brief summary. A bibliography of printed materials for and about entrepreneurs is included in the document. (KC)
Descriptors: Business, Career Choice, Career Education, Educational Resources, Entrepreneurship, Guidelines, Occupational Information, Personality Traits, Postsecondary Education, Publications, Secondary Education, Small Businesses, Teaching Methods
National Center Publications, National Center for Research in Vocational Education, 1960 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210 (IN 273--$4.25).
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Administrators; Practitioners
Sponsor: Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Ohio State Univ., Columbus. National Center for Research in Vocational Education. | <urn:uuid:ac52ad3d-6dfb-4a28-9923-39fdb102c0de> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED240388 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170562.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00396-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888112 | 374 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Shoeless Joe is Canadian writer W. P. Kinsella's 1982 story about a baseball-devoted farmer who is inspired to build a ballpark in the middle of his corn field. Shoeless Joe, despite its grounding in sport, focuses on themes of religion, family, and reconciliation, using strong biblical allusion and metaphor to argue that the power of faith is strong enough to transform even nature and reality.
In the background to the story, main character Ray's twin brother—Richard—has an angry exchange with their father. The ruptured relationship is never repaired before Ray's father dies and the lack of reconciliation weighs heavily on the family. Ray's father was an unsuccessful baseball player and, when Ray begins hearing voices telling him to build a ballpark, he decides to act on the commands.
Once the field is built, Ray is visited by a young version of his father who takes the form of a catcher. Ray helps his brother to see and interact with this image of their father.
The first thing that can be taken away is that the "he" and "his" which Ray has been hearing throughout the story ("if you build it, he will come" and "ease his pain") refers to Ray's father.
Second, both the reader and Ray learn that Ray and Ray's father are more alike than the protagonist would have thought. Ray is initially confused about how he should approach his father but ultimately decides to interact with him as an equal, observing that "we'll hardly realize that we're talking about love, and family, and life, and beauty, and friendship, and sharing." Like Ray, Ray's father had to deal with setbacks and heartbreaks and address them in the best way he could. Despite being his father, he is ultimately a human.
Finally, the story's theme of transcendence and the ability of raw belief to heal achieves a penultimate finality and significance. The game of baseball—which represents the power of faith—has trumped death itself to reconcile family and undo the mistakes of the past. | <urn:uuid:b60f873b-f43b-42ef-823b-fdd0ef9edab3> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-3-things-that-can-taken-away-from-ray-meeting-1570671 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335304.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929034214-20220929064214-00288.warc.gz | en | 0.983526 | 418 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Continued warming of the Arctic Ocean
Northernmost position of the new research vessel Maria S Merian
Several days ago, the 'Maria S Merian' returned from her second Arctic expedition with data confirming trends of Arctic warming.
"Compared to last summer, the water that flows from the Norwegian Sea to the Arctic has been an average 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer this summer," says expedition leader Dr Ursula Schauer of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. "This is in addition to the last two years already having been warmer than the previous 20 from which we have regular measurements. Over the Yermak Plateau, an oceanic ridge, the oceanographers documented water of more than four degrees Celsius moving up to 81º 20' northern latitude," according to Schauer. During the expedition, biologists discovered zooplankton species from the Norwegian Sea which were previously unrecorded from the northern latitudes that they had reached via the warm waters.
For one month, scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, the University of Bremen and the Polish Institute of Oceanology were tracking warm waters along the sea ice margin between Greenland and Spitsbergen. As the sea ice margin was far north this year, the 'Maria S Merian' reached its northernmost position yet at 81º 20'N.
In Fram Strait, the scientists continued oceanographic and biological long-term studies that were initiated ten years ago. The climate change observed throughout the past ten years is particularly marked in the Arctic. Oceanographers are working towards a better understanding of the oceans' role in this process. How much heat is transmitted to the Arctic by the northernmost subsidiary of the warm North Atlantic Current, and how much variation is found in this heat pump, are some of the open questions. For this purpose, the transport of warm, high salinity water from the Atlantic to the Arctic has been recorded in the strait between Greenland and Spitsbergen, using an elaborate fixture system.
Previous measurements have indicated the occurrence of several strong warm pulses during the past decade. Within the context of an international programme, a combination of this and similar data has, for the first time, enabled reconstruction of an Atlantic heat pulse through the Norwegian Sea and far into the inner Arctic over several years. In order to continue the time series, the scientists have collected the instruments deployed in Fram Strait and replaced them with new ones. The automated long-term recordings are verified and complemented with high resolution measurements of current water temperature.
The investigations are tied into a European research project directed at monitoring and modelling the Arctic for long-term studies (DAMOCLES – Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies). Central to this project are the interactions of sea ice, atmosphere and ocean. One of the goals is consideration of the potential effects of the dramatically reduced sea ice cover on climate, and hence on environment and humans, both in a regional and global context. Additional information on DAMOCLES can be found on the internet: http://www.damocles-eu.org/
The ice margin research vessel 'Maria Sybilla Merian' is owned by the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, represented by the Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemünde (http://www.io-warnemuende.de/miscell/merian/). The headquarters of the research vessel is located at the Institute of Oceanography (http://www.ifm.uni-hamburg.de/).
Bremerhaven, September 27, 2006
Please send us a copy of any published version of this document.
Notes for editors:
Your contact person is Dr Ursula Schauer (Tel: ++49-471-4831-1817, email: [email protected]). Your contact person in the public relations department of the Alfred Wegener Institute is Dr Angelika Dummermuth (Tel: ++49-471-4831-1742, email: [email protected]). Printable images can be found on our webpage at http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/AWI/Presse/PM/index-d.html
The Foundation Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) conducts research in the Arctic, Antarctic and in oceans of temperate and high latitudes. The AWI coordinates polar research in Germany, and provides important infrastructure, such as the research icebreaker 'Polarstern' and stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, for international scientific enterprises. The AWI is one of 15 research centres of the 'Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft' (Helmholtz Association), the largest scientific organisation in Germany.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:e9678658-8a8c-4e9e-8077-f20ee570cbff> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-10/awif-cwo100406.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042987127.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002307-00172-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908384 | 1,014 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Born Nov. 16, 1816, in Bistrija; died Oct. 24, 1863, in Bra§ov. Rumanian poet.
Mureşanu graduated from a Gymnasium in Blaj. He participated in the Revolution of 1848 in Transylvania. His poem “Echo” (1848), better known by the first line—”Awake, Rumanian”—became a revolutionary song. A champion of social and national freedom, Mureşanu saw in poetry “the language of communication for those oppressed and crushed by great slavery.” In 1862 he published the collection From the Verses of Andrei Mureşanu. He was well known as a translator of German poets and the poems of the British writer E. Young. | <urn:uuid:f2a47464-4752-4e19-b72e-0a8d438efb9c> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Andrei+Muresanu | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221212040.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20180817104238-20180817124238-00615.warc.gz | en | 0.953728 | 167 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
There have been recent inquiries to Oregon Emergency Management regarding an article circulating on email promoting the “Triangle of Life” protective measure during earthquakes rather than using the Drop, Cover and Hold procedure recommended in Oregon and throughout the United States. While the advice in the “Triangle of Life,” article is well intentioned; its prescribed actions are gleaned only from worst-case accounts from collapsed buildings outside of the United States. Because buildings in the United States are built to stricter codes and enforcement standards than those in other countries, including Mexico, and Turkey, collapses from earthquakes in the U.S. are rare. Structural analysis and behavioral studies confirm that the use of Drop, Cover and Hold reduces the likelihood of serious injury, since most earthquake injuries are a result of falling nonstructural elements (lighting fixtures, ceiling tiles, windows) and contents (appliances, shelves, office equipment). Post-earthquake investigations in recent California earthquakes have shown that most injuries occurred when building occupants attempted to exit buildings or move to a different location in the building. Drop, Cover and Hold is the earthquake safety procedure recommended by Oregon Emergency Management, the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the US Geological Survey, and the American Red Cross. Recent scientific research has found that Oregon will experience future earthquakes. Ultimately, Oregon residents should evaluate the earthquake readiness of their homes and work places and take appropriate steps to reduce their risk from structural and nonstructural building components. More information can be found at this link. < http://www.bpaonline.org/Emergencyprep/arc-on-doug-copp.html>. | <urn:uuid:5b64aa71-662b-4c16-ab07-9400e41d3036> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://oem-oregon.blogspot.com/2011_04_12_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802768529.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075248-00070-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940812 | 346 | 2.640625 | 3 |
First time breeding of critically endangered seabird
The Chatham Islands Taiko Trust is pleased to announce that two eggs of the critically endangered Chatham Island taiko have hatched in the Sweetwater Conservation Covenant for the first time.
The Chatham Island taiko (magenta petrel) is found only in the Chatham Islands. Out of a population of possibly 150 birds there are only 12 known breeding pairs, making it one of the world’s rarest seabird species.
Sweetwater is a 2.4ha forest protected by an 800m predator-proof fence on private land owned by Bruce and Liz Tuanui. The Tuanuis covenanted this land for taiko conservation in 2004, and the predator proof fence was built in 2006 with funding from the Biodiversity Condition Fund and a Lotteries Board Grant. Between 2007 and 2011 all 57 known taiko chicks were transferred into the site and feed daily until fledging.
Taiko chicks take 3-5 years to return to their breeding colony, but do not breed until 5-7 years old. The Taiko Trust have been monitoring taiko in Sweetwater for the past three years, but this is the first breeding attempt.
Liz Tuanui, landowner and Chairperson of the Taiko Trust says “the hatching of these first two taiko eggs in Sweetwater is a major milestone for the conservation of this critically endangered species”
Not only have two pairs started breeding, but 70% of translocated chicks from the first two years of translocations have returned. This is significantly higher than the 30% recorded in the natural population. The breeding population in Sweetwater is expected to continue to increase over the coming five years.
“The number of birds being recorded in Sweetwater bodes well for the future, the predator free environment allows the birds to court, find partners and start breeding without the risk of predation. Our return rate indicates that preventing predation during the pre-breeding stage is critical” says Liz.
Taiko Trust monitoring has shown that pre-breeding taiko spend between 3-6 hours a night on the surface, calling and exploring the area as they look for burrows and partners. In an unprotected environment this would make them very vulnerable to predation. | <urn:uuid:f5848680-e326-4462-bd4c-379c10d6bc43> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1402/S00083/first-time-breeding-of-critically-endangered-seabird.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645367702.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031607-00085-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934643 | 470 | 2.671875 | 3 |
October is Healthy Workplace Month across Canada – an initiative that encourages employers to promote healthy workplace practices throughout the year. A healthy workplace is one that cares about the physical and psychological health and safety of its employees and establishes systems and programs to achieve and maintain exemplary health.
A healthy workplace consists of four elements, one of which is mental health.
In any given year, one in five Canadians will personally experience mental illness or a mental health issue, but five in five people – that’s all of us – have mental health. That’s why it’s in an employer’s best interest to support their workers’ mental health where they can.
The Impact of Mental Health on Business
Poor working environments – including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity – pose a risk to mental health.
Safe and healthy working environments are not only a fundamental right but are also more likely to minimize tension and conflicts at work and improve staff retention, work performance and productivity.
Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.
Furthermore, 86% of employees believe their company’s culture should support mental health.
World Health Organization on Mental Health at Work
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report in September about the importance of a healthy workplace. In its paper, it outlines effective actions to prevent mental health risks at work, protect and promote mental health at work, and support workers with mental health conditions.
Prevent work-related mental health conditions. WHO recommends employers implement organizational interventions that help prevent work-related mental health conditions in the first place. This may include providing flexible working arrangements or implementing frameworks to deal with violence and harassment at work.
Protect and promote mental health at work. Protecting and promoting mental health at work is about strengthening capacities to recognize and act on mental health conditions at work, particularly for persons responsible for the supervision of others. WHO recommends manager training for mental health, training for workers and interventions for individuals.
Support people with mental health conditions to participate in and thrive at work. People living with mental health conditions have a right to participate in work fully and fairly. WHO recommends interventions to support people with mental health conditions gain, sustain, and participate in work, including reasonable accommodations, return-to-work programs and supported employment initiatives.
Create an enabling environment for change. Both governments and employers, in consultation with key stakeholders, can help improve mental health at work by creating an enabling environment for change. In practice, this means strengthening leadership and commitment to mental health at work, an investment in funds and resources for improving mental health at work, as well as other factors.
How to Make Your Workplace a Healthy Workplace
If you’re ready for your workplace to champion mental health, CMHA National offers a number of workplace mental health solutions for employers across Canada:
Not Myself Today: Through this employee wellness platform, employees can access helpful tips, learning modules and other resources to improve their mental health at work. The platform helps to build an open and supportive workplace by cultivating meaningful conversations and deeper understanding about mental health and wellness in the workplace.
Customized Training: CMHA offers in-person or virtual workshops based on the needs and interests of your employees. From building resilience and managing stress, to returning to work and coping with change, our facilitators can work with you to deliver the right workplace mental health training for your team.
Psychological Health & Safety Courses: Psychological Health & Safety training is designed for individuals who are working to improve psychological health and safety in their workplaces and/or to implement the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. | <urn:uuid:586aaaa4-e5d6-4ab1-a772-3d98ff17715a> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://cmha.ca/news/how-to-foster-a-healthy-workplace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499888.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20230131154832-20230131184832-00556.warc.gz | en | 0.952731 | 770 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The Quickest Route to Release
Startups can appear to be a little magical – they appear seemingly from thin air, and many disappear just as quickly. An enormous 29% of startups run out of money before they become established, and 74% of high growth startups fail because of premature scaling. Growing too big too quickly, without an appropriate plan or a monetizable product, is the cause of death for nearly three-quarters of the industry. For this reason, many startups are now utilizing what is known as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to secure against these high failure rates.
An MVP is a product designed with the bare minimum of features needed to solve a specific problem. It is usable and generates much-needed feedback for the product developers. It is basically the cheapest, quickest route possible to release a product, attract users, and gather data on where the product needs to head next. MVPs are often considered much like the first step in a business plan, and an appropriate MVP can ensure your company scales up sustainably.
MVP vs. Proof of Concept vs. Prototype
An MVP can sometimes seem a bit indistinguishable from other business plans and models, so it requires closer scrutiny to differentiate it from its brethren. Characterized by its purpose, an MVP’s intent is to release a ‘bare-bones’ product to solve a known, targeted problem, and prioritizes collecting the data generated from its use to inform how the product needs to develop and grow.
In contrast, a proof of concept (POC) is also widely used in startups. A POC is intended to test whether a concept or idea is in fact feasible and has the potential to support a product. This is more of a practicality test than an MVP and does not assume a problem exists that has an implementable solution. POCs have shorter life cycles and are a first step in determining whether further investment is warranted or not.
A prototype is a step in the product development process. As an incomplete version of a product or software, it is only used for demonstration, testing or discussion. Prototypes are never released.
This is where the MVP differs from other methodologies – the intent is to release it and to make use of this release in future development. It attracts real users, establishes your brand early on, reduces waste, and accelerates learning.
Within the MVP universe, there are multiple different types, each positioned to resolve a distinct problem.
Types of MVP
This type of MVP uses a little of the ‘Wizard of Oz’ magic to run. The solution appears to be one thing from the outside, but when seen from the inside it is actually another. An example of this is using human resources to complete functions that should be completed automatically. For example, having people answer questions manually rather than developing a technology to do so. From the user’s perspective, the result is the same, but developers are faking the methodology. Wizard of Oz MVPs are used to test a product hypothesis, which if confirmed can then be backed up by technological development.
Often confused with the above, a concierge MVP also manually services each user’s needs but does so openly. Users know they are dealing with a person. This is done to generate ideas about the problems the product could solve and to establish whether a need for the product exists.
A landing page MVP is an incredibly simple concept. It is just a page where users land that describes your product, discusses its advantages, and has some follow-on action built in to allow interested users to participate further. This might be a click to join a mailing list, to learn more, to buy the product, or any number of other possibilities. Landing pages are quick and easy, and by setting up multiple, companies can compare which messaging or service better resonates with users. Similar to a landing page is a ‘smoke test’ – setting up an Adwords campaign with a landing page to record interest.
Picking the right type of MVP for your business requires some considerations about what exactly you need to know. Do you need to test a product’s hypothesis? Do you need to generate ideas on where your product should develop? There is a solution for every scenario, and choosing your MVP carefully is key to creating a sustainable, useful product.
10 Advantages of MVPs
The use of MVPs is growing in the startup industry and for good reasons. There are many advantages to using an MVP rather than a proof of concept, a wireframe, or a prototype. Here are ten advantages of using an MVP.
Advantage 1: Minimize development costs.
The development of software comes at a price. Every extra feature or attractive piece of design on your product costs precious resources. Many startups do not have the cash to burn. An MVP avoids the pitfalls of needlessly prettying up your initial product, as its focus is on basic functionality. After the MVP stage, once users have tested the product and developers understand their feedback, is the time to worry about eye-catching extras.
Advantage 2: Minimize risks.
The lower the initial input costs, the lower the risk if the product fails. By creating and releasing an MVP, a company can determine whether the product has a viable market and legs to grow before committing serious finances towards its development. If the product idea turns out to have no useful application, you have squandered fewer resources.
Advantage 3: Reduce rework.
MVP creation is rapid and developers avoid wasting energy on building features or extras that may not prove useful. By releasing a bare-bones style product, developers can determine where their focus needs to be before they start work on the extras. This avoids costly mistakes, pursuing unnecessary or unprofitable avenues or dead-ends, and significantly reduces frustration as well.
Advantage 4: Establish a customer base.
An MVP will be accessible to actual, real-life users, and this is invaluable in establishing a core customer base early in the startup’s tenure. Attracting potential customers is so important in creating a foothold in the market. A good MVP will generate its own word of mouth, helping to build the brand. An MVP will also generate income right away; maybe not a lot, but any revenue during the early stages of development is helpful and can help attract investors.
Advantage 5: Gather user feedback.
Another considerable advantage of having real-life users early in the development process is the ability to gather and analyze their usage of the product. Users will be able to provide opinions on the product and explain what works and what doesn’t. They’ll also describe added features they’d like to see and list anything they find difficult to use or confusing. Research such as this is fundamental to building a lasting, useful product that consumers will want to pay for, and gathering this intel as early as possible is indispensable.
Advantage 6: Test everything.
Every aspect of your product, from its concept to its execution, needs thorough and robust testing. An MVP is the most efficient way of doing this, with the least required input from you.
Advantage 7: Stay focused.
It is all too tempting when building a new product to get caught up in details or to follow interesting paths that appear during the development process. However, these are luxuries and do not necessarily further a new business’ ultimate aim. An MVP ensures that the core proposition is the primary focus by only requiring the main functionalities of the product. All of the extras, whether helpful or not, come later. This also helps to attract and keep customers who are using your product for a specific purpose.
Advantage 8: Attract investors.
Words are cheap, but a viable, usable product means business. Investors are drawn to companies with MVPs as it exhibits the potential of a product in a way that no mere pitch can. It also shows that serious thought has been put into the product and demonstrates the existence of real-world, measurable consumer interest.
Advantage 9: You don’t have to be a tech expert.
Not everyone with a brilliant idea for a product or app is a coding genius, but it is possible to build an MVP without a computer science degree. Whether you are a fledgling company struggling for capacity or a do-it-yourself entrepreneur, many options exist for developing your MVP. The most popular of these is outsourcing the process to a team of professionals. This is easier and more reliable than attempting to hire and manage freelancers to build your MVP, and significantly less time-consuming than learning to code yourself.
Advantage 10: Outsourcing an MVP.
Even for those companies that have a lot of in-house technical expertise, outsourcing an MVP’s development can be a smart, efficient way to approach the product process. Key personnel can remain focused on their particular specialty, while the management process is handled by experts who are not bound by the day-to-day of the rest of your business. This allows for a smoother MVP development process, where the core proposition remains the primary focus throughout.
All of these advantages help startups avoid many of the traps that capture their counterparts. Although businesses of all types use MVPs, startups find them particularly useful because of their small size, limited resources, and because they are a great way to steer around the major causes of business failure for startups.
How to Develop an MVP
Deciding to use an MVP is a step towards success, but not all MVPs are created equal. A well-thought-out MVP is necessary to generate usable data and to address the target audience’s needs properly. There are some key steps in developing an MVP, the first of which is to identify the problem you’re trying to solve. This central concept must drive the work. Defining the goal accurately will ensure focus does not dim or become distracted by attractive or clever features that may not prove useful. The solution-driven development process assumes a particular answer will work, whereas problem-driven development allows a broader range of solutions.
Next, the team should rank the importance of intended features to differentiate the vital from the rest. Those reflecting the core purpose of the product are included in the MVP, and the ‘nice to have’ can be saved for later in the process. After this, a sketch for the design of the MVP can be drawn up. It should be both user-friendly and simple. Ensure the MVP will provide usable feedback and is, therefore, a step in the process rather than an end in of itself.
If you learn nothing from your MVP, then it is ineffective. Simplicity is also relevant here, as many designers dally in the initial stages, trying to make everything look perfect. Perfection is not the goal of an MVP and the time lost waiting to launch it equates to time lost learning from its data.
Once finalized, the MVP goes live, and the learning process begins. User feedback will inform subsequent versions of the product and ultimately determine whether the product needs to pivot or will prevail.
Don’t Get Left Behind
Countless established tech companies have successfully used MVPs to grow their business. Everyone from Dropbox to Airbnb, and from FourSquare to Uber, have benefitted from carefully staged, user-driven growth provided by a well-executed MVP. Given the many possible failure points in the startup lifecycle, companies need to consider what reason they have not to use one. But remember: any MVP will not do. Your MVP must ask the right questions and provide the proper feedback to be useful, and the best way to ensure it does this is by consulting with experts. | <urn:uuid:b563276f-9534-4916-893c-f897755a0bce> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.bairesdev.com/blog/startup-mvp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334514.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925035541-20220925065541-00257.warc.gz | en | 0.950891 | 2,396 | 2.59375 | 3 |
How Does Antivirus Computer software Identify Potential Viruses?
Identify Potential Viruses
A pc virus is actually a software program that will perform malicious activities. Like for example , deleting info, spying about users, thieving personal info and terrible the system.
Malwares is a form of computer virus which can be downloaded on to a device without user expertise and is quite often designed to do monetary harm. For example , ransomware can be described as type of malicious software that locks straight down your machine and needs payment to be able to unlock this.
Detection of recent and Ancient Viruses
The most common way anti-virus software protects computers through cross-checking definition files in the database to get known malware that online hackers have produced. However , it could not certain.
Hackers not necessarily dumb, and they’ve designed a number of ways to bypass anti virus signatures. One particular common method is encryption.
Encryption obfuscates a virus’s personal fingerprint http://webroot-reviews.com/best-antivirus-for-windows-10/ to the stage that it can not be matched which has a known disease. Other methods include enhancing the personal unsecured, hiding aspects of it or obfuscating it totally.
Heuristic-based recognition is another means of detecting risks. This type of diagnosis compares the malware’s code to a list of common attributes that are feature of viruses.
Behavior-based diagnosis uses a very similar technique nevertheless examines the behaviour of a document or plan instead of their signature. This type of analysis may identify suspect habit that could suggest a computer or destructive software, such as planning to modify or delete large numbers of files, changing settings, monitoring keystrokes and remotely connecting to your computer. | <urn:uuid:3326f573-8079-4638-b855-465990faaf28> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.servicelitteraire.fr/how-does-antivirus-computer-software-identify-potential-viruses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224646457.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20230531090221-20230531120221-00607.warc.gz | en | 0.925039 | 364 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Becoming a Paramedic
Being a paramedic can be a very rewarding job. It is also a very demanding job, both physically and emotionally. Being among the first responders on the scenes of accidents, child births, or any emergency can require a lot of a person.
The first step in becoming a paramedic is to take a basic certification course for EMT or Emergency Medical Technician. This course can require anywhere from 120-150 hours to complete. It is necessary in order to eventually become a paramedic. Among the first tasks in this course is to become CPR certified, a must for any paramedic. Becoming EMT certified will also teach the student how to assess medical conditions, administer basic first aid, and how to use equipment like stretchers, splints, and backboards. The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) regulates the EMT exam required at the end of the course. Once the exam is passed, the student becomes a Registered EMT Basic.
The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) also administers certifications at the paramedic level, and once certified, the candidate must renew their certification every 2 years. The paramedic training program can require anywhere from 750-1,500 hours to complete. At the end of the course, the student not only walks away with a paramedic certification, but also an associate’s degree. The degree most often is called Associate of Applied Science in Emergency Medical Care Paramedic.
On average, paramedics log between 40-60 hours a week. The work is very physical in nature, with heavy lifting being a requirement. Paramedics make on average $70,000 a year, while EMT’s earn significantly less at $35,000-$50,000 a year. Paramedics can be employed by hospitals, fire departments, or privately run facilities. The medical field is ever growing, and the demand for paramedics is always high.
Becoming a paramedic requires a great deal of drive, and dedication. It is not a job for the squeamish or for anyone that is not ready to give a great deal of themselves. Often times paramedics arrive first on the scene of an accident and must be prepared to not only treat the physical requirements of a patient, but the mental ones as well. Calming a child while removing them from a car accident scene, helping a woman in labor to relax while delivering the baby safely, or communicating with someone having a heart attack while trying to halt the attack are just a few things that a paramedic may have to deal with on a daily basis.
Being a paramedic is also very rewarding. Knowing that the life of someone has been saved by your actions, and training is incredibly rewarding. A sense of giving, and helping those in need can be one of the best feelings in the world. Being able to provide a good life for your family, while helping those in need during an emergency can lift someone’s pride. It is a very honorable job, and one that people often refer to as heroic. People never forget those that helped them when they most needed it, and being a paramedic is all about helping those in need. | <urn:uuid:06ea0926-9f89-41fb-b1b1-39faef139042> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.becomingaparamedic.net/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422115926735.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124161206-00144-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966247 | 655 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Your privileges include all Douglas Coleman Signature Society privileges, plus:
Margaret Green, Ph.D., joined the research sta at the then Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in 1956. Two years later she began collecting mouse genetic mapping data that would eventually become the foundation of the Mouse Genome Database, a global resource for researchers.
Green received her Ph.D. in genetics and cytology from the State University of Iowa in 1940. She served as a teaching assistant at Brown University where she first met her husband, Earl Green. She would go on to teach at Ohio State University where she and Earl reconnected. They married in 1941. She was employed at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC, and in 1954 she served as the first program director for genetic and developmental biology in the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences. In 1956, her husband was appointed JAX’s second director, succeeding founder Clarence Cook Little.
Green’s research involved compiling information about mutated genes and normal genetic variants of the mouse. In 1958 she began collecting mouse genetic mapping data from the literature of the early 1950s. She used this information to create the Live Linkage Map—a large map with 18 “chromosomes” made of vertically placed cardboard tubing (each about four inches in diameter and five feet long). Small plastic cages holding mice were appropriately arranged at intervals beside the chromosomes.
She continued to maintain the mouse genetic mapping data file on notecards until her retirement. Those 4” x 6” notecards formed the basis of what is now known as Mouse Genome Informatics, an extensive, internationally renowned database resource for the laboratory mouse.
Green retired from the Laboratory in 1975 as a senior sta scientist. In 1981, she published a seminal and comprehensive book, Genetic Variations and Strains of the Laboratory Mouse, with descriptions of mouse genes and mutations, strain information, a map of the mouse genome and the genetic mapping data that she used to create it. Margaret Green passed away in January, 1995. | <urn:uuid:c1b02372-5ed7-4c2f-9833-6144272ac656> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.jax.org/give/helix/margaret-green | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178361776.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20210228205741-20210228235741-00047.warc.gz | en | 0.957065 | 416 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Planting Street Trees
Seattle’s public rights-of-way along our streets provide an excellent opportunity to add trees to our city. The City of Seattle encourages residents to plant trees along public streets. You may plant a tree in a planting strip or right-of-way if you have a permit from the Seattle Department of Transportation's (SDOT) Arborist Office. After you receive the permit to plant, you will be responsible for properly planting and maintaining the tree. This includes watering during the hot summer dry season, mulching and pruning.
Planting a tree in the planting strip or right-of-way requires special consideration of underground and overhead utilities, tree species, and planting strip width. When planting a tree in the right-of-way, we want to avoid future conflicts between trees and utility lines and also minimize any impacts to traffic along the street. This is why SDOT requires you to obtain a free street tree permit before you plant.
Street trees must be planted to the following standards:
- 3 ½ feet back from the face of the curb
- 5 feet from underground utility lines
- 10 feet from power poles
- 7 ½ feet from driveways (10 feet recommended)
- 20 feet from street lights and other existing trees
- 30 feet from street intersections
How do I know if my planting spot is in the right-of-way?
If you don't know where the right-of-way is on your property, you can use this tool from the Department of Planning and Development. Enter your address and check the box for the parcels and pavement edge layers. If your proposed planting spot falls within these lines (the right-of-way), you must obtain a street tree permit from SDOT before planting.
How do I get a street tree permit?
To obtain a street tree permit, contact SDOT at 206-684-TREE (8733). When selecting your tree species, use SDOT’s street tree list as a guide for your selection.
Remember to Call Before You Dig before the SDOT Arborist arrives for an inspection!
What do I do if there are overhead power lines?
If there are overhead power lines in your planting strip, you must plant a smaller tree species. Trees planted under power lines must be less than 25 feet at maturity to avoid interference with the lines. For a list of appropriate for planting under power lines and along city streets, see SDOT’s list of small trees.
How do I avoid hitting an underground utility line when I dig my planting hole?
Not only is it within your interest to contact the Utilities Underground Location Center before you plant a tree, it’s also the law. Before you plant your tree, call 1-800-424-5555 (or 811) at least 2 days before you plan to dig. Visibly mark your proposed planting location in white before the utility companies arrive to assist utility companies. Utility companies will mark the location of your water, electric, and gas lines. It is important that you do this before the City Arborist arrives for an inspection.
Other helpful links:
Street Tree Planting Procedures Memo with Street Tree Permit Application
SDOT Street Tree Planting Procedures – including planting tips and appropriate species
SDOT Street Tree Pruning or Removal Permit
Choose the right tree when planting under or near power lines
Want help planting street trees? Consider participating in the City of Seattle's Trees for Neighborhoods project. | <urn:uuid:ce16e45c-9d98-4e77-a8ea-ed5bd8f47fd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.seattle.gov/trees/streetTrees.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164048127/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204133408-00060-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903751 | 716 | 2.640625 | 3 |
I found my painted turtle likely to be able to move through the dark tank and even sometimes I found him moving better than when he does it in the lights. As a result, I got surprised that painted turtles can see in the environment of light off.
Yes, and I can say it definitely that turtles see in the places where there is the absence of light, but they do it in the same way we, human being see something. However, turtles neither have any kind of night vision nor infrared to get help from those to get a better look at the dark. It necessarily doesn’t suggest that they’re also able to see the world similarly if they aren’t able to see in the dark better than us.
How Painted Turtles See Colors?
A few years ago, people believed that turtles’ eye vision is not good enough and it was also believed that they even don’t see colors as we see. But, if you look at the recent researches, you’ll find that they’re not just able to see colors, they’re also able to see more colors than we see.
Moreover, the researches have suggested that birds and turtles pose a gene named CYP2J19. And surprisingly the gene has been found out back 250 million years when it was the time of the dinosaur named Archosaur. When it comes to the Archosaur, it was a strange creature and it’s believed that it had a rough skin with a head alike to a bird, but it had a nose similar to a pig rather than a beak.
Although it didn’t look too bad as it’s described, they’re just the things that have the similarity with their appearance. As the gene lets a few turtle and bird species to see much more shades of a red color than we do, this genre is also known as the red gene. Since every animal is coming with color receptors in their eyes, they can see colors.
Each of the turtle types can identify a certain amount of colors. After that, they can send the signal to their brain where they get processed and displayed accordingly. Besides, possibly they have additional types of cones as well.
Can Turtles See in the Dark?
Yes, turtles are able to see in the dark despite the contrary to what many people believe. But, they don’t do as much better as we do and some of the nocturnal animals and reptiles like cats as well as owls are more seem to be better modified to see properly when they’re in the dark.
As the largest part of the turtles and human are diurnal beings with most dynamic when it’s day time, it means that when the sun is there to help enlighten the whole thing, all of us are more modified to see. And ranging from the red to ultraviolet, they have color vision along with their cone subtypes with sensitivities.
How Do Painted Turtles See in The Dark?
Like the same way we see, turtles see in the dark as well, but they just see the colors a bit of different that are the variation with us. Also, with the exception of the fact that they see a bit of more red that human being can see, you’ll not find a significant difference.
The difference is clear in the sky where there is still a slight light, but there is no difference in any way in the forest where you can see nothing. As a result, you’ll be not able to see anything when you keep your lights off in your room and it’s entirely dark around you. But, you’ll find that your eyes will start seeing things once again if you stay some time in a dark room and the same thing happens to turtles.
Can Painted Turtles See Underwater?
Most of the generic, for example, the sea turtles spend the biggest part of their life in water. Now, you can ask how they see underwater or under an endless sea. For your knowledge build up, the turtles can see at the same way and the same length as they see on the landside. It means that they can see things in the same way that they see on the water with the exact colors and sizes.
But, when they go to the dirty water, they feel somehow uneasy to see properly. As a result, the turtles are not able to see at distant when they’re in unclear and dirty water. And it’s the type of thing that human beings also get affected in a similar situation.
Apart from those, the same thing happens for eagles that are well-known for the top level and distant vision but can’t see anything when they get caught by fog or smoke. So, its mysterious thing that there can be some special thing that helps turtles to see properly underwater that we can’t do as a human being.
And it’s nothing mysterious as it has been found that they have tears with some type of mucus that keep their eyes covered. Also, these tears allow them a good vision underwater without being affected by their eyes by bacteria and salt of the water.
Although I am repeatedly mentioning tears, I’m certainly meaning these tears help to keep the eyes being hydrated. Obviously, it’s not the type of tears that we produce during crying because of pain or some other emotional reasons. Moreover, they come out for special reasons even if there is a similarity of them.
Interesting Q&A About Turtles
Q. Can Turtles See Us, the Human Beings?
Yes, turtles definitely can see us and they can do it very well and just by the physical appearance, they are also able to differentiate between us.
Q. Should I Keep The Lights On For My Turtles During The Nighttime?
No, you shouldn’t. Turtles don’t need light at night. But, you can use a normal light only if you like to observe them at night.
Q. How Long Should I Keep The Light On For A Turtle?
You should keep the light on the equal total of time that the sun stays in the sky. This is the best practice in this concern. But, when it comes to the winter, it’s an exception at this time. This is because it’s the time when the sun is up for a short period of time. So, you should leave the lights on for the turtles from 10 to 14 hours when its winter. | <urn:uuid:31b9da1e-63f4-48ab-846b-f2395476fd3b> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://theturtlehub.com/can-painted-turtles-see-in-the-dark/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347435238.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20200603144014-20200603174014-00030.warc.gz | en | 0.968248 | 1,344 | 3.640625 | 4 |
- Women's Democratic Action Centre
Women's Democratic Action Centre (Finnish: Naisten demokraattinen toimintakeskus) was the women's wing of the leftist party Democratic Alternative (Deva) in Finland 1987-1990. The organisation emerged of a split in the Democratic Women's League of Finland (SNDL) in the spring of 1986, as six SNDL districts (Southern Saimaa, Helsinki, Joensuu, Lahti, Northern Häme and Uusimaa) sided with Deva. SNDL expelled its rebel districts in November 1986.
The centre was founded in April 1987. The five chairwomen chosen at the founding congress were Marja-Liisa Löyttyjärvi, Leena Alanen, Anita Helenius, Eeva Kaukoluoto-Perä and Marja-Leena Mikkola. The organisation began publishing Naisten Lehti. In 1988, the centre also began publishing the Soviet Neuvostonainen in Finnish.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
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Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace — (WLP) is an international non profit, non governmental organization that is dedicated to women s leadership and empowerment. In cooperation with 18 autonomous partner organizations in the Global South, particularly in Muslim majority societies,… … Wikipedia | <urn:uuid:996a1d85-753a-4dd3-a278-67294927b508> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/10744750/Women%27s_Democratic_Action_Centre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703538226.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20210123160717-20210123190717-00211.warc.gz | en | 0.804388 | 650 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT) has been proposed as an indicator of the deleterious effects of pollutants on communities in the field. Nematode assemblages were sampled at 10 estuarine sites that ranged from uncontaminated to grossly contaminated with metals. Relative tolerance of these assemblages to Cu was quantified using acute toxicity tests. There were large differences between sites in tolerance to Cu, and copper tolerance was strongly correlated with severity of contamination. Enhanced Cu tolerance occurred at two sites where Cu concentration in sediment was around 180 µg/g but not at a third site, where Cu concentration was 214 µg/g. This implies a threshold of effects on these nematode communities at ~200 µg/g Cu. Comparison with studies of nematode community composition in these same estuaries indicates that PICT is at least as sensitive as the best available ecological monitoring methods. It is, however, faster to carry out and requires much less taxonomic expertise. The PICT appears to be a sensitive indicator of ecological effects of pollution and has considerable promise as a monitoring tool. | <urn:uuid:acb277d3-4426-427a-94cf-ed34754d68d8> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/publications/pollution-induced-tolerance-to-copper-of-nematode-communities-in- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571246.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811073058-20220811103058-00128.warc.gz | en | 0.9724 | 226 | 2.875 | 3 |
Important Bird Areas incorporated into Kazakh legislation
The recent revision of Kazakhstan's nature-protection legislation has resulted in the inclusion of the term "Important Bird Area” (IBA) in the law on Specially Protected Nature Areas in Kazakhstan. IBAs are now recognised and considered as "Objects of state nature-reserved foundation", these also include water bodies, remarkable landscape objects, or endangered species of animals and plants. This news is extremely positive for the future of the country’s biodiversity The new legislation states that the Government must implement measures for the protection and management of the IBAs, and, where appropriate, the presence of rich biodiversity could lead to the establishment of Special Protected Areas (SPAs). This inclusion is the result of three years of collaborative advocacy work between the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK; BirdLife in Kazakhstan) and the BirdLife Partnership, especially the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), with the support of the Kazakh Committee of Forestry and Hunting. Next step is the inventory of all confirmed IBAs (121 at the moment) under the list of “Objects of state nature-reserved foundation". This list is revised every three to four years by a Governmental Decree and a new revision is planned this year. In the case of a success, all the IBAs included in this list would receive legislative protection.
Stichting BirdLife Europe gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Commission. All content and opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of Stichting BirdLife Europe. | <urn:uuid:e6acde3a-45cc-47cb-8552-1aa42c825361> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/important-bird-areas-incorporated-kazakh-legislation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607325.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20170523025728-20170523045728-00568.warc.gz | en | 0.918609 | 321 | 2.625 | 3 |
Characters make up the skeleton of a story. They convey the author’s ideas and beliefs about and relationships with the world as well as the human beings around them. Some of the major characters from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar are discussed below.
Characters in Julius Caesar
One of the most popular characters of all time and the tragic hero of Julius Caesar, Brutus is the major character of the play and dominates it from the very first to the last scene. He demonstrates the complexities in his character through his soliloquies. A towering and powerful figure in the Senate of Rome, Brutus proves a god husband, a good master, a towering leader, and a loving but betraying a friend. He betrays his friend, for logical reasons including his arrogance and abuse of status, but Brutus stays controversial not only in friendship but also in statecraft, for despite killing him by the end, Mark Antony continues to praise him.
The hubris of Brutus lies in his idealism, which is also his virtue. Despite having shown his tragic flaw and betrayal to his friend, he is the “noblest of Romans.” Even a common suggestion of killing Antony with Caesar ignored by him proves fatal for his own survival. The second miscalculation that he commits is to ignore the eloquence of Mark Antony that he displays at Caesar’s funeral, which proves highly inimical to him. In the end, it seems that he is doomed to fail in the cause that he initiates for the goodness of the plebeians and Rome.
Although the titular character and protagonist of the play, Julius Caesar seems too arrogant to be placed at the top, above Brutus. His haughty judgment about his own character and his desire for absolute power prove fatal. His miscalculation is in his own ambition – he not only thinks himself loyal to the principles but also very much righteous to strengthen the public institution. He not only refuses the warnings of his wife, Calpurnia but also rebuffs the soothsayers’ prediction of the Ides of March in an effort to prove all others wrong exactly like he has done in the past in the battlefield.
His hubris lies in that he mistakenly perceives his public image has endowed security upon his mortal body, making it somehow immune from mortals like Brutus and his ilk. Brutus, too, attributes his downfall to his absolute power and its absolute use. However, Mark Antony’s final speech tries, though too late, to exonerate Caesar for this hubris.
A great character and one of the most loyal friends of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony proves his loyalty not only in his absence but also in the period after Caesar’s death. Despite his impulsivity and improvisations, he perfectly behaves and takes up the role of an avenger – true to Roman traditions. The masquerading of his true intentions wins hearts and minds of the conspirators in that they allow him, miscalculating that he would pacify the plebeians but he proves too cunning for them to evaluate his persona. His consummate political acumen wins him a place among the great logicians. He not only facilitates the plebeians in their rebellion against the conspirators but also raises the goodness of Caesar in their eyes. However, his real goodness of character lies in that he makes Brutus be less brutal than he seems through Caesar’s short and pithy remark about him, “et tu Brutus”.
A central member of the conspirator gang and the shrewdest character of Julius Caesar, the play, Cassius has the ability to lead from the front and give way to someone better able if the need arises. That is why he lets Brutus take charge of the attack on Caesar. The prejudice of Cassius against Caesar is undignified and motivated by resentment, as opposed to Brutus, who fears rather than resents Caesar’s absolute power-wielding ability. His ability to manipulate others helps him excel in intrigues against Caesar.
However, once he manipulates Brutus through flattery and other means, he takes the second seat, which is quite esoteric for characters like Cassius. Proving a petty and cowardly fellow at various stages of his life in the play, he still seems pragmatic when he voices his concern about Mark Antony’s ability to sway the plebeians during his speech at Caesar’s funeral. This leads to complexity in his character, impressing the audiences more than is required.
Calpurnia, a paragon of virtue, beauty, and loyalty, is Caesar’s wife. She is true to her husband in that she had had dreams about his bad fortune and she constantly nudges him to be careful, but he dismisses her concerns as a common woman’s wild imaginings. Although Caesar pays some heed to her words saying that he would pretend that he is sick, her power to see beyond shadows of time in the future seems correct. Her ominous warnings second the soothsayer’s Ides of March prophecy. However, when put into contrast with Portia, the wife of Brutus, she seems to hold some sway over Caesar that he stays even if for a short time, while Brutus does not give any importance to his wife’s advice.
The character of Octavius is significant in that he is Caesar’s adopted son and likely successor. After Caesar’s death, he joins hands with Mark Antony to fight against the leading conspirators, Brutus and Cassius. Having learned combat tactics from Caesar, he quickly outsmarts seasoned Mark Antony and eliminates the conspirators within a short time frame. Shortly after that, he takes charge of the Roman government and proves true to his predecessor.
Casca, though he is opposed to Caesar and his rise to power, relates the event of Caesar’s coronation to fire the emotions of the conspirators. He relates to Brutus and Cassius how they flattered Caesar by offering him the crown that he refused three times. He thinks that it was an act of showing his pretense for Caesar and act as if he did not want that power just to deceive the public.
Portia is another secondary but significant character in that she is the wife of Brutus, the confidante of Caesar, and is the daughter of a Roman noble who is also against Caesar. After finding her husband involved in intrigues, she becomes upset and commits suicide after Octavius comes to power.
A tribune by status, Flavius dislikes public cheering for everyone who comes to power. He judges this to be public fickleness. As he has been involved in removing Caesar’s decorations during the parade, he is also subjected to punishment later.
Cicero is one of those famous Senators who have the skill to sway the public through oratory. He also happens to speak at the triumphal parade for which he faces the wrath of Mark Antony and is later punished for this crime. | <urn:uuid:90437833-119d-417e-8380-71ba238eefce> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://literarydevices.net/julius-caesar-characters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100146.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20231129204528-20231129234528-00253.warc.gz | en | 0.978945 | 1,450 | 3.34375 | 3 |
A kind of cantata, La libertà
has been identified as Faustina’s ‘farewell song’ to her English patrons performed just before her final departure from London in early July 1728, when she visited her most important English patrons, who included the King and Queen, to take a formal leave of them. (See Michael Talbot’s edition of La libertà
published by Edition HH.) Although it was customary for eminent visiting singers to pay tribute to their hosts by singing a piece in praise of their nation, Faustina is not known either to have sung in English or to have sung in a public theatre except in an opera. Any performance by her as a leave-taking gesture was necessarily in Italian and in a private setting. (See Michael Talbot’s article ‘Maurice Greene’s Vocal Music on Italian Texts’, in RMA Research Chronicle, vol. 48 (2017).) Finding a piece of elegant Italian verse of the right length that flattered Britain is not an easy task, but in Greene’s cantata, which sets a stanza from a long poem by Joseph Addison conveniently already translated into Italian by his friend Anton Maria Salvini, a very ingenious and exquisitely realized solution is revealed—one that perhaps slyly commemorates in addition the reputed amorous relationship of Faustina and the violinist Mauro D’Alay (Maurino), her inseparable companion, since the framing aria sections treat the violin as a wordless partner to the voice in the manner of a love duet. The composition is in E major, one of Faustina’s favourite keys.
from notes by Bridget Cunningham © 2019 | <urn:uuid:284a3a16-7d4a-4c52-bdc6-63d7e2d38bae> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W21422 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178364008.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20210302125936-20210302155936-00195.warc.gz | en | 0.9654 | 357 | 2.75 | 3 |
A sweeping Canadian-led study of environmental influences on monarch butterflies has thrown into sharp focus what appears to be the most crucial factor affecting the migrating insect's survival: loss of milkweed in the U.S. Midwest due to a change in farming practices.
Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants every spring and summer as successive generations migrate northward from Mexico as far as Canada. At the end of the breeding season a single "super generation" heads back south, travelling thousands of kilometres so that the cycle can begin anew.
In recent years the overwintering population in Mexico has been on a sharp downward trend, with lowest numbers ever recorded last December.
The new study, published today in the Journal of Animal Ecology, draws on 30 years of earlier work including information about milkweed prevalence, logging in Mexico, climate change effects and monarch migration timing. Researchers used the wealth of data to assemble a computer model that allowed them to simulate the butterflies` yearly cycle.
"The model replicates, in our opinion, what's happening on an annual basis," said Tyler Flockhart, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Guelph and lead author of the study.
"We provide the first direct evidence that the population decline is being driven by milkweed loss."
In the model, milkweed loss is estimated separately for different regions of Eastern North America, allowing researchers to "determine not only what is causing the decline of the monarch, but also where," said Ryan Norris, a professor of biology at Guelph.
The evidence points to the U.S. corn belt, where increased cultivation of genetically modified corn and soybean crops comes with a devastating side effect for milkweed.
When GM crops are planted, fields are sprayed with herbicides to wipe out any wild plants that don`t share the crops' genetically engineered protection. In the past, herbicides would typically be applied early in the growing season, when milkweed seeds are still underground. With GM crops, the spraying happens later, and any milkweed growing adjacent to the crops is hit hard.
Even before GM crops were adopted, milkweed was never overly abundant. Farmers found only "30 or 40 stems per acre," said Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist at the University of Kansas who was not involved in the study.
Despite the modest number plants, a survey done in 2000 found that "corn and soybean fields were producing more monarchs per acre than anything else," said Dr. Taylor, who is also the director of Monarch Watch, a conservation and outreach group.
The study reaffirms that milkweed protection is essential to monarch recovery but officials have a lot of catching up to do.
In Ontario, for example, milkweed has been listed as a noxious weed for more than 60 years – a designation that only just changed on May 9 after a period of public consultation.
Under the Weed Control Act, "every person in possession of land is obligated to destroy all noxious weeds on it," said Mike Cowbrough, the province's weed specialist.
In the U.S. designations vary by state. Monarch Watch runs a program to encourage the planting milkweed across the U.S. and as of last week had shipped more than 30,000 'plugs' – immature plants that are about 10 centimetres tall – to schools and non-profits.
Researchers have also called for an international plan to co-ordinate monarch habitat protection.
During trade talks last February Prime Minister Steven Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, agreed to such a plan in principle but so far, "there's no money on the table," Dr. Taylor said. | <urn:uuid:7c5b6999-f280-45da-a4d0-2f69a3a8d222> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/monarch-butterflies-threatened-by-gm-crops-in-us-study-says/article18994894/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511063.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20181017065354-20181017090854-00365.warc.gz | en | 0.960831 | 757 | 3.75 | 4 |
A common problem with a computer is that it turns on and off immediately (after a second or two). This is generally the case: you press the power button, the power-on process begins, all the fans turn on, and after a short time the computer shuts down completely (often a second press power button does not turn on the computer at all). There are also other variants: for example, the computer turns off as soon as it is turned on, but when it is turned on again it works fine.
This guide details the most common causes of this behavior and how to fix your PC's power-on problem. Also useful: What to do if your computer won't turn on.
Note: Before proceeding, pay attention to whether you have an on / off button stuck to the system unit - this too (and is not an uncommon case) can cause the problem in question. Also, if the message USB device about current state detected appears when you turn on the computer, here is another solution for this situation: How to fix the USB device about current state detected The system will shut down after 15 seconds.
Table of Contents
If the problem occurs after mounting or cleaning the computer, replace the motherboard
If the problem of the computer shutting down immediately after turning it on occurs on a newly assembled PC or after components have been changed, without the POST screen appearing (that is, the BIOS logo or other data does not appear on the screen when turning on), first make sure that you have connected the power to the CPU.
The power supply from the PSU to the motherboard usually goes through two loops, one "wide" and one narrow, 4 or 8 pins (may be labeled ATX_12V). And it is the latter that provides power to the processor.
Without it, the computer may turn off immediately after being turned on, leaving the monitor screen black. However, in the case of 8-pin connectors on a power supply, you can connect two 4-pin connectors (which are "assembled" into one 8-pin connector).
Another possibility is that the motherboard and chassis are shorted. It can occur for a variety of reasons, but first make sure the motherboard is attached to the chassis with mounting standoffs and that they are attached exactly to the motherboard's mounting holes (with metalized pins for motherboard grounding ).
If you have cleaned the computer of dust, changed the thermal paste or the cooler before the problem appeared, with the monitor showing something at the first power on (another symptom is that after the first power on the computer does not turn off more than in the following), then in all probability you have done something wrong: it looks like a sudden overheating.
This can be caused by an air gap between the heatsink and the processor cover, a thick layer of thermal paste (and sometimes you see a situation where there is a factory sticker made of polyethylene or paper on the heatsink and it fits the processor along with it).
Note: Some thermal pastes are electrically conductive and, if applied incorrectly, can short-circuit the CPU contacts, in which case you may also have trouble turning on your computer. See How to apply thermal paste.
Additional elements to check (assuming they are applicable in your particular case):
- If the video card is properly installed (sometimes you have to force it), if the additional power is connected (if necessary).
- Have you checked the power on with a single strip of RAM in the first slot? The RAM is well inserted.
- Has the CPU been installed correctly, have the legs of the CPU been bent?
- Is the CPU cooler connected to the power supply?
- Whether the front panel of the system unit is properly connected.
- If the motherboard and BIOS revision are compatible with the installed CPU (if the CPU or motherboard has been changed).
- If you have installed new SATA devices (disk drives, disks), check if the problem persists if you disconnect them.
The computer started shutting down on startup without any action inside the box (previously it worked fine)
If no work has been done to open the case and disconnect or connect the equipment, the problem may be caused by the following:
- If the computer is quite old: dust (and short circuits), contact problems.
- Power supply failure (an indication that this is the case - previously the computer did not turn on the first time, but the second or third time, etc., no BIOS signs of problems, if present, see Computer beeps when turned on).
- RAM problems, pins on it.
- BIOS problems (especially if it has been updated), try resetting the motherboard BIOS.
- Less commonly, problems with the motherboard itself or the video card (in the latter case, I recommend, if you have an integrated video chip, remove the discrete video card and connect the monitor to the integrated output).
For more details on these points, see What to do if your computer won't turn on.
Also, you can try this option: unplug all hardware except CPU and cooler (i.e remove RAM, discrete graphics card, unplug disks) and try to turn on the computer: if it turns on and does not turn off (but, for example, it beeps - in this case it is normal), then you can continue installing components one by one (each time by shutting down the computer first) to find out which one fails.
However, in the case of a problematic power supply, the above approach may not work and the best way, if possible, is to try to power up the computer with a different power supply that ensures its operation.
In another situation - if the computer turns on and off immediately after a previous shutdown of Windows 10 or 8 (8.1), and a reboot works without problems, you can try to disable the fast startup of Windows, and if that works, worry to install all the original drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website. | <urn:uuid:caac6da3-f4da-4b71-84fc-93fb86e948a7> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.ik4.es/en/the-computer-turns-on-and-off-immediately/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320302706.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20220120220649-20220121010649-00494.warc.gz | en | 0.934027 | 1,226 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Western Native Trout Initiative
In 2007 the US Forest Service completed a feasibility study about the reintroduction of Bull Trout into the Clackamas River.
Happily, the reintroduction began in 2011:
Reintroduction Final Rule
On June 21, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the State of Oregon, USDA Forest Service and other project partners, published a final rule in the Federal Register to establish a nonessential experimental population (NEP) of bull trout in the Clackamas River and its tributaries in Clackamas County, Oregon, under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The geographic boundaries of the NEP would include the entire Clackamas River subbasin as well as the mainstem Willamette River, from Willamette Falls to its points of confluence with the Columbia River, including Multnomah Channel. Based on findings from the 2007 Clackamas Bull Trout Reintroduction Feasibility Assessment, we believe a reintroduction of bull trout to the Clackamas River subbasin is biologically feasible and will promote the recovery of the species. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with our project partners, plan to begin translocating multiple life stages of bull trout from the Metolius River to the Clackamas River in July 2011.
Will it work? Will they come back? Are healthy ecosystems even possible with so much fragmentation?
Our descendants will have to tell us. | <urn:uuid:069c0065-181e-41ea-ac20-ebd132e9be97> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://greencascadia.blogspot.com/2012/12/clackamas-river-bull-trout.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320270.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20170624170517-20170624190517-00688.warc.gz | en | 0.888981 | 311 | 3.125 | 3 |
What Are Sleep Disorders?
The Mount Sinai Integrative Sleep Center treats the full range of sleep disorders, including the following conditions:
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): Periodic pauses of breathing associated with snoring and daytime sleepiness. This often results in poor quality sleep and daytime sleepiness. Most people are unaware that they have this problem but the health effects can result in hypertension, cardiac rhythm disturbances, stroke, and coronary artery disease. Treatments for obstructive sleep apnea include continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), oral appliances, and surgery.
- Central Sleep Apnea: Periodic pauses of breathing occurring when the brain temporarily stops signaling the muscles in charge of breathing. This disorder often develops in people with certain medical conditions, such as heart failure and stroke. Treatments for central sleep apnea include positive airway pressure (such as CPAP and adaptive servo-ventilation) and supplemental oxygen.
- Circadian Rhythm Disorders: Disruptions in an individual’s 24-hour biological cycle. These conditions interfere with sleep patterns, possibly resulting in periods of insomnia and excessive sleepiness. Treatments for circadian rhythm disorders include light therapy, melatonin, and manipulation of sleep schedule.
- Insomnia: The inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Poor sleep during the night can be a serious problem in itself and can result in decreased wakefulness, concentration, and performance during the day. There are many causes of insomnia, most of which can be treated. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that medical help is available for insomnia and they continue to suffer the effects of poor or diminished sleep. Treatments for insomnia include sleep hygiene and stimulus control, cognitive behavioral therapy, and brief use of hypnotic medications.
- Narcolepsy: Affects 1 in 2,000 Americans and characterized by uncontrollable attacks of sleepiness. In addition, some patients experience brief episodes of muscle weakness without loss of consciousness (cataplexy), total paralysis that lasts a few seconds to minutes usually at sleep onset or offset, hallucinations at sleep onset or offset, and disturbed night-time sleep. Treatments for narcolepsy include stimulant medications and medications that reduce attacks of cataplexy.
- Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS): Patients may have a creeping or crawling sensation, usually in the legs, but sometimes in the arms, which occurs at night or during periods of inactivity. These sensations are relieved by movement. Treatments for RLS include dopaminergic medications, iron supplementation, and treatment of other sleep disorders which may complicate RLS.
- Parasomnias: Sleep-disruptive events, such as violent movements, sleepwalking, nightmares, bruxism (teeth grinding), bedwetting, and sleep terrors. Treatments for parasomnias include sleep hygiene, removal of triggering factors, and occasionally medications. | <urn:uuid:c5b355b9-e9b7-4948-8b70-e09da514f24e> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://www.mountsinai.org/locations/respiratory-institute/treatments/sleep-disorders/information | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250589861.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20200117152059-20200117180059-00527.warc.gz | en | 0.927593 | 588 | 3.09375 | 3 |
We have been learning about play scripts! We have been learning about their features ready to write our own for the story of St Kenelm!
During Art Week we were set a compass challenge! We had to produce a piece of artwork using ONLY a compass!
Here we are using cards to work with negative numbers!
This half term we are learning about Earth and Space. Here we are exploring how craters on the moon are made.
Here we are finding out more about stars and making our very own constellations!
We had a brilliant time at Alton Castle to kick start year 5!
We worked so hard for so long, but it really paid off. We did brilliantly at the Hagley Pyramid Concert! Well done year 5!
Last term we had been fencing!
This term we have been learning to play cricket!
During Art Week we used junk to make a model of our own mini Aztec villages! We had to include temples, huts, people and floating gardens.
Here we are getting muddy in the mud kitchen, building dens and exploring in the trees at Forest School! | <urn:uuid:05f6117b-d32f-49b9-8e82-f4b61a15e0cf> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.our-lady.dudley.sch.uk/year-5/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655883961.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20200704011041-20200704041041-00028.warc.gz | en | 0.973303 | 228 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance and create solidarity within their cause. These symbols often appear in yellow on a red background. The flag of the Soviet Union incorporated a yellow-outlined red star and a yellow hammer and sickle on red. The flags of Transnistria, Vietnam, China, North Korea, Angola and Mozambique would all incorporate similar symbolism under communist rule.
The hammer and sickle have become the pan-communist symbol, appearing on the flags of most communist parties around the world. Some parties have a modified version of the hammer and sickle as their symbol, most notably the Workers' Party of Korea which includes a hammer representing industrial workers, a hoe representing agricultural workers, and a brush (traditional writing-implement) representing the intelligentsia.
Hammer and sickleEdit
The hammer and sickle were first used during the 1917 Russian Revolution, but it did not become the official symbol of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until 1924. Since the Russian Revolution, the hammer and sickle have come to represent various communist parties and communist states.
The five-pointed red star is a symbol of communism as well as broader socialism in general. The red star was a revolutionary symbol after the October Revolution and following civil war in Russia. It was widely used by anti-fascist resisting parties and underground socialist organizations in Europe leading up to and during World War II. During the war, the red star was prominently used as a symbol of the Red Army troops of the Soviet Union countering the invading forces of Nazi Germany and wiping them out of Eastern Europe, achieving absolute victory and ending the war at the Battle of Berlin. Most states in the Eastern Bloc incorporated the red star into state symbols to signify their socialist nature.
While there is no known original allegory behind the red star beyond being a universal political symbol, in the Soviet Union the red star gained a more precise symbolism as representing the Communist Party and its position on the flag over the united hammer and sickle symbolized the party leading the Soviet working class in the building of communism. Today, the red star is used by many socialist and communist parties and organizations across the world.
The red flag is often seen in combination with other communist symbols and party names. The flag is used at various communist and socialist rallies like May Day. The flag, being a symbol of socialism itself, is also commonly associated with non-communist variants of socialism.
The red flag has had multiple meanings in history. It is associated with courage, sacrifice, blood and war in general, but it was first used as a flag of defiance. The red flag gained its modern association with communism in the 1871 French Revolution. After the October Revolution, the Soviet government adopted the red flag with a superimposed hammer and sickle as its national flag. Since the October Revolution, various socialist states and movements have used the red flag.
Red and black flagEdit
The red and black flag has been a symbol of general communist movements, though generally used by anarcho-communists. The flag was used as the symbol of the anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish Civil War. The black represents anarchism and the red represents leftist and socialist ideals. Over time, the flag spilled into statist leftist movements, these movements include the Sandinistas and the 26th of July Movement, where the flags colors are not divided diagonally, but horizontally. As in the case of the Sandinistas, they adopted the flag due to the movement's anarchist roots.
The Internationale is an anthem of the Communist movement. It is one of the most universally recognized songs in the world and has been translated into nearly every spoken language. Its original French refrain is C'est la lutte finale/Groupons-nous et demain/L'Internationale/Sera le genre humain (English: This is the final struggle/Let's group together and tomorrow/The International/Will be the human race). It is often sung with a raised fist salute.
The song has been used by communists all over the world since it was composed in the 19th century and adopted as the official anthem of the Second International. It later became the anthem of Soviet Russia in 1918 and of the Soviet Union in 1922. It was superseded as the Soviet Union anthem in 1944 with the adoption of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, which placed more emphasis on patriotism. The song was also sung in defiance to Communist governments, such as in the German Democratic Republic in 1989 prior to reunification as well as in the People's Republic of China during the Tienanmen Square protests of the same year.
Plough (or Starry Plough)Edit
Although not an exclusively communist symbol, the Plough, or Starry Plough, is a symbol of Irish socialism. It may have the same roots as the original hammer and Plough that was replaced by the hammer and sickle in Soviet Russia. The significance of the banner was that the free Workers of the Republic of Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars and the sword forged into the plough would mean the redundancy of war with the establishment of a socialist International. The flag depicts the Big Dipper, part of the constellation of Ursa Major that is known as "The Plough" in Ireland and Great Britain. The Plough is one of the most prominent features of the night sky over Ireland throughout the year. This was unveiled in 1914 and flown by the socialist workers' militia (the Irish Citizen Army) during the 1916 Easter Rising.
In China, the Plough flag (Chinese: 犁头旗), a red flag with white or yellow plough, is widely used in the period of the First Revolutionary Civil War as the flag of the Chinese peasant associations, an organization led by the Communist Party of China. It is believed that Peng Pai (Chinese: 彭湃) was the first user in 1923 at the peasants' association of Hailufeng. The Plough flag has many different versions and some are combined with the flag of Blue Sky, White Sun or Red Field; other are different on the details of the plough.
Many communist governments purposely diverged from the traditional forms of European heraldry in order to distance themselves from the monarchies that they usually replaced, with actual coats of arms being seen as symbols of the monarchs. Instead, they followed the pattern of the national emblems adopted in the late 1910s and early 1920s in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.
Socialist heraldry, also called communist heraldry, is a colloquial name for the common design patterns of the national emblems adopted by communist states. Although commonly called coats of arms, most such devices are not actually coats of arms in the traditional heraldic sense, but the recognizable common patterns have led to the use of the unofficial term "socialist heraldry".
Other communist symbolsEdit
While not necessarily communist in nature, the following graphic elements are often incorporated into the flags, seals and propaganda of communist countries and movements.
- Revolutionary music as well as protest music. The Internationale falls under this category.
- Socialist realism, an art style developed in the Soviet Union.
- Crossed proletarian implements, including picks, hoes, scythes and in the case of the Workers' Party of Korea a brush to represent the intelligentsia. The ubiquitous hammer and sickle also belong in this category.
- Rising sun, exemplified on the state emblems of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan, Croatia, Romania and PASOK.
- Cogwheels, exemplified on the emblems of Angola and China.
- Wreaths of wheat, cotton, corn or other crops, present on the emblems of almost every historical Communist-ruled state.
- Cherries resemblance from the Le Temps des cerises exemplified in the emblem of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.
- Rifle such as the AK-47 on the flag of Mozambique and Mosin–Nagant on Albanian lek.
- Red banners with yellow lettering, exemplified on the emblems of Vietnam and Soviet Union.
- Red or yellow stars, perhaps the most common communist symbol behind the hammer and sickle.
- Open books, exemplified on the state emblems of Mozambique, Angola and Afghanistan; and also on the party emblems of Communist parties of Russia and Ukraine.
- Factories or industrial equipment, exemplified on the emblems of North Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Kampuchea, emblem of CPUSA and Azerbaijan.
- Natural landscapes, exemplified on the emblems of Armenia, Macedonia, Romania, and Karelo-Finland.
- Torches, exemplified on the Emblem of Yugoslavia.
- Sword and shield, exemplified on the Soviet Committee for State Security emblem and the Mother Motherland.
- Cross and sickle, the symbols of the Christian communism and Christian socialism
- Portraits of various communist leaders, such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Josip Broz Tito, etc.
- The Arm and hammer, exemplified in the logo of the Socialist Labor Party of America
Examples of these symbols in use.
Hammer and sickleEdit
Flag of the Communist Party of China
Flag of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
Flag of the Soviet Union
First State Emblem of the Soviet Union (1923-1936)
Emblem of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea with hammer, sickle, and paintbrush.
State emblem of Lao People's Democratic Republic (1975-1991)
Symbol of the Fourth International
Flag of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (Turkey)
Symbol of the Mexican Communist Party
Symbol of the Communist Party USA
Hammer and sickle, symbol of Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Flag of the Communist Party of Bangladesh
Flag of People's Republic of Benin (1975-1990)
Emblem of the Chinese People's Liberation Army
Flag of North Korea
Coat of arms of Hungarian People's Republic (1957-1990)
Emblem of the Transcaucasian SFSR (1930-1936)
Logo of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela
Flag of South Yemen
Flag of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1992)
Flag of the Popular Front
Flag of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
Flag of the Youth International Party
Red and black flagEdit
Flag of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (Spain)
Flag of the Sandinistas (Nicaragua)
Flag of the 26th of July Movement (Cuba)
Flag of the National Liberation Army (Colombia)
Flag of the Rebel Armed Forces (Guatemala)
Flag of the Revolutionary Movement 13th November (Guatemala)
Flag of the Partido por la Victoria del Pueblo (Uruguay)
Flag of the Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile)
Flag of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola
Flag of the Awami Tahreek (Pakistan)
Flag of the Botswana Democratic Party
Flag of the Revolutionary Movement Tupamaro (Venezuela)
Flag of the Intransigent Party (Argentina)
The logo for Antifa
The flag of Angola
Flag of the Chinese Peasants' Association
Flag of the Guangdong Peasants' Association during the period of the First United Front
Star, hammer and plough cockade of the Red Army.
The flag of Vietnam, an example of a red flag with a gold star.
Flag of the People's Republic of China.
Statue of Vladimir Lenin
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (aka the "Little Red Book), associated with Maoism
Stylized raised fist, used both as a symbol in itself and as a salute.
Badge of the Democratic Army of Greece, with a stylized D (Δ)
Mao Zedong badge from the British Museum
- Anarchist symbolism
- Fascist symbolism
- Nazi symbolism
- Bans on Communist symbols
- Communist chic
- Hammer and sickle (☭)
- The Internationale
- Raised fist
- Red flag (politics) (🚩)
- Red star (★)
- Rose (symbolism)
- Socialist heraldry
- List of socialist songs
- Flag of East Germany
- Flags of the Soviet Republics
- Coat of Arms of the German Democratic Republic
- Coat of Arms of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
- Coats of Arms of the Soviet Republics
- Coats of arms of the Yugoslav Socialist Republics
- National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
- Soviet Union state motto
- Hungarian Criminal Code 269 / B. § 1993.
- "Het spook van het communisme waart nog steeds door Europa" (in Dutch). 22 December 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
- 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 233 What, dost summon a parlie, my little Drumsticke? tis too late: thou seest my red flag is hung out. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 91/4 That the Red Flag was out, both Fleets in sight of each other, expecting every hour fit weather to Engage. Flags of the World, "Flag of Defiance".
- "Anarchist FAQ Appendix" Archived 2015-09-01 at the Wayback Machine.
- "El socialismo libertario de" (in Spanish). Centro Para la Promoción, Investigación Rural y Social. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
- The Guardian, Australia (25 October 2009). "The International". pp. first paragraph. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- "002这是好的很 毛泽东发表《湖南农民运动考察报告》发表四十四周年".
- "广明龙农会会旗" Archived 2016-10-25 at the Wayback Machine.
- “Che Guevara: Revolutionary & Icon”, by Trisha Ziff, Abrams Image, 2006
- “Communists, Capitalists still buy into Iconic Che Photo, Author says” by Brian Byrnes, CNN, May 5, 2009
- Arvidsson, Stefan (2017). Style and mythology of socialism: socialist idealism, 1871-1914. Routledge.
- Barisone, Silvia, Czech, Hans-Jörg & Doll, Nikola (2007). Kunst und Propaganda im Streit der Nationen 1930 - 1945: eine Ausstellung des Deutschen Historischen Museums Berlin in Zusammenarbeit mit The Wolfsonian-Florida International University. Dresden: Sandstein.
- Groys, Boris (2011 ). The total art of Stalinism: avant-garde, aesthetic dictatorship, and beyond. Verso Books.
- King, David (2009). Red star over Russia: a visual history of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the death of Stalin : posters, photographs and graphics from the David King collection. London: Tate. | <urn:uuid:d802ba0c-1e71-431b-b28f-ab6d7ba492c5> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_symbolism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178367183.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210303165500-20210303195500-00394.warc.gz | en | 0.888966 | 3,271 | 3.796875 | 4 |
If you’re interested in psychology and human behavior, you’ve probably heard the phrase cognitive dissonance. It’s the term coined by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954 to describe “the feeling of psychological discomfort produced by the combined presence of two thoughts that do not follow from one another. Festinger proposed that the greater the discomfort, the greater the desire to reduce the dissonance of the two cognitive elements” (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999). Dissonance theory suggests that if individuals act in ways that contradict their beliefs, then they typically will change their beliefs to align with their actions (or vice-a-versa).
The easiest way to describe the concept is by a quick example. Say you’re a student looking to choose between two different universities you’d like to attend. After being accepted to each, you’re asked to freely rate the universities after considering each college’s pros and cons. You make your decision and are asked to rate the two universities once again. People will usually rate the chosen university as better and the rejected option as worse after having made their decision.
So even if the university we didn’t choose was rated higher initially, our choice dictates that more often than not, we’ll rate it higher. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense why we would choose the lower-rated school. This is cognitive dissonance at work.
Another example can be seen in many people’s continuing to smoke two or three packs of cigarettes a day, even though research shows they are shortening their own lives. They answer this cognitive dissonance with thoughts like, “Well, I’ve tried to quit and it’s just too hard,” or “It’s not as bad as they say and besides, I really enjoy smoking.” Daily smokers justify their behaviors through rationalizations or denial, just as most people do when faced with cognitive dissonance.
Not everyone feels cognitive dissonance to the same degree. People with a higher need for consistency and certainty in their lives usually feel the effects of cognitive dissonance more than those who have a lesser need for such consistency.
Cognitive-dissonance is just one of many biases that work in our everyday lives. We don’t like to believe that we may be wrong, so we may limit our intake of new information or thinking about things in ways that don’t fit within our pre-existing beliefs. Psychologists call this “confirmation bias.”
We also don’t like to second-guess our choices, even if later they are proven wrong or unwise. By second-guessing ourselves, we suggest we may not be as wise or as right as we’ve led ourselves to believe. This may lead us to commit to a particular course of action and become insensitive to and reject alternative, perhaps better, courses that come to light. That’s why many people seek to avoid or minimize regret in their lives, and seek “closure” — imposing a definitive end to an event or relationship. It reduces the possibility of future cognitive dissonance.
So What Do I Do About Cognitive Dissonance?
But for all of the writing about cognitive dissonance, little has been written about what to do about it (or whether you should even care). If our brains were made to think this way to help protect our own view of the world or sense of self or follow through on a commitment, is this a bad thing that we should try and undo?
People may run into problems with cognitive dissonance because it can be, in its most basic form, a sort of lie to oneself. As with all lies, it depends on the size of the lie and whether it’s more likely to hurt you in some way in the long run. We tell “little white lies” everyday in our social lives (“Oh yes, that’s a great color on you!”) that bring little harm to either side and help smooth over otherwise awkward situations. So while cognitive dissonance resolves the internal anxiety we face over two opposing beliefs or behaviors, it may also inadvertently reinforce future bad decisions.
Matz and his colleagues (2008) showed that our personality can help mediate the effects of cognitive dissonance. They found that people who were extraverted were less likely to feel the negative impact of cognitive dissonance and were also less likely to change their mind. Introverts, on the other hand, experienced increased dissonance discomfort and were more likely to change their attitude to match the majority of others in the experiment.
What if you can’t change your personality?
Self-awareness seems to be a key to understanding how and when cognitive dissonance may play a role in your life. If you find yourself justifying or rationalizing decisions or behaviors that you’re not quite clear you firmly believe in, that might be a sign that cognitive dissonance is at work. If your explanation for something is, “Well, that’s the way I’ve always done it or thought about it,” that may also be a sign. Socrates extolled that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” In other words, challenge and be skeptical of such answers if you find yourself falling back on them.
A part of that self awareness that may help in dealing with cognitive dissonance is to examine the commitments and decisions we make in our lives. If the resolution of cognitive dissonance means that we move forward with a commitment and spring into action, making us feel better, maybe the dissonance was trying to tell us something. Maybe the decision or commitment wasn’t as right for us as we initially thought, even if it means overcoming our “no second-guessing” bias and making a different decision. Sometimes we’re just plain wrong. Admitting it, apologizing if need be, and moving forward can save us a lot of time, mental energy and hurt feelings.
Cognitive Dissonance as Therapy Technique
Cognitive dissonance isn’t always something bad — it has been successfully used to help people change their unhealthy attitudes and behaviors. For instance, if a woman holds the belief that women should be super-thin and not eat in a healthy manner, cognitive dissonance can be used to successfully change those kinds of beliefs and the resulting eating-disordered behavior (Becker et al., 2008). It’s also been successfully employed to change an over reliance on online gaming, road rage, and many other negative behaviors.
In these kinds of interventions, the model most often used is to try and get people to understand their current attitudes and behaviors, the costs involved in holding these particular attitudes or engaging in the negative behaviors, role playing, exercises and homework design to help a person to become more aware and constantly challenge the attitudes and behaviors, and self-affirmation exercises. Most of these techniques share a common grounding and background in traditional cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy techniques.
In better understanding cognitive dissonance and the role it plays in most of our lives, we can be on the lookout for it and its sometimes-negative effects.
Becker, C.B, Bull, S., Schaumberg, K., Cauble, A., & Franco, A. (2008). Effectiveness of peer-led eating disorders prevention: A replication trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(2), 347-354.
Harmon-Jones, E. & Mills, J. (Eds.)(1999). Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. American Psychological Association: Washington, DC.
Matz, D.C. Hofstedt, P.M. & Wood, W. (2008). Extraversion as a moderator of the cognitive dissonance associated with disagreement. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(5), 401-405. | <urn:uuid:ed95617c-6dfb-4719-9884-231494e13544> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://psychcentral.com/blog/fighting-cognitive-dissonance-the-lies-we-tell-ourselves | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703513194.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20210117205246-20210117235246-00314.warc.gz | en | 0.9492 | 1,646 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Animistic perspectives, which hold the cosmos as “a being to whom prayers and offerings are made, who is endowed with understanding, agency and sentience, and responds to the actions of humans” are often dismissed as primitive, even as “incompatible with an impersonal regard of objective reality.” Yet this account of a healing of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (the consequence of severe rattlesnake envenomation), within the shamanic traditions of the Native American Church and the vegetalistas of the Peruvian Amazon, reminds us of how profound healing can be when it arises from indigenous perception of a sentient, living cosmos. It also demonstrates the diagnostic and healing capacities of shamanic traditions utilizing psychoactive plants, capacities sometimes beyond the reach of Western science.
SNAKE MEDICINE: HOW SHAMANISM HEALS
Our Native Mind
A snake which gets wounded heals itself. If now this is done by the snake, do not be astonished for you are the snake’s son. Your father does it, and you inherit his capacity, and therefore you are also a doctor.
“Animism” is a concept first introduced into anthropological circles by one of its founders, Edward Tylor, as the belief in the universal animation of nature, souls, and supernatural beings. In his Primitive Culture (1871), he wrote that animism is a perception held by “tribes very low in the scale of humanity”, yet serving as the “groundwork of the Philosophy of Religion, from that of savages up to that of civilized men” (Tyler, 1871: 381).
Such paternalistic Victorian views towards animistic perception continue to hold sway in the popular mind, although a far more sophisticated understanding of indigenous perception has since developed, such as expressed by prehistorian Jean Clottes:
Traditional people, and I think the people of the Paleolithic had two concepts that change our vision of the world: the concept of fluidity and the concept of permeability. Fluidity means the categories that we have, man, woman, horse, tree, etc., can shift. A tree may speak. A man can get transformed into an animal and the other way around, given certain circumstances. The concept of permeability is that there are no barriers, so to speak, between the world where we are and the world of spirits. A shaman, for example, can send his or her spirit to the world of the supernatural or can receive the visit of supernatural spirits. When you put those two concepts together, you realize how different life must have been for those people from the way we live now (Herzog, 2010).
Scholars in recent decades have proposed different schemas to distinguish the nature of the modern and indigenous experience of the cosmos.
Philosopher Louis Dupré depicts modern consciousness as a sudden, radical departure from tens of thousands of years of human culture, where “The divine became relegated to a supernatural sphere separate from nature”, and it “fell upon the human mind to interpret the cosmos, the structure of which had ceased to be given as intelligible” (Dupré, 1993: 3). Cultural historian Richard Tarnas, who likewise sees the modern mind as an arrogation of interpretive power by the individual self, gives this model in figure 1 above to delineate the two forms of human apprehension.
Medieval scholar and fantast J. R. R. Tolkien, (whose mythopoeic works are our great modern guides to the indigenous mind of Europe) clearly had such a distinction in mind when he explained to C. S. Lewis:
You look at trees, he said, and called them ‘trees’, and probably you do not think twice about the word. You call a star a ‘star’, and think nothing more of it. But you must remember that these words, ‘tree’, ‘star’, were (in their original forms) names given to these objects by people with very different views from yours. To you, a tree is simply a vegetable organism, and a star simply a ball of inanimate matter moving along a mathematical course. But the first men to talk of ‘trees’ and ‘stars’ saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings. They saw the stars as living silver, bursting into flame in answer to the eternal music. They saw the sky as a jeweled tent, and the earth as the womb whence all living things have come. To them, the whole of creation was ‘myth-woven and elf patterned’ (Carpenter, 1979: 43).
For Tolkien, unlike Tyler, such an aboriginal worldview is neither prerational nor delusional. It is a form of human inquiry that satisfies a desire for sophisticated interaction with the cosmos, about which he stated “The magic of Faery1 is not an end in itself, its virtue is in its operations: among these is the satisfaction of certain primordial human desires. One of these desires is to survey the depths of space and time. Another is to hold communion with other living beings” (Tolkien, 2002: 113).
We would add healing to Tolkien’s list of primordial human desires satisfied by animistic experience. In my apprenticeship with my partner, Susana Bustos, Ph.D., in the vegetalista tradition of the Peruvian Amazon, we have repeatedly observed how in its shamanic practices (often facilitated by the psychoactive medicine ayahuasca), healing is achieved through animistic immersion in a vital cosmos. Our first documentation of such a healing occurred in 2005, when a young woman suffering from a brain tumor came to the jungle for a course of treatment with our maestro, the Ashaninkan curandero Juan Flores. In the three weeks of her immersion in the rainforest, where she drank medicinal plants and agua icarada, that is, water sung over by the shaman, as well as participating in ceremonies with ayahuasca, her tumor vanished, startling her doctors in Chile, who were poised to operate upon her2.
This process of unraveling disease through re-membering is key to the cosmovision of many indigenous peoples, who perceive disease as a consequence of unconsciousness. In fact, they believe the diseased soul can be sung back into harmony with the cosmos again. The Kuna peoples of Panama, for example, see sickness as a manifestation of a lack of attunement to the story of the Cosmos, and heal by singing the song of the Earth and Universe back into the diseased member. Similarly, among the Tzutujil Maya:
The world is a sacred building called the House of the World and our individual bodies are made like this House of the World and contain everything that exists in the outer world. The way the initiated shaman heals the person is to rebuild the World House of that person, remembering all its parts back to [the original flowering]. Welcoming all the parts back to life entails singing out a sacred map of ordered holy words and magical sounds. This is a microcosm of the macrocosmic Divine Order of the Original World Body. This sacred map re-creates all the sacred mountains, rivers, trees, springs, ancestral regions, and names of Gods and Goddesses and their abodes. When this song is sung properly, the individual song is harmonized with the Great Song of the Original World House and both the individual and the collective are made well again (Jenkins, 2012: 86-90).
Such elegant healing practices, predicated upon a non-Cartesian experience of the cosmos as vital and sentient, are routinely dismissed as “primitive” by Westerners, for whom its “mythicoreligious perspective” is “incompatible with an impersonal regard of objective reality” (González-Crussi, 2007: 4).
Yet intimate experience of the “mythicoreligious perspective” teaches otherwise, as this story about a healing revolving around the use of traditional psychoactive plants within an animistic worldview illustrates.
Not so long ago, emerging from the Amazon rain forest, I found a message from home awaiting me. Could the Ashaninkan curandero Juan Flores, whom I had been visiting at his center for traditional medicine, Mayantuyacu, heal a rare case of snakebite? Turning to Juan, who was seated beside me in his noisy office in Pucallpa, I posed the question to him.
“Yes”, he answered simply, with the traditional authority of a shaman to an apprentice.
Without pausing to ask for specifics, I relayed his response and a chain of events was set in motion that demonstrated the remarkable efficacy of indigenous, shamanic medicine. It was not, in fact, a mere snakebite that Juan was called on to heal, but a severe case of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIDP, which had occurred as a consequence of rattlesnake envenomation.
Upon returning to the United States, I was introduced to Nick, the man seeking treatment within the vegetalista tradition. I recognized him as someone I had seen around the tipi meetings of the Native American Church, or NAC. Laconic, dressed in black, and constantly smoking, Nick walked in heavy boots with a Frankenstein monster gait that I had found puzzling. Whenever he spoke in meetings, his words commanded respect, and it was clear that his participation in the peyote way of the Plains Indians was longstanding.
Nick, it turned out, had been bitten by a rattlesnake at its height of venomousness, and years later he was suffering severely degenerative effects from the toxins. He lived with pain – constant, intense burning in his lower legs, which extended up to his hips; painful cramping in his feet and hands; constant twitching (fasciculation) throughout his limbs; nightly cold sweats; loss of motor control; and an “indescribable” feeling of electric current in his extremities. Heavy orthopedic boots encased his numbed feet.
His long ordeal to find a cure had even led him to contemplate a radical, very dangerous experimental treatment that would have knocked his immune system “into the Dark Ages” through chemotherapy, but in the end Western technological medicine simply had no solutions for him. In the process of embracing his disease as an initiatory path, rather than a mere stroke of terrible misfortune, Nick had been astonished to find his own medicine of the desert chaparral, peyote, sending him on a quest for a cure in the Amazon with the rain forest medicine ayahuasca.
Nick had already experienced healing in indigenous ways. As he told us, at age twenty-nine, while undergoing alcohol withdrawal, he had suffered a cardiac infarction that scarred his heart. After his heart attack, he developed an arrhythmia, a violent limp of the heart that was deeply unsettling: “My heart would beat one… two… da dung. It would then stop and pick up again. It was so loud you could hear it.”
A friend suggested that Nick seek healing in the Native American Church, or NAC, since Western medicine had basically written him off as not long for this world. Nick had deep apprehensions, however: “As an addict, for me a medicine like peyote could be construed as a drug, and I had real concerns about risking my sobriety.”
Peyote, however, has a venerable history of usage to heal alcoholism and other sicknesses. A cactus with psychoactive properties, peyote has been used in ceremonial contexts for thousands of years by the native peoples of the Americas, both as a medicine to align the spirit with the cosmos and to heal the body of disease. Overcoming his trepidations, Nick chose to attend a meeting.
The roadman (or “one who shows the path” as the peyote shamans in the NAC are called) for the meeting, after listening to Nick’s explanation of his heart condition, said to him, “Well, there’s no reason you can’t be healed, but it not going to be me healing you. It’s really contingent on whether you’ve learned the lesson that you needed to learn by having your heart be that way.”
Something in the roadman’s words resonated with Nick. As Nick put it, “I was like: huh.” Right around midnight, the roadman went and fed Nick four medicine balls of peyote. Nick, bewildered, tried to focus on what was happening around him as the roadman fanned him with an eagle fan. “Then he took the eagle bone whistle and blew it right into my heart and I felt the arrhythmia leave. It wasn’t just me who saw it, either.” In an instant of animate synchronicity with the healing ritual, the fire, which was stacked up blazing about three feet high, dramatically flattened all the way down to the ground as if some unseen foot had stomped on it.
“The heart condition was gone. Forever. Just like that.” Nick laughed. “That’s kind of what got me coming around the NAC, you know? I felt obligated, like I owed my life, to whatever it was that saved me.”
The roadman for that particular meeting, Bob Boyll, gives an intriguing advisory to those who seek healing upon the medicine path: “Once you begin walking this sacred way, the stakes get raised and you get scheduled for a series of initiations. Your entire life becomes a test.” Within the lore of the Native American Church, it is generally recognized that life may become more acutely challenging after healing than before.
A couple of years later, Nick and his partner, Lisa, made a journey to Loch Loman Reservoir in Santa Cruz. It was a morning marked by strange omens. On the way, a fleeting illness struck them both at the same moment, numbing their faces and cramping their insides; it then vanished as quickly as it had come.
Then, at the lake, an enigmatic exchange occurred. A golden eagle flew across the sky and Nick called out to it, “Please drop a feather for me. Please drop a feather.” And as soon as the eagle flew above them, it did. Straight down. Nick hastily clambered into a rowboat and started out on the water to fetch it, but someone in an electric boat zoomed out of nowhere, picked up the feather, and stuck it in his hat. Nick, affronted, called out, “Hey, man, I asked for that feather. I asked that bird for
that feather and it’s mine.” The man in boat shrugged, said, “Too bad you don’t have an electric rowboat,” and took off.
“Ten minutes later, the snake bit me,” Nick concluded.
It was only in Peru, while working with ayahuasca and the plant medicine jergon sacha, (a traditional antidote for snakebite: “jergon” signifying “serpent” and “sacha” signifying “wild”, “from the forest”), that Nick understood what had actually transpired that day. “I asked that bird for what I wanted”, Nick said, “but it directed me to what I needed. The eagle is a high energy creature, of the astral. The serpent is the energy of the Earth. At that point in my life I was freshly sober, like a little kid. My priorities were all out of whack. That feather belonged to that guy who got it. What happened to me was I got directed to that snake, because that’s what I needed in my life – even though I didn’t want it, even though it’s taken a huge chunk of my life. That medicine down in Peru showed me the truth of the matter.”
On that fateful day in Santa Cruz, like a naïve Persephone, Nick plucked a narcissus flower that abducted him into Hades.
“I’ve always fancied myself the amateur herpetologist. I’ve owned snakes my whole life. I’ve raised pythons, poisonous snakes. I see this rattlesnake sitting there, maybe ten years old, with black and white stripes. The kind they call coontails. I said to Lisa, ‘Should I catch it?’ She said, ‘Nah. Leave it alone.’ She already knew I knew how to handle reptiles, but my pride got the better of me and I reached out to grab it.”
Just at that moment the snake shifted position and was able to swing around and get its fangs in his finger. Pulling it off, still holding it in his hand, Nick grimly announced to Lisa, “Uh, I just got bit.”
Sometimes snakes will dry-bite, but Nick knew immediately that he’d been envenomated. “My hand was on fire. I felt like I weighed a million pounds.” To add insult to injury, the rattlesnake was close to hibernation, a time when a snake’s venom is most poisonous, containing both neurotoxins and hemotoxins, which attack nerve cells, burst capillaries, and destroy tissue and blood. As a result, the snake injected a more lingering poison into him than the reptile would have in another season.
Lisa managed to transport Nick back across the lake to the ranger station, where a helicopter was immediately called. On his way to the hospital, Nick felt his heart racing out of control as the venom liquefied his blood. “You know what?” he said to himself, “This feels like I could die.” Then a voice said, “Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine.”
At that moment, looking up, he could see his heart rate immediately slow on the monitor, and heard the paramedic reassure him, “Ah, that’s good. You’re going to make it”.
At the hospital, Nick’s hand still felt like it was stuck in fire. “Not only was my whole body shaking and quivering, like there were bees flying around under my skin, but I looked like I was the Michelin tire guy. They were sticking needles in my arm to check the pressure because they thought they might have to lance it. Fortunately, it never got that bad, but they did give me enough antivenom medicine for four people and four platelet transfusions.” Finally, the toxicity of the venom began to wane, but Nick’s system had been left devastated.
“Most people bitten by rattlesnakes are there for a day – three tops. I was there for fifteen days. Not only that, when I got out I went back to the doctor and they said, ‘Holy shit, you have no platelets! Don’t bump into anything!’ I went back to the hospital for another four days. I could have hemorrhaged and bled to death.”
According to Nick, in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the headline read: Man, 31, Bitten by Snake Trying to Impress Girlfriend.3
“You know”, Nick concluded, “ego is the number-one killer of men.”
The doctors eventually gave Nick a clean bill of health, and he thought he’d left this episode of his life behind him.
Then, a couple of years later, as Nick was playing music the fingers of his right hand stopped working. “‘Move’, I said to them, but they wouldn’t move.” Within days this paralysis progressed, allowing him to squeeze but not extend his hand. Nick began to make the rounds of the local hospitals. “I get all these tests, visit three different neurologists, and I finally end up with one of the best-known doctors in Santa Cruz, who said he thought I had Lou Gehrig’s disease.” Nick knew what that was – “It’s a death sentence. Ninety percent of the people who get it die within three years of diagnosis.” Nick lived with that diagnosis for almost a year, but then he began to notice that it wasn’t progressing the way he’d read about it. As he described his diagnosis of multifocal motorneuropathy, a form of the autoimmune disease called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy to me, I commented, “You learned a lot of heavy terminology during this time.”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” he said, “there’s a positive and negative to everything. The negative side to learning Western medicine is you get sucked in. If you suffer from an ailment, you get sucked into the doctor’s way of thinking about it, which is God-cold and no resolution.”
“God-cold?” I asked.
“Yeah, Western medicine has no God in it, and there’s no resolution for CIDP. They call it an incurable chronic disorder. They have medicines that can slow it down, but no cure. I spent over a million dollars for an ineffectual Band-Aid.”
“During the course of all this”, he continued, “I tried to be as hopeful as possible, but finally I shut down and went into a black depression. I was brainwashed – by my own intellect and what doctors had told me – into accepting a hopeless diagnosis. I had given up and didn’t care if I died the next day.”
Finally, Lisa, now Nick’s wife, called for a sweatlodge for their family. For Nick, it turned into a kind of intervention. Nick ate “a ton” of medicine, but could not relinquish his argumentative, self-righteous mind-set. Finally, Boyll, who was running the sweat, said to him, “I love you, but you know what? We’re tired. We’re tired of how you’re being.”
Nick finally confessed, “You know what? I don’t know what to do.”
Boyll replied, “Nick, you’ve been here before. You remember when you were here last time?”
Then Nick put it together. “I was right at the same place where I’d been with my booze. Where I gave up all hope and there was no place to go. I hit bottom right in the middle of a medicine sweat. I experienced all kinds of revelations, was able to see with clarity what I’d been doing, how my behavior had affected my family. My life changed, and I picked up the fight again, but in a different way. I recognized that there was a definite reason why I was going through what I was. It wasn’t just a bunch of random circumstances. There was a plan to it.”
Nick still didn’t know what to do, but his confidence was growing again. He said to himself, “I’ll leave it up to Creator and something will come along”. A few weeks later, something did indeed come along.
You Are The Snake’s Son
In the dry hills of Tuolumne County, as a tipi was being set up for an NAC meeting, a rattlesnake was discovered sitting beneath a tarp in the exact location where the chief, or roadman, sits for a ceremony. Nick was present, and watched as the snake was taken outside and set beneath a bush. Knowing he was at fault for messing with that species of snake a few years earlier, he took the opportunity to make amends. “I gave it some tobacco and prayed for forgiveness for putting myself in a position to harm it and myself.”
That night, having ingested the psychoactive peyote plant in ritual context, Nick had a powerful experience of participation in an animate cosmos. Out of the clear blue sky the word ayahuasca came into his mind. “The peyote was saying, ‘You need to go South and work with this medicine’,” Nick realized.
“I had heard of ayahuasca” he said, “but I’d never had any desire to try it – at all. ‘That’s odd,’ I thought. I doubted it immediately.”
That evening at home, Nick said to Lisa, “You know, I just got this overwhelming message about working with ayahuasca. What is that?” Lisa had no idea. Nick wandered into the living room and, turning on the television, was greeted by the word ayahuasca emblazoned across the screen. It was a National Geographic program on Santo Daime.
That clinched it for Nick. “When people tell me stories like this, I don’t normally believe them. With this one, though, I thought there’s got to be something to this.”
Through Boyll and his partner, Ann Rosencrantz, Nick got in contact with Susana and I.
Like peyote, ayahuasca has an ancient lineage in its own habitat, the Amazon rain forest. Its name arises from the joining of two words in Quechua: aya, which signifies “soul”, “ancestor”, or “spirit”, and huasca, meaning “vine” or “rope.” Ayahuasca, therefore, is the vine of the souls. Actually it is usually an admixture of the vine ayahuasca and (in Peru) the leaves of the chacruna tree, like peyote the ayahuasca brew is psychoactive, and has long been utilized for similar shamanic purposes.
Shamans in the vegetalista tradition who use this medicine, among whom Juan Flores numbers, are called ayahuasqueros, and consider it the master teacher among the many plants utilized within the native pharmacopoeia. In Nick’s case, ayahuasca was ancillary to his main treatment: the plant jergon sacha.
Upon arriving at Mayantuyacu, after many hours of air, land, and sea travel, Nick was immediately set at ease by the way Flores and his people began treating him as a patient, assuring him, “We’re going to get the venom out of you.” He was also introduced to the jergon sacha plant, a powerful snake venom antidote from the native pharmacopoeia. Most likely originally identified by its “signature” – the mottling on its bark that closely resembles the patterning on the back of the venomous pit viper known as the jergon – the large bulb, or “stool”, at the base of the plant has been used for generations to prevent and treat snakebite. Natives have long taken plant baths and rubbed themselves with jergon sacha to protect themselves upon entering the jungle; sought it out and quickly applied it, with great efficacy, after snakebite; and used it to treat the lingering consequences of envenomation.
Flores told Nick that he was toxified – the venom was still in his body and needed to be released. Western doctors had told Nick the same thing. The enzymes of rattlesnake venom end up stored in locales with the highest concentration of fat—the myelin sheath that covers nerves. As a result, Juan and a visiting doctor from Lima, who has been using jergon sacha to treat HIV, explained that Nick’s autoimmune system was attacking itself. Without removing the toxins that were at the source of the malfunctioning of his autoimmune system, no recuperation was possible.
Nick already knew this as well – Western science had no way to remove the toxins from his body, so he had taken immunosuppressants instead to reduce the symptoms. Juan was, in effect, informing Nick that the vegetalista tradition could do a lot better than that: it could actually cleanse his system of the venom.
Deeply encouraged, Nick began his dieta, the simple and direct method of Amazonian medicine where a patient drinks plant remedies that have been prepared by a curandero.
Both the medicines and the patient are sung over with icaros, the magical melodies that contain and transmit the healing virtue of the plants. As well, ayahuasca ceremonies are utilized to better enable the curandero to direct the spirits of the plants and other “doctors”, and for the patient to more thoroughly integrate the healing received.
Jergon sacha had an immediate healing effect. In keeping with the plant’s purgative power, upon drinking the preparation made by boiling its stool in water, Nick got quite ill: “It felt like I’d gotten bit by that snake again. I felt that same really heavy, heavy feeling, sweating, just sick as a dog. But they had said that might happen. I was drinking two liters of the plant medicine a day and the toxin was breaking up in my fatty cells and being rereleased into my bloodstream.” After the initial nausea passed, however, Nick found he was recuperating rapidly. In short order, the burning sensation and spasmodic jumping in his legs, which had kept him awake all night for years, vanished.
While jergon sacha is very effective as an antivenom, Flores explained to Nick that it was not going to be a quick fix because he had already sustained long-term damage, even skirted nerve death. Nick was therefore also given came renaco, a strangler vine of the Amazon rain forest whose muscular growth has led to its use to rebuild torn and degenerated muscle, ligaments, nerves, and bones.
Much as the rattlesnake had made an appearance at the tipi meeting where Nick was directed toward the medicine of the rain forest, the appearance of two venomous pit viper serpents heralded the successful conclusion of his treatment. On his last day at Mayantuyacu, within a single hour, a huge bushmaster – the largest poisonous snake in the Western Hemisphere – came racing down the slope toward the little village. Then an equally impressive jergon, the serpent that bestowed its name on Nick’s medicine, was discovered while clearing brush. Both were killed in the ensuing melee and their bodies brought and laid before an astonished Nick.
Nick’s totemic snakes suggest that his journey was an initiatory one. As he told us, having experienced the chthonic powers of the serpent, it has “opened up doors where I know I can help people. The most powerful messages you can bring people have to come from a place of experience. My work helping alcoholics and addicts, and now handicapped people, was completely revolutionized. I don’t just have a theoretical understanding of what it means to return from the dead. I’ve lived it.”
One morning after an ayahuasca ceremony at Mayantuyacu, an Argentine healer approached Nick and told him, “Last night I saw this Native American old man sitting next to you and he was talking to me. He was saying that with everything you’re going through, you’re reaching a place in yourself where you can help and heal people.”
“You know what else he told me?” Nick asked me. “He said, ‘You know, the best healers are the wounded ones.’”
Nick’s treatment was quite effective. Nerve conduction returned to Nick’s feet: one foot is entirely restored, and the other, which had degenerated so far that it felt as if “there was nothing there,” is now partially alive again. He has now resumed his career as a punk rock musician, and recently sent out an image on Facebook of his discarded orthopedic boots. He is hopeful that he can entirely rehabilitate.
Nick was received back into the NAC community with rejoicing and deep gratitude for the work of Juan Flores. Nick was visibly a new man after his treatment.
The Paradox of Shamanic Healing
Indigenous medicine comes wrapped in paradox for Westerners. Among these paradoxes is the distinction between curing and healing of disease, concepts which, as in Venn diagrams, overlap yet remain experientially distinct. The general thrust of modern, industrial Western medicine, psychiatry, and psychology is to “cure”, from Latin cura, “to care, concern, trouble,” by either suppressing symptoms (that is, managing disease) or excising it from the body. Treatment is usually considered satisfactory when symptoms abate or lessen so that the life of the sufferer is more tolerable. In many indigenous styles of medicine, which give equal importance to curing as the West, healing, from Old English hælan, “to make whole, sound and well,” may also involve searching out the hidden origin of the disease in the body/mind. In other words, there is a teaching contained within disease that must be heard, understood, and heeded. The patient must, in short, remember her or his way back to health, to harmony with the cosmos (Tindall, 2010)4.
In a healing quest through indigenous medicine, a cure may be found or it may not. Yet because of the experience of direct participation in the “larger matrix of meaning and purpose” within which the patient, and disease, is embedded, the valence of the disease will change. In such cases, it is the entire self that is engaged in unraveling a disease’s enigma, and the entire organism is the laboratory wherein the cure and/or healing can be found. As a consequence, such healing is always idiosyncratic, because each body’s laboratory is unique.
Additionally, if disease is cured shamanically, the methodology used (which in the vegetalismo shamanism of the Peruvian Amazon is a complex synergy of plants, the shaman’s icaros – or sacred songs – and the ecology of the healing locale itself) will often elude scientific researchers in search of a “silver bullet” molecule. The medicine may be non-exportable: its efficacy may vanish as soon as it is separated from the culture that gave rise to the healing in the first place.
What Nick’s rain forest quest indicates is that, unlike in Western, technological medicine, psychoactive native medicines are allies in a psychomachia – a battle of the soul. In a similar way, Nick’s recovery from an “incurable” disease can be seen as
an initiatory path, one more akin to the Native American vision quest than a patient checking into a modern hospital to undergo treatment.
Far from being surpassed and rendered obsolete by our contemporary technological approaches, traditional, animistic medicine with its “mythicoreligious perspective” continues to flourish, and reminds us of how profound healing can be when it arises from indigenous perception of a sentient, living cosmos.
1 “Faery” is the term Tolkien used throughout his career to describe animistic/indigenous apprehension of the cosmos.
2 See chapter 7 of my The Jaguar That Roams the Mind (2008) for an in depth discussion of Carolina’s healing/cure through indigenous methods of a brain tumor that eluded Western methodologies.
3 The original newspaper article text is at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/724660/posts
4 Richard Grossinger gives an example of such remembering in the career of a Western shaman, a woman who was “viciously raped and then discarded for dead in a garbage can by her attacker.” Devoting herself to “becoming a warrior and a healer, not out of rage or self-protection but as the only way to healing herself,” this woman restored herself through her capacity to “mutate what had been done to her” through shamanic practices. As Grossinger (2005) insightfully comments:
The patient of a shaman no doubt also has an “inner child”, but that child is experienced as a raven or a wild bear and thus liberated to transmute, finally, into something larger than the neurosis. The so called neurosis may have been no more than the unborn “shaman” within, careening toward its voice. No real growth can happen as long as the victim state requires either comforting or revenge. In fact the more deeply wounded the victim, the more powerful must be his or her potentiation in order to overcome the wound.
Carpenter, H. (1979). The inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and their friends. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Dupré, L. (1993). Passage to modernity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. González-Crussi, F. (2007). A short history of medicine. New York: Modern Library. Grossinger, R. (2005). Planet medicine: Origins. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. Herzog, W. (Dir.)(2010). Cave of Forgotten Dreams. IFC Films.
Jenkins, J. (2012). An ecozoic neo-native wisdom: Interfacing cosmological indigenous ritual and the story of the universe. Unpublished doctoral thesis, California Institute for Integral Studies, CA.
Apffel-Marglin, F. (forthcoming). In S. Varese, F. Apffel-Marglin and R. Rumrill (eds.). Selva Vida: De la Destrucción de la Amazonía al Paradigma de la Regeneración. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
Tarnas, R. (2006). Cosmos and psyche. New York: Viking.
Tindall, R. (2010). Assessing a quest to heal HIV with vegetalista shamanism. ReVision, 32, 38-43. Tolkien, J.R.R. (2002). “On fairy stories”, in J.R.R. Tolkien, A Tolkien miscellany. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club.
Tylor, E.B. (1871). Primitive culture. London: John Murray.
This essay initially appeared, in a slightly different form, in the European Journal of Ecopsychology, Vol.4, 2013, pgs. 47-63. | <urn:uuid:abcc3199-fc4f-43fc-8057-58b08b1e447f> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | http://www.roamingthemind.com/snake-medicine-how-shamanism-heals | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524254.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20190715215144-20190716001144-00202.warc.gz | en | 0.969636 | 8,247 | 3.03125 | 3 |
edited by Rudolf Rasch, Turnhout, Brepols, 2018 (Music, Criticism & Politics, 6), pp. xii+463, ISBN: 978-2-503-58071-5.
Music always functions in a specific environment. And, viewed from the other side, environments use music to confirm and strengthen their identities. Institutions of power – monarchs and rulers of all sorts, governments, public institutions, ecclesiastical authorities, to name but a few — have in all times employed music to present themselves to the outside world, alongside other means such as architecture, fine arts, design and fashion.
The present volume brings together a number of studies that all deal, in one way or another, with the question of how power was implemented in music in what is called the Baroque Era, roughly the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth. The essays can be grouped under four main headings: court opera, ceremonial music, “musicians” and miscellaneous studies. Several essays discuss court opera, one of the most conspicuous musical forms with which a monarch could display his power. Examples are given of court opera practices in Vienna, Lisbon, Florence and other places.
Music could also accompany festivities and ceremonies of all sorts, of very different kinds of institutions, courtly, civil or ecclesiastical. Examples of these practices are discussed that bring us to musical life in Rome, Milan, Florence, Avignon and Saint-Petersburg, among other places. Not only sovereign rulers could employ music to confirm their power, also lower-ranking powers such as nobility often invested in music in order to gain prestige. Various studies highlight this aspect of “music and power”.
Finally, there are studies that deal with more general questions, such as the representation of power in Baroque opera, dedications of musical works to royals and other patrons, and the social status of musicians as they are positioned between patrons and public.The authors of the various chapters come from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine and the United States.
The present volume has been made possibile with the friendly support of the | <urn:uuid:2481146e-2da3-47fe-857c-cb82597db8c1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.luigiboccherini.org/2018/07/12/music-and-power-in-the-baroque-era/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141189038.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127015426-20201127045426-00547.warc.gz | en | 0.948564 | 450 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Indoor skydiving is all about learning to control your body in the air flow. By maintaining an arched body position and using your arms and legs to control you, you can perform turns and move forwards, backwards, up and down. More advanced indoor skydiving involves flying with other people and at orientations other than belly to earth.
In this beginner’s guide to indoor skydiving, we’ll explain the basics of getting started and how you too can learn the skills of bodyflight.
The first step to becoming an accomplished indoor skydiver is learning how to enter the wind tunnel.
The wind tunnel is a skydiving simulator which pushes air upwards, creating the same conditions you would find in freefall if you’d jumped from an airplane. To enter, you’ll be asked by your instructor to fold your arms across your body and simply lower yourself forwards through the door – your instructor will support you the first few times but eventually, you’ll be confident enough to lower yourself down on your own.
It’s important not to try to jump into the wind tunnel. This is because your body shape and position will affect how you move in the air and ‘jumping’ in could cause you to become out of control once in the air flow.
The next step to bodyflight is to become comfortable with your body in the air flow.
To achieve a stable position, you will arch your body by pushing forward at the hips. This is something you can try at home; simply lie on the floor and push your hips forward, raising your head and your feet. The idea is similar to that of a shuttlecock in badminton – creating that center of mass at your core gives you stability while allowing your arms and legs to be free to help you move.
Your first few minutes in the wind tunnel may be utilized to get used to the body position and the feeling of pressure that the air flow puts on your body. At this point, the wind speed will be relatively low, meaning you’ll be flying close to the net and your instructor can easily give you corrective signals to help you perfect your position before moving on.
The basic principles of bodyflight are rooted in aerodynamics. The idea is that we are able to affect our movements by displacing the air pressure as it hits our body, resulting in the ability to, amongst other things, turn.
To turn, you’ll start with the stable arched body position – this should be maintained throughout. To make a turn, you’ll simply dip the shoulder and arm slightly on the side you want to turn with hands pointing forward. So to turn right, you’d dip your right arm.
Providing you maintain your arched body position and your arms and legs stay symmetrical, you’ll perform a stable turn. More advanced indoor skydivers will use a combination of arms, legs and chest to turn and adopt a slightly different position, but this will all be covered as you progress.
By similar air displacement principles, you can move yourself backwards and forwards in the air by simply changing the position of your arms and legs.
To go forwards, you’ll push your legs into a straighter position. This tips your body up slightly and pushes you forwards, head first.
To go backwards, you’ll bring your feet closer to your buttocks and push your arms forward slightly.
As you become faster at forwards and backwards movements, you’ll learn to stop them using the opposite input – so legs out to go forward and legs in and arms out to stop that.
The final step to starting as an indoor skydiver is to learn to change your fall rate, enabling you to, relatively speaking, fly up and down in the wind tunnel (of course, in the sky, this effect is simply increasing and decreasing the rate of descent).
To increase your fall rate (and go ‘down’), you’ll emphasize that stable arched position you learned at the beginning, pushing forward more with your hips. You’ll also bring your arms in a little toward your body, thus decreasing your surface area and allowing you to fall faster.
To decrease your fall rate is the opposite; rather than pushing forwards with the hips, you’ll relax them and think instead about cupping the air with your chest and using your arms and legs to make yourself as big as possible. This will slow you down and mean you can fly ‘up’.
Ready to learn how to indoor skydive? The instructors at Paraclete XP can’t wait to assist you in your exciting journey towards mastering body flight. View indoors skydiving prices or reserve your flight today!
Tags: indoor skydiving tips | <urn:uuid:f6f9a6f5-f65f-4e4d-8bdb-f7b924219297> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://paracletexp.com/2017/02/15/how-to-indoor-skydive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046155322.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20210805032134-20210805062134-00097.warc.gz | en | 0.931006 | 991 | 2.75 | 3 |
by Kisari Mohan Ganguli | 2,566,952 words | ISBN-10: 8121505933
The English translation of the Mahabharata is a large text describing ancient India. It is authored by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa and contains the records of ancient humans. Also, it documents the fate of the Kauravas and the Pandavas family. Another part of the large contents, deal with many philosophical dialogues such as the goals of life. Book...
'O mighty-armed one, it will, without doubt, be even as you have said! Never will Duryodhana give up the kingdom by peaceful means, and Dhritarashtra, who dotes on his son, will follow him in his wish. And so will Bhishma and Drona from imbecility, and Karna and Sakuni from folly. The words of Valadeva command themselves to my judgment; the course pointed out by him should, indeed, be followed by a man who desires peaceful settlement. But Duryodhana should never be addressed in mild words. Vicious by nature, he, I believe cannot be brought to reason by mildness. In respect of an ass, mildness is in place; but in respect of animals of the bovine species, severity should be resorted to. If any one were to speak mild words to Duryodhana, vicious by nature that wicked wight would consider the speaker to be an imbecile person. If a mild course is adopted towards him, the fool will think that he has won. Let us do even this, let us make preparations; let us send word to our friends that they may collect an army for us.
Let speedy messengers go to Salya, and Dhrishtaketu, and Jayatsena, and the prince of the Kekayas. Duryodhana also, on his part, will send word to all the kings, Rightminded persons, however, respond to the request of those that first beseech them. Therefore, I ask you to make haste in first preferring your suit to these rulers of men. Meseems that a great undertaking is awaiting us. Quickly send word to Salya, and to the kings under him, and to king Bhagadatta of immeasurable valour residing on the eastern sea-coast, and to fierce Hardikya, and Ahuka, and the king of the Mallas of powerful understanding, and Rocamana.
Let Vrihanta be summoned and king Senavindu, and Vahlika and Mudjakesa and the ruler of the Chedis, and Suparsva, Suvahu; and that great hero, Paurava; and also the kings of the Sakas, the Pahlavas, and the Daradas, and Surari, and Nadija, and king Karnavest, and Nila, and the valiant king Viradharman; and Durjaya, and Dantavakra, and Rukmi, and Janamejaya; and Ashada and Vayuvega, and king Purvapali; and Bhuritejas, and Devaka, and Ekalaya with his sons; and also the kings of the Krausha race, and the valiant Kshemamurti, and the kings of the Kamboja and the Richika tribes, and of the western sea-coast; and Jayatsena and the king of Kashi, and the rulers of the land of the five rivers, and the proud son of Kratha, and the rulers of the mountain regions, and Janaki, and Susarman and Maniman, and Potimatsyaka, and the valiant Dhrishtaketu, and the ruler of the kingdom of Pansu; and Paundra, and Dandadhara, and the brave Vrihatsena; and Aparajita, and Nishada and Srenimat and Vasumat; and Vrihadvala of great strength, and Vahu the conqueror of hostile cities; and the warlike king Samudrasena with his son; and Uddhava, and Kshemaka and king Vatadhana; and Srutayus, and Dridhayus, and the gallant son of Salva; and the king of the Kalingas, and Kumara, unconquerable in battle.
Speedily send word to these. This is what recommends itself to me. And let this my priest, learned Brahmana, be sent, O king, to Dhritarashtra. Tell him the words he is to say and what Duryodhana should be told; and how Bhishma is to be addressed, and how Drona, that best of car-warriors!"
This concludes Section IV of Book 5 (Udyoga Parva) of the Mahabharata, of which an English translation is presented on this page. This book is famous as one of the Itihasa, similair in content to the eighteen Puranas. Book 5 is one of the eighteen books comprising roughly 100,000 Sanskrit metrical verses.
FAQ (frequently asked questions):
Which keywords occur in Section IV of Book 5 of the Mahabharata?
The most relevant definitions are: Duryodhana, Jayatsena, Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, Drona, Salya; since these occur the most in Book 5, Section IV. There are a total of 56 unique keywords found in this section mentioned 66 times.
What is the name of the Parva containing Section IV of Book 5?
Can I buy a print edition of Section IV as contained in Book 5?
Yes! The print edition of the Mahabharata contains the English translation of Section IV of Book 5 and can be bought on the main page. The author is Kisari Mohan Ganguli and the latest edition (including Section IV) is from 2012. | <urn:uuid:7919d9b2-ec16-4e7d-97de-b6054c57facb> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-mahabharata-mohan/d/doc374935.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662517018.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20220517063528-20220517093528-00244.warc.gz | en | 0.936568 | 1,270 | 2.828125 | 3 |
31: KING GEORGE III, 1810 Manuscript Document Signed
Scarce Manuscript Document Signed "George R" as KingKING GEORGE III. King of England during the Revolutionary and War of 1812 Era.
May 23, 1810, Manuscript Document Signed, "George R" as King, 1 page, 12" x 16", on Vellum, St. James's, Very Fine. In this rare, original form, he appoints, "James Woodhouse... Deputy Assistant Commissary General to Our Forces". It is also signed by Home Secretary "R. Ryder" and Secretaries from the War Office. With its original blue and white wax and paper Seal and Revenue Seal. It is close at right edge with expected light folds and wear, with some offsetting and foxing, mostly to lower blank margin. Boldly signed in brown above the seal at the upper left corner.
This document was signed while the King suffered from blindness due to terrible cataracts. Later that year, the death of his youngest daughter and favorite, Princess Amelia, precipitated a breakdown that would lead to the regency of the Prince of Wales, the future George IV.
Early American will accept payment by check or credit card. | <urn:uuid:d1ccd328-faef-4917-8950-edcf265d2bb1> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6603086_king-george-iii-1810-manuscript-document-signed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701157075.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193917-00121-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943871 | 253 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The transmission of rabies to humans by infected wild and domestic animals remains a threat to human health. Cases of rabies continue in Colorado today, although the last known human rabies case was in 1931.
All mammals can get rabies and usually contract the disease by a bite from an infected animal. Because rabies affects the brain, signs in animals and people include abnormal behavior change. Nocturnal animals, like bats, may come out during the day. After a bite, it may take several months for rabies signs to develop, but once signs develop in humans or animals, the disease is fatal. Luckily, rabies is a preventable disease through vaccination and proper after-bite care.
All domestic pets, including horses and livestock, should be vaccinated against rabies. Your veterinarian can vaccinate your animals for rabies, which is required for pet licensing in the towns of Delta County. If you live in incorporated parts of Delta County, contact your town hall to see if licensing is required. Although licensing in unincorporated Delta County is currently not required, rabies vaccination is still strongly recommended to keep you and your pet safe. All dog bites are required to be reported to the Health Department in order for the dog to be quarantined and observed.
To decrease the risk of rabies, do not handle wildlife or bats, and report any rabies suspects to an animal control officer. If bitten, wash the wound immediately and contact your physician if you suspect the animal was rabid. Remember, a bat bite or scratch is an emergency! | <urn:uuid:10b65cc1-8ede-4068-9a3e-42f64094ba2a> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://www.deltacounty.com/454/Rabies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247494694.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20190220085318-20190220111318-00482.warc.gz | en | 0.951296 | 313 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Free Online Dictionary
|Wikipedia English The Free Encyclopedia||Download this dictionary|
A compact newspaper is a broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format, especially one in the United Kingdom. The term is used also for this size (not to be confused with 4.25 × 6.75 inches or 108 × 171 mm paper sizes) came into use in its current use when The Independent began producing a smaller format edition for London's commuters, designed to be easier to read when using mass transit.
|See more at Wikipedia.org...|
The following video provides you with the correct English pronunciation of the word "Compact (newspaper)", to help you become a better English speaker.
© This article uses material from Wikipedia® and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
| Compact (newspaper) in English
You think you have ethics... Take the survey NOW! | <urn:uuid:eaa64b3d-fa70-45c7-95fa-3d2544eaaeef> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.babylon.com/definition/Compact%20(newspaper)/English?uil=English&uris=!!ARV6FUJ2JP&tid=Definition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163051789/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131731-00037-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.887383 | 193 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Posted by Jonathan Gerstell on May 17, 2013
The results from Monday's midterm elections in the Philippines are in, with President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's Liberal Party and his ruling coalition "Team PNoy" (named after their leader) coming out on top. Although President Aquino himself was not up for reelection (his 6-year term expires in 2016, after which he may not run again), success in the elections was considered vital for his agenda. In addition to maintaining its control of the House of Representatives, Team PNoy is poised to pick up nine of the 12 contested Senate seats this cycle, making Aquino the first president since the restoration of democracy in 1986 to have majorities in both houses of Congress.
As a former American colony that elects a component of its national legislature using proportional representation, the Philippines' elections are of particular interest. But because of the unusual nature of the proportional seats and the unique characteristics of the politics of the Philippines, few conclusions can be drawn from these elections about how proportional systems could work in other American-style democracies.
The elections in the Philippines come on the heels of a controversial decision by the country's Supreme Court on its party list system, used to elect 20% of the seats in the House of Representatives. Under the terms of the Philippines' 1987 Constitution, 80% of the seats in the House are comprised of single-member geographic districts, with the rest of the seats reserved for at-large party list seats. The party list component of the House does not follow the traditional model of simply giving each party seats in proportion to their nationwide vote share. Instead, the framers of the 1987 Constitution mandated that the party list must represent "labour, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector." The goal of this system, as articulated in a 1995 law, was to "enable Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties... to become members of the House of Representatives."
The results of the party list have been mixed. Because parties running for list seats needed to be independent of the national parties, the system provides the opportunity for marginalized groups to express themselves in government. In reality, however, critics have noted that many of the representatives coming from the PR tier are relatives of the prosperous and well-connected political elite that dominates Philippine society. Nevertheless, the party list has created a small degree of proportional representation and allowed groups representing senior citizens, women, farmers, and others to participate in governance.
The manner in which parties are elected to the PR tier is unique and somewhat complex. All parties that receive 2% or more of the vote receive a seat, although a party receiving 6% or more of the vote is capped at three seats. Since a 2009 Supreme Court ruling, any of the 55 seats in the PR tier that remain are allocated to parties receiving less than 2% of the vote until all seats are filled.
That brings us back to the most recent Supreme Court ruling on April 5th, 2013, which altered the nature of the PR tier just over a month before the election. The Court ruled that national and regional parties could now run in the party list along with marginalized and underrepresented groups. The Court remanded to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the petitions of 39 parties that Comelec had previously denied entrance to the party list. Although the major parties, such as Aquino's Liberal Party, may not run directly in the PR tier, the ruling allows for larger parties, potentially affiliated with the major parties, to run in the elections.
Reaction to the ruling has been divided. Unsurprisingly, previously-banned parties that are now allowed to participate, such as the Ako Bicol party, support the ruling, arguing that it provides much-needed reforms and includes safeguards to protect the system from abuse by the rich and powerful. Constitutional scholar and retired justice Vicente Mendoza lauded the decision as well, noting that the intent of the Constitution all along was to open up the party list to non-sectoral groups after a certain amount of time. Criticism of the ruling, however, has been strong as well, with party list groups as well as watchdogs warning that the decision "opened the floodgates for powerful, filthy rich and long-established personalities and groups to infiltrate and dominate the world of real marginalized and underrepresented sectors," as one recent op-ed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer put it.
But a look at the party list winners of Monday's elections shows that the claims of both those supporting and opposing the ruling were likely overstated. The latest vote totals released by Comelec show the Buhay party list in the lead, with a little over a million votes (4.7% of total votes cast). Buhay is a pro-life party founded by the multimillionaire leader of the charismatic Catholic religious group El Shaddai, Mike Velarde, and had been allowed to run and win seats in the 2010 election. Fourth-place finisher Akbayan, meanwhile, has members serving in the executive branch and was explicitly endorsed by President Aquino; it too has been running in the PR tier for years. The Court's ruling did little to affect the underlying fact of the concentration of political power in the elite families of the Philippines, a problem that is by no means unique to the party list. Philippine society on the whole is dominated by celebrities and a handful of political dynasties. The presence of the wealthy elite in the PR tier is less a cause than it is a symptom of deeper problems in the politics of the Philippines.
Consequently, the success or failure of the Philippines' current party list system cannot be used to predict the results of applying proportional representation to other countries currently using winner-take-all, simply because the system itself and the politics surrounding it are so unusual.
Furthermore, there is not an obvious electoral solution to prescribe for the Philippines to address all the unique challenges its political system faces. However, many of the problems that continue to plague elections in the Philippines, such as uncompetitive elections and distorted outcomes, are common in winner-take-all systems. Shifting away from the current party list system, which comprises a small tier that gives a few representatives to minor interests, to a more broadly proportional system that accurately represents all parties, viewpoints, and interests in the nation would likely benefit the Philippines in the long term. | <urn:uuid:abf791ae-8932-4237-93d8-88f0dafa7273> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.fairvote.org/philippines-holds-elections-using-degree-of-proportional-representation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738660342.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173740-00086-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971145 | 1,330 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Primary Documents - Geneva Protocol, 17 June 1925
With the Allies emerging victorious from World War One there was a desire to reaffirm the pre-war principles forbidding the use of chemical weapons during wartime, although provisions existed in the Versailles Treaty banning Germany from either manufacturing or importing such weapons.
The U.S. took the lead at the Washington Disarmament Conference in 1922 in proposing a treaty governing the use of submarines and noxious gases. While the Senate passed the treaty without a dissenting vote the French government objected to its submarine provisions. The treaty thus never entered into force (French ratification being necessary).
Once again at the 1925 Geneva Conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the U.S. government took an active stance in seeking to prohibit the export of gases for use in war. France suggested that a protocol be drawn up on non-use of poisonous gases; at Poland's suggestion the prohibition was extended to bacteriological weapons.
The protocol was signed on 17 June 1925. In the years prior to World War Two most major powers ratified the protocol, except the U.S. and Japan. The British reserved the right to waive the protocol if in time of war their enemies were to disregarded the terms of the agreement.
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare
Opened for signature: 17 June 1925, entered into force: 8 February 1928
The undersigned Plenipotentiaries, in the name of their respective governments:
Whereas the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilised world; and
Whereas the prohibition of such use has been declared in Treaties to which the majority of Powers of the world are Parties; and
To the end that this prohibition shall be universally accepted as a part of International Law, binding alike the conscience and the practice of nations;
That the High Contracting Parties, so far as they are not already Parties to Treaties prohibiting such use, accept this prohibition, agree to extend this prohibition to the use of bacteriological methods of warfare and agree to be bound as between themselves according to the terms of this declaration.
The High Contracting Parties will exert every effort to induce other States to accede to the present Protocol. Such accession will be notified to the Government of the French Republic, and by the latter to all signatories and acceding Powers, and will take effect on the date of the notification by the Government of the French Republic
The present Protocol, of which the English and French texts are both authentic, shall be ratified as soon as possible. It shall bear to-day's date.
The ratifications of the present Protocol shall be addressed to the Government of the French Republic, which will at once notify the deposit of such ratification to each of the signatory and acceding Powers.
The instruments of ratification of and accession to the present Protocol will remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the French Republic.
The present Protocol will come into force for each signatory Power as from the date of deposit of its ratification, and, from that moment, each Power will be bound as regards other Powers which have already deposited their ratifications.
In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Protocol.
Done at Geneva in a single copy, the seventeenth day of June, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Five.
A "gutzer" was slang for a stroke of bad luck.
- Did you know? | <urn:uuid:a15e59e7-24c8-45fc-bfe6-7d7d2e613b11> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://firstworldwar.com/source/genevaprotocol.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860112231.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161512-00154-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947064 | 751 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Key Words with Peter and Jane: Mountain Adventure (Book 12b)
Age Range: 5 – 8 years
Book 12b explores Peter and Jane’s mountain adventure in 131 new words, including ‘ goodbye’, ‘suggested’, ‘clouds’ and ‘discussed’. Once this book has been completed, the child moves on to book 12c.
The Key Words with Peter and Jane books work because each of the key words is introduced gradually and repeated frequently. This builds confidence in children when they recognise these key words on sight (also known as the ‘look and say’ method of learning). Examples of key words are: the, one, two, he.
There are 12 levels, each with 3 books: a, b, and c.
Gradually introduces new words. | <urn:uuid:99ffc293-c634-43f7-874f-72fd675be2ea> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://booknook.store/product/key-words-with-peter-and-jane-mountain-adventure-book-12b/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039490226.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20210420183658-20210420213658-00398.warc.gz | en | 0.925434 | 175 | 3.375 | 3 |
Salabat Khans II Tomb (Chandbibi Mahal)
This monument is the tomb of Salabat Khan II; the minister of Muethaza I (1565-1588 AD), the later himself was a builder of note. This tomb is an excellent example of Nizam Shahi architecture, which indicates a departure from the usual single chambered square type of tomb. The tomb is locally known as Chand-bibi-ka-mahal and it is located on a small hill and commanding a view of the surrounding countryside. Built on a lofty octagonal terrace of stone about 91.44 m in width and 3.66 m in height, the tomb consists of an octagonal hall about 3.66 m across surrounded by a three storied verandah about 6.1 m broad, the sides of which are faced with alternate open and closed arches, the later being provided with a number of smaller arched opening placed symmetrically. The whole building rises to a height of about 21.4m.
Located near Ahmednagar Fort, 1567 A.D. In Sahir Khan established the Dumdani mosque. The mosque is known for its extensive size and inscriptions. Here are the graves of Europe people and others. The Mughal archaeological site – a replica of the Dumdi mosque, is found in Gujarat.
Kotla Of Twelve Imams
The remarkable mosque is called as Kotala of Bara Imams (fort of twelve saints).It was built by Burhan Nizam Shah in 1536 AD under the advice of his minister Shah Tahir when Burhan embraced the Shia faith. Burhan Shah presented the mosque to Shah Tahir and intended it as a charitable institution and collage.
The enclosure wall (91*91 m) is built of dressed trap stone and lime. It has two entrances on the east and south side. Kotala of twelve Imamas is a typical example of Nizam Shahi architecture, which is famous for its carved decorative arch pier and arch recesses and parapet. It consists of single of a single prayer hall of three aisles, each having five bays deep, and has flat roof. It is very beautiful example of very well balance architecture, neat design, and fine workmanship.
Kot Bagh Nizam
In order to wreak his revenge on the Bahamani king, who had distrusted and sought to destroy him, Ahmed Nizam Shah,as Malik ahmed now called himself, decided to destroy Daulatabad. He shifted his headquarter from Junnar near Pune ,to Ahmednagar, in order to come within striking distance of Daulatabad which lay 75 miles south-west of Ahmednagar. The foundation of city of Ahmenadgar was laid in 1494 on the left bank of Sina river. In the centre of the city was the Bagh Nizam (the Garden of Victory). In 1499,Malik Ahmed has his revenge. He captured Daulatabad Fort and destroyed the Bahamin kingdom. To commemorate this second victory, he raised a wall around the Bagh Nizam.the Bagh Nizam Later become Ahmednagar Fort.
The Bagh Rauza
It was the residence of Ahmad Nizamshah, built with historical monuments, black stone. This place was once a house of Ahmed Nizam Shah. It was built by King Nizami in the 16th century. This entire monument is made of black stone which is very close to Delhi Gate. When tourists come here to visit, a stone monument is said to be that, in 1565, Ghulam Ali belongs to a dynasty who knew himself in the Battle of the Tankkit against King Vijayanagara. Ghulam Ali was in the third period of Nizamshah.
Faria Bagh Palace
This place was built for the memory of Nizam Shah’s son Burhan Shah, who crown at age of seven in 1508 . This palace reflects ancient art and culture. This garden is in shape of octagonal . Here is a large dome-shaped hall. Nizam Shahi Raja was playing chess in the palace.
This fort has a history of 500 years. Ahmed Badshahshah, the founder of Nizamshahi, built the fort in 1490 AD before the city was set up. The edge of this fort is 1 mile 80 yard and the fort has 22 towers. There is an immaculate fortification around the fort and there are a wide ditch around it. During the British period, the bridge was built on the rear side in 1832, and still remains remains.
Mounted Parade of the 4th Regiment, Light Dragoons, Ahmednagar, 1981
The Mughal period was followed by half a century of Maratha rule. In 1803, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington captured the Ahmendnagar Fort, but handed it over to Peshwa. the British Army firmly took possession of Ahmednagar in 1817 & remained thereafter. In 1830,the British Army began to arrive at Ahmednagar, which became a full fledged British garrison. In 1849,the local farmers complained to the collector that their cultivation was being destroyed by the Artillery units carrying out ball practice. The collector asked the Army to acquire the land being occupied by them. From 1849 to 1852, the British Army acquired 400 acres of land around the Fort & construction of the Cantonment commenced. As per detailed accounts published in the Ahmednagar Gazetteer in 1882,a batter of Field Artillery, our companies of European Infantry ,& one company of Indian Infantry were garrisoned at Ahmednagar at the time. In 1913 a Remount Depot was established to house 500 horses. By 1887,the Army had acquired a total of 559 acres of land in Ahmednagar.
St John’s Catholic Church
St. John’s Catholic Church is a classic exhibition of British-era architecture. A large number of military units were deployed in Ahmednagar in the 18th Century, but there was no nearby place for their holy revival, even back pockets from Keraki.Being a historical monument, St. John’s Church is a major tourist attraction of Ahmednagar. According to the Church register, the Oxiliary Horse Cavalry was the first British Army unit to arrive in 1817. Then by 1830, a large number of troops were sent to the East India Company, and this place became a major camp.
There are many graves of British soldiers deployed in Ahmednagar in the burial chamber of the church. The Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopalian Church on the south-east are close to the other two churches. The St. Johns Catholic Church is in Bhingar, in the outskirts of Ahmednagar.
Aurangzeb, located in Khulatabad village, was the last of the great Mughal emperors. After Shivaji Maharaj’s death in 1680, Aurangzeb won the entire Deccan Empire and brought under his rule. He established his kingdom near Bhinger and in 1707 he remained there till 91 years of age. They were buried here. In the same grave complex, Aurangzeb’s second son, Azam Shah, and his wife have a Samadhi too.
Headquarters, Armoured Corps Centre
In 1921, six car companies came to Ahmednagar to train the administrative staff of the Royal Tank Corps, in 1924, to set up the Royal Tank Corps School.
Land of Ahmednagar is made holy by many saints born on this land. One of them is Jain saint Shri Anand Rishiji Maharaj. Postal department has issued a multi-colored of Rs. 4/- stamp in honour of renowned Acharya Anand Rishiji Maharaj. Acharya Anand Rishiji Maharaj was one such soul, whose contributions in the social & educational spheres have been a prolific & significant as his spiritual guidance to his followers. He was born at Shiral Chichondi ,Ahmednagar in August 1900 & received initiation from Ratan Rishiji Maharaj at the age of 13, thereby formally committing himself to a life of spiritual pursuits & service to humanity. His teachings were deep rooted in love, non- violence & tolerance. He was proficient in nine languages & wrote extensively in Marathi and Hindi. He had founded numerous educational & religious institutions & also rejuvenated many ailing institutions & founded magazines . He was bestowed with the title of “Acharya” in the year 1965 & left for his heavenly abode in the year 1992. The place Anand Dham is developed in his memory.
Ahmednagar historical museum and Research Centre
Ahmednagar historical museum was established in May 1960. Located near Collector office, this museum has a unique collection of coins miniature paintings, sculptures, weapons, turbans & manuscripts etc. There is a special section of Ganesh idols, original painting of Chattrapati Sambhaji Maharaja, Chainless bicycle of Germany, Tantrik Ganapati, Sanskrit – Marathi dictionary, 200 feet long horoscope are some of the attractions of this museum, the revolving stage of the famous Marathi Drama ‘To me navhech’ is donated to this museum.
(On Thursdays, the museum remains closed. On other days, visiting time – 10 am to 5 pm.)
In the tank museum, British-style guns and balls are kept. Cavalry Tank Museum located near Armand Corp Centre and School Centre. This museum was inaugurated in 1994 by B.C. Joshi. Is the only museum in Asia .Many ammunition and weapons used during the reign of many rulers are kept here. Here also the tanks in 40 countries have been displayed which are unique.
Meher Baba’s Samadhi
Meher Baba (February 25, 1894 – January 31, 1969) (born Mayrawan Sheriyar Irani) was an Indian mystic and spiritual teacher. Etc. S In 1954, he announced that he was an incarnation of this age.In childhood, no signs of spiritual interest were seen among them. In the nineteenth year of age, he was introduced to Hazrat Babaji, a Muslim monk and started a seven-year spiritual transformation process.
In the next few months, they contacted other spiritual beings. He stayed with Pausani Maharaj for seven years. Later they started public work. In Persian language, Meher Baba means ‘Merciful Father’. Some of the early followers named them. He has done many charitable activities for henchmen, poor and mentally ill.
Shukleshwar Mandir, Bhingar
This temple is about thousand years old. It is from the period of Ramayana. Bhrunghrushi’s son Shukracharya had done great penance (tapashcharya) to please the Lord Shankara on the west side of Samanga river. As per Nanasaheb Peshwe’s order Sadashiv Bhau was about to leave for the battle of Panipat to commemorate this event Shukleshwar temple was redevelopment and lighting tower was put in front of the temple. Maharudra abhishek was performed in the temple. In 1757 Nizam of Hyderabad had visited Nagar’s Fort & erected a statue of Belbhandar in front of Shukleshwar temple. This is mentioned by Shri Vishwas Patil in his Panipat Kadambari in reference of Bhingar’s Shukleshwar temple.
Narsimha Temple, Bhatavaidi Pargaon
From Nagar about 17km distance Bhatodi Gaon there is stone wall about 400-450 years old near pond kala vantinis palace,Ekengbazi ground and famous Nrusinh Mandir. Here is Tandala instead of Narsinh statue. Infront of this statue there is small window from that we can take Durvatache darshan . | <urn:uuid:2ffeab63-12fb-4649-abca-f0abb0f6ae10> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://ahmednagar.nic.in/ahmednagar-sites/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794872114.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20180528072218-20180528092218-00362.warc.gz | en | 0.972346 | 2,530 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Thomas Paine, Freemason Or Deist?Thomas Paine (1737-1809) — who wrote and fought for American independence from England, encouraged the abolition of slavery,[i] helped shape Pennsylvania's constitution,[ii] advocated a restructuring of English government,[iii] argued against the death penalty,[iv] participated in France's legislature,[v] and "laid out the first design of a modern welfare state,"[vi] among other undertakings[vii] — has been described as "the first man to practice revolution as a sole reason for being."[viii] While his life and texts have continued to offer encouragement in political struggles across the globe,[ix] questions remain about the nature of his affiliation with the influential and often intersecting movements of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Freemasonry and Deism. What, then, was Thomas Paine's connection with the Masonic Order? In Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom, Jack Fruchtman writes that there is insufficient evidence to answer this with certainty: "It has long been questioned whether Paine was a member of the Masons. There is no definitive proof either way. There is no specific date known on which he joined nor a specific lodge to which he was attached."[x] Nonetheless, Masonic membership has frequently been ascribed to him. This is seen, for example, in the tendency of some American Grand Lodges, during the 1990's, to publish brochures that placed Paine on the roster of famous Masons.[xi] "The Real Secret of Freemasonry," one such informational brochure put out by the Grand Lodge of Oregon, states: "The pantheon of Masons holds George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, among others."[xii] Various Masonic Web-sites continue to make similar claims about Paine and Freemasonry, as well.[xiii] Paine biographer Bernard Vincent devotes a chapter of The Transatlantic Republican: Thomas Paine and the Age of Revolutions to "Thomas Paine, the Masonic Order, and the American Revolution,"[xiv] and offers several explanations for the inclination to consider him a Mason: While working on my Tom Paine biography, I was intrigued from the outset by the fact that all of a sudden, within just a few weeks or months, and as if by magic, Paine leaped from his obscure humdrum existence in England—where he had worked as a corset-maker and Excise officer—onto the American literary and political stage, there to become, at the age of almost forty, one of the leading lights of the Revolutionary movement. How was it that a man who was little short of a failure in his native country became acquainted so rapidly with the most prominent figures in the Colonies, even becoming a friend of theirs in many cases? How can one account for the quickness of his ascent and the suddenness of his glory? One way of accounting for this, one hypothesis (which has several times been made), is to consider that Paine became a Freemason and that, as such, he enjoyed, first in America, then in England and France, the kindly assistance of certain lodges or of certain individual Masons.[xv] Vincent himself rejects this hypothesis, however, due to a lack of corroborative evidence. While it is certain that Washington and Franklin, for example, were Masons, there is no equivalent support for such a claim about Paine. (Franklin, who provided Paine with a letter of introduction before the latter departed England for the American colonies, is discussed in greater detail below.) Assertions of Paine's Masonic membership also rest on the fact that between 1803 and 1805, after returning to America from England and France, he penned the essay "Origin of Free-Masonry."[xvi] For some, Paine's curiosity about Freemasonry and his decision to write about it have been, in and of themselves, sufficient proof that he was a Mason. However, Vincent rejects this line of reasoning as well: Paine's interest in Freemasonry was such that toward the end his life, in 1805, he wrote a lengthy piece entitled An Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry . . . But this does not prove, any more than any other detail or fact that we know of, that Paine was a Mason. There is indeed no formal trace of his initiation or membership in England, none in America, and none in France. Questioned about Paine's membership . . . the United Grand Lodge of England had only this to answer: "In the absence of any record of his initiation, it must, therefore, be assumed he was not a member of the order."[xvii] Apart from the question of his own membership in the fraternity, Paine certainly had several close friends who were members of the Order,[xviii] such as Nicolas de Bonneville. Paine biographer Samuel Edwards depicts Bonneville as an active Mason who "was convinced that the principles and aims of Masonry, if applied to the world's ailments, would bring peace and prosperity to all nations."[xix] While living in France, Paine resided at the home of Bonneville and his family, and Fruchtman suggests that Bonneville introduced Paine to the philosophies of Freemasonry and Theophilanthropism.[xx] The bond between the two men was quite strong, and Bonneville's wife — Marguerite — and three sons (one of whom was named Thomas Paine Bonneville)[xxi] eventually followed Paine to America.[xxii] William M. VanderWeyde, in The Life and Works of Thomas Paine, also mentions Paine's Masonic acquaintances, while at the same time emphasizing that Paine's friendships do not constitute evidence of his belonging to the fraternity: "Paine was the author of an interesting and highly instructive treatise on the Origin of Freemasonry . . . but, although many of his circle of friends were undoubtedly members of that order, no conclusive proof has ever been adduced that Paine was a Mason."[xxiii] Likewise, Moncure Daniel Conway proposes that "Paine's intimacy in Paris with Nicolas de Bonneville and Charles Francoise Dupuis, whose writings are replete with masonic speculations, sufficiently explains his interest in the subject" of Freemasonry, though he himself was not a Mason.[xxiv] Marguerite de Bonneville published Paine's "Origin of Free-Masonry" in 1810, after his death, but chose to omit certain passages from it that were critical of Christianity. (Despite his use of the Bible to support his arguments in such works as Common Sense and The Crisis, Paine was strongly opposed to Christianity, and indeed to organized religion in general, and sought to debunk the Bible in his later writings, including The Age of Reason.)[xxv] Most of these omissions were restored in a subsequent printing, in 1818.[xxvi] Paine's central premise in "Origin of Free-Masonry" is that the Order "is derived and is the remains of the religion of the ancient Druids; who, like the Magi of Persia and the Priests of Heliopolis in Egypt, were Priests of the Sun."[xxvii] The idea that Freemasonry derived from the Druids did not begin with Paine and has been advanced by others after him.[xxviii] According to Paine, however, this Druidic origin is the deepest secret of Freemasonry, from which its unique concealments and rituals extend: The natural source of secrecy is fear. When any new religion over-runs a former religion, the professors of the new become the persecutors of the old . . . [W]hen the Christian religion over-ran the religion of the Druids . . . the Druids became the subject of persecution. This would naturally and necessarily oblige such of them as remained attached to their original religion to meet in secret, and under the strongest injunctions of secrecy. Their safety depended upon it. A false brother might expose the lives of many of them to destruction; and from the remains of the religion of the Druids, thus preserved, arose the institution which, to avoid the name of Druid, took that of Mason, and practiced under this new name the rites and ceremonies of Druids. [xxix] Masonic author Albert G. Mackey quips in his History of Freemasonry that Paine "knew, by the way, as little of Masonry as he did of the religion of the Druids."[xxx] He calls the essay "frivolous" and Paine "a mere sciolist in the subject of what he presumptuously sought to treat."[xxxi] He is only slightly more charitable toward Paine in An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, allowing that "[f]or one so little acquainted with his subject, he has treated it with considerable ingenuity."[xxxii] Echoing this verdict, Masonic historian Joseph Fort Newton writes: "The notion that [Paine] was a Mason is probably due to the fact that he wrote an essay on Freemasonry, but the essay, while ingenious in its argument, betrays a vast incomprehension of the Order."[xxxiii] Indeed, it is evident from "Origin of Free-Masonry" that Paine was not very knowledgeable of the Craft — though this does not in itself prove he was not a Mason when he wrote it. Paine's general tone, however, shows him to be an outsider trying to assess what is in the Order, rather than a member of it, and that, more than anything else, indicates that he was not a Mason when he composed the essay. For example, after referring to certain statements about Freemasonry made by the Provincial Grand Master of Kent, Captain George Smith, in the latter's The Use and Abuse of Free-Masonry (1783), Paine declares: It sometimes happens, as well in writing as in conversation, that a person lets slip an expression that serves to unravel what he intends to conceal, and this is the case with Smith, for in the same chapter he says, "The Druids, when they committed any thing to writing, used the Greek alphabet, and I am bold to assert that the most perfect remains of the Druids' rites and ceremonies are preserved in the customs and ceremonies of the Masons that are to be found existing among mankind." "My brethren" says he, "may be able to trace them with greater exactness than I am at liberty to explain to the public." This is a confession from a Master Mason, without intending it to be so understood by the public, that Masonry is the remains of the religion of the Druids . . . [xxxiv] These are not the words of a man who is himself a Master Mason, but rather of one who is guessing at what secrets a Master Mason knows and may be inadvertently revealing. Paine, as an outsider, mistakes Smith's personal conjecture for an inadvertent confession. If he was not a Master Mason when he wrote the essay, could Paine have been an Entered Apprentice or a Fellow-Craft? It is difficult to argue that Paine was curious enough about Freemasonry's origin and philosophy to write seriously about the fraternity, and also to begin the Craft degrees, but that he did not wait until completing them before finishing his essay. In fact, Paine opens "Origin of Free-Masonry" by contending that Master Masons are privy to information about the fraternity's origins of which other Masons are ignorant: The Society of Masons are distinguished into three classes or degrees. 1st. The Entered Apprentice. 2d. The Fellow Craft. 3d. The Master Mason. The Entered Apprentice knows but little more of Masonry than the use of signs and tokens, and certain steps and words by which Masons can recognize each other without being discovered by a person who is not a Mason. The Fellow Craft is not much better instructed in Masonry, than the Entered Apprentice. It is only in the Master Mason's Lodge, that whatever knowledge remains of the origin of Masonry is preserved and concealed.[xxxv] Had he begun the Masonic degrees, Paine would presumably have sought all the first-hand knowledge they offered, and would have waited until he had gained access to it before concluding his essay. It is likely that he was not at all a member of the fraternity during the essay's composition, and was writing as an outsider, although one with close associates within the Order. In a recent article on Paine and Freemasonry in the English quarterly Freemasonry Today, David Harrison speculates that "[i]f Paine did enter into Freemasonry, it would have been during the period of the American Revolution, his life being at the epicentre of the social elite at that time, his closeness to Franklin, Washington, Lafayette and Monroe suggesting that he was undoubtedly aware of their Masonic membership."[xxxvi] Paine's "Origin of Free-Masonry," however, indicates that despite his closeness to these men, he did not, in fact, enter into Freemasonry then. Years after the revolution, he wrote about the fraternity as an uninitiated outsider. Despite this, facets of Paine's thought may be said to correspond to certain Masonic principles. In The Age of Reason — of which "Origin of Free-Masonry" may have originally been intended to be a part[xxxvii] — for example, Paine expounds his religious beliefs: I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.[xxxviii] Such statements, which Joseph Fort Newton felt had a Masonic ring to them, prompted him to write of Paine in The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry: [T]hough not a Mason, [he] has left us an essay on The Origin of Freemasonry. Few men have ever been more unjustly and cruelly maligned than this great patriot, who was the first to utter the name "United States," and who, instead of being a sceptic, believed in "the religion in which all men agree" — that is, in God, Duty, and the immortality of the Soul.[xxxix] Similarly, Vincent maintains in The Transatlantic Republican that while Paine "probably never belonged to any specific fraternity, he nevertheless actively sympathized with the Masonic movement and the philosophy it espoused." In Vincent's view, "Masonic thought had much in common with [Paine's] own deistic outlook and his own cult of reason."[xl] The movements of Deism and Freemasonry often intersected in revolutionary France — where Fruchtman believes Paine was introduced to the Craft's philosophy — and in revolutionary America, where Herbert M. Morais contends that the "growth of deistic speculation was stimulated, not only by the spirit of the times, but also by the development of Freemasonry"[xli] and the infiltration of French culture.[xlii] Despite the fact that "the American Masonic movement was . . . distinctly Christian both in tone and deed . . . nevertheless, its prayers, addresses, and constitutions were written in such a manner that its members were unconsciously familiarized with deistic phraseology . . . [and] with deistic expressions."[xliii] Paine's Deistic-sounding creed in The Age of Reason (and this creed as masonically paraphrased by Newton) is quite similar to one articulated by Franklin — a self-described Deist,[xliv] as well as a prominent Mason[xlv] — in his Autobiography: "That there is one God who made all things. That he governs the World by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped by Adoration, Prayer & Thanksgiving. But that the most acceptable Service of God is doing Good to Man. That the Soul is immortal."[xlvi] Although, as Robert P. Falk notes in "Thomas Paine: Deist or Quaker?," Paine "nowhere states outright, as Franklin does, that he was a Ôthorough Deist,' Paine speaks of the religion always in terms of intimate sympathy,"[xlvii] and "it seems safe to conclude that Ôthe creed of Paine' was . . . Ôthe purest deism.'"[xlviii] Unlike Franklin, however, who was cautious about disparaging any religion, focusing instead on what he held to be the beliefs common to all faiths,[xlix] Paine was not aiming for a generic religious doctrine. Lacking what Vincent terms "the discreet Deism of leaders like Franklin or Jefferson," he was vocal in his opposition to organized religion,[l] following his above-quoted creed in The Age of Reason with an attack: I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches . . . appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.[li] Such declarations bought Paine many enemies, including among those who were formerly his friends.[lii] The difference in Paine and Franklin's approaches to writing about the sensitive topic of theology can be seen as an extension of the difference in their character. As Dixon Wecter describes it: Paine was a man whose keen though superficial genius included a rare personal gift for irritating all save a minority of kindred souls. Franklin's deeper and more stable character radiated a characteristic serenity; he was a master in the art of mollifying, with a pervasive charm as well as an essential common sense which Paine—despite his nom de plume—conspicuously lacked."[liii] Paine's confrontational religious approach is evident in "Origin of Free-Masonry," as well, where he writes that "the christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun."[liv] Further on, he depicts Druidism as a "wise, elegant, philosophical religion . . . the faith opposite to the faith of the gloomy Christian church."[lv] These sentiments, which had aroused so much anger while Paine lived, were what Madame Bonneville sought to remove from "Origin of Free-Masonry" when she published it after his death. Although Voltaire, for example, became a Mason shortly before passing away,[lvi] there is nothing to suggest that Paine became a Mason in the interval between composing "Origin of Free-Masonry" and his death a few years later, in 1809. As he was certainly not a Master Mason when he wrote the essay — and as there is no evidence he joined the fraternity after then — one may conclude, as have Mackey, Newton, and others,[lvii] that Paine was not a Mason. Still, though the "pantheon of Masons" does not include Thomas Paine, he remains connected to Freemasonry, if only due to his close friendships with members of the fraternity, to an affinity between aspects of its philosophy and his own outlook, and to his having written a distinctive essay on its origin.
[i] NOTES This article expands on two earlier ones: "Thomas Paine and Masonry," Journal of Radical History 10:3 (2010); and "Thomas Paine's Masonic Essay and the Question of his Membership in the Fraternity," Philalethes 63:4 (Fall 2010). [i] Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006), pp. 28-29 and 43-44; and Harry Harmer, Tom Paine: The Life of a Revolutionary (London: Haus Publishing, 2006), pp. 24-25.
[ii] Isaac Kramnick's "Editor's Introduction" to Paine's Common Sense (London: Penguin, 1986), p. 31.
[iii] Kramnick, "Editor's Introduction," p. 33.
[iv] Hitchens, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, p. 60.
[v] Kramnick, "Editor's Introduction," pp. 34-36.
[vi] Hitchens, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, p. 109; see also p. 120. Bernard Vincent devotes a chapter to "Paine's Agrarian Justice and the Birth of the Welfare State" in his The Transatlantic Republican: Thomas Paine and the Age of Revolutions (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005), pp. 125-135. Of the second part of Rights of Man, Harmer argues that Paine "described a scheme of universal social security financed through taxation, not perhaps a welfare state but one in which government took some action in the interest of all citizens." (Tom Paine, p. 80).
[vii] For a further brief listing of Paine's accomplishments, see Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, pp. 85-87 and 99-100; and Robert P. Falk, "Thomas Paine: Deist or Quaker?" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 62:1 (January 1938), p. 55. Kramnick ("Editor's Introduction," p. 28) believes Paine also supported women's rights. Hitchens, however, disagrees: "he was not a notable advocate of the rights of women" (Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, p. 98). So does Vincent, who considers Paine's attitude toward women's suffrage to have been pedestrian: "unlike Mary Wollstonecraft, Paine never went so far as to advocate franchise for women . . . For once, Paine failed to be a prophet" (The Transatlantic Republican, p. 124). Harmer sums up the matter well: "Paine showed himself to be an advanced thinker on the relationship between the sexes . . . Despite this, Paine remained enough of a prisoner of his time never to call for women to be given the vote" (Tom Paine, p. 25; see also p. 4).
[viii] Jerome D. Wilson and William F. Ricketson, Thomas Paine (Boston: Twayne Publisher, 1978), p. 163.
[ix] Hitchens, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, pp. 141-142; and Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 107.
[x] Jack Fruchtman, Jr., Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994), p. 491, note 28.
[xi] See "Famous Non-Masons" on the website Anti-Masonry: Points of View,
[xii] "The Real Secret of Freemasonry," published by authority of the Trustees of The Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Oregon (U.S.A.: Still Associates, 1990).
[xiii] See for example: The Key West Masons website, <http://www.keywestmason.com>, which has a page of famous Freemasons, among whom Paine is listed; and the website of the Scottish Rite Valley of Albany, New York,
, where a quote from the opening lines of The Crisis is attributed to "Bro. Thomas Paine."
[xiv] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, pp. 35-58, with a selected bibliography on pp. 59-64.
[xv] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 35.
[xvi] Jennifer N. Wunder, Keats, Hermeticism, and the Secret Societies (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), p. 37. Vincent (The Transatlantic Republican, p. 36) cites 1805 as the year "Origin of Free-Masonry" was written, as does Fruchtman (Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom, p. 49, note 29). In contrast, William Van der Weyde places its writing in 1803.
[xvii] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 36.
[xviii] Wunder describes how Diderot, Joseph Priestly, and Paine were "associated so closely and with so many Freemasons that they were grouped, de facto, with the Masons in publications of the period" (Keats, Hermeticism, and the Secret Societies, p. 35).
[xix] Samuel Edwards, Rebel! A Biography of Tom Paine (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974), p. 227.
[xx] Fruchtman, Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom, pp. 275 and 379-380. Paine was among the founders of the Society of Theophilanthropists (Friends of God and Man) in Paris. See Harmer, Tom Paine, p. 99.
[xxi] Harmer, Tom Paine, p. 99.
[xxii] Fruchtman, Thomas Paine, pp. 275 and 394-395.
[xxiii] William M. Van der Weyde, The Life and Works of Thomas Paine (New York: Thomas Paine National Historical Association, 1925), I, p. 171.
[xxiv] Thomas Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," in The Writings of Thomas Paine (ed. Moncure Daniel Conway; New York: AMS Press, 1967 reprint), IV, p. 290, note 1.
[xxv] See Hitchens, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, pp. 124-125; and Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, pp. 10, 89, 99, and 145. Vincent notes (pp. 126 and 129) that Paine also based his later case for a welfare state on the Bible.
[xxvi] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 290, note 1.
[xxvii] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 293.
[xxviii] Albert Gallatin Mackey addresses these ideas in his chapter on "Druidism and Freemasonry" in The History of Freemasonry (New York: The Masonic History Company, 1898), vol. 1, pp. 199-216. See also Andrew Prescott's lecture on "Druidic Myths and Freemasonry," on the website of The Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism,
; and Doug Pickford, "Temples of the Sons of May," Freemasonry Today 18 (Autumn 2001), < http://www.freemasonrytoday.com/18/p14.php>. (Pickford mentions Paine, and writes that he was not a Mason.)
[xxix] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 303.
[xxx] Mackey, The History of Freemasonry, I, p. 199.
[xxxi] Mackey, The History of Freemasonry, I, p. 216.
[xxxii] Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences (Philadelphia: Moss and Company, 1874), p. 559.
[xxxiii] Joseph Fort Newton, "Who's Who," The Builder Magazine 1:11 (November 1915), p. 276.
[xxxiv] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," pp. 294-295.
[xxxv] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," pp. 290-291.
[xxxvi] David Harrison, "Thomas Paine, Freemason?," Freemasonry Today 46 (Autumn 2008),
. Arguing the possibility that Paine became a Freemason during this time, Harrison continues: "Paine was certainly attracted to clubs and societies throughout his life, such as the White Hart Club which Paine attended when he was an exciseman in Lewes. He was a founding member of the first Anti-Slavery Society in America and he was involved in the society of Theophilanthropists and Philosophical Society . . . "
In contrast, Vincent argues: "A rugged individualist, Paine neither liked collective ceremonies nor secret practices . . . Both his nature and the lessons of experience made him loathe the idea of regimentation. He never was a declared member of any party or sect or church, and it is highly probable that he never joined the Masonic Order" (The Transatlantic Republican, p. 39).
[xxxvii] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 290, note 1.
[xxxviii] Paine, The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology (Boston: Josiah P. Mendum, 1852), Part 1, p. 6.
[xxxix] Newton, The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry (Iowa: The Torch Press, 1916), pp. 225-226, note 3.
[xl] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 35.
[xli] Herbert M. Morais, "Deism in Revolutionary America (1763-89)," International Journal of Ethics 42:4 (July 1932), p. 437.
[xlii] Morais, "Deism in Revolutionary America (1763-89)," pp. 436, 437, 442, and 452.
[xliii] Morais, "Deism in Revolutionary America (1763-89)," pp. 438-440.
[xliv] In his Autobiography, Franklin writes: "I was scarce 15 when . . . Some Books against Deism fell into my Hands . . . It happened that they wrought an Effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; For the Arguments of the Deists which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much Stronger than the Refutations. In short I soon became a thorough Deist . . . but I began to suspect that this Doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not very useful." See Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography and Other Writings (ed. Kenneth Silverman; New York: Penguin Books, 1986), pp. 62-63. David T. Morgan argues in "Benjamin Franklin: Champion of Generic Religion," The Historian 62:4 (June 2000), p. 723, that "no one to this very day is quite sure of Franklin's religious beliefs." He maintains that while Franklin may be described as a Deist, his views included "personally tailored modifications of the Deist creed" (p. 728). See also Morais, "Deism in Revolutionary America (1763-89)," pp. 448-449; and Harold E. Taussig, "Deism in Philadelphia During the Age of Franklin," Pennsylvania History, 37:3 (July 1970), pp. 217-218.
[xlv] For an outline of Franklin's Masonic career, see Julius F. Sachse, "The Masonic Chronology of Benjamin Franklin," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 30:2 (1906), pp. 238-240.
[xlvi] Franklin, The Autobiography and Other Writings, p. 104.
[xlvii] Falk, "Thomas Paine: Deist or Quaker?" p. 55.
[xlviii] Falk, "Thomas Paine: Deist or Quaker?" p. 60.
[xlix] See David T. Morgan, "Benjamin Franklin: Champion of Generic Religion," The Historian 62:4 (June 2000), pp. 723-729. See also Morais, "Deism in Revolutionary America (1763-89)," p. 449; and Taussig, "Deism in Philadelphia During the Age of Franklin," 218, 224, and 230-231. For an exception to Franklin's general approach, see Bryan LeBeau's "Franklin and the Presbyterians: Freedom of Conscience and the Need for Order," Early American Review (Summer 1996),
[l] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 15.
[li] Paine, The Age of Reason, Part 1, p. 6.
[lii] Harmer, Tom Paine, p. 92; and Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, pp. 16, 90, and 153.
[liii] Dixon Wecter, "Thomas Paine and the Franklins," American Literature 12:3 (November 1940), p. 307.
[liv] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 293.
[lv] Paine, "Origin of Free-Masonry," p. 296.
[lvi] Vincent, The Transatlantic Republican, p. 38; and R. William Weisberger, "Benjamin Franklin: A Masonic Enlightener in Paris," Pennsylvania History 53:3 (July 1986), pp. 168-169.
[lvii] For another example, see Augustus C. L. Arnold's Philosophical History of Free-Masonry and Other Secret Societies (New York: Clark, Austen, and Smith, 1854), p. 204, first and second notes. Arnold concludes that Paine was not "a member of the brotherhood." Hex reproduces Paine's entire essay in his Philosophical History, adding his own notes to it with the aim of, among other things, correcting what he considers to be Paine's mistaken assertions about the fraternity. He interprets Paine's essay as an attack on both Masonry and Christianity. See also the entry on Paine in William R. Denslow's 10,000 Famous Freemasons (New Orleans: Cornerstone Book Publishers, 2007), p. 329: "Although Paine wrote An Essay on the Origin of Freemasonry, he was not a Freemason . . . Certain writers have made claims that he was a member of various lodges both in America and France."
Get Tutoring Info Now | <urn:uuid:cac11efe-b540-4dc4-a6e6-8c8ea1396c1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-16/paine-freemason-or-deist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823963.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00041-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961844 | 7,136 | 2.71875 | 3 |
MAY 5th – FEAST DAY OF BLESSED EDMUND RICE
Bishop Kearney students gathered today as a school community for a special mass today in honor of Blessed Edmund Rice. May 5th is the feast day of Edmund Rice who was declared “Blessed” by Pope John Paul II on October 6, 1996 in Rome and is recognized as a man of heroic virtue and a model for others.
Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844) founded the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, in order to provide quality, Catholic education to the materially poor. He heard God’s call in the poor, uneducated, marginalized young boys of Ireland. Edmund Rice began to establish Catholic schools, although such schools were illegal at that time. He took in the boys everyone else had given up on. It did not take long for him to realize that he must attend to all the needs of the boys — food, clothing, and housing.
Edmund gave up his comfortable home for a room above the stable which served as his first school. He supported the venture financially by the profits from his business. Other young men, impressed by his example, joined him in his service to the poor. His first permanent school building, Mt. Sion, included a tailor shop and bakery so that the students might also be fed and clothed.
By the end of the nineteenth century the Congregation had grown steadily in membership and Brothers had moved to many different countries around the world. The first Brothers came to Newfoundland in 1876 and to the United States in 1906. During the twentieth century the Brothers expanded throughout Canada and the United States and opened schools and ministries in many cities and towns. The Congregation of Christian Brothers has successfully provided this education for almost two hundred years in 250 schools and colleges throughout the world. Over fifty years since Bishop Kearney opened in 1962, Bishop Kearney continues to offer educational opportunities for students in grades 6-12 in the tradition of the Congregation of Christian Brothers and School Sisters of Notre Dame. | <urn:uuid:36c5bea5-2f67-4b8c-9031-d8ed4741fac1> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://bkhs.org/recent-news/blessed-edmund-rice-feast-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156096.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20180919083126-20180919103126-00493.warc.gz | en | 0.98493 | 425 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Understanding Climate Model Data
Preparing information on future climate for risk assessment generally involves processing climate data in a series of climate models. This is often called the ‘top-down’ approach because it generally starts with global climate model (GCM) simulations, forced with a range of greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, that are subsequently downscaled and applied to assess regional impacts through impact models, as illustrated below.
Before working with future climate data, it is useful to review some fundamental processes and concepts that are important considerations when dealing with climate models and climate projections in each step of this process. These include:
- Representative Concentration Pathways
- Global Climate Models
- Regional Climate Models and Downscaling
- Climate Projections
- Confidence in Climate Projections
Dessai S, Hulme M. 2004. Does climate adaptation policy need probabilities? Climate Policy, 4, 107–128. Note: this paper also introduces an alternative called the ‘bottom-up’ approach which focuses toward understanding social vulnerability under current climate, with a unit of analysis is commonly at household or communities level and the temporal scale is usually more immediate and near term than those used in the top-down approach. | <urn:uuid:27edb6c5-d8ed-4847-81c5-d049b4fbfde3> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.rccap.org/guidance-and-case-studies/understanding-climate-model-data/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943845.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20230322145537-20230322175537-00215.warc.gz | en | 0.930042 | 258 | 2.921875 | 3 |
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Agribusiness is a large and diverse industry which is growing in the Czech Republic as the economy expands. It is an industry that brings together within the food chain, the supply of inputs to agriculture, agricultural production, the processing of outputs - of food and industrial products, its distribution, marketing and retailing. This MBA in Agribusiness Management will support all of those involved in this industry to develop their careers and their businesses.
It is specifically designed to give an international focus to your understanding of Agribusiness. This is particularly important as Czech Republic prepares for accession to the EU and multinational companies increase their involvement in Czech Agribusiness sector. The course will be taught in Czech and English to give this international perspective. Course participants will be expected to develop their English language skills to a level that allows them to read business reports written in English and contribute at a professional level to discussions conducted in the English language.
The course aims to enhance the students career in international Agribusiness by giving a clear understanding of the principles and practice of management as it has developed in Europe, America and Japan. Students, on completion of the course, will be ready to make a greater contribution to the management of their existing organisation and be capable of developing a successful and satisfying career elsewhere. Specifically, the course aims to give students :
1. an understanding of economic principles and their effect on business
2. the ability to use effectively business management techniques in an international environment.
3. the opportunity to generate and communicate ideas
4. to access and use business information efficiently and accurately
5. experience in marketing and the development of marketing plans to suit a range of market situations
6. a knowledge of accounting principles
7. confidence in the preparation and use of business accounts
8. an appreciation of international finance and financial management strategies
9. understanding of international Agribusiness and its importance to Czech Republic
10. the opportunity to prepare, as part of their final management project, a thorough analysis of a business situation
11. ability and confidence to get more from themselves and from others
12. leadership skills | <urn:uuid:a6041ee3-3c96-4950-95c9-5026967ba737> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://mba.pef.czu.cz/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645339704.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031539-00135-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945632 | 438 | 2.5625 | 3 |
7.0588 = sin(10.4*∏*t)
how do i transpose this to solve the equation finding a value for t?
invsin(7.0588) gives (10.4*∏*t)
invsin(7.0588) in my casio gives a math error
your casio is ok because the sin of ANY angle must not be greater than 1.
hmmm here is the full problem, i thought i could solve it with the first question. could you help me more here grzz?
where x = 0.6m
a = 0.085m
omega = 10.4*Pi
any ideas mate?
Mod note: moved to Homework forums.
acat, please make your own attempts to solve the problem. We will not solve it for you.
Actually, no, what you posted wasn't the full problem. Why is x = 0.6 m? Why is a = 0.085 m? What situation does this equation model? You need to post the entire word problem. It's possible you plugged in the wrong values for the variables.
micromass i wouldnt dream of expecting others to finish homework for me. Im just struggeling with this 1 step of my problem and its really bugging me. Im simply asking for help with this 1 step so id feel confident to go off on my own and finish my problem.
Anyhow, ill post the problem up later on. thanks
The equation you wrote is easy to deal with: it has NO (real) solutions. That is because you are asking to have a value of "sine" that is > 1, and that cannot happen for any real angle.
However, it does have solutions in the complex plane; one is t = 0.0480769 - 0.080874I, where I = sqrt(-1).
Separate names with a comma. | <urn:uuid:51d99ccc-97b2-47ee-92ab-d7a8de4c1b0c> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/please-can-you-help-me-transpose-this-problem.556895/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891814538.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20180223075134-20180223095134-00366.warc.gz | en | 0.938313 | 409 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Scientists from the university of california, in berkeley have been successful in tracing the spoken words to the pattern of electrical brain activity &, so can they see natural & eye scanned visuals on the screen.
In simple words, the auditory human sense can be heard & visual senses can be extracted too, including human thoughts. That means complete mind reading is now possible with advanced computer software emulation. The idea is to measure the blood flow in the ‘visual cortex’, which is fed to the computer through the brain scanner.
The best part is, this technology can be combined with long range scanners, which can scan a particular persons mind, whether he’s on walk, bus, train or a bike. The thoughts can be read on the go, even without the person knowing it; i.e. thoughts can be eavesdropped.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES:-
1. Can read minds
2. Help paralytic patients
3. Help people who cant speak
4. Can be used for military purposes & sting operations
5. Can be combined with consoles & used for mind gaming, robotics & stuff.
1. Breach in privacy
2. Can extract, through an individual, an important, secure & confidential information of individual, state or even a country
3. If developed or used by sinner or wicked groups, can be highly dangerous
5. No way to neutralize this technology
CONCLUSION : -
The technology is new, interesting & helpful in a sense; but, its disadvantages are far more dangerous & sensitive.
I studied this article found it interesting, this is just a gist of many documentaries on the web, (including detection, & applications) its all real & not fake. The one who acquire it first will be highly benefited since, no way yet to neutralize it. This is the topic of debate, any user want more information can ask. Awaiting your replies... | <urn:uuid:78692212-6a5d-4033-a43e-4aade8ff9b1e> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://makepakistanbetter.com/why_how_what_forum.aspx?GroupID=22&ArticleID=18543 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802765722.114/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075245-00113-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888878 | 401 | 2.703125 | 3 |
We are used to looking to California for leadership in climate change policy – and the Senate bill SB58, California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program continues that reputation. Although only in rough draft form as it was introduced in February, it proposes to accelerate the target for sourcing electricity from renewable energy to 50 per cent by 2025, and 100% by 2045. Inside Climate News has a summary of the renewable energy legislation; for a detailed view of the importance of California as a standard-bearer for climate change action, read “In the Face of a Trump Environmental Rollback, California Stands in Defiance” (Feb. 21) in Yale Environment 360.
Massachusetts is less often recognized for its leadership, despite its commitment in the Global Warming Solutions Act, 2008 to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050 . In addition, An Act to transition Massachusetts to 100 per cent renewable energy (S.1849) was introduced into the legislature in January 2017, requiring the state to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2035, and phase out the use of fossil fuels across all sectors, including heating and transportation, by 2050. Advocacy group Environment Massachusetts provides a summary here . The text of the Act calls for a Council for Clean Energy Workforce Development, specifying that it include representatives from organized labour, as well as universities and community colleges, renewable energy businesses, occupational training organizations, economic development organizations, community development organizations, and “organizations serving Environmental Justice Populations”. A Workforce Development Fund would also be authorized, with “At least half of the funds spent from the clean energy workforce development account on an annual basis shall be spent on programs and initiatives that primarily benefit (1) fossil fuel workers displaced in the transition to renewable energy, (2) residents of gateway municipalities …., or (3) residents of areas identified as Environmental Justice Populations under the Environmental Justice Policy of the executive office of energy and environmental affairs. “ | <urn:uuid:9054a211-2c26-4a67-80c8-f4ed534ad794> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://workandclimatechangereport.org/2017/03/06/renewable-energy-legislation-in-massachusetts-earmarks-for-just-transition-environmental-justice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156690.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20180920234305-20180921014705-00537.warc.gz | en | 0.946631 | 405 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Glucose Intolerance: A pathological state in which BLOOD GLUCOSE level is less than approximately 140 mg/100 ml of PLASMA at fasting, and above approximately 200 mg/100 ml plasma at 30-, 60-, or 90-minute during a GLUCOSE TOLERANCE TEST. This condition is seen frequently in DIABETES MELLITUS, but also occurs with other diseases and MALNUTRITION.Glucose: A primary source of energy for living organisms. It is naturally occurring and is found in fruits and other parts of plants in its free state. It is used therapeutically in fluid and nutrient replacement.Glucose Tolerance Test: A test to determine the ability of an individual to maintain HOMEOSTASIS of BLOOD GLUCOSE. It includes measuring blood glucose levels in a fasting state, and at prescribed intervals before and after oral glucose intake (75 or 100 g) or intravenous infusion (0.5 g/kg).Blood Glucose: Glucose in blood.Lactose Intolerance: The condition resulting from the absence or deficiency of LACTASE in the MUCOSA cells of the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT, and the inability to break down LACTOSE in milk for ABSORPTION. Bacterial fermentation of the unabsorbed lactose leads to symptoms that range from a mild indigestion (DYSPEPSIA) to severe DIARRHEA. Lactose intolerance may be an inborn error or acquired.Insulin: A 51-amino acid pancreatic hormone that plays a major role in the regulation of glucose metabolism, directly by suppressing endogenous glucose production (GLYCOGENOLYSIS; GLUCONEOGENESIS) and indirectly by suppressing GLUCAGON secretion and LIPOLYSIS. Native insulin is a globular protein comprised of a zinc-coordinated hexamer. Each insulin monomer containing two chains, A (21 residues) and B (30 residues), linked by two disulfide bonds. Insulin is used as a drug to control insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 1).Insulin Resistance: Diminished effectiveness of INSULIN in lowering blood sugar levels: requiring the use of 200 units or more of insulin per day to prevent HYPERGLYCEMIA or KETOSIS.Fructose Intolerance: An autosomal recessive fructose metabolism disorder due to deficient fructose-1-phosphate aldolase (EC 184.108.40.206) activity, resulting in accumulation of fructose-1-phosphate. The accumulated fructose-1-phosphate inhibits glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis, causing severe hypoglycemia following ingestion of fructose. Prolonged fructose ingestion in infants leads ultimately to hepatic failure and death. Patients develop a strong distaste for sweet food, and avoid a chronic course of the disease by remaining on a fructose- and sucrose-free diet.Diet, High-Fat: Consumption of excessive DIETARY FATS.Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2: A subclass of DIABETES MELLITUS that is not INSULIN-responsive or dependent (NIDDM). It is characterized initially by INSULIN RESISTANCE and HYPERINSULINEMIA; and eventually by GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE; HYPERGLYCEMIA; and overt diabetes. Type II diabetes mellitus is no longer considered a disease exclusively found in adults. Patients seldom develop KETOSIS but often exhibit OBESITY.Obesity: A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the acceptable or desirable weight, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).Orthostatic Intolerance: Symptoms of cerebral hypoperfusion or autonomic overaction which develop while the subject is standing, but are relieved on recumbency. Types of this include NEUROCARDIOGENIC SYNCOPE; POSTURAL ORTHOSTATIC TACHYCARDIA SYNDROME; and neurogenic ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION. (From Noseworthy, JH., Neurological Therapeutics Principles and Practice, 2007, p2575-2576)Insulin-Secreting Cells: A type of pancreatic cell representing about 50-80% of the islet cells. Beta cells secrete INSULIN.Diabetes, Gestational: Diabetes mellitus induced by PREGNANCY but resolved at the end of pregnancy. It does not include previously diagnosed diabetics who become pregnant (PREGNANCY IN DIABETICS). Gestational diabetes usually develops in late pregnancy when insulin antagonistic hormones peaks leading to INSULIN RESISTANCE; GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE; and HYPERGLYCEMIA.Diabetes Mellitus: A heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by HYPERGLYCEMIA and GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE.Dietary Fats: Fats present in food, especially in animal products such as meat, meat products, butter, ghee. They are present in lower amounts in nuts, seeds, and avocados.Fasting: Abstaining from all food.Islets of Langerhans: Irregular microscopic structures consisting of cords of endocrine cells that are scattered throughout the PANCREAS among the exocrine acini. Each islet is surrounded by connective tissue fibers and penetrated by a network of capillaries. There are four major cell types. The most abundant beta cells (50-80%) secrete INSULIN. Alpha cells (5-20%) secrete GLUCAGON. PP cells (10-35%) secrete PANCREATIC POLYPEPTIDE. Delta cells (~5%) secrete SOMATOSTATIN.Hyperinsulinism: A syndrome with excessively high INSULIN levels in the BLOOD. It may cause HYPOGLYCEMIA. Etiology of hyperinsulinism varies, including hypersecretion of a beta cell tumor (INSULINOMA); autoantibodies against insulin (INSULIN ANTIBODIES); defective insulin receptor (INSULIN RESISTANCE); or overuse of exogenous insulin or HYPOGLYCEMIC AGENTS.Glucose Transporter Type 4: A glucose transport protein found in mature MUSCLE CELLS and ADIPOCYTES. It promotes transport of glucose from the BLOOD into target TISSUES. The inactive form of the protein is localized in CYTOPLASMIC VESICLES. In response to INSULIN, it is translocated to the PLASMA MEMBRANE where it facilitates glucose uptake.Homeostasis: The processes whereby the internal environment of an organism tends to remain balanced and stable.Glucose Transporter Type 2: A glucose transport facilitator that is expressed primarily in PANCREATIC BETA CELLS; LIVER; and KIDNEYS. It may function as a GLUCOSE sensor to regulate INSULIN release and glucose HOMEOSTASIS.Glucose Metabolism Disorders: Pathological conditions in which the BLOOD GLUCOSE cannot be maintained within the normal range, such as in HYPOGLYCEMIA and HYPERGLYCEMIA. Etiology of these disorders varies. Plasma glucose concentration is critical to survival for it is the predominant fuel for the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM.Adipose Tissue: Specialized connective tissue composed of fat cells (ADIPOCYTES). It is the site of stored FATS, usually in the form of TRIGLYCERIDES. In mammals, there are two types of adipose tissue, the WHITE FAT and the BROWN FAT. Their relative distributions vary in different species with most adipose tissue being white.Body Weight: The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms.Liver: A large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates that is responsible for detoxification, metabolism, synthesis and storage of various substances.Gluconeogenesis: Biosynthesis of GLUCOSE from nonhexose or non-carbohydrate precursors, such as LACTATE; PYRUVATE; ALANINE; and GLYCEROL.Hyperglycemia: Abnormally high BLOOD GLUCOSE level.Prediabetic State: The time period before the development of symptomatic diabetes. For example, certain risk factors can be observed in subjects who subsequently develop INSULIN RESISTANCE as in type 2 diabetes (DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 2).Hypoglycemic Agents: Substances which lower blood glucose levels.Mice, Inbred C57BLMuscle, Skeletal: A subtype of striated muscle, attached by TENDONS to the SKELETON. Skeletal muscles are innervated and their movement can be consciously controlled. They are also called voluntary muscles.Glucagon: A 29-amino acid pancreatic peptide derived from proglucagon which is also the precursor of intestinal GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDES. Glucagon is secreted by PANCREATIC ALPHA CELLS and plays an important role in regulation of BLOOD GLUCOSE concentration, ketone metabolism, and several other biochemical and physiological processes. (From Gilman et al., Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th ed, p1511)Metabolic Syndrome X: A cluster of metabolic risk factors for CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES and TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS. The major components of metabolic syndrome X include excess ABDOMINAL FAT; atherogenic DYSLIPIDEMIA; HYPERTENSION; HYPERGLYCEMIA; INSULIN RESISTANCE; a proinflammatory state; and a prothrombotic (THROMBOSIS) state. (from AHA/NHLBI/ADA Conference Proceedings, Circulation 2004; 109:551-556)Glucose Oxidase: An enzyme of the oxidoreductase class that catalyzes the conversion of beta-D-glucose and oxygen to D-glucono-1,5-lactone and peroxide. It is a flavoprotein, highly specific for beta-D-glucose. The enzyme is produced by Penicillium notatum and other fungi and has antibacterial activity in the presence of glucose and oxygen. It is used to estimate glucose concentration in blood or urine samples through the formation of colored dyes by the hydrogen peroxide produced in the reaction. (From Enzyme Nomenclature, 1992) EC 220.127.116.11.Glucose Transporter Type 1: A ubiquitously expressed glucose transporter that is important for constitutive, basal GLUCOSE transport. It is predominately expressed in ENDOTHELIAL CELLS and ERYTHROCYTES at the BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER and is responsible for GLUCOSE entry into the BRAIN.Mice, Knockout: Strains of mice in which certain GENES of their GENOMES have been disrupted, or "knocked-out". To produce knockouts, using RECOMBINANT DNA technology, the normal DNA sequence of the gene being studied is altered to prevent synthesis of a normal gene product. Cloned cells in which this DNA alteration is successful are then injected into mouse EMBRYOS to produce chimeric mice. The chimeric mice are then bred to yield a strain in which all the cells of the mouse contain the disrupted gene. Knockout mice are used as EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL MODELS for diseases (DISEASE MODELS, ANIMAL) and to clarify the functions of the genes.Glycosuria: The appearance of an abnormally large amount of GLUCOSE in the urine, such as more than 500 mg/day in adults. It can be due to HYPERGLYCEMIA or genetic defects in renal reabsorption (RENAL GLYCOSURIA).Monosaccharide Transport Proteins: A large group of membrane transport proteins that shuttle MONOSACCHARIDES across CELL MEMBRANES.TriglyceridesGlycogenEnergy Metabolism: The chemical reactions involved in the production and utilization of various forms of energy in cells.Deoxyglucose: 2-Deoxy-D-arabino-hexose. An antimetabolite of glucose with antiviral activity.Mice, Obese: Mutant mice exhibiting a marked obesity coupled with overeating, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, marked insulin resistance, and infertility when in a homozygous state. They may be inbred or hybrid.Fructose: A monosaccharide in sweet fruits and honey that is soluble in water, alcohol, or ether. It is used as a preservative and an intravenous infusion in parenteral feeding.Adiposity: The amount of fat or lipid deposit at a site or an organ in the body, an indicator of body fat status.Pancreas: A nodular organ in the ABDOMEN that contains a mixture of ENDOCRINE GLANDS and EXOCRINE GLANDS. The small endocrine portion consists of the ISLETS OF LANGERHANS secreting a number of hormones into the blood stream. The large exocrine portion (EXOCRINE PANCREAS) is a compound acinar gland that secretes several digestive enzymes into the pancreatic ductal system that empties into the DUODENUM.Lipid Metabolism: Physiological processes in biosynthesis (anabolism) and degradation (catabolism) of LIPIDS.Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental: Diabetes mellitus induced experimentally by administration of various diabetogenic agents or by PANCREATECTOMY.Leptin: A 16-kDa peptide hormone secreted from WHITE ADIPOCYTES. Leptin serves as a feedback signal from fat cells to the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM in regulation of food intake, energy balance, and fat storage.C-Peptide: The middle segment of proinsulin that is between the N-terminal B-chain and the C-terminal A-chain. It is a pancreatic peptide of about 31 residues, depending on the species. Upon proteolytic cleavage of proinsulin, equimolar INSULIN and C-peptide are released. C-peptide immunoassay has been used to assess pancreatic beta cell function in diabetic patients with circulating insulin antibodies or exogenous insulin. Half-life of C-peptide is 30 min, almost 8 times that of insulin.Adipocytes: Cells in the body that store FATS, usually in the form of TRIGLYCERIDES. WHITE ADIPOCYTES are the predominant type and found mostly in the abdominal cavity and subcutaneous tissue. BROWN ADIPOCYTES are thermogenic cells that can be found in newborns of some species and hibernating mammals.Fatty Acids, Nonesterified: FATTY ACIDS found in the plasma that are complexed with SERUM ALBUMIN for transport. These fatty acids are not in glycerol ester form.Pregnancy: The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.Adipose Tissue, White: Fatty tissue composed of WHITE ADIPOCYTES and generally found directly under the skin (SUBCUTANEOUS FAT) and around the internal organs (ABDOMINAL FAT). It has less vascularization and less coloration than the BROWN FAT. White fat provides heat insulation, mechanical cushion, and source of energy.Lipids: A generic term for fats and lipoids, the alcohol-ether-soluble constituents of protoplasm, which are insoluble in water. They comprise the fats, fatty oils, essential oils, waxes, phospholipids, glycolipids, sulfolipids, aminolipids, chromolipids (lipochromes), and fatty acids. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Glucose-6-Phosphatase: An enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of D-glucose 6-phosphate and water to D-glucose and orthophosphate. EC 18.104.22.168.Glucokinase: A group of enzymes that catalyzes the conversion of ATP and D-glucose to ADP and D-glucose 6-phosphate. They are found in invertebrates and microorganisms, and are highly specific for glucose. (Enzyme Nomenclature, 1992) EC 22.214.171.124.Glucagon-Like Peptide 1: A peptide of 36 or 37 amino acids that is derived from PROGLUCAGON and mainly produced by the INTESTINAL L CELLS. GLP-1(1-37 or 1-36) is further N-terminally truncated resulting in GLP-1(7-37) or GLP-1-(7-36) which can be amidated. These GLP-1 peptides are known to enhance glucose-dependent INSULIN release, suppress GLUCAGON release and gastric emptying, lower BLOOD GLUCOSE, and reduce food intake.Fatty Liver: Lipid infiltration of the hepatic parenchymal cells resulting in a yellow-colored liver. The abnormal lipid accumulation is usually in the form of TRIGLYCERIDES, either as a single large droplet or multiple small droplets. Fatty liver is caused by an imbalance in the metabolism of FATTY ACIDS.Weight Gain: Increase in BODY WEIGHT over existing weight.Risk Factors: An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.Panuveitis: Inflammation in which both the anterior and posterior segments of the uvea are involved and a specific focus is not apparent. It is often severe and extensive and a serious threat to vision. Causes include systemic diseases such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and syphilis, as well as malignancies. The intermediate segment of the eye is not involved.Time Factors: Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring: Self evaluation of whole blood glucose levels outside the clinical laboratory. A digital or battery-operated reflectance meter may be used. It has wide application in controlling unstable insulin-dependent diabetes.Eating: The consumption of edible substances.Mice, Transgenic: Laboratory mice that have been produced from a genetically manipulated EGG or EMBRYO, MAMMALIAN.Glucose 1-Dehydrogenase: A glucose dehydrogenase that catalyzes the oxidation of beta-D-glucose to form D-glucono-1,5-lactone, using NAD as well as NADP as a coenzyme.Adiponectin: A 30-kDa COMPLEMENT C1Q-related protein, the most abundant gene product secreted by FAT CELLS of the white ADIPOSE TISSUE. Adiponectin modulates several physiological processes, such as metabolism of GLUCOSE and FATTY ACIDS, and immune responses. Decreased plasma adiponectin levels are associated with INSULIN RESISTANCE; TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS; OBESITY; and ATHEROSCLEROSIS.Bahrain: An independent state, an archipelago in the western Persian Gulf, northwest of Qatar. It comprises low-lying islands of Bahrain (the largest), Muharraq, Sitra, and several islets. It has extensive oil fields. The name comes from the Arabic al-bahrayn, "the two seas", with reference to its lying in the middle of a bay with its "two seas" east and west of it. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p107 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p45)Lactose Tolerance Test: A measure of a patient's ability to break down lactose.Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase (ATP): An enzyme of the lyase class that catalyzes the conversion of ATP and oxaloacetate to ADP, phosphoenolpyruvate, and carbon dioxide. The enzyme is found in some bacteria, yeast, and Trypanosoma, and is important for the photosynthetic assimilation of carbon dioxide in some plants. EC 126.96.36.199.Diet: Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.Body Mass Index: An indicator of body density as determined by the relationship of BODY WEIGHT to BODY HEIGHT. BMI=weight (kg)/height squared (m2). BMI correlates with body fat (ADIPOSE TISSUE). Their relationship varies with age and gender. For adults, BMI falls into these categories: below 18.5 (underweight); 18.5-24.9 (normal); 25.0-29.9 (overweight); 30.0 and above (obese). (National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Dietary Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates present in food comprising digestible sugars and starches and indigestible cellulose and other dietary fibers. The former are the major source of energy. The sugars are in beet and cane sugar, fruits, honey, sweet corn, corn syrup, milk and milk products, etc.; the starches are in cereal grains, legumes (FABACEAE), tubers, etc. (From Claudio & Lagua, Nutrition and Diet Therapy Dictionary, 3d ed, p32, p277)Group IB Phospholipases A2: A subclass of group I phospholipases A2 that includes enzymes isolated from PANCREATIC JUICE. Members of this group have specificity for PHOSPHOLIPASE A2 RECEPTORS.Dominica: An island republic of the West Indies. Its capital is Roseau. It was discovered in 1493 by Columbus and held at different times by the French and the British in the 18th century. A member of the West Indies Federation, it achieved internal self-government in 1967 but became independent in 1978. It was named by Columbus who discovered it on Sunday, Domingo in Spanish, from the Latin Dominica dies, the Lord's Day. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p338 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p151)Receptor, Insulin: A cell surface receptor for INSULIN. It comprises a tetramer of two alpha and two beta subunits which are derived from cleavage of a single precursor protein. The receptor contains an intrinsic TYROSINE KINASE domain that is located within the beta subunit. Activation of the receptor by INSULIN results in numerous metabolic changes including increased uptake of GLUCOSE into the liver, muscle, and ADIPOSE TISSUE.Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated: Minor hemoglobin components of human erythrocytes designated A1a, A1b, and A1c. Hemoglobin A1c is most important since its sugar moiety is glucose covalently bound to the terminal amino acid of the beta chain. Since normal glycohemoglobin concentrations exclude marked blood glucose fluctuations over the preceding three to four weeks, the concentration of glycosylated hemoglobin A is a more reliable index of the blood sugar average over a long period of time.Hypoglycemia: A syndrome of abnormally low BLOOD GLUCOSE level. Clinical hypoglycemia has diverse etiologies. Severe hypoglycemia eventually lead to glucose deprivation of the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM resulting in HUNGER; SWEATING; PARESTHESIA; impaired mental function; SEIZURES; COMA; and even DEATH.Body Composition: The relative amounts of various components in the body, such as percentage of body fat.Glucose Clamp Technique: Maintenance of a constant blood glucose level by perfusion or infusion with glucose or insulin. It is used for the study of metabolic rates (e.g., in glucose, lipid, amino acid metabolism) at constant glucose concentration.Verrucomicrobia: A phylum of gram-negative bacteria containing seven class-level groups from a wide variety of environments. Most members are chemoheterotrophs.Proinsulin: A pancreatic polypeptide of about 110 amino acids, depending on the species, that is the precursor of insulin. Proinsulin, produced by the PANCREATIC BETA CELLS, is comprised sequentially of the N-terminal B-chain, the proteolytically removable connecting C-peptide, and the C-terminal A-chain. It also contains three disulfide bonds, two between A-chain and B-chain. After cleavage at two locations, insulin and C-peptide are the secreted products. Intact proinsulin with low bioactivity also is secreted in small amounts.Insulin Receptor Substrate Proteins: A structurally-related group of signaling proteins that are phosphorylated by the INSULIN RECEPTOR PROTEIN-TYROSINE KINASE. The proteins share in common an N-terminal PHOSPHOLIPID-binding domain, a phosphotyrosine-binding domain that interacts with the phosphorylated INSULIN RECEPTOR, and a C-terminal TYROSINE-rich domain. Upon tyrosine phosphorylation insulin receptor substrate proteins interact with specific SH2 DOMAIN-containing proteins that are involved in insulin receptor signaling.Signal Transduction: The intracellular transfer of information (biological activation/inhibition) through a signal pathway. In each signal transduction system, an activation/inhibition signal from a biologically active molecule (hormone, neurotransmitter) is mediated via the coupling of a receptor/enzyme to a second messenger system or to an ion channel. Signal transduction plays an important role in activating cellular functions, cell differentiation, and cell proliferation. Examples of signal transduction systems are the GAMMA-AMINOBUTYRIC ACID-postsynaptic receptor-calcium ion channel system, the receptor-mediated T-cell activation pathway, and the receptor-mediated activation of phospholipases. Those coupled to membrane depolarization or intracellular release of calcium include the receptor-mediated activation of cytotoxic functions in granulocytes and the synaptic potentiation of protein kinase activation. Some signal transduction pathways may be part of larger signal transduction pathways; for example, protein kinase activation is part of the platelet activation signal pathway.Hyperlipidemias: Conditions with excess LIPIDS in the blood.Postprandial Period: The time frame after a meal or FOOD INTAKE.Intra-Abdominal Fat: Fatty tissue inside the ABDOMINAL CAVITY, including visceral fat and retroperitoneal fat. It is the most metabolically active fat in the body and easily accessible for LIPOLYSIS. Increased visceral fat is associated with metabolic complications of OBESITY.Rats, Zucker: Two populations of Zucker rats have been cited in research--the "fatty" or obese and the lean. The "fatty" rat (Rattus norvegicus) appeared as a spontaneous mutant. The obese condition appears to be due to a single recessive gene.Ideal Body Weight: Expected weight of a healthy normal individual based on age, sex, and height. Thus, a malnourished person would weigh less than their ideal body weight.Rats, Wistar: A strain of albino rat developed at the Wistar Institute that has spread widely at other institutions. This has markedly diluted the original strain.Biological Transport: The movement of materials (including biochemical substances and drugs) through a biological system at the cellular level. The transport can be across cell membranes and epithelial layers. It also can occur within intracellular compartments and extracellular compartments.Glucose Transporter Type 3: A major glucose transporter found in NEURONS.Disease Models, Animal: Naturally occurring or experimentally induced animal diseases with pathological processes sufficiently similar to those of human diseases. They are used as study models for human diseases.Dyslipidemias: Abnormalities in the serum levels of LIPIDS, including overproduction or deficiency. Abnormal serum lipid profiles may include high total CHOLESTEROL, high TRIGLYCERIDES, low HIGH DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL, and elevated LOW DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL.Body Constitution: The physical characteristics of the body, including the mode of performance of functions, the activity of metabolic processes, the manner and degree of reactions to stimuli, and power of resistance to the attack of pathogenic organisms.Food Hypersensitivity: Gastrointestinal disturbances, skin eruptions, or shock due to allergic reactions to allergens in food.Prevalence: The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.Energy Intake: Total number of calories taken in daily whether ingested or by parenteral routes.Lactose: A disaccharide of GLUCOSE and GALACTOSE in human and cow milk. It is used in pharmacy for tablets, in medicine as a nutrient, and in industry.Blood Pressure: PRESSURE of the BLOOD on the ARTERIES and other BLOOD VESSELS.Organ Size: The measurement of an organ in volume, mass, or heaviness.Hypertension: Persistently high systemic arterial BLOOD PRESSURE. Based on multiple readings (BLOOD PRESSURE DETERMINATION), hypertension is currently defined as when SYSTOLIC PRESSURE is consistently greater than 140 mm Hg or when DIASTOLIC PRESSURE is consistently 90 mm Hg or more.Reference Values: The range or frequency distribution of a measurement in a population (of organisms, organs or things) that has not been selected for the presence of disease or abnormality.Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase (GTP): An enzyme of the lyase class that catalyzes the conversion of GTP and oxaloacetate to GDP, phosphoenolpyruvate, and carbon dioxide. This reaction is part of gluconeogenesis in the liver. The enzyme occurs in both the mitochondria and cytosol of mammalian liver. (From Dorland, 27th ed) EC 188.8.131.52.Cross-Sectional Studies: Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.Glycolysis: A metabolic process that converts GLUCOSE into two molecules of PYRUVIC ACID through a series of enzymatic reactions. Energy generated by this process is conserved in two molecules of ATP. Glycolysis is the universal catabolic pathway for glucose, free glucose, or glucose derived from complex CARBOHYDRATES, such as GLYCOGEN and STARCH.Oxygen Consumption: The rate at which oxygen is used by a tissue; microliters of oxygen STPD used per milligram of tissue per hour; the rate at which oxygen enters the blood from alveolar gas, equal in the steady state to the consumption of oxygen by tissue metabolism throughout the body. (Stedman, 25th ed, p346)Pregnancy Complications: Conditions or pathological processes associated with pregnancy. They can occur during or after pregnancy, and range from minor discomforts to serious diseases that require medical interventions. They include diseases in pregnant females, and pregnancies in females with diseases.Hypotension, Orthostatic: A significant drop in BLOOD PRESSURE after assuming a standing position. Orthostatic hypotension is a finding, and defined as a 20-mm Hg decrease in systolic pressure or a 10-mm Hg decrease in diastolic pressure 3 minutes after the person has risen from supine to standing. Symptoms generally include DIZZINESS, blurred vision, and SYNCOPE.Diagnostic Techniques, Endocrine: Methods and procedures for the diagnosis of diseases or dysfunction of the endocrine glands or demonstration of their physiological processes.RNA, Messenger: RNA sequences that serve as templates for protein synthesis. Bacterial mRNAs are generally primary transcripts in that they do not require post-transcriptional processing. Eukaryotic mRNA is synthesized in the nucleus and must be exported to the cytoplasm for translation. Most eukaryotic mRNAs have a sequence of polyadenylic acid at the 3' end, referred to as the poly(A) tail. The function of this tail is not known for certain, but it may play a role in the export of mature mRNA from the nucleus as well as in helping stabilize some mRNA molecules by retarding their degradation in the cytoplasm.Glucose Dehydrogenases: D-Glucose:1-oxidoreductases. Catalyzes the oxidation of D-glucose to D-glucono-gamma-lactone and reduced acceptor. Any acceptor except molecular oxygen is permitted. Includes EC 184.108.40.206; EC 220.127.116.11; EC 18.104.22.168 and EC 22.214.171.124.Gene Expression Regulation: Any of the processes by which nuclear, cytoplasmic, or intercellular factors influence the differential control (induction or repression) of gene action at the level of transcription or translation.Fetal Macrosomia: A condition of fetal overgrowth leading to a large-for-gestational-age FETUS. It is defined as BIRTH WEIGHT greater than 4,000 grams or above the 90th percentile for population and sex-specific growth curves. It is commonly seen in GESTATIONAL DIABETES; PROLONGED PREGNANCY; and pregnancies complicated by pre-existing diabetes mellitus.Metabolic Diseases: Generic term for diseases caused by an abnormal metabolic process. It can be congenital due to inherited enzyme abnormality (METABOLISM, INBORN ERRORS) or acquired due to disease of an endocrine organ or failure of a metabolically important organ such as the liver. (Stedman, 26th ed)Lactates: Salts or esters of LACTIC ACID containing the general formula CH3CHOHCOOR.Hormones, Ectopic: Hormones released from neoplasms or from other cells that are not the usual sources of hormones.Diabetes Complications: Conditions or pathological processes associated with the disease of diabetes mellitus. Due to the impaired control of BLOOD GLUCOSE level in diabetic patients, pathological processes develop in numerous tissues and organs including the EYE, the KIDNEY, the BLOOD VESSELS, and the NERVE TISSUE.Lactase: An enzyme which catalyzes the hydrolysis of LACTOSE to D-GALACTOSE and D-GLUCOSE. Defects in the enzyme cause LACTOSE INTOLERANCE.Malabsorption Syndromes: General term for a group of MALNUTRITION syndromes caused by failure of normal INTESTINAL ABSORPTION of nutrients.Aging: The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time.Rats, Sprague-Dawley: A strain of albino rat used widely for experimental purposes because of its calmness and ease of handling. It was developed by the Sprague-Dawley Animal Company.Streptozocin: An antibiotic that is produced by Stretomyces achromogenes. It is used as an antineoplastic agent and to induce diabetes in experimental animals.Lactic Acid: A normal intermediate in the fermentation (oxidation, metabolism) of sugar. The concentrated form is used internally to prevent gastrointestinal fermentation. (From Stedman, 26th ed)JapanMetformin: A biguanide hypoglycemic agent used in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus not responding to dietary modification. Metformin improves glycemic control by improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing intestinal absorption of glucose. (From Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p289)Phenotype: The outward appearance of the individual. It is the product of interactions between genes, and between the GENOTYPE and the environment.Area Under Curve: A statistical means of summarizing information from a series of measurements on one individual. It is frequently used in clinical pharmacology where the AUC from serum levels can be interpreted as the total uptake of whatever has been administered. As a plot of the concentration of a drug against time, after a single dose of medicine, producing a standard shape curve, it is a means of comparing the bioavailability of the same drug made by different companies. (From Winslade, Dictionary of Clinical Research, 1992)Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena: Nutrition of a mother which affects the health of the FETUS and INFANT as well as herself.Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A complex disorder characterized by infertility, HIRSUTISM; OBESITY; and various menstrual disturbances such as OLIGOMENORRHEA; AMENORRHEA; ANOVULATION. Polycystic ovary syndrome is usually associated with bilateral enlarged ovaries studded with atretic follicles, not with cysts. The term, polycystic ovary, is misleading.Adipokines: Polypeptides produced by the ADIPOCYTES. They include LEPTIN; ADIPONECTIN; RESISTIN; and many cytokines of the immune system, such as TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-ALPHA; INTERLEUKIN-6; and COMPLEMENT FACTOR D (also known as ADIPSIN). They have potent autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine functions.Postpartum Period: In females, the period that is shortly after giving birth (PARTURITION).11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 1: A low-affinity 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase found in a variety of tissues, most notably in LIVER; LUNG; ADIPOSE TISSUE; vascular tissue; OVARY; and the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. The enzyme acts reversibly and can use either NAD or NADP as cofactors.Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1: A subtype of DIABETES MELLITUS that is characterized by INSULIN deficiency. It is manifested by the sudden onset of severe HYPERGLYCEMIA, rapid progression to DIABETIC KETOACIDOSIS, and DEATH unless treated with insulin. The disease may occur at any age, but is most common in childhood or adolescence.3T3-L1 Cells: A continuous cell line that is a substrain of SWISS 3T3 CELLS developed though clonal isolation. The mouse fibroblast cells undergo an adipose-like conversion as they move to a confluent and contact-inhibited state.Muscle Proteins: The protein constituents of muscle, the major ones being ACTINS and MYOSINS. More than a dozen accessory proteins exist including TROPONIN; TROPOMYOSIN; and DYSTROPHIN.Fatty Acids: Organic, monobasic acids derived from hydrocarbons by the equivalent of oxidation of a methyl group to an alcohol, aldehyde, and then acid. Fatty acids are saturated and unsaturated (FATTY ACIDS, UNSATURATED). (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)Hexokinase: An enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of ATP and a D-hexose to ADP and a D-hexose 6-phosphate. D-Glucose, D-mannose, D-fructose, sorbitol, and D-glucosamine can act as acceptors; ITP and dATP can act as donors. The liver isoenzyme has sometimes been called glucokinase. (From Enzyme Nomenclature, 1992) EC 126.96.36.199.Carbohydrate Metabolism, Inborn ErrorsHypertriglyceridemia: A condition of elevated levels of TRIGLYCERIDES in the blood.Glucose-6-Phosphate: An ester of glucose with phosphoric acid, made in the course of glucose metabolism by mammalian and other cells. It is a normal constituent of resting muscle and probably is in constant equilibrium with fructose-6-phosphate. (Stedman, 26th ed)Hypothalamus: Ventral part of the DIENCEPHALON extending from the region of the OPTIC CHIASM to the caudal border of the MAMMILLARY BODIES and forming the inferior and lateral walls of the THIRD VENTRICLE.AMP-Activated Protein Kinases: Intracellular signaling protein kinases that play a signaling role in the regulation of cellular energy metabolism. Their activity largely depends upon the concentration of cellular AMP which is increased under conditions of low energy or metabolic stress. AMP-activated protein kinases modify enzymes involved in LIPID METABOLISM, which in turn provide substrates needed to convert AMP into ATP.Cholesterol: The principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils.Calorimetry, Indirect: Calculation of the energy expenditure in the form of heat production of the whole body or individual organs based on respiratory gas exchange.Inflammation: A pathological process characterized by injury or destruction of tissues caused by a variety of cytologic and chemical reactions. It is usually manifested by typical signs of pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function.Analysis of Variance: A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable.Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome: A syndrome of ORTHOSTATIC INTOLERANCE combined with excessive upright TACHYCARDIA, and usually without associated ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION. All variants have in common an excessively reduced venous return to the heart (central HYPOVOLEMIA) while upright.Pregnancy in Diabetics: The state of PREGNANCY in women with DIABETES MELLITUS. This does not include either symptomatic diabetes or GLUCOSE INTOLERANCE induced by pregnancy (DIABETES, GESTATIONAL) which resolves at the end of pregnancy.GlucosephosphatesMultiple Chemical Sensitivity: An acquired disorder characterized by recurrent symptoms, referable to multiple organ systems, occurring in response to demonstrable exposure to many chemically unrelated compounds at doses below those established in the general population to cause harmful effects. (Cullen MR. The worker with multiple chemical sensitivities: an overview. Occup Med 1987;2(4):655-61)Oxidation-Reduction: A chemical reaction in which an electron is transferred from one molecule to another. The electron-donating molecule is the reducing agent or reductant; the electron-accepting molecule is the oxidizing agent or oxidant. Reducing and oxidizing agents function as conjugate reductant-oxidant pairs or redox pairs (Lehninger, Principles of Biochemistry, 1982, p471).Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt: A protein-serine-threonine kinase that is activated by PHOSPHORYLATION in response to GROWTH FACTORS or INSULIN. It plays a major role in cell metabolism, growth, and survival as a core component of SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION. Three isoforms have been described in mammalian cells.Blotting, Western: Identification of proteins or peptides that have been electrophoretically separated by blot transferring from the electrophoresis gel to strips of nitrocellulose paper, followed by labeling with antibody probes.Prospective Studies: Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.Resistin: A 12-kDa cysteine-rich polypeptide hormone secreted by FAT CELLS in the ADIPOSE TISSUE. It is the founding member of the resistin-like molecule (RELM) hormone family. Resistin suppresses the ability of INSULIN to stimulate cellular GLUCOSE uptake.Receptors, Glucagon: Cell surface receptors that bind glucagon with high affinity and trigger intracellular changes which influence the behavior of cells. Activation of glucagon receptors causes a variety of effects; the best understood is the initiation of a complex enzymatic cascade in the liver which ultimately increases the availability of glucose to body organs.Dose-Response Relationship, Drug: The relationship between the dose of an administered drug and the response of the organism to the drug.Cells, Cultured: Cells propagated in vitro in special media conducive to their growth. Cultured cells are used to study developmental, morphologic, metabolic, physiologic, and genetic processes, among others.Cardiovascular Deconditioning: A change in cardiovascular function resulting in a reduction in BLOOD VOLUME, and reflex DIURESIS. It occurs frequently after actual or simulated WEIGHTLESSNESS.Exercise Tolerance: The exercise capacity of an individual as measured by endurance (maximal exercise duration and/or maximal attained work load) during an EXERCISE TEST.Birth Weight: The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual at BIRTH. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms.Taurochenodeoxycholic Acid: A bile salt formed in the liver by conjugation of chenodeoxycholate with taurine, usually as the sodium salt. It acts as detergent to solubilize fats in the small intestine and is itself absorbed. It is used as a cholagogue and choleretic.3-O-Methylglucose: A non-metabolizable glucose analogue that is not phosphorylated by hexokinase. 3-O-Methylglucose is used as a marker to assess glucose transport by evaluating its uptake within various cells and organ systems. (J Neurochem 1993;60(4):1498-504)Receptors, Leptin: Cell surface receptors for obesity factor (LEPTIN), a hormone secreted by the WHITE ADIPOCYTES. Upon leptin-receptor interaction, the signal is mediated through the JAK2/STAT3 pathway to regulate food intake, energy balance and fat storage.Feeding Behavior: Behavioral responses or sequences associated with eating including modes of feeding, rhythmic patterns of eating, and time intervals.Cardiovascular Diseases: Pathological conditions involving the CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM including the HEART; the BLOOD VESSELS; or the PERICARDIUM.MethylglucosidesDietary Sucrose: Sucrose present in the diet. It is added to food and drinks as a sweetener.PhlorhizinModels, Biological: Theoretical representations that simulate the behavior or activity of biological processes or diseases. For disease models in living animals, DISEASE MODELS, ANIMAL is available. Biological models include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment.Acromegaly: A condition caused by prolonged exposure to excessive HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE in adults. It is characterized by bony enlargement of the FACE; lower jaw (PROGNATHISM); hands; FEET; HEAD; and THORAX. The most common etiology is a GROWTH HORMONE-SECRETING PITUITARY ADENOMA. (From Joynt, Clinical Neurology, 1992, Ch36, pp79-80)Renal Aminoacidurias: A group of inherited kidney disorders characterized by the abnormally elevated levels of AMINO ACIDS in URINE. Genetic mutations of transport proteins result in the defective reabsorption of free amino acids at the PROXIMAL RENAL TUBULES. Renal aminoaciduria are classified by the specific amino acid or acids involved.Cohort Studies: Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects: The consequences of exposing the FETUS in utero to certain factors, such as NUTRITION PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA; PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS; DRUGS; RADIATION; and other physical or chemical factors. These consequences are observed later in the offspring after BIRTH.Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome: A syndrome characterized by bilateral granulomatous UVEITIS with IRITIS and secondary GLAUCOMA, premature ALOPECIA, symmetrical VITILIGO, poliosis circumscripta (a strand of depigmented hair), HEARING DISORDERS, and meningeal signs (neck stiffness and headache). Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid reveals a pattern consistent with MENINGITIS, ASEPTIC. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p748; Surv Ophthalmol 1995 Jan;39(4):265-292)Hyperphagia: Ingestion of a greater than optimal quantity of food.Carbohydrate Metabolism: Cellular processes in biosynthesis (anabolism) and degradation (catabolism) of CARBOHYDRATES.Asian Continental Ancestry Group: Individuals whose ancestral origins are in the southeastern and eastern areas of the Asian continent.Kinetics: The rate dynamics in chemical or physical systems.Gene Expression: The phenotypic manifestation of a gene or genes by the processes of GENETIC TRANSCRIPTION and GENETIC TRANSLATION.PPAR gamma: A nuclear transcription factor. Heterodimerization with RETINOID X RECEPTOR ALPHA is important in regulation of GLUCOSE metabolism and CELL GROWTH PROCESSES. It is a target of THIAZOLIDINEDIONES for control of DIABETES MELLITUS.Phosphorylation: The introduction of a phosphoryl group into a compound through the formation of an ester bond between the compound and a phosphorus moiety.Administration, Oral: The giving of drugs, chemicals, or other substances by mouth.Fructose-Bisphosphate Aldolase: An enzyme of the lyase class that catalyzes the cleavage of fructose 1,6-biphosphate to form dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. The enzyme also acts on (3S,4R)-ketose 1-phosphates. The yeast and bacterial enzymes are zinc proteins. (Enzyme Nomenclature, 1992) E.C. 188.8.131.52.Flatulence: Production or presence of gas in the gastrointestinal tract which may be expelled through the anus.Hormones: Chemical substances having a specific regulatory effect on the activity of a certain organ or organs. The term was originally applied to substances secreted by various ENDOCRINE GLANDS and transported in the bloodstream to the target organs. It is sometimes extended to include those substances that are not produced by the endocrine glands but that have similar effects.Exercise: Physical activity which is usually regular and done with the intention of improving or maintaining PHYSICAL FITNESS or HEALTH. Contrast with PHYSICAL EXERTION which is concerned largely with the physiologic and metabolic response to energy expenditure.Waist Circumference: The measurement around the body at the level of the ABDOMEN and just above the hip bone. The measurement is usually taken immediately after exhalation.Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors: Disorders affecting amino acid metabolism. The majority of these disorders are inherited and present in the neonatal period with metabolic disturbances (e.g., ACIDOSIS) and neurologic manifestations. They are present at birth, although they may not become symptomatic until later in life.Breath Tests: Any tests done on exhaled air.Oxidative Stress: A disturbance in the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in favor of the former, leading to potential damage. Indicators of oxidative stress include damaged DNA bases, protein oxidation products, and lipid peroxidation products (Sies, Oxidative Stress, 1991, pxv-xvi).Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction: A variation of the PCR technique in which cDNA is made from RNA via reverse transcription. The resultant cDNA is then amplified using standard PCR protocols.Case-Control Studies: Studies which start with the identification of persons with a disease of interest and a control (comparison, referent) group without the disease. The relationship of an attribute to the disease is examined by comparing diseased and non-diseased persons with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group.Thinness: A state of insufficient flesh on the body usually defined as having a body weight less than skeletal and physical standards. Depending on age, sex, and genetic background, a BODY MASS INDEX of less than 18.5 is considered as underweight.Ghrelin: A 28-amino acid, acylated, orexigenic peptide that is a ligand for GROWTH HORMONE SECRETAGOGUE RECEPTORS. Ghrelin is widely expressed but primarily in the stomach in the adults. Ghrelin acts centrally to stimulate growth hormone secretion and food intake, and peripherally to regulate energy homeostasis. Its large precursor protein, known as appetite-regulating hormone or motilin-related peptide, contains ghrelin and obestatin.Follow-Up Studies: Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.Sodium-Glucose Transporter 1: The founding member of the sodium glucose transport proteins. It is predominately expressed in the INTESTINAL MUCOSA of the SMALL INTESTINE.Growth Hormone: A polypeptide that is secreted by the adenohypophysis (PITUITARY GLAND, ANTERIOR). Growth hormone, also known as somatotropin, stimulates mitosis, cell differentiation and cell growth. Species-specific growth hormones have been synthesized. | <urn:uuid:6eaaf5be-e996-41cc-951e-daa64bff063a> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://lookformedical.com/definitions.php?q=glucose+intolerance&lang=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511365.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018001031-20181018022531-00131.warc.gz | en | 0.894332 | 11,826 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The term herpes is commonly associated with an infection of the genital area.
However, once the virus has invaded the body, the accompanying sores and discomfort can develop anywhere on the skin.
The painful lesions are difficult enough to deal with, but when they appear on the fingers or other areas where they can’t be hidden under clothing, it becomes an embarrassing, awkward ordeal.
It’s important to know the facts about all the variations of the herpes simplex virus, both to lessen the social stigma of the condition and to keep it from spreading.
What is Herpetic Whitlow?
A whitlow (also called a felon), in general, refers to an infection of the fingers.
When the infection is caused by the herpes virus, the resulting blister and painful lesion is called a herpetic whitlow.
The areas most often affected are the thick, fleshy pads at the tips of fingers and thumbs. The virus can also infect the toes, though this is not as common.
The term originated in 1959, when an outbreak of 54 cases swept through the nursing staff of a new hand clinic at St. George’s Hospital in London.(1)
There are two versions of the herpes virus: simplex I and simplex II.
Herpes simplex II attacks the skin around the genitals, while herpes simplex I causes “cold sores” around the mouth and nose.
Either version is capable of causing herpetic whitlow on the fingers.
When someone touches a herpes sore with bare hands (especially if an open wound is already present), the virus is easily transferred to the fingers.
Considering how often a person comes in contact with other people and common objects in one day, there is a high risk of spreading this infection to many other people over the duration of an outbreak.
Herpetic whitlow is often mistaken for lesser infections, so many sufferers don’t take it as seriously as they should.
Even if there are no obvious lesions, the virus is present in saliva and mucous membranes, and can be transmitted via touch or other contact with bodily fluids.
Young children and people with compromised immune systems face the most risk of contracting this virus, along with nurses, physicians, and dentists.
A herpetic whitlow outbreak at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in the early 1980s affected so many nurses that the institute had to change their policy to require protective gloves for any situation involving direct contact with patients presenting any type of lesion at all, whether it had been diagnosed as herpetic or not.(2)
Herpes infections are naturally recurrent, but Jon Johnson of Medical News Today tells us that certain experiences can trigger an outbreak as well.(3)
These triggers include emotional trauma and stress, a fever or other severe illness, hormonal imbalance, surgery, or even overexposure to sunlight.
Interestingly, a study by Dr. John Kreisel seems to suggest that the frequency of cold sores is a genetic trait. It is not known whether there is a connection to other types of herpes outbreaks.(4)
Herpes simplex may be far more widespread than commonly thought.
According to health24, some researchers have suggested that most people over 20 who live in or around cities are carriers.(5)
Luckily, most of them do not develop symptoms or spread the disease. Further, the article states that the virus is most contagious during the appearance of the first outbreak.
Subsequent outbreaks are less likely to spread the virus, especially if the patient receives treatment promptly each time.
The most obvious symptoms include painful blisters and sores on the ends of the fingers or thumb.
Outbreaks usually recur periodically in the same region as the original infection every few weeks or months.
Most patients will receive a series of warning signs before the actual outbreak occurs.
In a 1977 study conducted by Richard Glogau, some patients reported headaches, swelling of the lymph nodes, muscle pain, or other general discomfort before the lesions appeared or during their development.
Additionally, most of the patients also experienced dysesthesia (odd sensations like itching, tingling, or burning) in their fingers a few hours before the actual outbreak.(1)
Many studies since then have confirmed that these pre-symptoms are quite common.
As the infection progresses, the finger becomes inflamed and red. Small, painful blisters rise (either singly or in groups), filling with clear or cloudy liquid.
Occasionally satellite blisters will form around the original cluster.
Note that not all whitlows are caused by the herpes virus. A melanotic whitlow (or Subungual melanoma) is a kind of tumor that appears as discoloration adjacent to or beneath a fingernail.
A red, swollen area at the base of the fingernail, near the cuticle, is often caused by paronychia, a bacterial infection.
Laboratory tests may be necessary to ensure an accurate diagnosis.
There is no cure for the herpes virus. This is a highly contagious condition, and should be carefully monitored and controlled.
It’s difficult to predict how often an outbreak will recur, and there are no absolute guidelines for treating herpetic whitlow.
We do know that the longer a patient waits, the less effective any remedies will be.
For the most accurate diagnosis, cultures should be taken from the finger and analyzed by a laboratory within the first 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms.
Some antibiotics, if taken within the first 48 hours, can help control the symptoms, reduce the duration of the infection, and prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of the body.
Doctors commonly prescribe topical and oral antiviral medicines such as valacyclovir and famciclovir, and analgesics for pain.
The infections usually run their course in one to three weeks.
For those hoping to supplement prescription drugs with other remedies, the British Medical Journal advises that the area should be kept dry and coated with proflavine or spirit of camphor, and that soaking the skin in a solution of hot saline and a few drops of permanganate of potash.(6)
In young children, herpetic whitlow is often accompanied by gingivostomatitis aphthosa, or orolabial herpes, an infection of the gums and tissues in the mouth.
In these cases, Dr. Ran D. Goldman recommends increasing fluid intake in addition to the any other prescribed herpes medications, since the oral infection can cause dehydration.(7)
While it’s impossible to avoid touching people and objects in daily life, there are some ways to reduce the danger of contracting or spreading the virus.
Hands should be washed frequently after touching common public surfaces, like doorknobs or computer keyboards. Avoid touching cold sores with bare fingers.
During an outbreak, keep the infected area covered: wear latex gloves or wrap the affected area with a bandage to keep the virus contained.
If you wear contacts, consider switching to glasses during an outbreak, to avoid spreading the virus to your eyes.
The pre-outbreak symptoms mentioned above can give patients an advantage, as well.
They act as a warning, giving patients time to check their medications and plan for extra caution in daily social interactions before the outbreak to keep the virus under control.
Finally, just because there are no outward symptoms of infection does not mean that a carrier of herpetic whitlow cannot spread the virus.
Herpes goes through phases of dormancy between outbreaks, giving the carrier a respite from the symptoms, but the virus is always present.
Be sure to inform your health care professionals and anyone with whom you regularly have close contact so that they can take measures to protect themselves.
Herpetic whitlow is a recurring infection of the fingers caused by the herpes virus.
While not life-threatening, the blisters and lesions are annoying, painful, and contagious.
There is no cure, but there are steps one can take to ease the symptoms and protect others from infection:
- Pay attention to any pre-outbreak symptoms.
- Avoid touching other people, common surfaces, or sharing food without first covering the infection.
- See a doctor as soon as possible at the beginning of every outbreak.
1.Glogau, Richard, et al. Herpetic Whitlow as Part of Genital Virus Infection. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 1977;136-5:689-692.
2.Baroni, Mary and Joyce Lucey. Herpetic Whitlow. The American Journal of Nursing. 1984;1:60-61.
3.Johnson, Jon. Herpetic whitlow: Symptoms, causes, and treatment. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317701.php. Updated 31 May 2017. Accessed 19 December 2017.
4.Kriesel, John D., et al. C21orf91 Genotypes Correlate With Herpes Simplex Labialis (Cold Sore) Frequency: Description of a Cold Sore Susceptibility Gene. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/204/11/1654/850031 1 December, 2011. Accessed 20 December, 2017.
5.Herpetic whitlow. health24. http://www.health24.com/Medical/Diseases/Herpetic-whitlow-Client-20120721. Updated 22 May 2015. Accessed 20 December 2017.
6.Herpetic Whitlow. The British Medical Journal. 1961;2-5253:696-697.
7.Goldman, Ran D. Acyclovir for herpetic gingivostomatitis in children. NCBI. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4865337/. Updated May 2016. Accessed 20 December 2017. | <urn:uuid:0feafc64-243d-4118-af48-b7cec8a76a0f> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.thehealthyapron.com/herpes-on-hands.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703505861.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20210116074510-20210116104510-00140.warc.gz | en | 0.931933 | 2,072 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Sometimes in July, the Roufus Hummingbirds begin arriving at our feeders. Identifiable by their reddish copper color, they are very aggressive; protecting whichever feeder they select to drink from against other hummingbirds. These birds are arriving in the middle of their migration; traveling from Alaska to the south for the winter.Beginning in August, millions of other species of hummingbirds will travel as well to Mexico and Central America as part of an instinctive migratory pattern that they have followed for hundreds of years. For many, this trip includes a trans-Gulf, nonstop flight that takes approximately 18-22 hours and covers 500 to 600 miles. Bird enthusiasts can expect to see waves of hummingbirds visiting their feeders during this time.At the peak of migration, bird-banding studies indicate that, with very few exceptions, the hummingbirds that visit feeders on any given late-summer day are completely replaced by new migrants within 24 hours. To estimate a total number of hummingbirds using your feeders daily, multiply times five. For example, if you see 10 individual hummingbirds at your feeder at one time, you have about 50 passing through your yard that day.Hummingbirds feed on flower nectar, insects, and sugar-water solution placed in specially designed feeders. Despite popular belief, hummingbirds do not suck up nectar with their bills. They actually lap it up with their tongues, drawing nectar from its source up and into their mouths almost 12 times a second. You can watch this remarkable tongue in action with some window hummingbird feeders. These feeders feature a transparent bowl that allows you to watch a hummingbird's long tongue and rapid lapping action. A high-calorie diet is important to sustain these very active birds and to build fat reserves for their migratory trip. Hummingbirds possess the fastest metabolism of any warm-blooded animal on the planet, consuming up to twice their body weight in nectar every day. The color red is a visual cue to let hummingbirds know food is available. It is recommended that you not add red food coloring to nectar. If the wrong type of coloring is used, it can make the egg shell hard and difficult for the babies to break open. Instead, pour the clear nectar into a red-colored feeder to attract these amazing birds. Hummingbirds are fun to watch, and most of us hate to see them go. But it won't be long before spring is back, and they will be close behind.Local bird expert Larry Collins owns Wild Birds Unlimited, 2454 Hwy. 6&50, which caters to folks who want the best backyard birdfeeding experience possible. Email your birdfeeding and birding questions to [email protected] and he'll answer them in his bi-weekly Q&A column in the Free Press. | <urn:uuid:00ae4a0a-3df3-41f7-b53a-1a7282e8ec33> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.postindependent.com/article/20120817/COMMUNITY_NEWS/120819981 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510267075.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011747-00273-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943813 | 586 | 3.375 | 3 |
Image: The British Library
A small boy sits in his mother’s lap. Around them is a scene of great rejoicing. Music plays, people holding gifts and wearing turbans look on in adoration. But at the centre, the child and his parents gaze at each other with single-minded focus: for them, nothing else exists. The parents have wandered long as exiles, dependent on the charity of others, but now a great moment of change is finally upon them. The boy’s father looks deceptively calm, but he points his hand towards the child, as if to say – look, here he is – the boy who will be the shelter and refuge of the whole world.
The setting may sound terribly familiar when I put it this way. Not all is as it seems, though, because the actual painting that I am describing is very far from the image that a description like this is bound to evoke in this season. There are no stars here, no shepherds, and certainly no farm animals. Instead, there is the glint of the two swords that the juggler in center foreground holds in his hands. A group of musicians to our left play kettledrums and bugles. In the middle distance, there are dancing girls. The child and his parents sit in a rich pavilion of scarlet and gold.
But if you squint and peer beyond them in this small painting, which can be seen on the British Library’s superb digitised manuscripts site, on the walls of that pavilion you’ll see yet more paintings – tiny murals. In the first of these, there are men on horseback in a more familiar countryside setting. In the next panel, the three men have dismounted, they now kneel in front of what looks like a tiny figure with a child on her lap. That, now, looks like the familiar Adoration of the Magi. But what it is doing here takes us back to a moment when two very different worlds came together more than 400 years ago.
Jalal-ud-Din Akbar, Jahanpanah (‘Shelter of the World’), Shahanshah (‘King of Kings’), the third and perhaps greatest ruler of the sprawling empire that dominated the subcontinent from the sixteenth century till the 1850s, commissioned this book, the Akbarnama, in the late 1590s, and the manuscript in question was probably prepared around 1602-03. One of its most striking early stories tells us how Akbar, separated as a baby from his parents when his father Humayun had been exiled from India, was reunited with them at the age of three. The painting I described accompanies that story, showing the moment when, in a test devised by his father, Akbar demonstrated his ‘divine light’ by recognising his mother in a crowd of women after the long separation – and rushed unhesitatingly into her waiting arms.
The scene in the mural behind the mother and child might be a tacit acknowledgement of the shared elements between Islam and Christianity, but to leave it at that would only be half the story. Akbar’s curiosity about other cultures and religions was well-known. He commissioned translations from Sanskrit and other languages into Persian, the official language of the Mughal empire, and experimented with the idea of a syncretic religion. One of his radical ideas was the establishment of a debating hall, the Ibadat-khana, where intellectuals of all faiths came to discuss matters of philosophy and religion. It is here, in 1580, that some new guests arrived, like a very different journey of the magi – three Jesuit fathers whom Akbar had invited from the newly established Portuguese settlement in Goa. The Jesuits knew Akbar’s reputation as a great connoisseur, so instead of trivial gifts, they brought books and paintings – Albrecht Durer’s ‘Virgin and Child’ was among them, and a copy of a multi-volume illustrated Bible. They celebrated Christmas in Akbar’s presence, and displayed a crib decorated with religious paintings. In the extreme right-hand corner of those tiny inset wall-murals in the Mughal painting of Akbar’s childhood, you can see a figure, dark-robed like a Jesuit priest, looking on.
The Jesuits were of course keen to convert the Mughal emperor, but despite their hopes and hours of conversation, that did not happen. What did occur, however, was much more interesting. At the studios of the Mughal court, Hindu and Muslim artists pored over accumulating examples of ‘exotic’ European images and techniques. The result is a breath-taking fusion of cultures. Among the albums of paintings produced at successive Mughal courts, therefore, we find exquisite pieces that range from copies of Durer’s engravings and Michelangelo’s Noah from the Sistine Chapel, to European elements seamlessly absorbed into Mughal matter – angels and haloes, cherubs with wings, flowers, gowns, European-style cross-framed chairs.
And then, of course, there are paintings like this one, where the conversation among cultures almost goes unnoticed. Between the child and mother in the foreground, and the pair we can only just make out in the background, there is a world of difference. Yet there is acknowledgement of an innate human connection as well, an acknowledgement of displacement and exile, of losing homes and coming home. This painting, now digitised like many items in the British Library’s collection of Indian art and manuscripts, is evidence of the extraordinary creativity of the court with which Europe, and especially the British, would have a close but tumultuous history of interaction in centuries to come. But more importantly, it is evidence of a kind of curiosity – of the ability to ask, to listen, to enter into a conversation and to draw connections rather than boundaries – that no written record can convey.Nandini Das | <urn:uuid:3b3a68b5-f13d-4162-a944-503d069f85b3> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://www.tideproject.uk/2016/12/23/striking-up-a-conversation-a-christmas-encounter-at-the-british-library/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256281.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521062300-20190521084300-00079.warc.gz | en | 0.964003 | 1,252 | 2.875 | 3 |
Medical researchers and military veterans are increasingly teaming up to study traumatic brain injuries (TBI) that U.S. personnel are dealing with after returning home from the battlefield. An estimated 15 to 23 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer TBI, which equates to about 300,000 to 460,000 soldiers in need of various levels of medical treatment.
Researchers are developing new objective imaging testing methods that provide better insight of brain scans and cognitive testing - and while progress is accelerating - there are a large number of veterans that aren't receiving proper medical treatment. However, using a new diffusion tensor imaging helps indicate nerve track fiber damage and provides better guidance to detect mild-TBI episodes that can be more easily corrected if discovered quickly.
"Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress is a different kind of wound," noted Arnold Fisher, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund staff member. "It's unseen. Apparently, because it's unseen, very many people don't understand it."
A new medical research facility focused on treating brain injuries and post-combat mental and physical injuries recently broke ground at Fort Bragg. There are a limited number of TBI research centers, so some veterans can end up waiting months, or years, before they are able to begin receiving proper medical treatment. | <urn:uuid:cb70ce39-fafd-4cb2-a1ef-3dbce93e5120> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.tweaktown.com/news/35120/fight-against-veteran-brain-injury-going-high-tech-to-change-lives/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042988051.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002308-00075-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94769 | 261 | 2.96875 | 3 |
A screenshot, screen capture or screen dump, is a static picture of your computer screen’s display. The picture is a digital image taken by the operating system or by screenshot software and can be saved as a GIF, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG or any other image format.
- With the browser of your choice, visit your blog’s main page. Make sure that this browser window is the active window in full view (you may wish to maximize your browser).
- Press the Print Screen key (typically located at the top right of your keyboard) and the Alt key simultaneously (Alt+Print Screen). This captures your active window and saves the image to your clipboard. Note: Some keyboards have an F-key lock which must be turned off.
- Open a graphic program such as Paint (found via the Windows Start menu under All Programs > Accessories). In Paint, using the menu at the top of the application, click Edit > Paste.
- You may need to resize your image to make sure that is under the 800x 600 pixel dimension limit. To do this, click Image > Stretch/Skew
- Change the percentage from 100 to 75 (or thereabouts) for both the horizontal and vertical stretch fields. Click OK.
- Save your file by clicking File > Save As… Specify your file name. Change the ‘Save as File Type’ dropdown from BMP to GIF to reduce the file size. | <urn:uuid:b8454f17-8673-4c23-b4eb-f14b10921047> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.labnol.org/software/screenshots-of-computer-screen/8548/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223206147.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032006-00164-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907761 | 300 | 2.609375 | 3 |
[SVC41-P07] An improved conceptual model for hydrothermal system at Kusatsu-Shirane volcano, inferred from chloride and water stable isotope ratios of hot springs
Keywords:Kusatsu-Shirane volcano, Hydrothermal system, Stable isotope ratio of water, Chloride ion
To understand physics and chemistry of hydrothermal processing, investigations such as geochemical, geophysical and geological approaches have been conducted at Kusatsu-Shirane volcano. Ohba et al. (2000) proposes a simple model of a two-phase hydrothermal reservoir beneath Yugama crater lake. Analyses of stable isotope ratios of hot springs suggest the hydrothermal water is derived from a mixture of magmatic high-temperature volcanic gasses (HTVG) and meteoric water. Nurhasan et al. (2006) discusses smectite-rich layers play an important role to control fluid flows within the volcanic edifice. However, spatial distributions of geochemical characteristic of hot springs are still open to discussion. In this study, we sampled most of hot springs emitting at the eastern flank of Kusatsu-Shirane volcano. In addition, we found thermal water which is emitting from the bottom of a stream located at the foot of the Shirane pyroclastic cone. On the basis of geochemical analyses of hot springs such as chloride and stable isotope ratios, we propose an improved conceptual model for hydrothermal system at Kusatsu-Shirane volcano.
We sampled water in total 35 of hot springs in 2017. Localities of sampling sites are around Shirane pyroclastic cone and the eastern flank of Kusatsu-Shirane volcano. Kusatsu Yubatake is at 6 km south-southeast of Yugama crater lake, which is the most far site from the summit of Kurasut-Shirane volcano. The concentrations of Cl and SO4 ions were determined with an ion chromatograph. The pH and EC were measured using a handheld pH/EC meter. The δD and δ18O values were determined by Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy (Picarro, L2120-i).
According to analyses of stable isotope ratios, the thermal water emitting from the bottom of a stream located at the foot of the Shirane pyroclastic cone (Ye) has relatively high contribution of HTVG compared to other hot springs. Such characteristic is similar to that of Kagusa hot springs (Kg), however, Ye shows higher Cl/SO4 ratio than that of Kg. Geochemical characteristics of Ye are similar to the fluid injected from the bottom of Yugama crater lake (Kuwahara et al., 2017). In addition, geochemical features of previous hot spring of Kusatsu Yubatake are almost same as Ye (note that chemical concentrations of Kusatsu Yubatake have been modified since Bandaiko hot spring was developed in 1970s).
These results indicate an existence of “Yugama group”. Thermal waters which supply to the area of the Shirane pyroclastic cone such as Yugama crater lake and Ye flow down to south-southeast direction. We believe that hot waters emitting from Kusatsu Yubatake are essentially derived from the Yugama group and have been modified by Bandaiko hot spring since 1970s. The hot springs of Hse (Ohba et al., 2000) are referred to as “Kagusa group” in this study. The hot water flows down from around Kagusa hot spring, 2 km east of the Shirane pyroclastic cone, to Jyoufu and Gunma-Tetsuzan.
This work was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under grant 15 K01247 to A.T. | <urn:uuid:0b6b7741-d35a-4371-b8fe-e73d33b53b7b> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://confit.atlas.jp/guide/event/jpgu2018/subject/E_SVC41-P07/date | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875146033.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20200225045438-20200225075438-00122.warc.gz | en | 0.927475 | 791 | 2.625 | 3 |
Alcohol often plays an important role in celebrating the most momentous events in history. The French share glasses of wine on Bastille Day. Many Americans throw back a Budweiser or two in honor of the Fourth of July. On New Year’s Eve, people toast to a year gone by with flutes of champagne. But what many of those revelers don’t realize is that alcohol doesn’t just help us celebrate history, there are a lot of ways alcohol changed history too.Alcohol has its own history as old as civilization itself. From the first barley farms and vineyards to the most modern microbreweries, alcohol in history has helped us drown our sorrows and celebrate our triumphs. Along the way, these devilish drinks effected massive changes of their own. Whether it’s rum, vodka, wine, or beer, alcohol has raised humanity up, dragged humanity down, and hosted every party in between. This list reveals how alcohol changed the course of history.
- Photo: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
The Borgias Maintained Their Power Thanks to Poisoned Wine
For a family obsessed with holding and keeping the Papal seat, the Borgias's methods were anything but moral. The Borgias were an Italian family who reigned during the Renaissance. The aristocratic clan counted two Popes among their ranks. More importantly, the Borgias are known as one of most power-hungry families in history. Their weapon of choice for dispatching enemies? Poison-laced wine, on enemies and subordinates alike.
In a poetic twist of fate, some historians believe that it was a Borgia-poisoned bottle of wine, brought to the table by accident, that ultimately took the life of the patriarch of the Borgias, Pope Alexander VI.
- Photo: SJ Beadell / Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
Rum Kept the World's Most Powerful Navy Happy and Healthy for 300 Years
It wasn’t just pirates who had a taste for rum on the high seas. For more than 300 years, rum served as the main fuel of the British Navy. Beginning with England’s acquisition of Jamaica in 1655, sailors received a pint of rum as their daily ration. Sailors made sure the rum wasn’t diluted by adding gunpowder and setting it on fire, giving us the origin of the term “proof.” Rum didn’t just keep sailors safe from low morale; it also kept them safe from scurvy. When the higher-ups deemed rum too strong for duty in its purest form, Admiral Edward Vernon invented “grog,” a mixture of rum, water, lemon juice, and brown sugar.
The vitamin C in the lemon juice actually helped fight scurvy, which gave the sailors more than enough reason to keep imbibing.
Beer Inspired the Agricultural Revolution and Basically Started Civilization
Beer enthusiasts everywhere will be happy to know that beer may have been the catalyst for civilization as we know it. According to historians, the original reason that ancient farmers began to grow barley more than 10,000 years ago was not to create bread (as originally believed) but to create beer.
This shift from hunter-gathering to farming marked the beginning of the agricultural revolution, a period that gifted modernity with little things like the wheel, irrigation, and the plow.
Without the Whiskey Rebellion, Political Parties as We Know Them Wouldn't Exist
The Whiskey Rebellion played an important part in the birth of the America that we know today. When thousands of colonists came together to protest a new tax on whiskey, the rebellion met the iron hand of the new US government, led by the commander-in-chief himself, George Washington. The break-up of the rebellion proved to colonists that the young government had the power to defend itself against uprisings and laid the groundwork for the prosecution of treason.
Perhaps more interestingly, the whiskey tax was one of the issues pushed by the anti-Federalists, a move that helped spawn the division of ideology that created America’s first separate political parties. | <urn:uuid:3a475332-1203-41b0-91bf-36e00c616dea> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.ranker.com/list/how-alcohol-changed-history/danielle-ownbey?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964362589.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20211203030522-20211203060522-00419.warc.gz | en | 0.959272 | 844 | 3.359375 | 3 |
For Better, Safer Burger, Add Rosemary
The herb cuts BBQ-linked carcinogens, expert says
SUNDAY, June 26, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Fire up the grill, and don't forget the rosemary: New research finds that adding a bit of the herb extract to hamburgers cuts down on levels of a known carcinogen.
Kansas State University food chemistry professor J. Scott Smith found that rosemary can reduce levels of compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) in grilled hamburgers. HCAs are produced in protein-rich muscle foods that have been barbequed, grilled, broiled or fried. Epidemiological studies have linked HCAs to various cancers.
"Rosemary is a hot antioxidant right now. It's real popular," Smith said in a prepared statement.
Smith measured HCA levels in ground beef patties after the patties were fortified with two antioxidants extracted from rosemary -- rosmarinic acid and carnoisic acid.
He found that the extracts reduced two HCA compounds when the patties were cooked at 375 and 400 degrees F. Levels of two other HCA compounds were not reduced, however.
More studies are being be done to determine if levels of those two HCA compounds can be reduced by adjusting the cooking temperature, he said.
"We're going to continue this line of research and try to narrow down some of the chemicals in some of the spices, because they're loaded with antioxidants," Smith said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers advice about safe meat preparation. | <urn:uuid:3566785b-41b0-4755-b6c0-a4f4e533fa67> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/antioxidants-news-32/for-better-safer-burger-add-rosemary-526241.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038492417.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418133614-20210418163614-00510.warc.gz | en | 0.960009 | 329 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What Is Functional Nutrition? A guest post.
Functional nutrition is not a discipline that everyone can master. Every human is unique, with our own genetic make-up, health history, lifestyle and emotional state. Because of
that, we all require a customized plan for achieving and sustaining optimal health.
About Functional Nutrition
Functional Nutrition is nutrition-based care that focuses on building your health by restoring the proper physiological functioning of the body. When you have multiple symptoms they are clues to the ways in which your body is not working the way it should be. Rather than concealing those symptoms with natural or pharmaceutical agents, we want to look at those symptoms to understand which parts of your body need support to get back on track and get you healthy again. By looking at your whole picture the diet, symptoms, illness history, medications, lifestyle, history of antibiotic use, stress, we are able to put together a plan. That plan serves as a map of the nutrition your body needs in order to regain health and prevent illness.
When your diet consists of foods that contain chemicals, GMOs, antibiotics and other pharma-type ingredients, it is slowing down your system. The systems and cells that you rely on to heal a cut, help you sleep, give you energy and fight off diseases have difficulty understanding the information it is receiving. You might notice small discomforts at first such as belly fat, obesity, gut, and intestinal problems, bad skin, fatigue, high blood pressure, aches, and pains. Over time these small discomforts will become serious health issues such as diabetes, cancer, heart, and circulatory dysfunctions or autoimmune diseases.
What Is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a biology-based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom may be one of many leading to an individual’s illness. A diagnosis can be the result of many causes. For example, depression can be caused by many factors, including inflammation. Besides, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The manifestation of each cause depends on their genes and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have long-lasting benefits.
The Institute of Functional Medicine was founded as a way to promote functional medicine and provide education to healthcare specialists. A functional medicine clinic works on a model that supports patients and doctors to work together to address the underlying causes of disease by evaluating biological systems.
The Functional Nutrition Approach
The functional nutrition approach includes a series of steps that lead to determining the most customized approach possible. An approach for a client may go like this:
● A complete evaluation looking at medical history
● Organ system review
● Medication history
● Review of diet, lifestyle and exercise routines
● Review of conventional lab results
● Functional nutrition testing to appraise various nutrient levels or genetic markers to ensure there are no underlying deficiencies.
Once the data has been collected and analyzed, it is time to move onto the customized program. In the case of a person with digestive upset, some of the recommendations can include:
● Clean up the current diet, eliminate processed foods, gluten, and dairy
● Educate the person on how to manage stress
● Strategies to prepare the nervous system for mealtime
● Consuming supplements that improve digestion of foods, restore good bacteria and reduces digestive spasms
What does functional nutrition look like?
The main dish can be made of organic roasted vegetables of your choice, tossed with cilantro, basil, parsley, salt and pepper, and olive oil. On the side, you can add broiled salmon steak. All can be served with a green salad, with cucumbers, radishes, and avocados, and if you like you can drizzle it with apple cider vinegar.
It is very delicious and satisfying. You can eat a full plate of a meal like that and be completely full for hours. You will have fed your body’s systems and cells information it can use to give you the vitality you want. If you make this a habit, your skin will look better, your mood swings will get better and your energy levels will be higher.
Benefits of functional nutrition can range from slowing down the aging process to overturning diseases and illnesses. From feeling like dragging through the day to fully living your every day. From feeling the urge to constantly snack on something to being completely full for hours.
Functional nutrition is a sustainable way to eat that also improves you in the short and long term way by nourishing your body with delicious, good quality food. | <urn:uuid:f8b1777f-ad0d-4488-9c05-77fe5030c7a5> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.backfixer1.com/functional-nutrition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514572235.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20190915175150-20190915201150-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.940975 | 937 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Of the Web 2.0 applications that have emerged over the last few years, I find wikis to be one of the most promising tools for education. First, wikis are easy to use. Students may need a short tutorial to start using a wiki but even a novice can become quite skilled in adding content in a relatively short amount of time. Secondly, wikis offer many administrative tools that allow teachers to track student posts and monitor the history of a class wiki. Lastly, wikis promote student collaboration and communication. The wiki process succeeds through the basic premise that the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. Recently, however, I encountered a serious wiki problem in one of my classes. Although the incident began as an accusation of academic misconduct, it ended up teaching me some important lessons about using new technologies with students. While this story takes place in a collegiate environment, it can serve as a warning to any teacher who plans to use technology with students.
I teach instructional technology to preservice teachers at a state university in Pennsylvania. To allow my students to experience the educational benefits of wikis firsthand, I created a class wiki where students would embed videos from YouTube and TeacherTube. To connect the wiki project to curricular content, I developed the assignment around assistive technology and asked students to find and post examples of K-12 students with special needs using assistive devices. I also asked my students to write short descriptions of the devices demonstrated in the videos they posted and comment on the submissions from other students.
Midway through the assignment, I noticed that something odd had happened. Although I received emails from the wiki showing that students had posted content, I could not find the students’ work on the site. I searched frantically through the wiki history thinking that the embedded video had possibly overextended the capabilities of the site. After a few minutes, however, I determined the solution to the problem. On a single editing attempt, a student had deleted many of the posts from her classmates. Luckily, wikis offer a post-by-post, date stamped history where users can see every change that was made during the life of a page. As can be seen from the screen shot from a portion of the wiki, the history showed red areas where student posts had been deleted. As I studied the history, the deleted posts were often not contiguous. Deletions occurred sporadically down the page and always removed entire posts from students. Out of the 22 students in the class, the posts from thirteen students had been deleted. As I studied the history, it appeared clear. The wiki had been vandalized and I had caught the student in the act of deliberately sabotaging the work of other students.
After restoring the deleted student posts, I met with the student I had identified as being responsible for deleting the wiki content and discussed possible penalties. I explained that the project was a graded assignment. Because she had not copied the work of other students, the infraction technically could not be constituted as cheating. I also explained that deleting posts from others students could have affected their grades. I compared the infraction to a hypothetical situation where a student might take a stack of student papers from a teacher’s desk so that it would appear that other students had not completed the assignment. While this task would be almost unimaginable in a face-to-face environment, it can easily happen with online collaborative tools. By deleting the posts from her classmates, I would not have been able to fairly grade their work. From my point of view, the infraction was a serious academic offense that could warrant a failing grade in the course or even more major sanctions.
The accused student was shocked and remorseful. “Why would I do this?” she cried. “Why would I delete the work from my classmates?” As I sat listening to the students’ tearful pleas of innocence, I wondered if I had missed something. Even though the history clearly showed the student was responsible for the deletions, she appeared credible. I decided to make a more careful examination of the wiki history.
I searched through the entire history of the wiki again. I looked at each of the 120 student posts to see if this odd behavior had happened at some other time. It had not. At no point in the history of the wiki had deletions of other students’ posts occurred. I did notice, however, that when several students were posting at the same time, they overwrote each other’s work. Although this happened twice during the wiki’s history, I did not think this was relevant to the vandalism incident. The history showed that the accused student was the only person working on the site at the time. Also, the sections that were deleted had been posted over the span of a week. After searching the history, I became even more confident in the evidence showing that the student had vandalized the site and maliciously deleted work from her peers.
The overwriting issue, however, made me think about how the wiki functioned. The wiki allows for multiple editors. If students are working on the site at the same time, they can unknowingly overwrite each other’s additions. Thinking about this functionality, I remembered that the wiki I was using (wikispaces.com) also retains drafts of posts. For example, if a student were working on a submission and exited without saving or canceling her work, she could return to this draft the next time she tried to edit the page. Could this odd saving process have created the deletions that I mistook as vandalism and academic misconduct? I returned to the wiki history for more information.
Looking at the history, I saw that the accused student had made several edits on the wiki on March 8th. Some of the edits differed by a few minutes (10:23 PM, 10:28 PM, 10:31 PM, etc), which I thought was odd. Possibly, I thought, she was working on a submission and was revising it over and over again. Could she have exited her last draft without saving or cancelling her work? Working from the assumption that she had, I saw that the deletions occurred the next time she posted, which occurred almost a week later on March 14th. If she had returned to her earlier draft from March 8th, she would have accidentally overwritten all of the student posts in that time period. The only way to show this might have occurred was to look at when the deleted sections had originally been posted. Looking again at the history, all of the deleted posts were submitted between March 8th and March 15th. Possibly, the sporadic deletions were not the result of malicious vandalism, but due to the student working from an earlier unsaved draft that eventually overwrote posts from her classmates. Figure 1 demonstrates how overwriting could occur.
To satisfy any reservations I had, I attempted to reproduce the incident. With the wiki still functioning properly and students still posting content, I began editing the page and exited without saving or cancelling my work. I waited several days and returned to edit the page. A dialogue box appeared that asked if I wanted to work from my previously unsaved draft. I selected “Yes.” I then made some minor changes and hit “Save.” Another dialogue box appeared that announced if I wanted to save my work, I would be overwriting posts from a list of people. If I selected “Yes” to this statement, those posts would be deleted regardless of where they occurred in the page. In my mind, this experiment proved what had actually happened with the wiki, but also demonstrated that the student was not completely innocent. Like many students, she probably chose to simply click “Yes” without really knowing to what she was agreeing. Because of this, I gave her a diminished grade for the project but chose not to pursue any additional sanctions.
Despite this incident, I still think a wiki can be a powerful teaching tool and I plan to use wikis with my students in the future. Although this incident was stressful at the time, I choose to remember this event as a learning opportunity, one that communicates important lessons for me and the preservice teachers with whom I work. This incident demonstrates that our students need to fully understand how a tool functions before we can expect them to use it properly. Reflecting on how I introduced the wiki project, I should have better described how wikis operate and explained the possibility of overwriting other posts. I should have also highlighted the need to save or cancel any work before exiting. Having this discussion with my students at the start of the activity might have avoided the accidental overwriting completely. In the future, I will share this story with my students to demonstrate the unexpected events that can occur with new technology. As future teachers using technology with their students, they need to be aware of the possibility of these inadvertent actions and approach them thoughtfully.
Dr. Oliver Dreon is an assistant professor at Millersville University of Pennsylvania where he teaches instructional technology and science methods courses. Prior to coming to Millersville, Dr. Dreon taught science for fifteen years in the public schools and was a 2001 Christa McAuliffe Fellow (PA). He obtained his BS in Physics and his MA in Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Dreon recently completed a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction through Penn State University. His research interests include teacher development and professional teacher identity.
Figure 1: How Previously Unsaved Drafts can Delete Posts | <urn:uuid:dd1914db-904b-44cd-b3e8-b23e266e1821> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.techlearning.com/news/vandalism-or-an-accidental-overwrite-a-wiki-warning-by-millersville-universitys-oliver-dreon-jr | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591575.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20180720080634-20180720100634-00330.warc.gz | en | 0.982874 | 1,941 | 3.078125 | 3 |
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Classroom discussion, despite its association with good academic outcomes, is exceedingly rare in U.S. schools. The Word Generation intervention involves the provision of texts and activities to be implemented across content area class, organized around engaging and discussable dilemmas. The...
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Educational efforts aimed at attracting the “best and brightest” into the teaching profession are widespread and include national programs, such as Teach for America and the New Teacher Project Teaching Fellows, as well as regional and state-based programs, city-based programs, and...
This study investigates the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach, a social and emotional learning intervention, on changing the relations between mathematics teacher and classroom inputs (mathematical knowledge for teaching [MKT] and standards-based mathematics teaching...
Publicly funded single-sex schooling (SSS) has proliferated in recent years and is touted as a remedy to gaps in academic attitudes and achievement, particularly for low-income students of color. Research on SSS is rife with limitations, stemming from selective admissions processes, selection...
Middle schools are important because they launch students on trajectories that they are likely to follow throughout their formal educations. This study explored the relationship of first-generation segregation (elementary and middle school racial composition) and second-generation segregation...
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Addressing climate change creates jobs
Like character, climate infuses and helps form its world. Now the climate that has given us prosperity is growing unstable. Hotter weather is helping forests burn more catastrophically. Farms are struggling through heat and drought. Fisheries are becoming unfishable, and the ocean turning acidic.
Climate change models predict more destructive hurricanes. Harvey is the latest.
With climate change we expect destabilizing poverty. National Geographic has traced the Syrian conflict and its massive refugee crisis to its roots in the scarcity imposed by an abusive government combined with a withering, extended drought.
Some still deny the facts with petty stupidities, “I’m not a scientist” so I won’t trust people who are. Some politicians still run from discussing climate change: “My concern is jobs” or “It’s too big to handle.”
But jobs without a decent home to work for don’t do much good. And if real problems are too big to handle, the person shouldn’t be in government.
We have already locked in enough climate change that our children and theirs will have a tough go of things, where human decency and community will be challenged by material hardships. We have done badly by them.
But we don’t need to do worse. There are efforts all around us to reduce carbon and methane emissions. We already have more jobs in clean electricity than in fossil fuel electricity. We should be making the same happen in transportation.
The sooner and more emphatically we can support government, commercial, and residential actions to reduce climate change, the better off our children will be. Our character shapes their world.
— Dan Greaney, Redding | <urn:uuid:5af47430-0d50-45c0-a87b-da00f81e0ecf> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.redding.com/story/opinion/readers/2017/09/05/addressing-climate-change-creates-jobs/626024001/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573065.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20190917081137-20190917103137-00366.warc.gz | en | 0.944791 | 354 | 2.6875 | 3 |
PRIMETIME and E=MOTION
HOME | AUTOMOTIVE | BLUEPLANET | ELECTRIC CARS | ENERGY | INSURANCE | INDEX | SOLAR CARS
The Primetime Electric Land Speed Team were aiming to break the Electric World Land Speed Record in the autumn of 2002. However, as with all land speed record projects, things rarely go to plan. Read on to see how this project developed leading to an attempt in June 2004.
ABB drives and motors used to power loads in virtually all industry applications around the world, are providing the power conversion needed for the main drive system in a new challenge to the world electric land speed record. ABB's new ACS800 ac drive converts the 600Vdc output from four packs of lead-acid batteries in e=motion, a new electric car designed in Britain, for the two 50 hp (40kW) IP23 through-ventilated ac motors that power the car. ABB's system will enable e=motion to travel at over 300 mph, well in excess of the top speed of a Formula One car.
Powered by the dc batteries and controlled by the ACS800 ac drives that feature the company's exclusive Direct Torque Control (DTC) motor control algorithm, the two motors already have propelled the e=motion car to 146 mph during testing. This unofficially broke the 139 mph U.K.-record for the fastest speed traveled by an electric vehicle. The car will be moved to Tunisia in September and the vehicle's designers, Mark Newby and Colin Fallows, will attempt to set the new world electric land speed record. A U.S. team holds the current world record of 247 mph.
Colin Fallows and Ian Deavin
of an envelope
Fallows and Newby are experienced drag racers and hold the UK speed record for jet-powered cars. When they wanted to go electric they turned to ABB, an international power and automation company. "It started as a calculation on the back of an envelope and ended up as a monster spreadsheet," says Frank Griffith, a drives consultant engineer from ABB.
"There are very few unknowns in the technology we're using," says Griffith. "It's only the batteries that may deliver a surprise because they're made for starting cars by giving a very high current in a short time. We'll be asking them to give a medium current for a long time and we're not certain how it will drop over time."
Griffith calculated that a belt drive used in machine tools would be an efficient way to transmit power to the rear axle. A common inverter changes the direct current from the batteries into an alternating current for the two motors.
NEWS LINKS: Primetime project update Primetime Pan Verdeul, South Africa
Project Latest: Tunisia, Sahara Desert June 2004 E=motion Specifications
LOADING-SERVO | CARTRIDGE | MOTORS | JOYSTICK-CAR
WIND-TUNNEL | WIND TUNNEL DETAILS
This is the kind of result you can expect from your wind tunnel - a super slippery 350+ mph electric streamliner. This particular car is charged by solar power, making it probably the world's fastest solar powered electric land speed record car. She also has battery cartridge exchange built in, for instant refueling.
The content of this website is copyright © and design copyright 1991 and 2013 Electrick Publications. All rights reserved. The bluebird logo & names Bluebird and Blue Max are registered trademarks. The BE2 and BE3 vehicle configurations are registered designs ®. All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged. Max Energy Ltd is an environmental educational charity working for world peace.
EDUCATION | E. CYCLES | SOLAR CAR TEAMS | SOLARNAVIGATOR
LEAD-WEDGE SILVER-EAGLE BATTERY-BOX LIGHTNING-ROD WHITE-LIGHTNING BUCKEYE BULLET EMOTION | <urn:uuid:9a3df6be-86e5-457a-8271-5980733b58c1> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | http://www.speedace.info/emotion.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296950247.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401191131-20230401221131-00087.warc.gz | en | 0.9184 | 848 | 2.625 | 3 |
Introducing MINChar—a new community initiative to support effective material characterization in nanotoxicity studies.
Here’s a tough one: Imagine you have a new substance—call it substance X—and you run some tests to see how toxic it is. But you’re not quite sure what substance X is.
You know that it is a powder, and it is supposed to have chemicals x y and z somewhere in it. But you don’t know how small the particles are, what shape they are, whether chemical z is on the surface of the particles or inside them, whether the particles all clump together when shoved into the test system or whether they can’t get far enough away from each other after being administered, or whether there is something else present in substance X that really shouldn’t be there.
Now imagine your tests show that substance X looks like it could be rather dangerous. How do identify which aspect of the material is causing the problem, so you can go about fixing it?
Or imagine someone else wants to repeat your work. Or they want to compare your data with another study. How do you know that the substance being used in other studies is the same as substance X, and not simply a crude approximation?
The scenario is somewhat hypothetical, but the issues are very real. And they have dogged the field of nanotoxicology for over a decade.
The problem is, toxicologists are used to working with substances where chemical identity and mass of material are all that are needed to establish the concentration at which the material becomes harmful. These folks aren’t used to dealing with materials that “do what they do” because of a complex set of physical and chemical characteristics, and that may change from one environment to another.
But the toxicology community is becoming increasingly aware of the new challenges of studying the harmfulness of engineered nanomaterials. Which is why a new grass-roots initiative has just been launched to try and change things for the better.
The Minimum Information on Nanomaterial Characterization initiative—MINChar for short—has its roots in a workshop held in Florida back in 2004. At the time, materials scientists and toxicologists were well aware of the disconnect between conventional toxicology and the new challenges presented by engineered nanomaterials. But they weren’t clear what to do about it. And it rapidly became apparent that the research community wasn’t ready to take radical action to change the habits of a lifetime—the ideas were there, but the timing wasn’t right.
Four years on though, the landscape has changed—an increasing amount of nanotoxicology research is being funded and published, and more people are realizing that for the work to be useful, the materials being tested need to be characterized appropriately.
But there is a problem: what constitutes “appropriate.” Or rather, to the toxicologist who is easily scared by long lists of incomprehensible parameters that require fancy (and expensive) instruments to measure—what is the minimum material characterization that is achievable in practice.
This is what the MINChar initiative set out to address. Over the course of two days in October, a group of people involved with generating, assessing and using toxicology data got together and hashed out a minimum set of information they thought was necessary for effective studies. The idea was to put something in place as a community that would compliment initiatives from more august bodies—and start to improve the quality of nanotoxicology studies from the laboratory outward.
The result was a list of nine physical and chemical parameters, and three overarching considerations—available on the MINChar website.
But just as importantly, the meeting spawned a community of people interested in improving the state of material characterization in nanotoxicology studies.
And if you are involved in any way with nanotoxicology—as a researcher, a reviewer, a program manager, a data-user—you can sign up as a member of MINChar Community. This is something that is being strongly recommended by the organizers of the October workshop—because the more people there are involved in improving the quality of nanotoxicology research, the more likely it is that approaches to using new and potentially useful nanomaterials safety will be developed.
And understanding how to use substance X safely will no longer be like groping in the dark.
- Further information on the MINChar initiative can be found at http://characterizationmatters.org
- If you are interested in being a part of the MINChar community, you can sign up at http://characterizationmatters.org/community/
- This week’s copy of Chemical & Engineering News has a great article on MINChar [accessible from here] | <urn:uuid:c43f8516-079a-467b-9af1-255ef5288e1a> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://2020science.org/2008/12/15/getting-to-grips-with-nanomaterial-toxicity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375095775.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031815-00144-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950535 | 974 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Throughout history, people have been speculating and reasoning about “God”. Some people (atheists) argue that there is not something like the so-called “God”, whereas some other people (theists) argue that there is “God”, Who is the Creator of this universe.
Even those who believe that there is God do not have a clear idea about God. There are polytheistic beliefs that claim that there are several gods. There are monotheistic beliefs that allege that we have only one God.
Again, the monotheistic faiths disagree over such one God, Who is the Lord of this universe. They differ about His attributes, how He should look like and whether He may be like us.
As a result of such fierce controversy, frequent questions are asked by people everywhere and every time: is there God? Does God exist? Do we have one or more gods? How does God, if any, look like?
In this article, I will try to answer the above questions quite simply and reasonably. While we cannot perceive the existence of God by any of our usual senses (i.e. hearing, sight, smell, touch or taste), it must be borne in mind that if God exists, this must be provable by our very logic. If God exists, He must be fair. How can God punish people for disbelieving in Him if they cannot feel His very existence?
Let us review the common beliefs about God! The first belief to be reviewed is the atheistic theory that there is no God for this universe, and the world created itself or existed by evolution.
In fact, this belief is not true. If an atheist walks in a desolate desert and comes across an obsolete car over there, he may claim that the desert has no maker, but he cannot allege that the car has none.
Now, we have two possibilities: either to believe that everything has no maker (this is not right by intuition) or everything should have a maker (this is right by experience). So just as the car should have a maker, the desert also should have a maker. The only difference in between is that the car was created after man. That is why he cannot deny that a car should have a maker. But the desert was created before man. Therefore, a person may claim that the desert has no maker simply because he did not witness its creation. (Al-Kahf 18:51)
Now, we have come to a conclusion that this universe has a maker who created it. But, is such a maker only one or more beings? The polytheistic faiths maintain that this universe has several gods (three gods in Christianity and more in other faiths).
However, the idea that our universe has more than one God is negated by many arguments including but not limited to the following arguments: the first argument is that if the alleged gods are equally indispensable, all of them cannot be God because one of them cannot dispense with any of them and so each of them will be impotent when alone but potent with the other gods. The lord of this universe can in no way be impotent.
If all of them are equally dispensable, all of them cannot be God either, simply because the universe can dispense with them, so why should they be there?
If one of them is indispensable while the others are dispensable, so the indispensable one is our God, but the other dispensable ones are not gods.
The second argument is that either the alleged gods have only one will or several wills. If they have unified volition, why should be more than one God there? If they have multiple volitions, they should disagree. What will happen if they disagree? Supposing that they fail to reach an agreement, they would keep fighting against one another. Accordingly, the universe should have been destroyed a long time ago as a result of fighting among gods.
Such fighting would end either in the victory of only one God or the destruction of gods themselves and the annihilation of the whole universe. According to the first likelihood, we will have only one God at the end of the day. According to the second likelihood, the universe should have been ruined a long time ago as it is unreasonable that gods would remain in harmony throughout the history of the earth without irresolvable disagreement. (Al-Israa’ 17:42) (Al-Mu’minun 23:91)
The third argument is that the multiplicity of gods entails inconsistency in the universe. The consistency of this universe entails that it is created by only one God. (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:22) (Al-Mulk 67:3)
Now, we may conclude that this universe should have one God. But, how should this God look like? Is He like or unlike us? Many faiths preach that there is one God, but they depict Him as a fellow human being, a cow or the like.
Logically speaking, God should be much greater than His creation. When we review any creature of God, we notice that it is greatly, exquisitely, and cleverly created. Every day, scientists have new scientific discoveries which indicate the ultimate greatness of creation. So, the greatness of the Creator should be more infinite, absolute and ultimate as well.
All attributes of greatness, magnitude, majesty and grandeur should be ascribed to the Creator of this universe. Such attributes are derived from the observation of the greatness of creation around us.
For example, God should be the Creator of everything. He should not have been created by anyone else. (Al-Ma’idah 5:17)
God should be Almighty, All-powerful, Omnipotent, Eternal, Immortal, and Omnipresent (Al-Baqarah 2:284) (Aal `Imran 3:26) (Aal `Imran 3:189) (Al-Furqan 25:58) How come the Creator of all people is killed or crucified by a few people? (John 19) (Matthew 27:32-56) (Luke 23:26-43)
God is worthy of worship and prayer by everything. (Matthew 4:9-10) (Al-Baqarah 2:83) (Al-Anbiyaa’ 21:25) (Al-Baqarah 2:133) He should not worship or pray to anyone else. (Mark 1:35) (Matthew 14:23) (Luke 6:12) (Luke 23:34)
God should be able to benefit or harm all creation. (Al-Ma’idah 5:76) All creation should not be able to benefit or harm Him. (Matthew 27:46)
God should be the one who sends people to Paradise. (Al-Ma’idah 5:72) He should not be sent to Paradise by anyone else. (Luke 23:43)
This is the truth about God. This is the Lord of this universe Whom we all should worship alone without any partner. This is God, no matter how different the names that may be given to Him. This is God, Allah, or Dieu. We should not care for names but for attributes.
1- The Glorious Qur’an (Sahih International Translation)
2- The Holy Bible (Visit biblegateway.com) | <urn:uuid:53e9ad32-dc98-4840-a784-ac92ef1c7e44> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.islamforchristians.com/ultimate-truth-god/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154321.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20210802141221-20210802171221-00113.warc.gz | en | 0.955203 | 1,528 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The warning from the spokesman of Spain’s ruling party stopped hearts across Catalonia: If Carles Puigdemont declared independence, he might “end up like the man who declared it 83 years ago”.
That man was Lluis Companys, the Catalan president who was imprisoned and later executed by the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.
On Sunday his death on October 15, 1940, will be marked by a march to Barcelona’s Montjuic Castle, the site of the public act of punishment which still rankles deep in Catalans’ historical consciousness.
Accompanied by his entire cabinet, Mr Puigdemont will lay a wreath at the tomb of Companys, whose reported cry “For Catalonia!” as he faced the firing squad immortalized him as a martyr to the modern day independence movement.
As outrage grew over his words on Monday, Pablo Casado, the spokesman for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP), claimed he had not been referring to Companys’ execution but instead his earlier imprisonment for “rebellion” after he declared a Catalan state within a Spanish federal republic.
But he was unapologetic: the only ones who were “nationalist, xenophobic, exclusionary and totalitarian,” the only ones “fuelling the violence”, were the Catalan separatists, he insisted.
As the Catalonia crisis deepens, nationalist tempers are flaring and civil war insults flying in both directions, polarizing Spain further into two distinct realities where one side’s traitor is the other’s hero.
“They criticize our schools and the way we teach history,” said Elisenda Paluzie, economy professor at the University of Barcelona. “Who? Those who have political leaders who ignore the shooting of Companys.”
As long simmering resentments come to the surface, sights that many regarded as consigned to history are once again being witnessed.
Members of Franco’s Falange - small but increasingly active - perform the fascist salute and sing the dictatorship anthem La Cara del Sol at protests against Catalan independence.
On Thursday, as Spain celebrated its national day, two far right groups fought running battles in Barcelona’s Plaza Cataluña during a pro-unity rally.
Pro-independence Catalans increasingly recur to cries of fascism and dictatorship, with those who oppose secession often branded “Franquistas”.
The parents of Albert Rivera, leader of the centre right, anti-independence party Ciudadanos, saw their business outside Barcelona graffitied with the slogan “This is not your land”. Both sides report physical attacks and even death threats.
In this raw and febrile environment, hopes of dialogue - always slim - fade further with each seething exchange.
Mr Puigdemont has suspended Catalonia’s declaration of independence to allow for talks, while Mr Rajoy holds out the prospect of national constitutional reform if he retracts the declaration entirely.
But bitterness and mistrust have left many on both sides feeling they are past the point of no return, and the suspension of Catalonia's autonomy - with all its potential for confrontation - looms.
Even Spanish security forces - enraged by the backlash against the violent referendum day crackdown - are not above the fray. One police union this week tweeted a menacing photo of masked agents armed with submachine guns, with the caption: “Against the putschists.. let’s talk?”
Experts attribute this poisonous dynamic in part due to Spain’s failure to deal with the legacy of the dictatorship, hastily swept under an amnesty law after the death of Franco in 1977.
As Carlos Hernandez, a journalist and author, noted in a commentary in El Diario on Friday, Spain is “the only European country which continues honouring fascist genocides, stopping relatives from recovering the bodies of the victims, allowing homages to those who abducted our liberties for 40 years, tolerating that there are still streets and plazas (named) in their honor, and even justifying that their leaders are interred in great mausoleums like the Valley of the Fallen.”
Göran Lindblad, president of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience, said Spain needed to take steps to address the lingering pain of the dictatorship years, adding: ”There are always problems when a totalitarian past has not been properly managed.”
As for Mr Casado’s conjuring of Companys’ fate, he said: "It is not responsible to talk about executions in a democracy." | <urn:uuid:059d5693-b366-47a0-bde7-7d990cc00a94> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/14/civil-war-wounds-reopened-two-sides-square-catalonia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202640.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20190322074800-20190322100800-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.94103 | 967 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Griddlers Tutorial - Solving Puzzles
Example 3: Multi Line Solving
Here's an example of MLS (Multi Line Solving).
This type of logic involves looking at clues in more than one row or column at a time.
|Look at the last row. If we can figure out where to put the group of 10 it would be a big help to us. |
First, look at what happens when you color the last 10 squares in black and fill in the resulting columns. Since the clues for the 19th row are 1,1, the row clues are violated (marked with red dots). The 10 cannot be in this position.
|In fact, you can see that any group of 10 that involves the 13th square (marked with green arrow) is impossible since this would also have to include the 12th square and thus create a group of "2" (encircled with red) which contradicts the clues "1" in the 19th row.|
|Therefore, we can color in white the 13th square (marked with a red dot) and also any square to the right of it. Now we have a group of 8 we can confidently color in black.|
|We can also look at the clue 8 in the last column (marked with a red arrow). We must have a group of 8 black. But we know that we can only have a group of 2 squares maximum colored in the 19th column (circled in red). As you can see, this eliminates the first 6 squares in the column.|
|The black square marked with X has to be white too.|
|Let's try to place the group of 8 at the bottom. Using the same logic, the black squares marked with X have to be white also.|
|Once we color those in white we can easily color in a group of 7 blacks. This would be our result. You can see that just by using simple MLS we can get a big jump start on this puzzle.| | <urn:uuid:61258a66-5312-477d-9c80-a3c28315432a> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.griddlers.net/en_GB/pages/gexample3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917122726.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031202-00190-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951314 | 414 | 3.515625 | 4 |
About Echinacea extract
Echinacea increases the "non-specific" activity of the immune system. In other words, unlike a vaccine which is active only against a specific disease, echinacea stimulates the overall activity of the cells responsible for fighting all kinds of infection. Unlike antibiotics, which are directly lethal to bacteria, echinacea makes our own immune cells more efficient in attacking bacteria, viruses and abnormal cells, including cancer cells.Echinacea, the purple coneflower, is the best known and researched herb for stimulating the immune system.
1.Echinacea is widely used to fight infections, especially the common cold and other upper respiratory infections.Research to date shows that echinacea probably modestly reduces cold symptoms, but it’s not clear whether it helps prevent colds from developing.
2. Echinacea is also used against many other infections including the flu, urinary tract infections, vaginal yeast infections,genital herpes, bloodstream infections (septicemia), gum disease, tonsillitis, streptococcus infections, syphilis, typhoid,malaria, and diphtheria.
3. Sometimes people apply echinacea to their skin to treat boils, abscesses, skin wounds, ulcers, burns, eczema, psoriasis, UVradiation skin damage, herpessimplex, bee stings, and emorrhoids.
4. Commercially available echinacea products come in many forms including tablets, juice,and tea.
1. Immune stimulatory effects:
Echinacea extract can increasing granulocyte and leukoclyte count, promotes chemotaxis of monocytes and neutralizes viruses and cause bacteriolysis, binds to carbohydrate receptors on the surface of T-lymphocytes and macrophages to produce immune stimulatory effects.
2. Tissue rebirth properties:
Echinacea extract inhibits hyaluronidase; stimulate fibroblast growth and manufacture of
lucosaminoglycans; Exerts cortisone-like effects and enhances secretion of Adrenal cortex
3. Antibacterial properties:
Mild antibacterial action due to echinacoside and caffeic acid derivatives.
4. Antiviral properties:
Echinacea extract inhibits influenza, herpes and resicular stomatitis virues; Antiviral activity due to
hyaluronidase inhibition; May block viral receptor on the cell surface.
5. Biological Activity:
Echinacea extract can promote the bodys immune function, raise the bodys resistance to bacterial and viral infections, can be used to influenze, cold, urogenital infection, arthritis.
For more product information pls kindly contact email [email protected] | <urn:uuid:39413f29-b865-4ac5-9638-2d10f05ed097> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | http://www.chinaplantextract.com/sdp/2930511/4/cp-7786973/0/Echinacea_extract.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335326.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929065206-20220929095206-00097.warc.gz | en | 0.832697 | 585 | 2.625 | 3 |
Made from the fat of the Australian emu bird, emu oil is said to have wound-healing properties that have benefited Aboriginal people for thousands of years. The addition of emu oil is said to help ingredients like the topical analgesic lidocaine penetrate the skin. Potential skincare uses of the noncomedogenic ingredient include skin softening, plumping, and reduction of stretch marks.
Emu oil has likely not been incorporated in many mainstream beauty products because it's an animal product and therefore many individuals and organizations oppose its use in cosmetics products. While testers tout the benefits of emu oil, it seems the majority of the scientific information available was commissioned by emu farmers and emu oil manufacturers. Hopefully, cosmetics scientists will be able to replicate the benefits of it in a way that all beauty junkies – vegans included – can enjoy. | <urn:uuid:88bf2b88-0285-4108-abb0-f7b371e65344> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.bellasugar.com/emu-oil-1913800?fullsite=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011138462/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091858-00094-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966735 | 175 | 2.578125 | 3 |
This is the time of year when I get a lot of email from athletes describing how they just did their first races of the season and were going great until a cramp came on. Should they eat more bananas, is the most common question.
That cramps are more common in the first races of the year and not in the late season probably tells us something. No matter how hard you've been training this spring the workouts are not as hard as the races are. The body simply isn't in race shape yet. By the end of the season the body has adapted to the stresses of racing and is less inclined to cramping.
But for a few athletes the problem continues throughout the year. There is no more perplexing problem for these athletes than their susceptibility to cramping. Muscles seem to knot up at the worst possible times during their important and hard-fought competitions.
The real problem is that no one really knows what causes them. There are just theories. The most popular ones are that muscle cramps result from dehydration or electrolyte imbalances. These arguments seem to make sense—at least on the surface. Cramps are most common in the heat when low body-fluid levels and the possible decrease in body salts are likely to occur.
But the research doesn’t always support these explanations. For example, in the mid-1980s 82 male runners were tested before and after a marathon for certain blood parameters considered likely causes of muscle cramps. Fifteen of the runners experienced cramps after 18 miles of the race. There was no difference, either before or after the race, in terms of blood levels of sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, hemoglobin or hematocrit. There were also no differences in blood volume between the crampers and the non-crampers. Nor were there any significant differences in the way the two groups trained.
For very long events, those lasting more than about four hours, a bit more is known. A few studies have linked these cramps to hyponatremia—low sodium levels. This condition may result from drinking large volumes of fluids that are low in sodium and may be aggravated by starting the event with low levels of sodium. Since serious athletes are particularly good at avoiding the use of salt on food, they may be highly susceptible to hyponatremia. The day before and the morning of a very long race it may be a good idea to use salt more liberally to increase the body’s levels. The sports drink used for the race should also provide adequate levels of sodium. For long races, eating salty foods may also help prevent not only cramping, but also the life-threatening symptoms of hyponatremia.
It’s interesting to note that athletes are not the only people who experience muscle cramping. Workers in occupations that require chronic use of a muscle, especially one that crosses two joints, but don’t sweat profusely as athletes do, are also susceptible. A good example is musicians who are known to cramp in the hands and arms.
So if it isn’t dehydration or electrolyte imbalance, what causes cramping? Other theories are emerging. One is that poor posture or inefficient biomechanics are a cause. Poor movement patterns may cause a disturbance in the activity of the Golgi tendon organs. These are “strain gauges” built into the tendon to prevent muscle tears. When activated, these organs cause the threatened muscle to relax while stimulating the antagonistic muscle—the one that moves the joint in the opposite way—to fire. There may be some quirk of body mechanics that upsets a Golgi device and sets off the cramping pattern.
If this is the cause, prevention may involve improving biomechanics, and regular stretching and strengthening of muscles that seem to cramp along with their antagonistic muscles.
Another theory is that they result from burning protein for fuel in the absence of readily available carbohydrate. In fact, one study supports such a notion. In this research, muscle cramps occurred in subjects who reached the highest levels of ammonia release during exercise. High ammonia levels indicate that protein is being used to fuel the muscles during exercise. This may indicate a need for greater carbohydrate stores before, and better replacement of those stores during intense and long-lasting exercise.
When you feel a cramp coming on there are two ways to deal with it. One is to reduce the intensity and slow down—not a popular option in an important race. Another is to alternately stretch and relax the effected muscle group while continuing to move. This is difficult if not impossible to do in some sports such as running and with certain muscles. Actually there is a third option which some athletes swear by—pinching the upper lip. Strange, but true. | <urn:uuid:3cfa247a-27ee-4a93-ac5a-385c0861a4b0> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2008_05_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997888216.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025808-00164-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965329 | 984 | 2.8125 | 3 |
7 steps to better sleep
Sleep is a hugely important part of our health and wellbeing and there can be some serious medical and emotional consequences if we don’t get enough of it over a prolonged period.
Yet one in three people suffer from poor sleep, whether that’s not getting enough of it, or the quality of sleep being lower than it should be.
There are some medical conditions that can result in poor sleep but, for most of us, it’s usually down to unhelpful sleeping habits, and other factors can also have an impact, such as stress and anxiety.
We’ve compiled a range of tips that could help you to get to start enjoying a better quantity and quality of sleep.
Ensure you get access to some daylight each day
Everyone’s body has its own internal clock, known as a circadian rhythm. This is what tells us when we should be awake and asleep and it can get confused, especially if we don’t get enough daylight during waking hours.
Studies into people with insomnia have shown that getting natural daylight during the daytime can improve the quality and duration of sleep at night and also increase energy during the day.
It’s sometimes tough to do this, especially at certain times of the year when the days are short and the weather isn’t always something we want to be out and about in, but it can make a big difference just to take a short walk during daylight hours each day.
Alternatively, there are artificial sun lamps you can buy which mimic real sunlight.
Reduce blue light in the evenings
While getting plenty of light in the daytimes is really helpful for sleep, the opposite can be true when you take in lots of blue light in the lead up to bedtime, including on our phones, televisions, laptops or other devices.
This is because it tricks your body into thinking it’s still daytime and therefore not ready for sleeping yet. It’s recommended to use an app on your devices to block blue light and switch off your TV, along with any bright lights, at least a couple of hours before bed.
Don’t drink caffeine in the afternoons/evenings
Caffeine is a stimulant that many of us use frequently to help us wake up in the mornings, focus on something important or give us a little pick-me-up during the day.
However, caffeine can stay in our systems for around 6-8 hours, which means it can stop us from sleeping at bedtime or mean that our sleep isn’t as deep as it should be.
Depending on what time you go to bed, stopping drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks about 6-8 hours earlier can help. For example, if you usually go to bed around 11pm, your last coffee should be no later than about 3-4pm. Need something warm before bed? Why not go with a CBD hot chocolate or a herbal tea instead!
Have a consistent bedtime and wake time
We might long for a weekend lie-in, but studies show that those with irregular sleep patterns e.g. staying up later at weekends and then sleeping in, can experience all-round poorer sleep on other nights too.
Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day can help keep your circadian rhythm on track and could mean you have more energy and feel more rested even if you have less sleep than if you’d had that lie-in.
Make your bedroom a sleep-focused environment
Things such as external noise or light can interrupt our sleep and having devices or screens in the bedroom can also have a negative impact on sleep quality.
If you have things such as children, partners or pets waking you up then there are some limits to what you can do about that, but you can use blackout blinds or curtains to make sure that no light is getting in through windows and make sure that your bedroom is a quiet, welcoming, cosy space that is kept at a good temperature for optimum sleep.
This can differ from person to person, but around 20 degrees Celsius is usually considered a good temperature for sleep for most people.
Having a comfortable bed/mattress and pillow is also important for helping you get the best possible sleep, with experts recommending a new mattress every 6-8 years.
Exercising during the day, but not too late
Getting in a good amount of exercise is known to help improve our sleep, as well as the other health benefits it brings.
Whether that’s a workout at home, a visit to the gym, a run or just a brisk walk, it can all help, but it’s important not to do it too close to bedtime as this can actually stop you from sleeping. This is because exercise stimulates the body and brain which can make us more alert and release hormones like adrenaline. Ideally, do your exercise earlier in the day or at least two hours before going to bed.
Try taking CBD
Whilst there is still more research to be done into the effects of CBD on the body and brain, early studies show promising signs in relation to potentially having a positive impact on sleep.
CBD is known to aid relaxation and this alone could help people to drift off to sleep more quickly than they otherwise might, but there are also many people who believe CBD helps support their sleep wake cycle, which we’ve already mentioned can have a big impact on how rested and rejuvenated you feel when you wake.
One of the great things about CBD is that there are multiple ways to take a daily dose of it, so there is something for everyone. From CBD oil drops in the mouth or added to a favourite food or drink, to CBD gummies for a tasty sweet snack in the evening, CBD muscle rub to apply topically after exercise or even a CBD bath bomb for the ultimate relaxing wind down before heading to bed.
You can find out more about CBD by reading our FAQs. | <urn:uuid:0b04838b-9d4b-4ca3-99ba-a021fb009cc9> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://orangecounty-cbd.com/blogs/posts/steps-to-better-sleep | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337537.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005042446-20221005072446-00016.warc.gz | en | 0.957538 | 1,229 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Treating Hypertension With Cannabis Can Make You A Happier Person
Treating hypertension nowadays is like a thing of the past. What is Hypertension? When your blood flows through your arteries at a higher pressure than normal, you have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension). High blood pressure can be caused by a variety of factors. If your blood pressure becomes too high or remains too high for an extended period, it can lead to health problems. Unregulated high blood pressure increases your chances of having a stroke, heart disease, a heart attack, or kidney failure.
Hypertension Can Be Classified Into Two Types
Primary Hypertension is caused by the body’s mechanisms. This is also referred to as essential hypertension. When there is no known cause for your high blood pressure, it is referred to as this. This is the most common type of high blood pressure. This type of blood pressure usually develops over a long time. It is most likely due to your lifestyle, environment, and how your body changes as you age.
Secondary hypertension is a type of hypertension that occurs as a This is when your high blood pressure is caused by a medical condition or medication. Secondary hypertension can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
- Kidney issues
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Thyroid or adrenal gland issues
- Some medications
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Hypertension?
Just about all people with hypertension have no symptoms. This is why it is sometimes referred to as “the silent killer.” It is critical to have your blood pressure checked regularly.
High blood pressure can cause headaches, nosebleeds, and shortness of breath in some people. However, those symptoms can be mistaken for a variety of other conditions (serious or non-serious). Typically, these symptoms appear after blood pressure has risen to a dangerously high level over time.
What Is The Root Cause Of Hypertension?
High blood pressure or hypertension can be caused by food, medicine, lifestyle, age, and genetics. Your doctor can assist you in determining what is causing yours. High blood pressure is commonly caused by the following factors:
- A high-salt, high-fat, and/or high-cholesterol diet
- Chronic diseases such as kidney and hormone problems, diabetes, and high cholesterol are examples of chronic conditions
- A family history of high blood pressure, especially if your parents or other close relatives have it
- Absence of physical activity
- advancing years (the older you are, the more likely you are to have high blood pressure)
- Being obese or overweight
- The race (non-Hispanic black people are more likely to have a high blood pressure than people of other races)
- Some birth control pills and other medications
- Tobacco use or excessive alcohol consumption
How Do You Know If You Have High Blood Pressure?
When treating hypertension, a blood pressure monitor is used to diagnose high blood pressure. This is a standard test performed at all doctor’s appointments. A band (cuff) will be wrapped around your arm by a nurse. A small pump and a meter are connected to the band. He or she will apply pressure to the pump.
It will feel constricting around your arm. Then he or she will come to a halt and observe the meter. This gives the nurse two numbers that comprise your blood pressure.
The top number represents your systolic reading (the peak blood pressure when your heart is squeezing blood out). The bottom number is your diastolic pressure (the pressure in your heart when it is filling with blood). A blood pressure reading may also be mentioned by the doctor or nurse.
Blood pressure should be less than 120 on top and less than 80 on the bottom. Prehypertension levels range from 120-139 on the upper end to 80-89 on the lower end.
- Stage 1 high blood pressure is defined as 140-159 on top and 90-99 on the bottom.
- Stage 2 high blood pressure is defined as 160 or higher on top and 100 or higher on the bottom.
The higher your blood pressure, the more frequently you should have it checked. After the age of 18, you should have your blood pressure checked at least every two years. If you have a history of high blood pressure, do it more frequently.
Is it Possible To Prevent Or Avoid Hypertension?
If your high blood pressure is caused by lifestyle factors, you can reduce your risk by doing the following:
- Reduce your weight
- Quit smoking
- Eat correctly
- Reduce your salt intake
- Reduce your alcohol intake
- Learn relaxation techniques
Consult your doctor if your high blood pressure is caused by a disease or medication you are taking. He or she might be able to recommend a different medication. Furthermore, treating hypertension with any underlying disease (such as diabetes control) can aid in the reduction of high blood pressure.
Studies Show Medical Cannabis Can Be Used as Hypertension Treatment Options
A study of cardiovascular safety in older adults with hypertension who use medical cannabis discovered a “significant reduction” in 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
According to Ran Abuhasira, M.D., of the Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, treating hypertension drop occurred three hours after study participants aged 60 and up consumed oil extracts or smoked the drug.
Patients were assessed using 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, an electrocardiogram, blood tests, and body measurements both before and three months after starting cannabis therapy. Blood pressure was reduced both during the day and at night.
The authors noted that while older adults are the fastest-growing group of cannabis users, evidence on cardiovascular safety for this population is limited. According to the researchers, this is the first study of its kind to look at the effect of cannabis on treating hypertension, heart rate, and metabolic parameters in seniors.
The entire study was published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.
Is Marijuana Good Or Bad For Your Management Of Hypertension?
To answer this question, we should concentrate on two of the most important cannabinoids found in cannabis: cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Both may affect blood pressure levels, especially in treating hypertension.
Dr. Bonni Goldstein, a Weedmaps medical adviser and the director of Canna-Centers in Lawndale, California, described the potential effects of THC on blood pressure:
“Depending on the dose, route of administration, a person’s experience with THC, and underlying health, THC can affect blood pressure. THC caused an increase in heart rate and a decrease in blood pressure in healthy volunteers.
People who used THC while lying down had higher blood pressure in studies. Their blood pressure dropped when they stood up, and they had low blood pressure.”
These abrupt drops in blood pressure, also known as whiteouts or green outs, may be caused by cannabis use. According to Dr. Melanie Bone, a board-certified OB-GYN, and cannabis specialist in West Palm Beach, Florida, “cannabis may cause a drop in blood pressure when standing — known as postural hypotension.” This type of blood pressure drop is undesirable because it can cause vertigo and even fainting. As a result, when we talk about “lowering blood pressure or treating hypertension“, we do not always consider that effect to be beneficial to health.
What Are Cannabis's Cardiovascular Effects in Management and Treatment?
Another frequently asked question about cannabis and cardiovascular health is whether or not it can cause a heart attack.
First, let’s distinguish between the cannabinoids THC and CBD once more. CBD oils containing trace amounts of THC, for example, may have very different effects than smoking a high-THC strain of marijuana. Several studies have suggested that THC may be harmful to cardiovascular health, whereas CBD may be beneficial.
“CBD does not appear to have the same risks for the heart as THC and appears to be somewhat cardioprotective,” Goldstein added. Goldstein cited a 2010 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in which researchers concluded that CBD has therapeutic potential in treating diabetes complications as well as some cardiovascular disorders to back up this claim. Most notably, CBD has the potential to reduce inflammation, a condition that can eventually damage blood vessels, arteries, and vital organs. So, if you apply CBD oil to your skin or ingest a few tablespoons, the effect may be very different from smoking a blunt.
Currently, there is some evidence that smoking THC may cause a heart attack, either directly or indirectly. According to a 2019 study titled “The Cardiovascular Effects of Marijuana: Are the Potential Adverse Effects Worth the High?” published in the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, some people had a heart attack within an hour of smoking cannabis.
Bone, on the other hand, contended, “Many of the patients smoked cigarettes and were obese, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. Furthermore, the observations were made on cannabis of unknown origin, rather than cannabis obtained from a dispensary.”
The cannabis did not come from a registered dispensary, which is significant because there is no available lab testing to determine what other compounds may have been present.
The bottom line is that there have been studies that show a questionable link between smoking marijuana and having a heart attack, and more research is needed.
Can I Smoke Marijuana While Taking Blood Pressure Medication?
You may also be wondering what happens if you smoke marijuana while taking blood pressure medication. Will there be a negative reaction? If you smoke THC-rich cannabis and take blood pressure medication, the answer is that there could be.
Goldstein elaborated, treating hypertension with cannabis smoke contains carbon monoxide, it can be harmful to people who have heart disease or hypertension. This gas binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, displacing oxygen from them, resulting in less oxygen reaching the body’s tissues, including the heart. Smoking should be avoided by people who have heart disease or high blood pressure.”
Alternatively, Goldstein suggests using cannabis in other ways, such as sublingual tinctures or edibles, which she says are safe to use if someone is taking blood pressure medication. Furthermore, Dr. Bone emphasized that people who use cannabis and are taking blood pressure medication should be cognizant of interaction with other prescribed drugs. This includes keeping an eye on your blood pressure and reporting any dizziness to your doctor, who can adjust your medications appropriately.
A 2017 study published in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior Case Reports found that the blood thinner warfarin interacts with cannabidiol (CBD) in certain epileptic patients. Following Bone’s advice, researchers concluded that patient lab work should be closely monitored.
While warfarin and other medications may interact with cannabis, there are no guarantees, and the 2017 study focused on epilepsy patients rather than the general population. “In my private practice, I have not encountered a significant negative interaction between blood pressure medication and cannabis,” Dr. Bone stated.
Other Effects of Marijuana Treating Hypertension
Cannabis may have additional effects on blood pressure that doctors have yet to discover. All potential consequences are dependent on the individual’s pre-existing health issues, particularly co-morbid conditions such as diabetes and obesity.
Can people who do not have these conditions use marijuana safely? A healthy person’s body may appear to be a well-oiled machine, but Bone disagrees, pointing out that “Unlike a car, where we replace the brakes or tires, the heart never takes a break, and the blood vessels must continue to function indefinitely. And the nervous system, which directs the show like a conductor, is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
So, when incorporating a cannabis regimen into your healthcare plan, moderation may be essential. Before beginning to use cannabis or CBD products, consult with your doctor and discuss any medications you are taking.
ILGM Plant Protector | <urn:uuid:6c408b57-bce6-4404-a037-66eb1748df19> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://getbudslegalize.com/treating-hypertension-with-cannabis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100135.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20231129173017-20231129203017-00818.warc.gz | en | 0.93486 | 2,509 | 3.109375 | 3 |
American fast food is almost entirely made of corn
November 10, 2008
Study also shows that fast food restaurants are misleading consumers about the oils they use to cook their food products.
American fast food is almost entirely produced from corn according to a chemical analysis of dishes served at McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using a stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen to determine the origin of molecules present in hamburgers, chicken, and fries, Hope Jahren and Rebecca Kraft found corn to be the almost exclusive food source of the beef and chicken served in fast food restaurants. The researchers also uncovered evidence to suggest that fast food restaurants are misleading consumers as to the oils used in preparing french fries and that animals slaughtered for production are kept in confined quarters, rather than outdoors.
The authors say the finding that fast food restaurants are not accurately reporting their sources of oils, lends support for legislation mandating ingredient labeling for fast food. Presently ingredient reporting is a “voluntary and seldom-invoked” process.
“Fastfood corporations, although they constitute more than half the restaurants in the U.S. and sell more than 1 hundred billion dollars of food each year, oppose regulation of ingredient reporting,” the authors write. “Ingredients matter for many reasons: U.S. corn agriculture has been criticized as environmentally unsustainable and conspicuously subsidized.
“Of 160 food products we purchased at Wendy’s throughout the United States, not 1 item could be traced back to a noncorn source. Our work also identified corn feed as the overwhelming source of food for tissue growth, hence for beef and chicken meat, at fast food
U.S. Corn production, 1950-2007
The idea that corn — and its derivatives — is increasingly the basis of the American diet has recently been popularized in Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the film King Corn. A diet consisting of fast food and products with high fructose corn syrup — including soda, which was excluded from the PNAS study — has been blamed by nutritionists for contributing to rising rates of obesity and diabetes in the United States as well as other health problems, including heart disease.
Making consumers aware of the source of their food is a critical first step to improving the American diet, say Jahren and Kraft.
“Our work highlights the absence of adequate consumer information necessary to facilitate an ongoing evaluation of the American diet,” they conclude.
A. Hope Jahren and Rebecca A. Kraft. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in fastfood: Signatures of corn and confinement. PNAS Early Online Edition for the week of Nov. 10-14, 2008.
King Corn (DVD)
KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naivete, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore’s dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we’re realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan’s brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.
Why is palm oil replacing tropical rainforests?
(4/25/2006) In a word, economics, though deeper analysis of a proposal in Indonesia suggests that oil palm development might be a cover for something more lucrative: logging. Recently much has been made about the conversion of Asia’s biodiverse rainforests for oil-palm cultivation. Environmental organizations have warned that by eating foods that use palm oil as an ingredient, Western consumers are directly fueling the destruction of orangutan habitat and sensitive ecosystems. So, why is it that oil-palm plantations now cover millions of hectares across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand? Why has oil palm become the world’s number one fruit crop, trouncing its nearest competitor, the humble banana? The answer lies in the crop’s unparalleled productivity. Simply put, oil palm is the most productive oil seed in the world. A single hectare of oil palm may yield 5,000 kilograms of crude oil, or nearly 6,000 liters of crude.
U.S. ethanol may drive Amazon deforestation
(5/17/2007) Ethanol production in the United States may be contributing to deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest said a leading expert on the Amazon. Dr. Daniel Nepstad of the Woods Hole Research Center said the growing demand for corn ethanol means that more corn and less soy is being planted in the United States. Brazil, the world’s largest producer of soybeans, is more than making up for shortfall, by clearing new land for soy cultivation. While only a fraction of this cultivation currently occurs in the Amazon rainforest, production in neighboring areas like the cerrado grassland helps drive deforestation by displacing small farmers and cattle producers, who then clear rainforest land for subsistence agriculture and pasture.
Corn ethanol is worsening the Gulf dead zone
(3/10/2008) Proposed legislation that will expand corn-ethanol production in the United States will worsen the growing “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico and hurt marine fisheries, report researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
U.S. biofuels policy drives deforestation in Indonesia, the Amazon
(1/17/2008) U.S. incentives for biofuel production are promoting deforestation in southeast Asia and the Amazon by driving up crop prices and displacing energy feedstock production, say researchers.
World’s only blue lizard heads toward extinction
(3/7/2007) High above the forest floor on the remote Colombian island of Gorgona lives a lizard with brilliant blue skin, rivaling the color of the sky. Anolis gorgonae, or the blue anole, is a species so elusive and rare, that scientists have been unable to give even an estimate of its population. Due to the lizard&spod;s isolated habitat and reclusive habits, researchers know little about the blue anole, but are captivated by its stunning coloration. | <urn:uuid:a4de9b22-2061-45f2-8d4e-93df863a81ff> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://news.mongabay.com/2008/11/american-fast-food-is-almost-entirely-made-of-corn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158011.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922024918-20180922045318-00046.warc.gz | en | 0.926535 | 1,524 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Weepah Spring Wilderness Area
The Weepah Spring Wilderness area is an excellent, unspoiled example of mountain ranges typical of the Great Basin. The geology of the area forms a complicated landscape with isolated peaks, wandering canyons, walls of fossil bearing rocks, natural arches and volcanic hoodoos. Add to this the oddity of the largest stand of ponderosa pine in eastern Nevada and 4,000 year old rock art. Although most stands of ponderosa in eastern Nevada are relic stands, this one is unique because active regeneration is obvious. You can enounter young saplings growing next to trees over three feet in diameter. Skull Arch, a popular destination, lies on the eastern side of the wilderness. The White River Narrows Archaeological District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, represents one of the largest and most well-known petroglyph concentrations in the state. Other prehistoric sites include shelter caves, hunting blinds and prehistoric campsites. | <urn:uuid:fdd0d733-5834-48ef-8946-2c52822a8315> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ely_field_office/blm_programs/wilderness/wilderness_area_information/weepah_spring_wilderness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049274191.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002114-00029-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902271 | 200 | 2.765625 | 3 |
HARTFORD — The top of the former Hartford Landfill is now home to nearly 4,000 solar panels.
Fifty-two rows of solar panels are collecting direct current to be transformed into as much as 1 megawatt of electricity — enough energy to power up to 1,000 homes.
Thursday morning, a collection of government officials and business leaders traveled to the summit of the 96-acre, capped garbage pile alongside the Connecticut River to mark the grand opening of the solar operation, with Mayor Pedro Segarra and others flipping a ceremonial switch. The panels have actually been in operation since June 17.
"It represents an important marriage between the dual responsibilities of environmental policy makers in Connecticut, particularly solar waste management and renewable energy," said Thomas D. Kirk, president of the recently renamed quasi-public trash agency, the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority. "We wedded those together today by using state-of-the-art renewable technology to generate electricity on top of a state-of-the-art closed landfill."
The $11.9 million project to cap off the landfill and build the solar array is the first one of its kind in Connecticut to turn the all but wasted space on top of the landfill into a renewable energy project.
The solar panels cover only 6 acres of the summit. MIRA, which leases the land from the city, has considered other options for the rest of the land, including more solar panels and a green house.
In addition to the shiny solar panels, more than 100 gas wells on the landfill site also help generate power. MIRA sells the gas to DeltaPro Inc., which converts it to electricity. In fact, said Dave Bodendorf, senior environmental engineer for MIRA, the gas generates about 1.3 megawatts — "day, night, all the time."
"So that generates enough for 1,300 homes all the time," he said. "[The solar array] generates enough for 1,000 when the sun shines in the middle of the day."
Just over a year ago, the agency in charge of the now-closed landfill, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, announced a plan to cap the final third of the landfill and install a 1-megawatt solar array there.
While the project is unique here, it does fit a national trend as dozens of projects across the United States have outfitted the limited-use landfill space with solar panels, but also wind turbines, wood-burning biomass facilities, hydropower and geothermal.
The solar project was paid for by a trash authority fund set up to close the landfill.
The project's output is subsidized by the state's Zero Emissions Renewable Energy Credit program, which is run by Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating and funded by ratepayers. The program gives the trash authority 11 cents for each kilowatt of power generated.
Covering the mountain of garbage beneath the solar installation is a layer of sand and a layer of impermeable synthetic grass, which keeps the water out.
"This is also the first of its kind landfill cap in New England," Bodendorf said. "So it was really the marrying of this cap with the solar array, which can't penetrate the cap." | <urn:uuid:4a76bf6a-40bb-40b7-aada-9e0f038a2323> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.courant.com/business/hc-landfill-hartford-solar-array-20140904-story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257651820.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20180325044627-20180325064627-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.937573 | 663 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Measles is a viral infection of your respiratory system. It’s also known by the name rubeola. Measles is incredibly contagious and will easily spread anytime someone contacts saliva or mucus which has been contaminated with the measles virus. A simple sneeze or cough will turn the measles virus into an airborne pathogen. The virus is capable of living outside a body and on a surface for several hours. This makes it very easy for anyone nearby to become infected and have to deal with the measles virus.
Passing on the measles virus can be as simple as sharing a glass or utensils with someone at a meal. The measles virus is most dangerous to children. Measles is one of the most dangerous and deadly viruses for children. Back in 2010, approximately 140,000 people died from measles. According to the World Health Organization, the majority of the victims were children under the age of 5. | <urn:uuid:0ca5d4af-2b2c-4897-af35-4b5cf095750b> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://www.plusvitality.com/measles-rubeola-causes-symptoms-complications-and-more-information/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251694176.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20200127020458-20200127050458-00505.warc.gz | en | 0.976527 | 188 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Omaha Tornado of 1913
March 23, Eastern Sunday, 1913, dawned a beautiful day in eastern Nebraska. But towards evening the sky began to darken and threaten rain, but none fell. The day changed unexpectedly as the first tornado touched ground at 5:20 pm near Craig, Nebraska, destroying a dozen houses. Ten minutes later another tornado hit Yutan. As it made its way through the town 20 people were killed and 40 homes destroyed. To the south, another tornado leveled the village of Berlin and another dozen people were killed.
The worst tornado of the day began a few miles outside Omaha. In Ralston, outside the city, the tornado killed eight people and tore up the business district. Growing in size as it went, it cut a quarter mile wide path as it made its way toward Omaha. People had little warning, and few were able to take shelter before the storm hit. It cut through the city, spreading death and destruction on either side. 100 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. 2,000 buildings were destroyed. The area hit worst was along North 24th and Lake Streets. One building containing a group of African Americans meeting for Easter Sunday was leveled, injuring two dozen. A streetcar was moving down 24th in the path of the tornado, and although it badly twisted, the quick thinking of the operator, Ord Hensley, led to all of the passengers to make their escape. Charles Williams, a passenger, said of the experience:
Looking up the street we saw the cyclone coming. It looked to me like a big, white balloon. Of course everybody was scared and a number of the women passengers screamed.
Shouting, ‘Everybody keep cool and lie in the center of the car,’ Conductor Hensley set the example and everybody did as he said. In an instant every bit of glass in the car was shattered and boards and other debris were hurled against the car’s side. Many heavy boards came through the windows. One heavy beam came in a window and one side and was left there, sticking through a window on the other side.
In a brief glimpse I had of the approaching tornado, I could see houses tumbling and trees being torn up. After the tornado passed we left the car, being careful to avoid the live wires, which was another suggestion of the conductor’s, and helped in the rescue work.1
Today tornadoes are measured on the Fujita scale. It was introduced over half a century later, based on eyewitness accounts many of the tornadoes that hit the Midwest are categorized as F-4. Very rare, they have wind speeds over 200 mph. They cause devastating damage, leveling even well built houses, blowing weaker structures across the ground. With winds this speed cars can be thrown around, and objects can be picked up by the wind large enough to prove serious missiles. These tornadoes were the deadliest in Nebraska’s history, and a very exceptional occurrence as they all struck in the same storm.
Although the death toll was severe, there were also miraculous stories of survival. One five-month old baby was picked up by the wind and blown out the window. Her mother in the house was killed, but she was found alive, a quarter mile away. In the six block wide swath cut by the cyclone, some houses were ripped to bits while the neighbor’s was unscathed.
Even the tornadoes were soon gone, the sufferings of the people of Omaha were just beginning. After the fierce wind storms rain and snow fell, causing great suffering among the many homeless families. Gas lines were broken in the wreckage and fires sprang up, causing even more damage. The city sprang to action to help those who were injured. The police had their hands full trying to prevent looting, and citizens worked through the night to pull the wounded from the wreckage. Militia and soldiers arrived to aid in the rescue and stand guard. Marked was the conduct of the girls working the telephone switchboards. Although covered in blood from injuries, they continued to work, keeping the town’s communication open.
Many were shocked by this great disaster, but the nation would be rocked yet again, just two days later, with the Great Dayton Flood.
1 Story of the Great Flood and Cyclone Disasters: America’s Greatest Calamity edt. Thomas H. Russell (Robt. O. Law Co., 1913) p. 299. | <urn:uuid:dce7848a-8af8-4a5b-9c94-d0794361a6c9> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://discerninghistory.com/2013/03/omaha-tornado-of-1913/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463287.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00052-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983751 | 910 | 2.875 | 3 |
In this course, students will examine policy, theory, research, and practice issues related to mental health disabilities across the lifespan. The course focuses on problem definition and evidence-based service provision in mental health settings, utilizing a trauma-informed, human rights perspective when relevant, within the context of social policies and macro-level practices. The course illustrates multiple roles social workers take across settings when working with people with acute or severe and persistent mental illnesses. Central to this course is an understanding of historical policy formations at national, regional, and local levels, particularly as they influence current practice realities. Students will examine multiple levels of response to deterioration in mental health and adaptive abilities. Students will examine multiple levels of response to deterioration in mental health and adaptive abilities. Students will develop understanding of mental health policy based on critical advocacy roles that social workers play in ensuring equitable access to services, reasonable accommodations, and legal remedies related to discrimination, oppression, and human rights violations for those with mental health-related disabilities. The effect of social location and context will be examined as they influence access to mental health services. This advanced year course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to be effective practitioners across micro, mezzo, or macro mental health practice realities. | <urn:uuid:1d2c0538-21f7-4711-b030-b445da59964e> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://socialwork.buffalo.edu/education/master-of-social-work-msw/curriculum.host.html/content/shared/socialwork/home/course-descriptions/advanced/advanced-topics/sw572.detail.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224649302.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20230603165228-20230603195228-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.927774 | 249 | 2.953125 | 3 |
International Baccalaureate Programmes are offered at the following District schools:
For detailed information about the International Baccalaureate Program at each school please contact the school directly by clicking on the short cut link to District schools on our home page.Information below was obtained from the International Baccalaureate website: http://www.ibo.org/.The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers high quality programmes of international education to a worldwide community of schools.There are three programmes for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world. There are more than 706,000 IB students at 2,597 schools in 134 countries.IB develops and offers three programmes of international education for students aged 3 to 19, working in close cooperation with IB World Schools. The three programmes span the years from kindergarten to pre-university. The programmes can be offered individually or as a continuum. The Primary Years Programme for pupils aged 3 to 12 focuses on the development of the whole child in the classroom and in the world outside.The Middle Years Programme for pupils aged 11 to 16 provides a framework of academic challenge and life skills, achieved through embracing and transcending traditional school subjects.The Diploma Programme for students aged 16 to 19 is a demanding two-year curriculum leading to final examinations and a qualification that is welcomed by leading universities around the world.The IB offers a continuum of high-quality education that encourages international-mindedness and a positive attitude to learning. The programmes are available through 2,597 IB World Schools in 134 countries.IB offers a continuum of education, consisting of three individual programmes that span the years from kindergarten to a pre-university diploma. While they are traditionally known for the Diploma Programme, IB World Schools increasingly offer all three programmes.IB is proud of their reputation for high-quality education sustained for over 35 years. The curriculum represents the best from many different countries rather than the exported national system of any one. The challenging Diploma Programme assessment is recognized by the world's leading universities. They maintain high standards by actively training and supporting teachers, and by authorizing and evaluating IB World Schools.IB encourages international-mindedness in IB students. To do this, they believe that students must first develop an understanding of their own cultural and national identity. All IB students learn a second language and the skills to live and work with others internationally - essential for life in the 21st century.IB encourages a positive attitude to learning by encouraging students to ask challenging questions, to critically reflect, to develop research skills, and to learn how to learn. They encourage community service because they believe that there is more to learning than academic studies alone.They ensure that programmes are accessible to students in a wide variety of schools - national, international, public and private—in 134 countries. These IB World Schools form a worldwide community in which there is no such thing as a “typical” school (more than 50 percent of IB students are in state-funded schools). IB World Schools cooperate in curriculum development, student assessment and the governance of the IB, making this a unique international collaboration.The IB charges fees for its services — specifically for student assessment, teacher training and publications. Each IB World School pays an annual fee. In addition, donors and governments provide funding that supports special projects and initiatives.The Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year programme of international education for students aged 16 to 19.The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.Students learn more than a collection of facts. The Diploma Programme prepares students for university and encourages them to:
- Fullerton Union High School
- Sonora High School
- Sunny Hills High School
- Troy High School
- ask challenging questions;
- learn how to learn;
- develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture; and
- develop the ability to communicate with and understand people from other countries and cultures.
Schools teach the programme in English, French and/or Spanish.The curriculum contains six subject groups together with a core made up of three separate parts.Students study six subjects selected from the subject groups. Normally three subjects are studied at higher level (courses representing 240 teaching hours), and the remaining three subjects are studied at standard level (courses representing 150 teaching hours).All three parts of the core—extended essay, theory of knowledge and creativity, action, service—are compulsory and are central to the philosophy of the Diploma Programme.The three core requirements are:
- extended essay;
- theory of knowledge; and
- creativity, action, service.
All Diploma Programme students must engage in these three activities.Extended essay: The extended essay has a prescribed limit of 4,000 words. It offers the opportunity to investigate a topic of individual interest, and acquaints students with the independent research and writing skills expected at university.Theory of Knowledge (TOK): The interdisciplinary TOK course is designed to provide coherence by exploring the nature of knowledge across disciplines, encouraging an appreciation of other cultural perspectives.Creativity, action, service (CAS): Participation in the school’s CAS programme encourages students to be involved in artistic pursuits, sports and community service work, thus fostering students’ awareness and appreciation of life outside the academic arena.At the end of the two-year programme, students are assessed both internally and externally in ways that measure individual performance against stated objectives for each subject.Internal assessment: In nearly all subjects at least some of the assessment is carried out internally by teachers, who mark individual pieces of work produced as part of a course of study. Examples include oral exercises in language subjects, projects, student portfolios, class presentations, practical laboratory work, mathematical investigations and artistic performances.External assessment: Some assessment tasks are conducted and overseen by teachers without the restrictions of examination conditions, but are then marked externally by examiners. Examples include world literature assignments for language A1, written tasks for language A2, essays for theory of knowledge and extended essays.Because of the greater degree of objectivity and reliability provided by the standard examination environment, externally marked examinations form the greatest share of the assessment for each subject.The grading system is criterion based (results are determined by performance against set standards, not by each student’s position in the overall rank order); validity, reliability and fairness are the watchwords of the Diploma Programme’s assessment strategy.Students completing all required components of the IB program receive the IB diploma in conjunction with receiving the traditional graduation diploma and the end of their senior year.
Last Modified on January 24, 2023 | <urn:uuid:53c7b1a6-e961-4210-a0a5-3631652cbd71> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.fjuhsd.org/Page/920 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510520.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20230929154432-20230929184432-00497.warc.gz | en | 0.941158 | 1,399 | 2.609375 | 3 |
According to trauma therapist and researcher Bessel van der Kolk, secure kids “learn to trust both what they feel and how they understand the world.” On the other hand, insecure children find the world disorganized and distressing. “If the distress is overwhelming, or when the caregivers themselves are the sources of the distress, children are unable to modulate their arousal.”
How does a sense of security or insecurity develop? How does it affect a person’s adult life? Let’s consider two fictional adults I’m going to call Suzie and Ingrid. I chose those names so you can easily remember that Suzie, whose name starts with S, generally feels safe and secure; and Ingrid, whose name starts with I, feels insecure, often for no apparent reason.
The role of the amygdala
When Suzie’s amygdala triggers the release of stress hormones to call her attention to something unfamiliar, she experiences a surge of arousal. Because her caregivers have routinely responded to her when this happened in the past, the surge of arousal doesn’t alarm her. Rather, it causes her to feel curious about what is going on. Curiosity causes her to look around. If she finds nothing amiss, she pauses for a moment and then drops the matter.
When a surge of stress hormones arouse Ingrid, she, unlike Suzie, experiences alarm. Because of past experience, she associates alarm with danger. She too tries to figure out what is going on, but her belief that there is danger makes it hard for her to assess the situation in a balanced way. If she can’t identify the danger that she believes must exist, she begins to imagine what it might be. And as long as she continues to feel alarmed, she can’t drop the matter.
Though Ingrid has a huge frontal cortex capable of logical thought, her assessment of the situation is made by a part of the brain the size of a nut.
We sometimes say that seeing is believing. In Ingrid’s case, feeling is believing. Her sense of alarm makes her believe that there must be danger, even if she can’t see what it is. She knows that her eyes can play tricks on her and make it appear something is true that isn’t, but she regards her feelings as infallible.
She doesn’t understand that arousal is merely the way the amygdala gets her attention, sending her a signal that she needs to determine whether or not a danger exists. Instead of recognizing that stress hormones are signalling her to make a determination, she believes the determination has already been made. She believes feeling aroused or alarmed proves there is danger.
In other words, the amygdala releases stress hormones to grab a person’s attention and direct their high-level thinking towards determining whether an unfamiliar situation poses a real threat.
But Ingrid doesn’t use her high-level thinking. When stress hormones hit, she feels alarmed. Lacking the mental programming to shift alarm to alertness, she stays alarmed. Because she feels alarmed, she feels afraid. Because she feels afraid, she believes there is danger. Her assessment of the situation is based not on high-level thinking but on emotion.
Though Ingrid has a huge frontal cortex capable of logical thought, her assessment of the situation is made by a part of the brain the size of a nut. What has led her to turn over control of her life to a part of her brain that can’t think?
Psychological trauma in childhood
Suzie learned early in life to distinguish arousal, alarm, fear and danger. Ingrid experiences all of these feelings as one and the same, fused by early trauma. Her early life may have been similar to that of a client who told me that when his father was sober, they got along fine. But when Dad started drinking, the client’s arousal level increased sharply because he knew that sooner or later he was going to be hit. For him, feelings of arousal continued to mean fear and danger into adulthood.
Arousal, alarm, fear and danger can be conflated even when a person hasn’t experienced physical trauma. Julian Ford, professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, explains that the most complex form of trauma isn’t physical but psychological.
Psychological trauma involves “interactions with people who teach the child or adolescent to focus on danger and survival rather than on trust and learning.” If these interactions occur early in childhood, while the brain is particularly malleable, “lasting changes in the personality and the self occur.”
Since arousal equals fear, and fear equals danger, stress hormones that trigger arousal cause alarm. When arousal occurs, instead of feeling curious and going into a learning mode, the person fears danger and goes into a survival mode. As an adult, the person is subject to “entrenched expectations of danger that lead to preoccupation with detecting and defending against threats.” In short, inadequate automatic regulation of arousal, coupled with the belief that arousal means danger, can lead to panic.
In a person whose childhood arousal was responded to calmly by early caregivers, alarm is automatically down-regulated to alertness, interest or curiosity. In a person with a history of relationships in which arousal led to and became associated with pain or injury, arousal must be regulated by being able to control what happens in the situation—or by being able to escape from the situation—to prevent possible pain or injury.
Unable to depend on others for safety, the person believes that safety depends on their being in control or able to escape. The lack of control or a means of escape may lead to anxiety and panic.
Neurons firing and wiring together
When a house is built, plumbing and wiring are installed early in the process. Once installed, the pipes and wires are likely to remain unchanged for the life of the house. The same is true of the brain’s wiring. Early relationships literally wire up a child’s emotional-control circuitry. Here is how “neurons that fire together wire together.”
When a mother smiles at a child, her smile causes millions of neurons to fire.
This phrase encapsulates the neurological theory presented by Donald Hebb in his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory. When adjacent neurons in the brain fire at the same time, they connect to each other and form a new circuit.
Think of welding. If a red-hot piece of metal touches another piece of metal, the two pieces become attached. If an electrical current is then applied to one piece, it flows through the other as well.
Let’s apply Hebb’s axiom to relationships. When a mother smiles at a child, her smile causes millions of neurons to fire. Some neurons, those in close proximity when the firing takes place, connect. This causes a modification of the circuitry. Once firing together has led to wiring together, the signal that originally travelled along one neural pathway now travels along a second pathway as well.
The first day of kindergarten
How does this get translated into emotional regulation? Let’s try an oversimplified example. Let’s imagine that Suzie and Ingrid are children heading to kindergarten for the first time. Both are going alone, without their mothers to calm them. Let’s pretend they’re both precocious and savvy about neuropsychology. Suzie might say something like this:
I’ll be OK, Mom, because when I was younger, every time I felt upset, you tuned into me. You could tell what I was feeling. You showed me light at the end of the tunnel by telling me that, though I was upset, I would feel better in just a minute. Because you did this repeatedly, the neurons that fired when you calmed me wired together. Now, when I start to get upset, your face, voice and touch automatically calm me.
At kindergarten, though you will not be with me physically, you’ll be with me psychologically. While I’m away, you’ll have me in your mind, and I’ll have you in my mind. Even though we’re in two different places, we’ll still be connected.
Suzie’s memories of the many times her mother calmed her are stored like a video in her mind. Being upset automatically triggers the Play button, and the video plays in Suzie’s unconscious procedural memory. As it does, Suzie unconsciously sees her mom’s face. Her mom’s soft eyes calm her.
Suzie hears her mom’s voice: “I know how you feel. It’s OK. Everything’s going to be fine.” Suzie unconsciously feels her mother’s reassuring touch. These memories activate Suzie’s parasympathetic nervous system. Calming takes over, and soon everything is OK.
What about Ingrid? Her mother didn’t consistently respond to her meltdowns in a way that was calming. Sometimes she responded as Suzie’s mother did, but at other times she didn’t respond at all. And sometimes she invalidated Ingrid’s feelings, saying, “There’s nothing to be upset about,” or “Stop that crying or I’ll give you something to cry about!”
When alarmed, Suzie seeks out her mother, a reliable haven of safety. But when Ingrid is alarmed, if she turns to her mother, she may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Research shows that children in Ingrid’s predicament, having nowhere to turn, become more alarmed, and once alarmed, remain alarmed longer than other children. “Thus, not only is the onset of sympathetically driven fear-alarm states more rapid, but their offset is prolonged, and they endure for longer periods of time,” according to Allan Schore. | <urn:uuid:a852178b-f3ad-4edb-872c-66dee5526f23> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.themindfulword.org/2019/amygdala-security-insecurity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526408.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20190720024812-20190720050812-00259.warc.gz | en | 0.951178 | 2,083 | 3.171875 | 3 |
DIRECTIONS: Read the assignment prompt. Use the material in the right pane to review the sources and your answers from the Inquiry page, by selecting a source and then using the tabs. Compose your answer in the box on the left. Use the email form to send your answer to your instructor.
ASSIGNMENT: "The explosion of the U.S.S. Maine caused the United States to invade Cuba in 1898." Use the documents provided and your own knowledge to evaluate this statement. Do you agree with this explanation of the causes of the Spanish American War? Why or why not? Use and cite evidence from the documents to support your analysis of this statement.
COMPOSE ESSAY ANSWER:
REVIEW THE NOTEBOOK:
New York Times
Established in 1851, the New York Times provided investigative coverage of local New York issues and events, as well as national and international news.
MAINE’S HULL WILL DECIDE
Divers to Find Whether the Force of the Explosion Was from the Exterior or Interior.
SHE WAS AFLOAT FOR AN HOUR
Spontaneous Combustion in Coal Bunkers a Frequent Peril to the Magazines of Warships – Hard to Blow Up the Magazine.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 – After a day of intense excitement at the Navy Department and elsewhere, growing out of the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor last night, the situation at sundown, after the exchange of a number of cablegrams between Washington and Havana, can be summed up in the words of Secretary Long, who when asked as he was about to depart for the day whether he had reason to suspect that the disaster was the work of the enemy, replied: “I do not. In that I am influenced by the fact that Capt. Sigsbee has not yet reported to the Navy Department on the cause. He is evidently waiting to write a full report. So long as he does not express himself, I certainly cannot. I should think from the indications, however, that there was an accident – that the magazine exploded. How that came about I do not know. For the present, at least, no other warship will be sent to Havana.”
Capt. Schuley, who has had experience with such large and complicated machines of war as the New York, did not entertain the idea that the ship had been destroyed by design. He had found that with frequent and very careful inspection fire would sometimes be generated in the coal bunkers, and he told of such a fire on board of the New York close to the magazine, and so hot that the heat had blistered the steel partition between the fire and the ammunition before the bunkers and magazine were flooded. He was not prepared to believe that the Spanish or Cubans in Havana were supplied with either the information or the appliances necessary to enable them to make so complete a work of demolition, while the Maine was under guard…Excerpt from New York Times, February 17, 1898. | <urn:uuid:eeda71a5-60a7-4344-adea-18475cbc0438> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/spanishamericanwar/0/assignment/main/source/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698542939.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170902-00408-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966486 | 619 | 3.15625 | 3 |
The Symptom and the Subject takes an in-depth look at how the physical body first emerged in the West as both an object of knowledge and a mysterious part of the self. Beginning with Homer, moving through classical-era medical treatises, and closing with studies of early ethical philosophy and Euripidean tragedy, this book rewrites the traditional story of the rise of body-soul dualism in ancient Greece. Brooke Holmes demonstrates that as the body (soma) became a subject of physical inquiry, it decisively changed ancient Greek ideas about the meaning of suffering, the soul, and human nature. By undertaking a new examination of biological and medical evidence from the sixth through fourth centuries BCE, Holmes argues that it was in large part through changing interpretations of symptoms that people began to perceive the physical body with the senses and the mind. Once attributed primarily to social agents like gods and daemons, symptoms began to be explained by physicians in terms of the physical substances hidden inside the person. Imagining a daemonic space inside the person but largely below the threshold of feeling, these physicians helped to radically transform what it meant for human beings to be vulnerable, and ushered in a new ethics centered on the responsibility of taking care of the self. The Symptom and the Subject highlights with fresh importance how classical Greek discoveries made possible new and deeply influential ways of thinking about the human subject. | <urn:uuid:9ea27342-7449-4845-9d13-8c53196562fe> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | https://www.platekompaniet.no/bok/the-symptom-and-the-subject-the-emergence-of-the-physical-body-in-ancient-greece-brooke-holmes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084886946.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20180117142113-20180117162113-00315.warc.gz | en | 0.934305 | 280 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Also see file format.
1) A format (noun, pronounced FOHR-mat) is a preestablished layout for data. A computer program accepts data as input in a certain format, processes it, and provides it as output in the same or another format. All data is stored in some format with the expectation that it will be processed by a program that knows how to handle that format. Generically, data formats tend to fall into bitmaps (strings of 0s and 1s) that describe images or sound patterns (or both), text formats (in which usually each byte value is mapped to a character), and numeric data formats (used by spreadsheet and other database programs).
A hard disk or other storage device is also said to be formatted when its space has been organized and divided into pieces that can be controlled for convenient storage and access. For example, a hard disk may be formatted into areas called sectors, tracks, and clusters.
2) To format (verb) a document or file for printing or displaying is to add the necessary information to it so that the output device will know how to present the output.
3) To format (verb) a hard disk or diskette is to set up the space divisions on the medium and initiate a space allocation table that will know exactly how to reach each bit of data that may be stored there later. | <urn:uuid:905a7e95-0cdf-439d-a59e-15a4ec07fdec> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/format | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500834663.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021354-00143-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911373 | 277 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) are spread to another person during close, sexual activity. Sexual activity includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Most STD germs need to live in warm, moist areas. That's why they infect the mouth, rectum and sex organs of both males and females. The STD's of HIV and Hepatitis B are also spread by contact with infected blood. STD's are dangerous because they place a person at risk for infertility, cancer, or an incurable illness like Herpes, AIDS, or Hepatitis.
Your sexual partner CAN NOT ALWAYS TELL if he/she has most of these problems. Many people have no symptoms. If you have symptoms, you may notice any of the following:
Women & Men
If you have any of these symptoms, stop having sex. Go to a health care provider to get checked and treated. If you have an STD, your partner(s) must get tested and treated too. Don't have sex until your treatment is complete.
You can protect yourself several ways:
Condoms cost approximately 10 cents each at Health Service Pharmacy. Sometimes free samples are available.
STD screening is available at Health Service at a low cost (HIV, chlamydia & gonorrhea testing is standard and costs less than $30). An exam is recommended yearly and more often if you have a new sexual partner.
Types of STDs:
Chlamydia: This symptomless disease is the major cause of infertility today. Very easily transmitted, it is now epidemic on college campuses.
Herpes: This very painful disease presents as blisters that turn into open sores. It comes back throughout your life.
Venereal Warts: These are often hidden inside the penis making detection impossible.
Gonorrhea, trichomonas, and syphilis occur less frequently and can be cured with antibiotics.
Hepatitis B: Attacks the liver and can lead to the serious diseases of cirrhosis and cancer.
HIV/AIDS: Deadly with no cure available.
HPV (human papillomavirus):
HPV (human papillomavirus) is the name of a group of viruses that can infect the genital area of men and women. Some of these viruses are called "high risk" types; they lead to cancer. Some "low risk" types cause genital warts.Most HPV infections don't cause any symptoms and eventually go away, as the body's own defense system clears the virus. Women with temporary HPV infections may develop mild Pap test abnormalities that go away with time. About 10% of women infected with HPV develop a persistent infection and are at greatest risk for developing cervical cancer. This is discovered through pap smears. There is no test for men.
Genital warts are diagnosed by visual inspection. The visible genital warts usually appear as soft, moist, pink, or flesh-colored swellings in the genital area. They can be raised or flat, single or multiple, small or large, and sometimes cauliflower shaped. After sexual contact, warts may appear within weeks or months, or not at all.
Although there is no cure for HPV, there are treatments for the health problems that HPV can cause. Fortunately there are things you can do to prevent these diseases. Of course, the easiest would be to abstain from exposure to skin surfaces and discharges that contain the virus. Also, using a condom could help prevent transmission (although this is not very effective prevention).
Now there is a vaccine available to prevent acquisition of the four most prevalent strains of the virus. Gardasil (Merck Pharmaceuticals) vaccine will prevent the two most common causes of venereal warts and the two most common causes of cervical cancers (abnormal pap smears). It also prevents anal & throat cancers from these strains. It comes in a series of three shots and costs about $360 total.
Your insurance company may pay for it. Call the number on the back of your insurance card and ask if they cover the Gardasil vaccine. If so, make an appointment with your private health care provider (family practice, pediatrician or gynecologist) or the Walgreens Take-Care Clinic for your vaccination. If your insurance does not provide coverage, the local health departments may be able to help.
CONTACT HEALTH SERVICE OR YOUR FAMILY DOCTOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR CONCERNS. | <urn:uuid:e044f5e4-9a32-416d-be7f-6b235c309706> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.siue.edu/text/healthservice/info/std.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931008289.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155648-00241-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93706 | 913 | 3.21875 | 3 |
James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 79pp.
Among the deluge of books celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809 (which birthday he shares with Charles Darwin), James McPherson has written a reliable guide for a general readership. Several times I thought that it would make great family reading. Among McPherson's many books on the Civil War, his Battle Cry of Freedom won a Pulitzer Prize. He's the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University.
Lincoln was born of illiterate parents, but even as a youngster and despite numerous odd jobs like rail-splitting, he much preferred reading to manual labor. His father thought he was lazy, and for the rest of his life father and son were estranged. In quick succession McPherson describes Lincoln's rise to the Illinois legislature, his pronounced melancholy, his marriage to Mary Todd, his lucrative law career (200 cases a year), and his election to the presidency on a Republican ticket whose main plank was the exclusion of slavery. Emancipation, of course, was Lincoln's "lodestar" and the Civil War his pre-occupation. After his election and before his inauguration seven states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America.
Even today the scale and scope of the Civil War carnage is hard to fathom: "By the end of the war in April 1865, 2.2 million men had fought in Union armies and navies, and about 850,000 had fought for the Confederacy. More than 620,000 of these soldiers and sailors died in the struggle" (p. 34). In Lincoln's mind secession spelled anarchy, for if a minority could destroy the majority then America as a united states was a fiction. This created a deep conflict for Lincoln between his personal hatred of slavery and his constitutional obligation to preserve the union. But his wisdom and steady hand prevailed. In the end, he even wondered if the Civil War was God's just judgment on America for the evil of slavery. For fuller treatments of Lincoln, slavery and the Civil War, see David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), 714pp; Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering; Death and the American Civil War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), 346pp; and the widely acclaimed new "gold standard" in Lincoln study by Ronald White, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography (New York: Random, 2009), 816pp. | <urn:uuid:3d5101f4-dd31-494a-ae50-89b208d48e5a> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.journeywithjesus.net/BookNotes/James_M_McPherson_Abraham_Lincoln.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945315.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325033306-20230325063306-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.967749 | 535 | 3 | 3 |
Author(s): Andrea Shavick
In this book, author Andrea Shavick explains all there is to know about psychometric tests: what they are, what they measure, who uses them, why they're used, how they're changing, how to survive them, and even how to avoid them altogether! It includes 35 different, genuine, practice test from SHL Group pls, the world's biggest test publisher. It has 265 questions covering verbal, numerical, abstract and spatial reasoning; mechanical comprehension; fault diagnosis; acutness and personality. This book gives you the information, confidence and practice to pass psychometric tests.
Recruitment expert Andrea Shavick is an established writer and broadcaster who has written numerous articles on job hunting, CV preparation and interview technique. She is also the author of Practice Psychometric Tests, Management Level Psychometric Tests, and Psychometric Tests for Graduates.
Part one - what are psychometric tests?; 1. What are psychometric tests?; 2. Why are psychometric tests used?; 3. Taking psychometric tests - a survival guide; Part two - the practice tests; 4. Introduction to the practice tests; 5. Verbal reasoning; 6. Numerical reasoning; 7. Abstract reasoning; 8. Spatial reasoning; 9. Mechanical comprehension; 10. Fault diagnosis; 11. Accuracy tests 12. Combination tests; 13. Personality questionnaires; 14. What else do psychometric tests test?; Part three - psychometric tests in context; 15. Keeping it all in perspective; 16. Avoiding psychometric tests altogether; Resources. | <urn:uuid:d7bbc80f-9bdf-4f65-b9c9-b7826c30ac5f> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.mcleodsbooks.co.nz/p/study-guides-how-to-pass-psychometric-tests-the-three-things-you-need-to-pass-a-psychometric-test-information-confidence-and-plenty-of-practice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257156.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523063645-20190523085645-00298.warc.gz | en | 0.871246 | 329 | 2.53125 | 3 |
IJSRP, Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2016 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Rufai Mohammed Ahmed and Asst. Prof. Dr. Halil Z Alibaba
As a result of urbanization and industrialization, the world started facing some environmental complications such as urban heat island which can raises air temperature to about 2-5% in a city or more, noise and air pollution, storm water run-off, ultra violet radiation etc. But the introduction of green roof in our modern buildings after a series of researches in late 20th century especially in Germany and other European countries tend to minimize these environmental complications to a reasonable level. Therefore this paper is going to discuss about green roofing in buildings with reference to its history, types, application, and its benefits on the environment. Furthermore, some case studies of both intensive and extensive green roof were selected randomly from some buildings and which were compared, discussed, conclusion and recommendations were drawn from the case studies. | <urn:uuid:b0289e60-e4e3-4ad5-95dd-29e215e53947> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0116.php?rp=P495016 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573699.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819131019-20220819161019-00610.warc.gz | en | 0.959163 | 203 | 2.84375 | 3 |
As the British Parliament in London discussed its 1764 ______, or plan for spending money, British leader George Greenville had a suggestion.
This tax passed in 1764 added a tax on sugar and other goods coming into the colonies from other places.
This tax placed a tax on newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, all kinds of legal documents, insurance policies, licenses, and even playing cards.
The Colonists did not have a voice because they did not have any _________ in the British Parliament.
By accusing Henry of ________, they were saying that he was working against his government.
Many colonist began to _______, or refuse to buy any British goods.
Is an official statement, drawn up, listing the colonists' rights as British citizens.
The merchants urged Parliament to ______, or cancel, the Stamp Act.
Many people considered him to be the first person to be killed in the struggle for American liberty.
This word means "the killing of a number of people who cannot defend themselves."
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For help fixing this issue, see this FAQ. | <urn:uuid:9f8844b1-9de8-43b8-a5f3-815a36a931f1> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | https://quizlet.com/3471173/colonists-speak-out-flash-cards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701159654.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193919-00292-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940343 | 324 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) are a unique form of dietary fat that impart a wide range of positive health benefits. Nevertheless, the potential anti-aging properties of MCTs have been largely unrecognized by many life extension enthusiasts. Dietary fats are molecules composed of individual carbon atoms linked into chains ranging from 2 to 22 carbon atoms in length. Long Chain Fatty acids (LCTs) ranging from 12 to 18 carbons long are the predominant form of fat in the American diet. MCTs, by contrast, are composed of only 6 to 10 carbon links. Because of their shorter chain length, MCTs have a number of unique properties which give them advantages over the more common LCTs.
Until the early 1980s, MCTs were predominantly available only as a constituent of butter, coconut oil, and other natural sources. However, Dr. Vigen K. Babayan of the Nutrition Laboratory, Harvard University, developed a process to produce them in large quantities, to be used primarily for therapeutic uses in a number of conditions. (1)
MCTs, Energy and Exercise
MCTs provide about ten percent fewer calories than LCTs – 8.3 calories per gram for MCTs versus 9 calories per gram for LCTs. But this is just one of the unique advantages of MCTs. (2) More importantly, reduced chain length also means that MCTs are more rapidly absorbed by the body and more quickly metabolized (burned) as fuel (Fig. 1). The result of this accelerated metabolic conversion is that instead of being stored as fat, the calories contained in MCTs are very efficiently converted into fuel for immediate use by organs and muscles.
The energy-enhancing properties of MCTs are attributed to the fact that they cross the double mitochondrial membrane very rapidly, and do not require the presence of carnitine, as do LCTs (Fig. 2). The result is an excess of acetyl-coA, which then follows various metabolic pathways, both in the mitochondria (Krebs Cycle) and in the cytosol, resulting in the production of ketones. Scientists attribute the increased energy from consumption of MCTs to the rapid formation of ketone bodies. MCTs are thus a good choice for anyone who has increased energy needs, as following major surgery, during normal or stunted growth, to enhance athletic performance, and to counteract the decreased energy production that results from aging.
In recent years MCTs have gained in popularity with athletes seeking to increase energy levels and enhance endurance during high-intensity exercise, as well as serving as an alternative energy source for athletes on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets. Researchers have previously shown that MCTs can increase physical endurance in animal studies. In swimming capacity tests, mice fed a diet containing MCTs outperformed mice fed a diet containing LCTs. (3) The researchers noted that the muscles of mice fed the MCTs produced higher levels of key metabolic enzymes (3-oxo acid CoA-transferase, citrate synthase and malate dehydrogenase) involved in the Krebs cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle), the body’s primary energy production mechanism. MCT-fed mice also burned fat at a higher rate to enhance cellular energy production.
MCTs and Weight Control
In addition to their lower caloric content than LCTs, MCTs are not stored in fat deposits in the body as much as LCTs. (2) Furthermore, MCTs have been shown to enhance thermogenesis (i.e., fat burning). (4) So MCTs seem to offer a triple approach to weight loss – they (1) have a lower calorie content than other fats, (2) are minimally stored as fat, and (3) contribute to enhanced metabolism to burn even more calories. This third property may be due to the fact that MCTs behave metabolically in some fashion similar to carbohydrates, as well as their promoting the development of ketones, as mentioned above. (5) Ketone production is a cornerstone of the Atkins Diet, and MCTs may enable those following the Atkins' program to more rapidly obtain benefits and more easily adhere to the program. Ketones are also one of the two substances which the brain can utilize for energy (glucose, being the other). Dr. Hans Kaunitz speculated that for this reason, MCTs might be advantageous for the aging brain. (6)
Kaunitz and colleagues performed a study on rats, to compare the effects of diets in which the fat was provided by MCTs or lard. The MCT-fed rats lost significant weight, although their calorie consumption was the same as the lard-fed rats. In addition, Kaunitz described the MCT-fed rats as having “an excellent survival rate.” In another study, researchers observed decreased weight gains, reduced fat content, and unchanged whole-body protein content in MCT-fed animals compared to control animals fed LCTs. In a third study, fat deposits in rats fed diets high in MCTs were 23 percent less than in LCT-fed rats.
Animal results have been supported by human trials. In one study researchers fed six lean and six obese young males meals containing either long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) or MCTs plus LCTs. In both the lean and obese individuals, post-meal thermogenesis (fat burning) was enhanced after consuming meals containing MCTs. 7In another study involving a group of obese women on a restricted diet researchers noted that insulin profiles improved when MCTs comprised 24 percent of total consumed calories. (8)
Calorie-restricted diets are often associated with marked declines in energy. A number of studies support the benefits of using MCTs in weight loss programs to boost energy levels and increase fatty acid metabolism to aid in reducing fat deposits. In one study when researchers in Czechoslovakia treated 60 obese patients with MCT oil they concluded that MCTs offered a number of benefits, stating, “Administration of… medium-chain fatty acids can…improve the long-term success of diet therapy of obese patients.” (9)
MCTs have been shown to suppress appetite, an ability of obvious benefit for those attempting to lower their intake of total calories. In one 14-day study, six healthy male volunteers were allowed unlimited access to one of three diets: a low MCT diet, a medium MCT diet, and a high MCT diet. Caloric consumption was significantly lower on the high MCT diet. The researchers noted that substituting MCTs for other fats in a high-fat diet “can limit the excess energy intakes and weight gain produced by high-fat, energy-dense diets.” (10)
MCTs and Atherosclerosis
MCTs have a number of properties that may be beneficial in preventing atherosclerosis. Among these are that MCTs have anti-coagulation effects, and have been shown to lower serum cholesterol in rats 11 and calves (Fig. 3). (12) In addition, MCTs reduce levels of cholesterol in the liver and other tissues. (5,13) MCTs have also been reported to act as antioxidants and reduce tissue requirements for Vitamin E. (6)
MCTs have a slight hypoglycemic (blood glucose-lowering) effect, and thus may be useful for diabetics, or anyone with a tendency for pre-diabetes (which includes just about everyone over 35). It may be the combination of the glucose and lipid-lowering effects of MCTs that resulted in Kaunitz’ report that “the life span [of experimental animals] is longer when the diet is richer in MCTs than LCTs.”
Finally, another testimony to the benefit of MCTs in preventing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease is the country of Sri Lanka. In the 1978 Demographic Yearbook of the United Nations, the causes of death in many countries were reported. Sri Lanka reported a death rate due to ischemic heart disease of 1 per 1,000,000. The figures for most countries varied from 38.4 to 187.7. It is significant that the predominant dietary fat in Sri Lanka is coconut oil, which contains over 50 percent MCTs.
MCTs and Immune Enhancement
To evaluate the immune-normalizing properties of MCTs, Kaunitz and colleagues injected rats with rabbit immune serum, known to cause severe autoimmune kidney disease in the rats. They then administered MCT in the diet, and noted that the pathological changes in the kidneys were much reduced in the MCT-treated group. Kaunitz speculated that MCTs could thus have a positive effect “on autoimmune reactions characteristic of the aging process.”
MCTs and Medicine
MCTs have proven useful in treating a number of medical disorders that involve impaired or damaged lipid (fat) metabolism. These include: obstructive jaundice, biliary cirrhosis, pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, Whipple's disease, Crohn's disease, regional enteritis, and malabsorption in neonates. MCT has been reported to be useful for feeding of newborn infants, to both assist their initial growth and to contribute to their physiological development. The absorption of calcium and magnesium appears to be enhanced when the diet contains MCTs, particularly in infants, and the absorption of amino acids also appears to be improved. Thus, MCTs can be a useful addition to the diet of those suffering from any form of malnutrition or tissue wasting. In this regard, MCTs are often added to parenteral formulas for intravenous feeding following surgery or during recovery from severe injuries, burns and infections.
The major adverse effect that is noted by beginning users of MCTs is nausea and gastric discomfort. This can be minimized or eliminated by starting with very small doses (i.e., about 1/4 teaspoon several times daily), and increasing the dose as tolerated. Before long, MCT can be taken by the tablespoonful. MCT oil can be used as a salad dressing, and as a cooking oil. However, MCT should not be heated to temperatures above 150-160 degrees C, because it will oxidize and breakdown, adversely affecting the taste. With those few caveats, MCTs are an especially beneficial supplement for fueling physical exertion, given their high energy density content, rapid rate of absorption and quick metabolic conversion into cellular energy. Additionally MCTs can be quickly mobilized in the post-exercise recovery phase to rebuild muscles and prevent the breakdown of proteins (catabolism) that can occur when the body is putting a maximum demand on the body’s energy reserves.
1. Babayan, V.K. Medium chain fatty acid esters and their medical and nutritional applications. J Am Oil Chem Soc, 1981, 58: 49A-51A. 2. Kaunitz, H. Dietary use of MCT in “Bilanzierte Ernaehrung in der Therapie,” K. Lang, W. Fekl, and G. Berg, eds. George Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 1971. 3. Fushiki T, Matsumoto K, Inoue K, Kawada T, Sugimoto E. Swimming endurance capacity of mice is increased by chronic consumption of medium-chain triglycerides. J Nutr 1995 Mar;125(3):531-9. 4. Baba, N., Bracco, E.F., Seylar, J., Hashim, S.A. Enhanced thermogenesis and diminished deposition of fat in response to overfeeding with diets containing medium chain triglycerides. J Am Soc Clin Nutrition, 1981, 34: 624. 5. Bach, A.C., and Babayan, V.K. Medium-chain triglycerides: An update. Am J Clin Nutr, 1982, 36: 950-962. 6. Kaunitz, H., Slanetz, C.A., Johnson, R.E., Babayan, V.K., Garsky, G. Nutritional properties of the triglycerides of medium chain-length. J Am Oil Chem Soc, 1958, 35: 10-13. 7. Scalfi L, Coltorti A, Contaldo F. Postprandial thermogenesis in lean and obese subjects after meals supplemented with medium-chain and long-chain triglycerides. Am J Clin Nutr 1991 May;53(5):1130-3. 8. 6. Yost TJ, Eckel RH. Hypocaloric feeding in obese women: metabolic effects of medium-chain triglyceride substitution. Am J Clin Nutr 1989 Feb;49(2):326-30. 9. Hainer V, Kunesova M, Stich V, Zak A, Parizkova J. The role of oils containing triacylglycerols and medium-chain fatty acids in the dietary treatment of obesity. The effect on resting energy expenditure and serum lipids. Cas Lek Cesk 1994 Jun 13;133(12):373-5. 10. Stubbs RJ, Harbron CG. Covert manipulation of the ratio of medium- to long-chain triglycerides in isoenergetically dense diets: effect on food intake in ad libitum feeding men. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 May;20(5):435-44. 11. Kaunitz, H., Slanetz, C.A., Johnson, R.E., Babayan, V.K. Interrelations of linoleic acid with medium chain and long chain saturated triglycerides. J Am Oil Chem Soc, 1959, 36: 322-325. 12. Stewart, J.W., Wiggers, K.D., Jacobsen, N.L., Berger, P.J. Effect of various triglycerides on blood and tissue cholesterol of calves, J Nutr, 1978, 108: 561-566. 13. Kaunitz, H. Medium Chain Triglycerides in Aging and Atherosclerosis, in: Advances in Human Nutrition, Vol 3, by J. Kabara (ed), Chem-Orbital, POB 134, Park Forest, IL 60466. | <urn:uuid:62094e1b-bd5b-42ec-897f-e9a1a0ff0a2e> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://50kzone.blogspot.com/2011/10/nutrition-review-medium-chain.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187821189.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20171017125144-20171017145144-00240.warc.gz | en | 0.923776 | 2,983 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Clinical trials of vitamin supplements are of no value or even harmful, have a flawed methodology, says research.
Many projects have tried to study nutrients that are naturally available in the human diet the same way they would a powerful prescription drug.
Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, said that this leads to conclusions that have little scientific meaning, even less accuracy and often defy a wealth of other evidence.
Lead author Alexander Michels, an LPI research associate, said that in cell culture experiments that are commonly done in a high oxygen environment, vitamin C is unstable and can actually appear harmful.
He said that almost every animal in the world, unlike humans, is able to synthesize its own vitamin C and doesn't need to obtain it in the diet, which makes it difficult to do any lab animal tests with this vitamin that are relevant to humans.
The new review has been published in the journal Nutrients. | <urn:uuid:9ecf1c74-e3b3-47aa-936c-ecdf8ba1658a> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://www.medindia.net/news/study-says-most-of-vitamin-supplement-studies-flawed-129856-1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376826530.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20181214232243-20181215014243-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.966004 | 198 | 2.921875 | 3 |
If books about English teaching are vague, then mark schemes for English exams are even vaguer. Step forward question one on the reading and producing non-fiction texts.
The Question: What do we learn/understand about …..?
What do students have to show evidence of in their answer?
· Quotes or evidence woven into ideas
· Subtext or what is suggested or implied in the writing
· Summarising of points rather than repeating points
· Key points of the article
· Understanding the article
Now that is one level of answering the question. These are the standard 'bread 'n' butter' for teaching non-fiction. Do all of those things and you are not guaranteed an 8 out of 8? No, you need perceptive comments and engagement. How do you show engagement in a text? Look Mr Examiner, when they read this article, they did a little dance. Surely, that is lively engagement and not just engagement.
This is where we need to be precise with teaching skills. These are some of the things I would expect to see. Warning: they do not make a student get an automatic 7 or 8. These are some of the qualities I have seen in my students’ work.
· Facts and opinions
· Awareness of various perspectives
· Following how an argument changes in a text
· Exploring different sides of an argument presented
· Contradictions and inconsistencies
· Expressing our opinion to things
· The reader’s reaction to the text
· Explore the relevance of the article
· Explore what needs further explanation
There are probably more things that I have forgotten about but most of the time these things form my arsenal for preparing students for this question.
What activities do I do for this perceptive engagement?
Thankfully, hate is free in this country and one newspaper publishes its articles without charging people and these make great articles for use with this question.
Facts and opinions
· Highlight an article for head (fact) and heart (opinion) phrases.
· Work out the ratio of fact to opinion and then explore the reliability of this article based on that ratio.
· Pick out facts and opinions and get students to categorise them.
· Find facts and opinions blended in sentences and identify the words that create the opinions.
· Drama: get students to role play being the writer and the reader. The writer explains what they are trying to do. The reader explains how they felt.
· Explore how different readers would react to the text. How do men or women react to the text differently?
· Describe the supposed reader of the text. What kind of reader would read this text?
Following how an argument changes in a text / Exploring different sides of an argument presented
· Number the different points or reasons in the text. Then, rank the effectiveness or significance of each one.
· Cut up an article into the different sides.
Contradictions and inconsistencies
· Take a paragraph and look for what doesn’t add up. What doesn’t make sense?
· Get students to think of questions that need answering for you to be fully convinced by the text.
· Take a pen and draw arrows linking different parts of the text. Look to see how ideas are threaded through a text. The more connections they make, the more likely they will see the contradictions. It says here and here that this is true but in the last paragraph they say the opposites.
· Take a pen and draw arrows and look for opposite ideas.
· Put this article on trial. Create a team for prosecution and a team for defence. The writer is going to be charged for libel. The class defend or prosecute the article.
Expressing our opinions to things / Reader’s reaction to a text
· Annotate a text with emoticons (if trendy) or emotions (if traditional). Discuss how we / the reader felt when reading the whole article.
· Explore how our feelings are different at the end of the first paragraph and at the end of the last paragraph.
· Drama: get students to role-play being the reader and explain how they felt when reading the article. At first I was afraid, I was petrified- I kept thinking he….
· Teach students to use adverbs or adjectives in the analysis - Shockingly, the writer shows us how English books can be quite vague.
I did try finding a funny quote by Dickens about non-fiction, but it was a little vague. If you need more inspiration for Unit 1 stuff check this great blog out.
Thanks for reading | <urn:uuid:e8cdc180-3c1a-44e5-904f-b7a62799703f> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2013/10/vagueness-aqa-english-language-unit-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549428300.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20170727142514-20170727162514-00464.warc.gz | en | 0.920704 | 948 | 3.609375 | 4 |
When they lost their husbands to war or illness, they did not do what was expected: step aside or sell the business. Nor did they marry again (though they were still in their twenties and thirties), handing over the reins to a new husband.
Instead, these celebrated veuves, or widows, took control of their châteaux to produce some of the most prestigious wines in the world – wines that still bear their names: Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, Laurent-Perrier, Roederer and Bollinger.
In an era when few women were in business at all, these women headed what were, at the time, some of France’s largest companies.
Using bold, unconventional strategies such as direct marketing campaigns and exporting to unproven markets, each of them more than doubled production during their tenure.
Why did these women step up, rather than aside? It certainly wasn’t because of material needs: most came from wealthy families, and selling the business would have provided a comfortable income for the rest of their lives.
But what they had in common was a desire to honour both the memory of their husbands and their families, who had made wine for generations.
And so they carried on that tradition to deal with their grief and to pass the family legacy on to their own children.
Their bred-in-the-bone work ethic would not allow them to just sit and knit doilies for the rest of their lives. Instead, they seized the opportunity to fulfill an aspect of themselves that otherwise would have been neglected.
Probably the most famous woman of this group was Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, of Veuve Clicquot. Her husband died of a malignant fever in 1805, when Madame Clicquot was 27, leaving her with the business and an eight-year-old daughter.
But she was not one to wring her hands: only weeks after the funereal, she arranged for the shipment of 25,000 bottles to Russia — an extraordinary feat, given the uncertainty of trade during the Napoleonic wars.
Her shipment got through, and years later, her champagne was so popular in Russia that Pushkin, Gogol and Chekhov all wrote about it.
Read Part 2 of Champagne Widows | <urn:uuid:ecff0a54-1b5f-4fda-93f2-3d131d09c220> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.nataliemaclean.com/blog/champagne-widow-veuve-clicquot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195525133.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20190717081450-20190717103450-00498.warc.gz | en | 0.984623 | 482 | 2.75 | 3 |
Improvements in child dental health
Reduction in fillings and teeth extraction.
There has been a significant long-term decrease in the number of childhood fillings and tooth extractions.
Since 2000-01, the number of fillings given to children has reduced by 62% from 774,762 to 298,192 in 2018-19.
Over the same period, the number of tooth extractions has fallen from 133,000 to 86,000 – a decrease of 35%.
Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick yesterday said:
“These figures show a significant reduction in both the number of fillings given to children as well as the number of teeth extracted.
“This reflects the substantial impact the Scottish Government’s Childsmile Programme has made in improving the oral health of children.
“Our Oral Health Improvement Plan, with its strong focus on prevention and reducing oral health inequalities, will help to ensure further reductions in the need for restorative treatment.”
Childsmile is delivered by a range of health professionals. There are a number of partners in education, voluntary and community sectors who work collaboratively with Childsmile to promote and improve children’s oral health.
Children should brush their teeth at least twice a day for at least two minutes with fluoride toothpaste. ‘Spitting, not rinsing’ after brushing gives the toothpaste time to protect teeth.
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Advice to help NHS staff spot crucial signs. | <urn:uuid:27a93400-7179-42d3-b10d-1f6c8a134a38> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Improvements+in+child+dental+health+18092019100500?open | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987822098.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20191022132135-20191022155635-00241.warc.gz | en | 0.903264 | 542 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Science Says Being ‘Hangry’ Is A Real Thing
It's not your fault you turn into the Hulk!
Do you get “hangry?” You know, it’s that rage that only comes from being ravenously hungry. Well, you’re not alone, and you’re not crazy, either.
It turns out that science says being hangry (hungry + angry) is a real thing. So, if you turn into the Hulk when service is slow in a restaurant, you need to read this.
“In the brain we have neurons that will actually tell us to eat, and obviously when you eat, that is a sense of fulfillment and those neurons turn off,” Zane Andrews, an associate professor of physiology and neuroscientist who studies the effect of food on the brain at Monash University, told The Huffington Post Australia. “However, if we don’t immediately have food those neurons will persistently fire and they will also engage other parts of the brain that regulate things like anxiety and mood.”
If you get hangry, you’ll probably relate to this humorous tweet, shared by Mathias Swann:
— Mathias Swann (@MTSwann) June 29, 2018
Translation: Your neurons get overzealous, and that’s how hanger happens.
Andrews says that scientists think being hangry is really a combination of anxiety, grumpiness and frustration, but not necessarily aggressive “Hulk smash!” anger (although if this is you, that might be an issue).
This funny tweet, shared by Annika Wolters, might characterize how you feel when hangry:
— Annika Wolters (@Anni_Wol) June 25, 2018
Stop Hunger Before It Happens
So now that we know hanger is real, what can we do about it?
Well, the obvious solution is to eat before you get absolutely ravenously starving. It’s better for you and, well, the people around you will appreciate it, too.
But if you’re already at hangry, eat thoughtfully. Your brain might be screaming for high-fat, high-sugar foods, but avoid that temptation.
Junk foods tend to create massive increases in blood glucose levels that come crashing down just as fast, leaving you just as cranky as before.
Instead, reach for nutrient-rich, whole foods that will satisfy both your brain’s cravings for fat and your stomach.
Peanut butter, lean proteins, dark leafy greens and fruit are all good choices.
The Best (And Worst) Foods To Eat On An Empty Stomach
When we think about diet, we usually tend to focus on what we eat, not how and when we eat it. However, good digestion is important to our health. In order to keep ourselves feeling good, maximize absorption of nutrients and keep everything in our body in balance, it’s useful to pay attention to how you eat certain foods.
That’s why it’s important to know what is best for your stomach — especially when it’s empty.
(Kids can get hangry, too, as shown in this Tweet from Nicole Nickers.)
— Nicole Nickers (@NicoleNickers1) June 30, 2018
Foods To Eat When You’re Hangry
Whether you’re waking up first thing in the morning or haven’t eaten in hours after a long day, here are some of the best and worst foods for an empty stomach.
Nuts are a great choice, especially if you are particularly hungry. Choices such as almonds and walnuts are not only filling, but they are filled with heart-healthy fats and other important nutrients. They also tend not to irritate the stomach.
Many vegetables are great for empty stomachs, especially if they are cooked, as they help reduce your chance of having gas later. If you’re sensitive to gas or bloating, steer clear of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Instead, stick to other, easier-to-digest veggies, like carrots.
3. Slice Of Cheese
If you’re someone who easily suffers from indigestion or heartburn, it’s good to have some dairy when there is nothing else in your tummy. If you’re sensitive to dairy, it can help to eat some crackers with your cheese to ease digestion.
Foods To Avoid
1. Spicy Foods
Spicy food sure is tasty, but it’s not so easy on the stomach when nothing else is in there. Food with heat can burn the inside lining of your stomach and cause indigestion, so it’s best to eat something else before you pour on the hot sauce.
2. Sugary Fruits
If you haven’t eaten food in a while, fruit may not be your best bet. Its natural sugars can cause a drastic spike and drop in your blood sugar levels. Fruits high in sugar include figs, oranges, grapes and mangos.
In addition to their high sugar content, citrus fruits are also very acidic, which can be hard on the stomach. Citric acid, which is especially high in lemons and limes, can cause stomach cramps or pain, and in some cases, even nausea.
It’s not uncommon for people to have coffee or tea first thing in the morning, but you might want to wait until after breakfast to enjoy your favorite drink. Coffee drinks can stimulate the production of acid, which, in the absence of food, can be damaging to the lining of the stomach.
This can give you heartburn and indigestion, and without the presence of food, you’re more likely to feel a racing heartbeat or jitters from the caffeine.
Now excuse me, I have to go eat something before I turn into the Hulk myself. | <urn:uuid:183e7063-66e0-4df2-8172-4108a5b2215b> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://www.simplemost.com/science-says-hangry-real-thing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986648343.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20191013221144-20191014004144-00184.warc.gz | en | 0.933854 | 1,256 | 2.53125 | 3 |
From Sibera to Soma, to the Greeks and Celts and Vikings, the Amanita muscaria mushroom has been with us throughout history
We recently published an article about the (tentatively) legal shroom that’s blowing up the internet —the Amanita muscaria. But our last piece only touched on the logistics of consuming it, with only a brief nod to its rich history. This piece will take the reader back in time, through a historical journey alongside the Amanita muscaria and all of the roles it has played in the past, and all the cultures that it’s touched while doing so.
The Amanita muscaria was frequently used in pre-Christian religious traditions of the indigenous people of Siberia. Its use as an entheogen was known and spread across the Russian Far East and Western Siberia, though use varied across the continent. In the west, its use was restricted only to practicing shamans or shaman-like figures. The psychoactive component of the Amanita muscaria allowed them to achieve trance-like states that could previously only be found through dance and drumming. Conversely, in eastern Siberia, use of the Amanita muscaria effect was for everyone and for not just religious rites —it was also used recreationally. However, only the shaman could eat the mushroom on its own —laypeople would have to drink the urine of the shaman after consumption. Sound a little kinky? It may have been, but really what happened was that the first eater, or the shaman, essentially acted as a filter for everyone else —their urine still contained the psychoactive elements of the Amanita muscaria, while also eliminating some of the negative side effects that came along with eating it, such as twitching or stomach pains. In fact, it’s possible that the psychoactive pee was actually more potent than the mushroom itself, so maybe it wasn’t all bad to be on the receiving end.
The Koryaks are a group of indigenous people from eastern Siberia, from the Kamchatka Peninsula just off the coast of the Bering Sea. They still inhabit the area today, and are culturally and linguistically very similar to the Chuchkis, another Siberian indigenous group from the extreme northeast.
According to Koryak folklore, the Amanita muscaria mushroom was a “sacred gift” from Big Raven, who was the first shaman and the causal beginning of the human race. Supposedly, big raven discovered the power of the mushroom when he had caught a whale, but wanted to put him back into the sea. The whale was too big and heavy for Big Raven, and he wanted help from Vahiyinin, or Existence. Vahiyinin created the Amanita muscaria, which it called wapaq, by spitting on the land, its white spots representing the spit. Big Raven ate the resulting mushroom and with it came the strength to throw the whale back into the sea.
When he had eaten wapaq, Big Raven became exceedingly strong, and he pleaded, ‘O wapaq, grow forever on the earth’” as recounted by Richard Evans Shultes and Albert Hofmann in Plants of the Gods. He then told his people that the Amanita muscaria, or wapaq, could help and teach them, and so it stayed as a majorly relevant part of their folklore for centuries, until alcohol was introduced to the culture in the 16th and 17th century by the Russians. In an interesting flip, while mushrooms are very important to Russian culture (even I remember hunting for mushrooms as a child with my grandparents in the dense forests of the country), red-capped shrooms are typically strongly advised against —if they’re bright, it’s better to be left alone. The Koryaks, however, took a special interest in the Amanita muscaria, and often made it a central pillar of their folklore, rituals, and even day-to-day life. Reindeer that ate the mushroom often exhibited signs of intoxication, after which hunters would chase it down to eat its meat, hoping to get some of the residual effects.
The Celtic Druids are thought to have used the Amanita muscaria in pre-Christian religious traditions and rituals. Under the awareness that it was supposed to be toxic, the druids would first prepare the Amanita muscaria for consumption, and then eat it specifically for the hallucinations it could give. They believed the mushroom and its organism to be ancient, and that through eating it and experiencing its visions and hallucinations, one could inherit some of its ancient wisdom and be put into direct communication with the universe.
Furthermore, the Amanita muscaria was thought to give one visions of faeries and leprechauns —both very spiritual creatures deeply associated with Ireland and its historic folklore. To this day, Irish slang calls a magic mushroom trip a time where one “goes away with the faeries” or “off with the pixies.”
Aryans of India
The ancient Aryan people of modern-day India had a drug called Soma, and it was suggested by R. Gordon Wasson that Soma might be the Amanita muscaria mushroom. Wasson was the man who helped introduce magic mushrooms to the western world with the help of Oaxacan curandera (medicine woman) Maria Sabina in the 1950s.
The Aryans were around about 3,500 years ago, and they, like many ancient civilizations, had a polytheistic religion. One of their gods, known as Soma, was particularly unique, being not only a god, but also a plant —apparently the only plant to have been “deified in human history.”
The Aryans left little in terms of historical artifacts, save for over 1,000 hymns, which were passed on through generations by oral traditions and memory alone. Eventually, Western explorers wrote down the hymns, and while the meaning of them remains somewhat obscure. According to the Vedas, Soma was taken by priests during liturgical worship. First, it was mixed with water, then beaten with stones (poor thing). Then it was mixed with more water, honey, or barley, and drunk by the priests, who would enter inebriated states.
Why did Wasson believe Soma was actually the Amanita muscaria mushroom? Wasson’s essay offers an explanation: The hymns of the Aryans, composed over centuries, never mention roots, leaves, blossoms, or seeds of the Soma. What plant has none of these? “The whole of the fungal world.” Furthermore, the hymns often mention that the Soma is found on mountains —where the Amanita muscaria grows. These, among other descriptions and turns of language allow the educated guess that the Soma, often referred to as “Fireplant” and “Sun-plant,” is actually the Amanita muscaria we all know and love.
Soma wasn’t just found in ancient Aryan traditions, the ancient Greeks found it too. Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of fertility and mysticism, among other things, threw an annual October festival called the Ambrosia, meaning, literally, “immortality,” and taken from the ancient Greek food of the same name, labelled the “food of the gods.”
The Dionysian cult was known to consume Soma for “ecstatic” purposes, enjoying its inebriating effects and sleepy pleasures, before eventually, like the Siberian indigenous folk in later years, discovering alcohol and switching to it for intoxication purposes. If Wasson’s previous identification of the Aryan plant-god Soma is correct, we can also assume that the Soma was the same for the Greeks —Amanita muscaria.
October is generally known as mushroom season. The six ingredients that make up ambrosia were written down in such a way that their first initials spelled “myketa,” which is the Greek word for mushroom. This, along with several other layers of meaning, allow some to conclude that the ancient Greek’s ambrosia drink was made with none other than the Amanita muscaria.
It’s rumored that vicious Viking warriors known as “berserkers” would eat the Amanita muscaria before battle, allowing its effects to take them into a trancelike fighting rage. The “extra strength” story lines up with the Koryak folktale of Big Raven. If this is true, perhaps the pre-workout industry has found a new, natural ingredient. That said, little is known about the Vikings and berserkers, though one paper even suggests that henbane, a plant often used in “magic brews” and as medicine, could have been the actual pre-battle snack of choice for these fighters.
We know Santa is red and white and jolly, but why? Somewhat randomly, the Amanita muscaria could have a lot to do with our idea of Santa Claus today.
A dive into Santa’s history shows us that our current concept of the star of Christmas comes from a mosaic of European influences and folk characters, the most famous of which is jolly old Saint Nick, a wealthy archbishop born in the third century who took Jesus’ words of giving to the poor to heart, and spent his inheritance after his parents died helping the poor and needy. He was renowned for his kindness and generosity, and became a pillar of Christian faith. Santa as we know him is based on this man.
So what does a supposedly magic mushroom have to do with the man who knows when you’ve been bad or good? Apparently, quite a lot. Siberian culture involved the use of Amanita muscaria quite a bit, especially around festivals and rituals. During their annual midwinter festival, the shaman of the region would enter celebratory yurts through the smoke hole (self-explanatory —it’s where the smoke comes out) and bring a bag of the mushroom with him which would be distributed as gifts. The shaman would then perform the cultural ceremonies of the time and leave through the smoke hole again. Prior to this, when gathering the mushroom, the shaman would often wear a red and white outfit —the colors of the Amanita muscaria.
Villagers would think that the shaman could fly, or would fly with the help of reindeer (which we already know would often eat the Amanita muscaria themselves). The similarity is a bit uncanny. Today’s Santa Claus is dressed in the same bright red and white costume as the Amanita muscaria, lives in the North, carries a bag of presents, flies on a sled and magic reindeer, and enters homes through chimneys (though what he does when faced with apartment buildings remains unknown).
Stories And Fairy Tales
The Amanita muscaria, with its bright, beautiful appearance and unusual mind-altering properties has been a staple of folklore and storytelling for thousands of years. We see it in ancient oral traditions and in modern tales, too. Victorian era paintings of fairies prominently display the Amanita muscaria. When in Wonderland, Alice can eat a mushroom that makes her change in size —though we never get much physical description of it, it’s possible it was inspired by the Amanita muscaria. When Mario eats the red mushroom he turns into his Super form. The Smurfs live in a red mushroom, and countless other references have been made to it in art and literature new and old.
The Amanita muscaria is the most iconic and well-known mushroom in the world. Its image is plastered across paintings, video games, and fairy tales. It’s been used as decoration, as inspiration, as an inebriant, and more. Its shining red cap with white spots is one of the most recognizable images in the world. Despite being given a bad rap as something distinctly poisonous and toxic, the truth is that the Amanita muscaria is an enigma, one whose likeness and psychoactive properties have transcended generations and cultures. The Amanita muscaria is more than just a mushroom, it’s a part of a rich and fascinating story of humanity and how we interact with the plants, fungi, and drugs around us.
Amanita is not a hallucinogenic. It specifically modifies how your brain works when you are asleep. You only mention it’s entheogenic properties once in passing so i take this as mostly hokum, balderdash and piffle.
@Chris chill chill chill – it is not a serotonergic hallucinogenic, but there is delirium to be found in a non-fully-decarboxylated brew. Decarbed, amanita is kinda like the GHB or mushrooms – viva la raza 🙌 | <urn:uuid:05a28caa-21f6-4b92-9d90-44beafb97bfc> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://psychedelicspotlight.com/a-cultural-history-of-the-amanita-muscaria-mushroom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296946445.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20230326173112-20230326203112-00712.warc.gz | en | 0.973865 | 2,746 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Healing from a mental health disorder takes work. Many techniques, from traditional to alternative, are used to help you cope with your symptoms. There is technique proving to be beneficial in treating mental illness. It is called Neurofeedback Therapy.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is another method often used because it can help you learn contemporary ways of thinking and behaving. It has years of proven success.
Alternative methods of treatment include meditation, acupuncture and deep breathing.
While medication works, it can arguably be considered over-used in the field of mental health. Medications may lead to negative reactions in some, as side effects and tolerance level can increase over a brief period. Medication is a quick fix that treats symptoms, but it is not a cure.
Research is showing that our brains are malleable. Meaning they can be rewired or trained to respond in certain ways. This is a huge discovery for the field of mental health. You can train your brain to respond to situations in a relaxed and focused manner.
With neurofeedback therapy, the brain is stimulated to produce positive thoughts and actions. It helps our brain stabilize rather than be hyper-active or over-stimulated.
Stimulation can come through video games, computers and other techniques to regulate brain activity.
When you do this, psychological and physiological responses are handled properly. Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, addiction, bipolar, and attention deficit disorders can benefit from neurofeedback.
This technique sends signals to the brain every few seconds, training it to respond in a positive way and rewarding the brain when it does.
For those suffering from mental health issues, neurofeedback therapy offers hope for recovery of what can feel overwhelming. It all starts with gathering brain wave data to determine exactly which area of the brain needs training.
How Information on the Brain is Gathered
Two technologies are used to track and record brain information, one method is called electroencephalography (EEG). It allows researchers to track information in the outermost layer of the brain.
Sensors are placed on your scalp that record your brainwaves and send them to the EEG machine. A clinician can review the brainwaves to determine where positive changes are needed. The clinician can then send signals to the brain to teach it new and more positive responses.
Another method is the functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This measures the amount of blood flowing to the regions of the brain. It measures both magnetic fields and brain waves.
An MRI can pin point areas of the brain that are overactive and creating problems for you. Maybe it is the part of the brain that causes OCD, or maybe it is the brain region that makes you feel severely depressed.
Once the area is identified, training can begin to make the region less active. This training can help with many mental health disorders, including depression.
The process of using neurofeedback includes an intake evaluation to determine why you are seeking treatment. They will record baseline statistics that will help them measure your progress over time.
Brain mapping is the next step and includes using sensors hooked up to the brain, measuring data of the brain waves.
Training can begin to make the region less active. This training can help with many mental health disorders, including depression.
Neurofeedback and Depression
When your left front region of the brain is active, your mood is happier. If your right front region in the brain is more active, then your mood can be more negative. With the help of a clinician, your brain can be trained to activate certain parts of your brain that control mood. Meaning, you can shape your brain to react to situations with a more positive response rather than negative.
Neurofeedback and Stress or Anxiety
People who struggle with anxiety find it hard to handle stressful situations. When a crisis arrives, instead of staying calm and figuring out a solution, we tend to panic, get confused and react irrationally.
Neurofeedback can help us change these negative reactions to stress into calmer and more controlled ones. It can train the brainwave patterns to be more stable and organized. Heart rate has a lot to do with it.
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the measure of time intervals between heartbeats. Having a high variability is desirable because it shows your heart can adjust to many different situations. If you have a low variability, it means your heart is not adapting at its potential.
A low HRV can lead to stress, which can lead to both physical and psychological problems. You can change your heart rate variability. With the help of a therapist, you can learn stress reducing techniques that can regulate your heart rate. Deep breathing, meditation, and yoga are a few ways to reduce stress.
Neurofeedback and ADHD
Medications used to treat attention deficit disorders do not always work. Some lose their effectiveness over time. Some produce damaging side effects. Therefore, many seek alternative ways of treating this type of disorder.
Studies have shown that neurofeedback used in treating those with attention deficit disorders is more effective than medication.
Brain activities used in neurofeedback increase focus and reduce impulsiveness. The goal is to train the parts of the brain that are too active, to calm down. These parts are the ones that create hyperactivity and compulsiveness.
Neurofeedback techniques also train less active regions of the brain to wake up.
Neurofeedback and Bipolar Disorder
People with bipolar disorder who use neurofeedback therapy to train their brain, have found their mood swings become more stabilized. Research has shown people with bipolar disorder who were treated with neurofeedback therapy were able to reduce their medications.
Neurofeedback helps teach the brain how to have healthier patterns; people have noted they have better relationships and reduced numbers of hospitalizations.
To find out if neurofeedback is the right way to help you deal with your mental illness, contact a certified clinician in your area.
One of the best types of clinicians are licensed mental health therapists or psychologists who have experience with both the scientific side and the psychological side of mental illness. Most likely, they have added neurofeedback therapy as an addition to their other specialties.
Neurofeedback is one alternative method of treatment that is supported by evidence showing it has the potential to be just as effective as medication. Neurofeedback, as a supplement to traditional treatments, may provide many with a new way to improve quality of life. This can happen for you too. | <urn:uuid:3a6c1f75-741a-45ce-b08d-e6d7c3e6f2ef> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://www.chrismassmanmft.com/news/the-art-neurofeedback-therapy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948627628.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20171218215655-20171219001655-00722.warc.gz | en | 0.946088 | 1,328 | 3.671875 | 4 |
“Most people simply don’t know the extent of the problem. An estimated 25,000 child marriages occur every day. That’s mind-boggling, so much so that to many people, it becomes abstract, unreal.” – Gavin Weston, Author. Indeed unreal should one opt to browse through the statistics published by UNICEF. According to UNICEF, a startling 21% of girls married in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the year 2016 were below 18 years of age, 3% below the age of 15. The poverty, illiteracy, customs, gender inequality, insecurity and much more contributes to this evil practice, almost always leading to the girl’s physical, mental and social health causing serious overall health issues.
Being a member of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), an inter-governmental body which has adopted a regional action plan to target child marriage, Pakistan was among the first few states to propose a target to end child marriages by 2030. This commitment seems evident in the overall developments in the legislation at Federal as well as Provincial level.
Despite Pakistan’s Child Marriage Restraint ACT (CMRA) 1929 setting the legal age for marriage to 16 for women and 18 for men, the transgressions continue unabated. In February 2017, the Parliament adopted an amendment to the Penal Code introducing tougher punishments for the offenders with imprisonment of at least five years and up to 10 years which may be accompanied with a fine of up to Rs. 1 million. April 2014 witnessed adoption of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, increasing the minimum age to 18. Punjab introduced a Bill introducing harsher punishments for offenders while maintaining the minimum age at 16. The Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body which gives Islamic legal advice to the Government of Pakistan, declared the laws prohibiting child marriage un-Islamic followed by severe criticism from various quarters. Noman Ali of East London Mosque had these views which indeed seem to be a ray of hope.
While the legislation, its implementation, prevalence of justice remain a challenge and as the common people keep on being sent in all different direction in the name of Islam, there are certain individuals who make it a point to do all they can using any medium possible to create awareness among the masses, pushing for education, equality, sending out a loud and clear message that a daughter is an asset and not a liability.
Waqar J. Khan, a young man in late 20s, in his continuous pursuit to add value and address perhaps the most controversial issues which plague the society, conceptualized a photoshoot to create awareness. Waqar had recently been the talk of the town for his efforts in introducing the first transgender model , objective there being social inclusion and bringing the historically oppressed into the mainstream.
Partnering up with Muhammad Haseeb Siddiqui, a teacher of Photography and CEO & Founder of Haseeb Siqqiqui and Saima Rashid Bargfrede, hair designer, makeup artist, and styling expert, who lives to inspire or get inspired, the tremendous trio showcased beautiful young girls in an inspiring and effectual fashion shoot. What could have been better than tackling gender inequality in the conventionally male dominated sports arena? The girls were carefully selected from an age group typically falling prey to the stigma of early marriage.
Areeba is 8 years old. She loves to play cricket and is currently enrolled in Grade 4. 12-year-old Suman is training to be a boxer while studying in Grade 8. She is the first girls to partake in an outdoor activity. Esha enjoys playing football, is 10 years old and a student of Grade 5. These powerful picture etch the soul. The left reflecting upon the sacrifice of a precious life as young girls are married to become more of slaves for labor and object of pleasure, while the right reflects upon the inordinate resolve, to grow, to fulfill dreams, to contribute, shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. These young girls did not just pose for this shoot to make a statement. Here you see an actual cricketer, a boxer and a footballer. How did all this become possible? The answer lies in a dream of a man named Zakir. Coach Zakir. Zakir knows not how to differentiate between a girl and a boy and believes in provision of equal opportunity irrespective of gender. Zakir runs the Muslim Sports Complex Orangi West in Karachi. The facility provides training to males, females, young and old. Zakir wanted to inculcate a competitive attitude in the community transcending the boundaries ever so ingrained backed by a long history of gender bias and caste system. It was initially an uphill task for Zakir to enroll females for training in his sports complex. However, perseverance paid off. Zakir doesn’t only train young and old males and females in the sports activity of their choice, but also reinforces the concept of mutually coexistence across caste, ethnicity, dispensing one of the most important responsibilities of bringing up tolerant youth.
Waqar, Haseeb, Saima and Zakir have certainly proven that much can be done to improve the quality of life and addresses various social evils at the individual level and every issue can just not be left to the legislation and subsequently, to the law enforcement agencies to implement the law, if it becomes at all and doesn’t fall prey to various interpretations of Islam. | <urn:uuid:20b91dd0-7e3f-4c3c-8173-0efcad7ea5dd> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://baahirezaman.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/the-untimely-brides/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886120573.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823132736-20170823152736-00222.warc.gz | en | 0.956535 | 1,108 | 2.625 | 3 |
The Most Common Medical Errors
Overview of Medical Mistakes in Pennsylvania
Who do you trust the most with recommendations about your physical health and well-being? If you answered your doctor, then you’re not alone. Most Americans agree that they highly trust their medical professional with their health decisions.
Despite this, a startling statistic has captured the attention of the media. Medical mistakes are now the third-leading cause of death in America. Why? What types of medical mistakes should patients be aware of? Below we’ll get into some of the top medical mistakes that patients face.
Prescription Medication Errors
Medication errors happen while the doctor is prescribing, giving or dispensing medication to a patient. These preventable errors injure about 1.3 million Americans each year. Here are a few examples of a medication error:
- Improper doses
- Wrong route of administration
- Mixing medications
- Pharmacist incorrectly reads the doctor’s prescription
Dosage errors take up nearly half (about 41 percent) of all medication errors.
The second leading medical error is a hospital-acquired infection. When you go to the hospital for treatment, you usually don’t expect to gain an additional infection or illness from the hospital itself. Sadly, it happens more often than you’d like to believe. Over 1.7 million Americans get infections after being hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In many circumstances, a patient’s weakened immune system leaves them more susceptible to infection. At other times, they’re unintentionally exposed to the infection due to improper cleaning procedures at the facility.
Misdiagnosis or Unnecessary Treatment
It’s not always easy to pinpoint the exact cause of a patient’s symptoms. Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose and unnecessary treatment are all medical errors. The reason why these situations are so dangerous is that they can all lead to delayed treatment, worsening symptoms and even death.
I’m sure you’ve heard horror stories about people who went to have surgery and ended up having the wrong limb amputated. Such horrific accidents are often called “never events” because they’re entirely preventable and should never occur in a medical setting. Unfortunately, surgeons and medical professionals are human, so they’re prone to these types of errors.
The worst “never events” are:
- Wrong-site surgery
- Leaving a foreign object in the person’s body or
- Failing to monitor the patient’s vitals.
Contact a Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Attorney for a Consultation About Your Medical Error Case in Pennsylvania
Were you or a loved one injured due to medical malpractice in Pennsylvania? Then you need to talk to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible for guidance on how to proceed. The Pittsburgh medical error attorneys at Berger & Lagnese, LLC are prepared to assist you with your legal claim. We represent victims of negligent surgeons, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists throughout Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, Erie, Butler, Cranberry Township, Indiana. Call us today at (412) 471-4300 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a consultation. Our main office is located at 310 Grant Street, Suite 720, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly. | <urn:uuid:22673258-05a8-4e07-bad2-b0318c4a2abb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.bergerlagnese.com/blog/the-most-common-medical-errors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809003642-20220809033642-00084.warc.gz | en | 0.921608 | 733 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Texas, with its size, diverse geography, politics, and culture is many things to different people. The New York Times deputy political editor Manny Fernandez posed a series of questions recently that reveal the complexity of the Lone Star State. He wrote “Who are these people, these Texans? What do they tell us about America? What to make of a state that is so focused on itself? I wrestle with these questions all the time.” I decided to briefly explore some of these questions by focusing on one region–South Texas. What I found was revealing to me as an historian, and I learned of a previously unknown personal connection to the rich history of South Texas.
South Texas is a region where history is valued and where the area’s past has special meaning to the rest of the state. The number of books written about Texas surpasses that of the majority of states. Nonetheless,
scholars recognize that glaring gaps exist in history related to ethnicity and diversity in regions such as South Texas. My interest in these topics, as well as in these historical gaps, led me to explore how my family came to Texas in the mid 1700s. I was curious about the contribution of the pioneering families who settled South Texas along the Rio Grande 273 years ago and if they left a meaningful historical footprint.
South Texas, the region where my ancestors first settled, is one of the seven distinct regions of Texas. Although not the largest of the seven regions, South Texas has the oldest non-Indigeneous settlements of the state. Spanish settlers established South Texas towns, including San Antonio, which was founded in 1718, and numerous border towns along the Rio Grande dating back to 1749. Compared to the other regions of Texas, South Texas is logically the principal cradle of Texas history.
The origins of South Texas as a region–its towns, its ranching industry, its agricultural prowess–has always fascinated me. The intrepid Spanish colonizer José de Escandon played a major role in South Texas history. Historian David Weber noted that in planning to settle a new territory along the Rio Grande in 1749, Spain, for the first time, relied on colonists rather than missionaries. The Spanish Crown appointed Escandon as the colonizer and
first governor of the colony of Nuevo Santander. The area extended from the Panuco River near Tampico in Northern Mexico to the Guadalupe River in Central Texas.
Escandon established over twenty towns or villas and a number of missions in the Nuevo Santander colony. Among the towns he founded were Camargo, Reynosa, Mier, and Revilla, south of the Rio Grande, and Laredo and Dolores north of the Rio Grande. Escandon had Spanish Royal authority to issue land grants to settlers, mobilizing the colonization of South Texas from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River. To put this early colonization into perspective, Stephen F. Austin brought only 300 families to Texas. Escandon led 6,000 Spanish settlers, mostly mestizos, to South Texas and the Rio Grande region.
My ancestors, descendants of my great-grandfather Capt. Miguel Sanchez Sáenz [10th generation], came with Escandon to Mier, then crossed the Rio Grande and founded five individual ranches in what would later be known as the pueblo of Roma-Los Sáenz. The ranches included Porciones #72 to Juan Angel Sáenz #73 to José Miguel Sáenz, and #74 to José Geronimo Sáenz. Each porcion could be as large as 20,000 acres. Two first cousins José M. Sáenz de Hinojosa and Juan F. Sáenz de
Hinojosa established adjacent ranches, La Bonita Ranch and Las Flores Ranch. The combined Sáenz grants likely exceeded 60,000 acres.
Historian Andres Tijerina, author of Tejano Empire: Life on the South Texas Ranchos, wrote that as a result of Escandon, in less than 50 years the Tejanjo ranches accounted for 85,000 cattle, horses, and mules. From 1757 when the early Spaniards established ranching along the Rio Grande to 1795, the livestock increased to approximately 800,000, including 111,777 cattle. Tijerina documented that by 1800, “The Cattle Kingdom included over five million longhorn cattle that the Tejano ranchers and their ancestors had brought into South Texas.”
Cattle ranching had its origins in South Texas and is considered Texas’ first industry. Although Spaniards introduced cattle and horses to Texas in the 1690s, Tejano historians note that it was not until the 1750s with the arrival of the 6,000 Spanish colonists who settled dozens of Rio Grande land grants that major cattle raising began to thrive. Until recently I never knew that my family had a connection to the start of Texas ranching society.
Over the period 1750-1850, South Texas became the leading ranching region of the United States. However, in the post 1800 era, the region experienced a series of major wars that took a toll on the residents and their livelihood. When French forces under Napoleon conquered Spain, the Spanish colonists in Northern Mexico took up arms. In 1813, Spanish Royal armies invaded South Texas with an aim to suppress the Tejano colonists who had organized to liberate themselves from Spanish-French colonial rule. The Spanish Royalist soldiers defeated the Tejanjo rebels in the Battle of Medina River near San Antonio, the bloodiest battle in Texas history.
Next came the Texas Revolution of 1836 that originated in Gonzales, Texas and moved quickly to the Alamo in San Antonio. The battle over Texas took less than a year and resulted in Mexico’s unofficial loss of Texas. Mexico’s Congress refused to acknowledge the loss of Texas. Next came the Mexican War of 1846-48 in which the American forces’ victory over Mexico resulted in Mexico ceding authority of five of its Northern frontier states. These three wars changed South Texas forever. After these bloody conflicts, some South Texas ranching families fled to Mexico or lost their land through dubious legal challenges.
The American Civil War which broke out in 1860, brought illegal land grabbers and individuals who profited by trading with both Yankees and Confederates in cattle, horses, and cotton. Roma, with its high bluffs and deep waters of the Rio Grande, served as a major port for ships carrying contraband goods to Southern and Northern ports.
The combination of land acquisition and Civil War contraband in South Texas often promoted great wealth. Charles Stillman, for example, acquired land from the Garza grant, originally the Cavazos ranch consisting of 600,000 acres, and at the time, the largest ranch in Texas. Historian John M. Hart noted that the sellers “had no legal right to make such a sale since their father had remarried and the heirs of his second wife inherited the land from
their father upon his death.” According to Hart, Charles Stillman also bought cotton during the Civil War and sold it in New York. By the end of the war Stillman was one of the richest men in America.
To many observers, South Texas had more than its share of turmoil and political change. My
great-grandmother, Marta Pompa de Sáenz, a resident of South Texas from 1834-1939, lived under five different national flags during her lifetime–Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, the Confederacy, and finally again, the United States. Her son, and my grandfather Jose Maria Sáenz, a landless vaquero, worked cattle and horses in the Brush Country of South Texas. He left ranch life in 1901 to live and work in San Antonio.
With the filming of the movie Viva Zapata in 1951-52, the small town of Roma achieved brief Hollywood fame. The movie, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, and Anthony Quinn, earned an Academy Award for Quinn. Quinn was the first Latino to win such a distinction. The film director, Elia Kazan became familiar with Agustin Casasola, the famed Mexican photographer of the Mexican Revolution. Kazan sought a location that resembled Mexico of the 1910-1920 era, and in Roma they found the perfect setting.
Today, Roma, known to local residents as Roma-Los Sáenz, is a vibrant border town with a population of 11,505. Ranching is still important, but oil wells contribute significantly to the region’s economic stability. Roma maintains its bilingual–bicultural culture evidenced by the recent mariachi state championship won by the Roma high school band. | <urn:uuid:4d239430-5aaf-40ea-adc9-5375d7324040> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://laprensatexas.com/texas-latino-colonial-history-reexamined/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764501555.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20230209081052-20230209111052-00309.warc.gz | en | 0.957989 | 1,801 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Invasive Species – How Do They Impact Threatened and Endangered Species?
By Ellen Jacquart
There is wide acceptance that invasive species impact threatened and endangered species, but there is surprisingly little research on this topic in Indiana. Despite this lack of research, there are several examples of rare species that are being impacted by invasive species in Indiana.
White-nose syndrome on Indiana bat – Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is a federally endangered bat that hibernates in large clusters in caves every winter. Its population has been declining for the last several decades; though the reasons are not clear, it may be a combination of human disturbance, cave commercialization and improper cave gating, summer habitat loss and pesticides. Despite the overall decrease in the species’ number, Indiana’s populations have remained steady or increased over time. However, the recent introduction of white-nose syndrome (WNS) puts Indiana’s bats at further risk. WNS is an infectious disease associated with a fungus (Geomyces destructans) believed to have been introduced from Europe. WNS is responsible for unprecedented levels of mortality among hibernating bats in North America and is named for the white fungal growth that invades the skin tissue on the muzzle, wings and ears of cave-dwelling bats during winter hibernation. The 2013 population surveys of Indiana bat in Indiana found a 16% decline in the three years since WNS was found in Indiana, and further reductions in population are expected over time. Overall, the disease has caused the death of an estimated 5.7 – 6.7 million bats across eastern North America with estimates of mortality often exceeding 90% in caves that have experienced multiple years of infection.
Crown vetch on Short’s goldenrod – Short’s goldenrod (Solidago shortii) is known from just two places in the world, one of which is in Indiana along the Blue River. This bright yellow-flowered goldenrod grows from the cracks of limestone that line the river banks. Being a fairly severe habitat, there are few native plants that compete with it in such a location. Unfortunately, crown vetch (Securigera varia), an aggressive legume used for erosion control, has found its way to these riverine habitats. Crown vetch grows quickly and spreads through rhizomes, and is able to invade these limestone cracks, directly competing with the Short’s goldenrod.
Phragmites on pipewort - Pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum) is a tiny state-endangered plant that grows along lake shores in northern Indiana. A cap of white flowers tops a flower stalk less than six inches tall. Habitat loss through lake development and shoreline destruction is the primary reason for its rarity, but invasive species are also taking a toll. Pipewort has no chance when phragmites (Phragmites australis ssp. australis) invades a lakeshore, as this invasive grass can reach 20’ tall and forms a dense monoculture that eliminates pipewort and all other plants.
Phragmites on spotted turtle – Spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) is a small turtle with a dark shell peppered with yellow dots. This state-endangered turtle is found in fens and wet prairies in northern Indiana and eats slugs, worms, snails, and spiders. At the end of breeding season, the female turtles find an open area to dig a nest and lay 3-4 eggs. The nest site is carefully chosen to provide adequate solar heat for developing eggs, as nest temperature is the most important factor for embryo development and actually determines the sex of the embryos. Phragmites australis ssp. australis also prefers to grow in open areas, and often invades the kind of habitats in which turtles are most likely to nest. The tall, dense monoculture of phragmites near turtle nests alters the microenvironment of turtle nests during incubation, particularly the nest temperature, threatening successful reproduction of the turtles.
Ellen Jacquart is the Director of Northern Indiana Stewardship for the Nature Conservancy in Indiana. She has worked in Indiana’s natural areas since 1987. | <urn:uuid:5a1da32a-813e-419d-85a7-7536e635c9b5> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://woodlandsteward.squarespace.com/invasive-species-how-do-they/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188553.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00374-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935225 | 877 | 3.875 | 4 |
IceCube — 874 GHz submillimeter wave radiometer mission on a 3U CubeSat
IceCube is a NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) nanosatellite mission with the objective to validate a new 874 GHz submillimeter wave radiometer for cloud ice observations. The measurements of ice clouds and their processes are important for climate models and for cloud precipitation processes. - In July 2014, NASA's SMD (Science Mission Directorate) selected a team at GSFC, led by PI Dong L. Wu, to build its first Earth science-related CubeSat mission. The IceCube project is being managed and co-funded by ESTO (Earth Science Technology Office) of NASA. 1) 2) 3) 4)
Background: Ice clouds play a key role in Earth's climate system, primarily through regulating atmospheric radiation and interacting with dynamic, energetic and precipitation processes. Sub-millimeter wave remote sensing offers a unique capability for improving cloud ice measurements from space, due to its great depth of cloud penetration and volumetric sensitivity to cloud ice mass. At 874 GHz, ice cloud scattering produces a larger brightness temperature depression than at lower frequencies, which can be used to retrieve vertically-integrated cloud IWP (Ice Water Path) and ice particle size. This effect was measured with the CoSSIR (Compact Scanning Sub millimeter wave Imaging Radiometer), an airborne instrument developed at NASA/GSFC. CoSSIR is a conical and cross-track imager with six receivers and eleven channels centered at 183, 220, 380, 640 V&H, and 874 GHz (Figure 1). CoSSIR measurements from NASA's ER-2 aircraft showed that the selected channel set is capable of accurately retrieving IWP in a wide dynamic range between ~10 g/m2 and 10,000 g/m2 after validation against cloud radar and lidar, with large brightness temperature depression centered at 874 GHz (Figure 2).
Figure 1: CoSSIR has been flown in several NASA airborne field campaigns (image credit: NASA)
The objective of the IceCube project is to retire risks of the 874 GHz receiver technology for future Earth and space remote sensing instruments by raising its TRL (Technology Readiness Level) from 5 to 7. The project will demonstrate, on a 3U CubeSat in a LEO (Low Earth Orbit) environment, a receiver system with a NEDT (Noise Equivalent Differential Temperature) of ~0.15 K over 1 second integration, and <2 K calibration uncertainty.
IceCube is scheduled for launch and subsequently release from the ISS (International Space Station) in mid-2016 for a nominal operation of 28+ days. In addition to its technology demonstration, IceCube will acquire the first 874 GHz cloud map from cloud-induced scattering radiance, thereby accelerating scientific exploration through efficient and frequent access to space using CubeSats. The receiver technology used here was initially developed by VDI (Virginia Diodes Inc.), under NASA's SBIR Phase II program. Communication with the CubeSat will be through NASA's WFF (Wallops Flight Facility) UHF station. Mission Operations and data processing and validation will be conducted at GSFC.
Figure 2: Brightness temperature vs frequency spectrum: CoSSIR measurements of ice clouds were used to successfully demonstrate retrieval of IWP (Ice Water Path) and the ice particle Dme (median mass-equivalent diameter). The 874 GHz data proved to have the greatest sensitivity to ice (image credit: NASA)
Figure 3: The first ever 874 GHz cloud measurements acquired by CoSSIR in 2008 (image credit: NASA)
The new 874 GHz radiometer of IceCube is based on a previous design for the airborne instrument CoSSIR ( Compact Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer), a 12 channel (183 - 874 GHz) total power imaging radiometer that was mainly developed for the measurements of ice clouds.
Figure 4: Schematic view of sub-mm wave wave radiometry for ice cloud remote sensing in the upper atmosphere (image credit: NASA, Ref. 1)
Ice cloud scattering at sub-mm waves:
• Higher sensitivity to cloud scattering at sub-mm waves
• Cloud-induced radiance, Tcir, is proportional to CIWP (Cloud Ice Water Path)
• Cloud microphysical properties (i.e., particle size) from different frequencies
• Simultaneous retrievals with T, H2O.
Figure 5: Schematic of cloud-induce radiance (image credit: NASA)
Key performance parameters of the IceCube radiometer are shown in Table 1. The RF (Radio Frequency) receiver is comprised of an offset parabola reflector with feedhorn, mixer, stable oscillator, RF multiplier chain, IF (Intermediate Frequency) chain, video amplifier, and detector. There are also supporting circuit boards including the iPDU (instrument Power Distribution Unit) and C&DH (Command and Data Handling), which is shared with the spacecraft. The radiometer will have a noise figure of 15 dB with an NEDT of ~0.15 K for a 1 second dwell time. The instrument is both externally and internally calibrated using views of deep space and an internal IF noise source and reference state.
Table 1: Key IceCube Radiometer parameters
Figure 6: Simplified radiometer block diagram (image credit: NASA)
The radiometer simplified block diagram is shown in Figure 6 and the instrument layout is illustrated in Figure 7 . The radiometer front-end is comprised of an 874 GHz LO (Local Oscillator). Intermediate frequency (6-12 GHz) calibration by noise injection provides the means of discriminating the calibration state of front-end components, referenced to extended observations of space. The RF input to the mixer is a GSFC-designed antenna, which is a straightforward offset-fed paraboloid yielding a 1.7º half-power beam-width. At nadir, the main beam will cover a ~10 to 20 km 3 dB footprint for an orbital altitude in the range of 400-800 km, respectively. With a ground track velocity of approximately 7 km/s, a 1 second output sampling period will provide 0.7 to 1.4 times the Nyquist sampling rate of the antenna mainbeam.
Figure 7: IceCube radiometer layout (image credit: NASA)
Calibration of the radiometer is achieved by both internal electronic and external natural target means. Externally, the primary target is space, which is viewable by pointing the antenna beam above the Earth's limb and provides the absolute offset of the system. Internal calibration of the receiver is carried out by the IF stage, which is used during and between external views of space. The noise source coupled into the IF path is used to estimate IF section gain. An illustration of the vehicle observations over an orbit is shown in Figure 8.
• In-flight operation 28 days
• Periodical views of Earth (science) and space (calibration) within an orbit
• Science data 30+% (8+h /day)
• Pointing knowledge < 25 km.
Figure 8: Typical operations over one orbit, with alternate Earth/Space views for calibration (image credit: NASA)
Figure 9: IceCube challenge No 1: 874-GHz radiometric calibration (image credit: NASA)
Figure 10: Spinning CubeSat: In-flight calibration (image credit: NASA)
IceCube challenge No 2: Large orbital thermal variations
- Preferred instrument operations temperatures: 20-30ºC
- Low CubeSat/instrument mass, or thermal inertia, for thermal stability
- Wide range of β-angles: ±75°
- Day-on and night-off operations
- Spin around the Sun-pointing axis.
Figure 11: Daily average temperature variations as measured by the CSSWE (Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment) mission (image credit: Colorado University, NASA)
The IceCube mission is to demonstrate and space-qualify a commercially available 874 GHz submillimeter-wave receiver developed by VDI (Virginia Diodes Inc.), of Charlottesville, Virginia. This instrument is capable of providing an accurate assessment of the distribution of atmospheric ice.
The 1.3U instrument is accommodated within a 3U CubeSat, with internal volume and mass margins adequate to fit within the required CubeSat specifications standards (CubeSat Design Specification Rev. 12, Cal Poly SLO). The CubeSat bus uses COTS components with proven flight heritage (Figure 12). The ADCS (Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem) and UHF antenna are attached to the end opposite the radiometer. The overall system length is 340.5 mm, including 6.5 mm posts on both ends, with a 100 mm by 100 mm body frame. The mass of the nanosatellite is ~4kg.
IceCube is a 3U customized CubeSat based on the model built by Pumpkin Inc. (with solar panels and batteries from Clyde Space and ADCS and GPS from Blue Canyon). Only one bus system card will be custom manufactured at GSFC, and is necessary to provide a data interface to the instrument and other bus components. The electrical block diagram in shown in Figure 13.
Figure 12: Illustration of the IceCube nanosatellite in flight configuration (image credit: NASA)
Figure 13: Block diagram with custom payload and spacecraft interface card (image credit: NASA)
Launch: IceCube was launched as a secondary payload on the ISS logistics mission of Orbital ATK (Cygnus OA-7 , also known as CRS-7) on April 18, 2017 for later deployment with a NRCSD (NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer) from the ISS. The launch vehicle was Atlas-5 401 of ULA and the launch site was Cape Canaveral (SLC-41), FL. 5) 6)
Orbit: Near-circular orbit, altitude of ~ 400 km, inclination of 51.6º (β angle variation: 0-75º).
Secondary payloads (CubeSats): 7)
• Altair-1, a 6U CubeSat technology demonstration mission of Millennium Space Systems, El Segundo, CA, USA.
• IceCube, a NASA/GSFC 3U CubeSat technology demonstration mission.
• HARP (HyperAngular Rainbow Polarimeter), a 3U CubeSat of UMBC (University of Mayland, Baltimore County)
• CSUNSat-1, a 2U CSUN (CubeSat of California State University Northridge).
• CXBN-2 (Cosmic X-Ray Background-2), a 2U CubeSat of Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky.
• OPEN (Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats), a 1U CubeSat of UND (University of North Dakota).
• Violet, a 1U CubeSat of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Biarri-Point, a 3U CubeSat technology mission, a four nation defence related project involving Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. Biaari is an RF signal collection mission that can be related to the spot beam mapping mission through mutual use of GPS signals. 8) 9)
• QB50 x 28. Twentyeight CubeSats of the international QB50 constellation, a European FP7 (7th Framework Program) Project for Facilitating Access to Space and managed by the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Brussels, Belgium, will be flown to the ISS for subsequent deployment (atmospheric research). The 28 CubeSats of the QB50 constellation were integrated into 11 NanoRacks 6U deployers. 10) 11)
In addition, four Lemur-2 satellites, operated by Spire Global Inc. of San Francisco, were launched aboard the Cygnus OA-7 cargo craft to replenish and expand the company's constellation dedicated to obtaining global atmospheric measurements for operational meteorology and tracking ship traffic across the planet for various commercial applications. The four Lemur-2 CubeSats are mounted externally to the cargo ship. After Cygnus departs the station in July, it will climb to a higher altitude, around 500 km, and eject them into space.
Figure 14: IceCube communication system at NASA/GSFC Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), image credit: NASA, Brian Corbin
Figure 15: IceCube operations (image credit: NASA)
Figure 16: An artist's rendition of the IceCube small satellite in orbit (image credit: NASA)
• On May 16-17, 2017, NanoRacks began the first of two airlock cycles for the 11th and 12th NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer Missions (NRCSD-11, NRCSD-12). NRCSD-11 and NRCSD-12 were brought to the International Space Station on the Orbital ATK-7 mission, which launched on April 18, 2017 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This launch was the largest CubeSat mission of NanoRacks to date, bringing 34 satellites into the Space Station, plus four CubeSats mounted on externally on the Cygnus spacecraft. 12)
A total of 17 CubeSats were deployed on NRCSD-11 by the NanoRacks Team:
- 11 CubeSats of the QB50 mission were deployed in this first airlock cycle:
SOMP2 – TU Dresden, Germany
- 3 CubeSats were deployed of the NASA ELaNa XVII Sponsored CubeSats:
- Additionally, 3 CubeSats were deployed:
Figure 17: In this photo taken by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson from inside the International Space Station cupola, the NanoRacks deployer (foreground) is clearly visible as the CXBN-2 and IceCube CubeSats deploy (image credit: NASA)
1) D. L. Wu, J. Esper, N. Ehsan, T. E. Johnson, W. R. Mast, J. R. Piepmeier, P. E. Racette, "IceCube: Spaceflight Validation of an 874 GHz Submillimeter Wave Radiometer for Cloud Ice Remote Sensing," ESTF 2014 (Earth Science Technology Forum), Leesburg, VA, USA, Oct. 28-30, 2014, URL: http://esto.nasa.gov/forum/estf2014/presentations/B1P5_Wu.pdf
2) Lori Keesey, "NASA's IceCube No Longer On Ice," NASA, July 30, 2014, URL: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-icecube-no-longer-on-ice/#.VMpRnC7-b-Y
3) Jaime Esper, Dong Wu, Jeffrey Piepmeier, Negar Ehsan, Paul Racette, "Ice-Cube: Spaceflight Validation of an 874 GHz Sub-millimeter Wave Radiometer for Ice Cloud Remote Sensing," 10th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, Germany, April 20-24, 2015, paper: IAA-B10-0303, URL of presentation: http://www.dlr.de/iaa.symp/Portaldata/49/Resources/dokumente/archiv10/pdf/0303.pdf
4) K. Franklin Evans, James R. Wang, Paul E. Racette, Gerald Heymsfield, Lihua Li, "Ice Cloud Retrievals and Analysis with the Compact Scanning Submillimeter Imaging Radiometer and the Cloud Radar System during CRYSTAL FACE," Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Volume 44, Issue 6,June 2005), pp: 839–859, URL: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JAM2250.1
5) "NASA Space Station Cargo Launches aboard Orbital ATK Resupply Mission," NASA, Release 17-029, April 18, 2017, URL: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-space-station-cargo-
6) Jeff Foust, "Orbital to launch next Cygnus mission on Atlas 5," Space News, Nov. 4, 2016, URL: http://spacenews.com/orbital-to-launch-next-cygnus-mission-on-atlas-5/
7) "United States Commercial ELV Launch Manifest," Dec. 28, 2016, URL: http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/uscom-man.txt
8) Eamonn P. Glennon, Joseph P. Gauthier, Mazher Choudhury, Kevin Parkinson, Andrew G. Dempster, "Project Biarri and the Namuru V3.2 Spaceborne GPS Receiver," IGNSS (International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Society) Symposium 2013, Outrigger Gold Coast, Australia, 16 – 18 July 2013, URL: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3d15/3f47ef0f39f21acb3649ab92afef72b53aea.pdf
10) Davide Masutti, "QB50-ISS CubeSats ready to be launched," Dec. 9, 2016, URL: https://www.qb50.eu/index.php/news/78-qb50-iss-ready-to-be-launched
11) US Commercial ELV Launch Manifest, March 5, 2017, URL: http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/uscom-man.txt
12) "NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer Mission 11 Status Update: Good Deploy!," NanoRacks, May 17, 2017, URL: http://nanoracks.com/cubesat-deployer-mission-11-update/
The information compiled and edited in this article was provided by Herbert J. Kramer from his documentation of: "Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors" (Springer Verlag) as well as many other sources after the publication of the 4th edition in 2002. - Comments and corrections to this article are always welcome for further updates. | <urn:uuid:5a9cd4eb-baa1-4220-a4e4-fd7c3d4f7d13> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/i/icecube | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549427429.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170727042127-20170727062127-00416.warc.gz | en | 0.862658 | 3,840 | 2.71875 | 3 |
This post looks at some aspects of creating screencasts and evaluates an open source tool I stumbled upon while looking for a low cost solution. I felt that the tool has the potential to compete with high-cost tools such as Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate. This could be an answer for a small and medium size software publisher’s license cost woes. But, before we start evaluating tools, let us first look at what screencasts are, what we hope to achieve with screencasts, and therefore what are the most important components of a good screencast.
Screencast Vs. webcast – is it the same?
Call it a screencast, a webcast, an online tutorial, or a Software Animated Demonstration (SAD). All these terms are used interchangeably to describe an audiovisual aid to instruct the users about software or by teachers to teach students in an online course. Online teaching courses mostly require teachers to capture lab activities and show them to the students. Software publishers use screencasts to replace long winded step-by-step tutorials and to showcase interface elements. So, we will use screencast to mean any of these audiovisual aids in this post.
Why use screencasts?
Should we use audiovisual aids just because they look fancy and we now have access to broadband internet? Of course not. There has to be a better reason. The underlying theory that has made use of screencasts so prevalent and mainstream is the dual coding theory discussed by Paivio. The theory claims that humans use distinctly separate cognitive structures to process visual and aural information. Therefore, screencasts that use both video and audio to explain complex concepts minimize the cognitive load on individual subsystems and assist in learning. Using two different methods of providing information to the user can also have an additive effect.
Well, there is enough evidence to suggest that screencasts can accelerate learning and are helpful in explaining complex concepts to the learner. But, does using audio-visual content alone fulfill the requirements of a good screencast. What are the other parts of a screencast that can influence efficacy of screencasts? Let us now look at different parts of a screencast and try to come up with a evaluation criteria.
Screencast – What should we evaluate?
Technical writers take great pains to document technical information adhering to guidelines that have evolved over the years drawing upon different research areas. Similarly, creating a meaningful screencast must also look at guidelines that assist communication of information through visuals. However, use of screencast is comparatively new and the research conducted on its effectiveness to specific situations is far less compared to research on writing for specific contexts. Reduced cognitive load and faster integration of information by audiovisual aids are the primary benefits of choosing this medium over a text procedure or a tutorial with text and images. Before we establish some guidelines for creating good screencasts let us first identify the components of screencasts.
There has been an ongoing debate on use of narration in screencast. The dual coding theory supports using narration in screencasts as the information is provided to the user in both verbal and nonverbal media. For instructional videos, narration has proved to reduce cognitive overload and learning time, however, only with small video duration. In educational settings, screencasts with narration have proved to be most beneficial to students who are new to the subject or have very limited prior knowledge. However, it is also claimed that long-winded introductory audio tends to distract the audience. Apart from this, screencasts used in software application require narration to be coordinated with the visuals. Mayer found that narration before action or after the action is less effective. Similarly, it is observed that experienced users rely more on the audio whereas novice users on the visuals as they are not familiar with the software interface.
Visual imagery of the software interface along with the audio instructions is the most important feature of screencasts. Normally users would read 2-3 steps and then switch to the software to perform the action. This comes quite easily to the users who are already aware of the software interface. However, novice users, who are not aware of the software interface, tend to read each step and switch between instructions and the software more frequently. With screencasts, listeners can get acquainted to the interface at the same time as they hear the instruction to act. Therefore this simultaneous transfer of information creates a better mental model for Human Computer Interaction and reduces the additional step of accessing and digesting the reference information.
Navigation aids in printed as well as online media help users find relevant information and get to the information quickly. Document level navigational aids usually help users find the relevant information in the document. Similarly, page level or topic level navigational aids help users reach the exact information that they need.
Although it is advised that screencasts be short, at times, you might have to create screencasts that are more than a few minutes long; typically, if you are trying to show a long workflow or a process. The only navigation aid most of the screencast users get is the progress bar at the bottom of the video that users have to click multiple times to reach the desired portion of the screencast. Therefore, users who need to go back and replay a certain part of the screencast or skip ahead to a different part have no easy way to do this.
Screen real estate
One of the tiresome aspects of using printed manuals was that the users had to switch between the printed manuals and the software application. Online Help reduced this split-attention problem to a certain extent as the information and application were both available on the computer screen. Screencasts now introduce a similar split-attention problem as users have to monitor both the software and the screencast in motion. This problem becomes more acute if the users have only one screen. Even with two separate computer screens, it is important that the screencast window remains on top, so that the users can view the visuals while working with the software.
Although screencasts provide a rich multimedia experience to the user and an opportunity to integrate information in more than one way, it is important that the screencasts are created considering the points discussed earlier in this post.
This post is already too long. That tool evaluation I promised earlier will have to come later. But then, evaluating tools without requirements will be like documenting the software features and not the user tasks.
A. Paivio, “Dual coding theory and education,” Ponencia presentada en: Pathways to Literacy Achievement for High Poverty Children, University of Michigan. Recuperado de: http://www.umich. edu/~ rdytolrn/pathwaysconference/pathways. html, 2006.
A. Z. M. ALI, K. SAMSUDIN, M. HASSAN, S. F. SIDEK, and U. P. S. Idris, “DOES SCREENCAST TEACHING SOFTWARE APPLICATION NEEDS NARRATION FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING?,” TOJET, vol. 10.
R. E. Mayer and R. B. Anderson, “Animations need narrations: An experimental test of a dual-coding hypothesis,” Journal of educational psychology, vol. 83, p. 484, 1991.
G. Palaigeorgiou and T. Despotakis, “Known and unknown weaknesses in software animated demonstrations (screencasts): A study in self-paced learning settings,” Journal of Information Technology Education, vol. 9, pp. 81-98. | <urn:uuid:41bc08e0-8ba3-49b0-a7ce-d26dd3004e39> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://rightmixtech.com/screencasts-what-we-need-to-know-about-users/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476990033880.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020190033-00201-ip-10-142-188-19.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91552 | 1,550 | 2.546875 | 3 |
In the early 1900's both Japan and Britain had considerable financial, political and industrial investments in China and Korea. To protect these investments Britain and Japan signed a naval alliance on January 30, 1902. The alliance obligated the nations to remain neutral if one of them went to war, but if a second power, or several others, united in warfare against one of them, the other was obligated to come to its aid, engage in war, and make peace in total agreement with the other. The alliance was the first of three the two nations would sign with each other in the next twenty years and had a significant impact on World War I, post World War I relationships, and World War II.
One of Britain's main concerns was the threat posed by French and Russian naval power in the Far East. Russia's military action had placed them in a position where they were challenging Britain's dominant position in China. In order to ensure their continued dominance, Britain entered the alliance with Japan who also had similar fears of Russia's actions.
Japan also had a favorable position that they wanted to keep secure. They had begun to gain economic power, but they feared other nations would take advantage of them as China had been. They felt that the alliance would help advance them towards industrialization as well as permanent sovereignty. Tension between Japan and Russia was another factor that pushed Japan into the alliance. Russian military expansion was encroaching on their interests in both China and Korea. Japan knew they could not go to war without any support and therefore sought an ally in Britain who shared their fear of Russian expansion, which eventually lead to the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.
As a result of the Anglo-Japaneese alliance, China suffered economically and lost territory to Japan. They also became very cautious of both Japan and Britain and signed an agreement with Germany to have some security. The agreement was that the Germans return the Chinese city of Kiao Chow for a different city after the anticipated war that would better suit their needs. These discussions between China and Germany led Britain to call on Japan to watch the relations between the two countries. Japan's actions did not stop there, they also attacked German enclaves in China to help the Allies' cause.
After the War the United States began protecting and speaking for China and Britain began to side with the U.S. at the Treaty of Versailles. This angered Japan because now their only ally was siding with one of their largest rivals. This led to the termination of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1922 when Britain and the U.S. rejected Japan's statement of racial equality and forced them to limit their navy to 3/5 the size of the U.S. and British navies. Japan was extremely insulted and bitter about the result and remained angered until they got their revenge at Pearl Harbor.
Bulliet, Crossley, et al. The Earth and Its Peoples. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
Maurois, Andre. The Edwardian Era. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1933.
Weale, Putnam. An Indiscreet Chronicle form the Pacific. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1922. | <urn:uuid:03fd4459-f218-44ee-9a92-9147f4e3c4b8> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/World/BritainJapan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122086301.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175446-00153-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979401 | 653 | 4.28125 | 4 |
A universal story
Although there are seven basic plots which have been the basis of storytelling for thousands of years (even if there have been some developments in recent years), the plots share many common trait. All the plots can ultimately be summarised as a single universal story, and share many common features such as a tension between light and dark and masculine and feminine, use of archetypal symbols, patterns and personalities, and an overarching theme of self realisation in their narrative structure and elements.All stories are built on a struggle between dark and light elements (or goodies versus baddies, heroes and villains), and the characters in all stories mix elements of more ‘masculine’ traits such as power and control and more ‘feminine’ traits such as intuition and holistic thinking. Ideal characters are always balanced between such traits as characters who show extreme behaviour are not yet fully developed as individuals. These characteristics are frequently demonstrated by archetypes (or stereotypes in modern language), such as the mother, father, child, anima and animus in psycholanalytic language (we will come back to the family connection shortly).
Psychological archetypes were most comprehensively developed by Carl Jung (although Freud also had something to say about this), and he outlined five main archetypes: the self (us), the shadow (in opposition to the self), the anima (feminine side), the animus (masculine side) and the persona (the image we show to the world). These archetypes manifest themselves in specific ways, according to the context and the sex and age of the individual, and there are a number of common and recurring forms which Jung discussed and which crop up in the seven plots – see if you can spot them in the previous articles:
- The child
- The hero
- The great mother
- The wise old man (sage)
- The wise old woman
- The trickster (or fox)
- The devil (satan)
- The scarecrow
- The mentor
- Rebirth (specifically one of the seven universal plots)
Fiction or non-fiction?
Although he lived more than three hundred years before Carl Jung, William Shakespeare made use of these archetypes in many of his plays such as Romeo and Juliet (‘the star crossed lovers’) and The Tempest with Prospero the wise old man (a prototype of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings). Some of Shakespeare’s greatest works are the history plays which are full of archetypes too, including heroes such as Richard II and Henry V and Henry V’s former drinking buddy Falstaff.
Shakespeare’s history plays teach us that the greatest stories, and the basis of the plots which recur across the centuries, are real human stories which follow predictable patterns and courses, and most commonly the pattern of growing up and self realisation. We come into the world and as children are ‘overshadowed’ by our parents or other adults, and as we grow up we start to venture into the outside world, exploring, socialising and learning until we are able to break free of our ‘shadow’ and become more and more independent. In the ‘Rags to riches‘ plot, perhaps the closest to the self realisation story, the end game is to receive a great reward or inherit a kingdom as the pay off for the struggle and sacrifice, although growing up can also be seen as the ultimate ‘Quest‘, or a story of ‘Rebirth‘ from a state of childhood to a state of maturity and wisdom. Many of the basic plots are essentially ‘family’ stories involving the mother, father and child with various combinations of light, dark, masculine and feminine traits.
The universal plot
The common thread of all seven of the basic plots revolving around the story of life can be summarised very simply:
- A hero(ine) feels constricted, setting up a tensions which must be resolved
- They open themselves to the world, and begin to feel a new state of being
- They are set back by a new and more serious constriction where a dark power becomes stronger
- There is a final confrontation between dark and light powers
- The dark powers are reversed and the hero(ine) liberated into a new (and more mature or knowledgeable) state of life
Or as a friend of mine put it, more succinctly than me, ‘a story is when we go from a a current situation, through an intervention, to a new situation’.
My favourite opera, The Magic Flute, is a great example of the universal story, containing elements of each of the seven basic plots in its magical storyline, revolving around the initially confused relations between a mother, father and their daughter (the Queen of the Night, Sarastro and Tamina) and a potential new addition to their family as son in law (Pamino). The course of the opera shows all the key stages of growing up from child through gradual enlightenment through to a point where an adult is consciously whole. [I can recommend Kenneth Branagh's film of the opera!]
At the start of the tale, the young hero(Tamino) is chased onto the stage by a terrifying serpent and falls helpless and unconscious to the ground. From nowhere three ladies appear and kill the serpent, and then admire the man they have saved before heading off to tell their boss (the Queen of the Night). When Tamino wakes up he find himself in an unfamiliar world, which is made more strange when the bird catcher Papageno turns up, covered in feathers, who has no idea where he came from and lives day to day (Tamino reveals that his father is a great king who rules many lands). This is essentially Tamino’s ‘birth’ into the world of the story.
The three ladies return, revealing that the Queen is pleased to see him and would like him to perform a great task, revealing a picture of her beautiful daughter Pamina (and he falls in love). The Queen of the Night appears and tells Tamino that Pamina has been abducted by an evil ‘Monster’ (Sarastro) and Tamino must save her, leaving to allow the three ladies to present him with a ‘magic’ flute to guide him on his ‘Quest’. Thus, the Queen initially appears as a light figure in the story, although not everything is at it seems and she will eventually become a more ‘Tragic’ character.
Tamino sets off on his ‘Voyage’ to try and confront the ‘Monster’ in his lair, and at this point we see Pamina imprisoned and being attacked by one of Sarastro’s servants (Monostatos), before being saved in the nick of time by Papageno who is then able to tell Pamina about Tamino and his love for her. Tamino meanwhile asks for entry into Sarastro’s temple and is told that it is a ‘temple of wisdom’ but does not believe it, calling Sarastro a ‘tyrant’. This is the point of the longest shadow cast over the story, before the dramatic reversal in fortunes which reveals where the light and dark truly lie.
Voices from within the temple reveal that Pamina is still alive, and Tamino’s despair turns to relief and the awe inspired by the temple and then Sarastro’s presence sow the seeds of doubt. Despite Tamino’s protestations, Sarastro explains that he cannot release Pamina ‘for her own good’, and says that if had left her with her own mother, ‘what would have become of truth and right?’ (he is implying that there is a greater need for balance between masculine and feminine values). Sarastro is starting to become the ‘wise old man’ figure who will guide Tamino to his goal and the Queen begins to appear more dark and this shift continues throughout the second part of the story, which focuses on the contrast between Tamino and Papageno.
Sarastro sets Tamino and Papageno a series of tests to prove their steadfastness and self-control, with Tamino passing each test easily and Papageno failing miserably as his impulsive instincts overcome reason, showing his inability to achieve a higher state of consciousness (he will never be able to grow up). His only focus is on finding a partner and bringing children into the world. By contrast, Tamino represents the rising of man above nature into maturity and wisdom, and as the series of ordeals progresses we see him develop into a stronger, more disciplined and perhaps more austere human. He is eventually reunited with Pamina and they face the final ordeal of fire and water together showing a unity which transcends the differences between man and woman, masculine and feminine, and a state of wisdom and full ‘adulthood’.
The Queen makes her last assault on the Temple of Wisdom (with Monostatos) and is defeated, and Sarastro’s Temple of the Sun emerges from the storm and dark clouds to show the triumph of light over dark. Although the story can appear a comic frolic (pantomime perhaps), it has a deep symbolism about the family-based drama of growing up and the battle between the dark forces of nature and instinct and the light of rationality which is needed to achieve full maturity.
This is the universal plot of our lives.
The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker (2004) | <urn:uuid:02296d01-d30a-492e-8c61-465f5e1fb837> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.inspectorinsight.com/storytelling/plotting-the-universal-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1409535922763.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20140909054218-00402-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962866 | 1,986 | 3.25 | 3 |
The deep sea is one of the most alien, inhospitable places on planet Earth. With pressures that could easily squish any terrestrial being and temperatures that would make an Arctic winter seem balmy, the deep ocean shouldn’t be able to harbor any life. But, life always finds a way.
We know less about the deepest parts of our oceans than we do about outer space! The bottom of the sea might as well be another planet. The animals that have evolved to live there certainly look like they’re not from Earth, and they have developed some pretty far-out and strange ways to survive. Some of the world’s weirdest animals live in the deep sea. Here’s our list of the 5 strangest deep sea creatures!
One of the scariest looking deep sea creatures is the anglerfish. This demon-like fish is aptly named for the glowing lure that protrudes from its forehead. The anglerfish uses the fleshy growth to attract prey before chowing down with its incredibly long teeth. The glowing part of the lure is produced by bioluminescent bacteria encased in the tip.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the anglerfish is its mating ritual. Males are much, much smaller than females. They spend their whole life searching for a mate. Once they find a female, they latch on with their mouth and eventually fuse their whole body to their mate! Without attaching themselves to a female, a male anglerfish will never even reach adulthood.
The barreleye is one of the most alien looking creatures in the ocean. At first glance, you may notice that this fish doesn’t have eyes. After all, who needs to see when you live in almost pitch-black waters? Upon closer inspection, the barreleye has two massive, neon green spheres in the middle of its clear skull. What are those you ask? They’re eyes! Turns out, barreleye has two eyes that are locked in position, always looking up through its transparent head. This funny fish scans the waters above, looking for shadows that move above it in order to find its prey.
Unlike its name implies, the vampire squid doesn’t suck blood. It barely has suckers on its tentacles at all, even. The name of this squid comes from its intense red eyes and the cloak-like structure of its tentacles. The eyes of a vampire squid are the largest of any animal in the world, relative to its body size.
The depth at which this squid lives is called the “oxygen minimum zone”, and lacks enough oxygen to support aerobic metabolism. In theory, a squid shouldn’t be able to survive in this zone. Yet, the vampire squid doesn’t seem to care, and thrives in it!
The Megamouth shark is one of the rarest animals in the world. It was only observed for the first time in 1979, and has been seen fewer than 100 times since then! It’s been seen (or accidentally caught) in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, as well as off the southern coast of South Africa. For how rare this animal is, it’s certainly strange how large its range is.
Very little is known about the megamouth shark. Due to its enormous mouth and small teeth, it’s believed that the shark swims with its jaws wide open to catch plankton, like other filter feeders. The fact that so little is known about the megamouth shark makes it one of the strangest deep sea creatures.
The hagfish is a slippery, eel-like fish that lives on the seafloor. It’s the only living animal with a skull, but no vertebral column. If that’s not strange enough, the hagfish is infamous for the slime it produces from glands that run along its long body. When caught by a predator, or held by a human, the hagfish will secrete an unwieldy amount of mucus from its body. This allows it to slip free and escape. A single hagfish can quickly produce a whopping 20 liters (5.5 gallons) of slime! But how does this fish produce more slime than its own body can physically hold? That’s because the slime actually expands in water, of course! The slime of a hagfish once caused a one-of-a-kind, slippery disaster on a highway in Oregon.
So, why was a truck hauling hagfish anyways? Well, they were on their way to be eaten in Asia! That’s right, the hagfish keeps getting stranger. The slimy fish is actually a delicacy in Japan and Korea, and apparently cooking the fish in its own slime is the way to go. | <urn:uuid:b71a7c72-93f6-434e-bb1a-a9a871931885> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/5-strangest-deep-sea-creatures/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323588242.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20211027181907-20211027211907-00055.warc.gz | en | 0.954912 | 1,001 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The “Leprechaun Secret” to Longevity
I don’t need to tell you that fruit and vegetables are good for you.
Our mothers and grandmothers have been grilling that fact into our heads since we were kids at the dinner table (hiding broccoli in our napkins).
They enticed us with tales of how eating carrots could help us see like a hawk, or how that spinach could give us big, strong muscles.
And do you know what?
Modern science shows that our moms were exactly right.
And it’s all thanks to this leprechaun secret.
Fruit and vegetables contain compounds that can benefit every single function in your body. These compounds are what give them their various colors.
In order to get the most benefit, you have to consume a variety of these compounds on a regular basis. And you can be sure you’re doing that by keeping this one thing in mind: Follow the rainbow – just like a leprechaun.
Let’s break it down.
Red produce like tomatoes, watermelon, and red peppers are packed with plant chemicals like citrulline, beta-carotene, ellagic acid, and lycopene. Red vegetables have been shown to fight diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. They can slow the progression of eye conditions like age-related macular degeneration, and reduce your risk of stroke. And strawberries in particular can prevent and REVERSE esophageal cancer.
I’m lumping these together because plant chemicals called carotenoids are responsible for both the orange and yellow color in produce like carrots, peppers, squash, and oranges. Carotenoids like beta-carotene convert to vitamin A in the body, which is known to promote healthy vision and cell growth.
Eating foods high in carotenoids can reduce your risk of ALS and heart disease, and improve your immune function and eye health.
The pigment that makes plants green is chlorophyll, and it is loaded with antioxidants. Greens are also rich in lutein, isothiocyanates, isoflavones, and vitamin K. Studies have shown that eating your greens boosts your immune system, detoxifies the body, and restores your energy levels. Vitamin K is important for blood and bone health. And cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and kale can boost your immune system and improve your mood.
Blue and Purple.
Blue and purple produce, like blueberries, eggplant, and plums, are loaded with anthocyanins and resveratrol, nutrients that have been studied for their anti-cancer and anti-aging properties. The phytochemicals in berries can repair damage from oxidative stress and inflammation. They also reduce your risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s, and to boost memory.
It might not technically be a color of the rainbow, but it deserves an honorable mention here. White plants like bananas, garlic, and onions get their color from phytochemicals called anthoxanthins, but they often also contain allicin and quercetin. These various veggies help you maintain strong bones, balance hormones, reduce inflammation, and protect against certain cancers.
There’s no such thing as a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. But when you consider the rainbow of vegetables, there IS a pot of gold at the end: It’s your health.
There’s nothing more valuable than that.
Written By Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.
For years he’s been the trusted doctor for celebrities, world-class athletes, and countless seniors looking to reclaim their health.
And now…for the first time ever… he’s making his medical breakthroughs available to readers all across America.
Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D. is one of the most pioneering and innovative minds in medicine today – and he delivers cutting-edge cures each month through his Natural Health Response newsletter.
Natural Health Response readers get full access to Dr. Gerhauser’s protocols for chronic pain… heart disease… diabetes… Alzheimer’s… and even cancer. These are the very same treatments Dr. Gerhauser recommends to his own patients at his practice in Tucson, Arizona.
In addition to being a board-certified medical doctor, Dr. Gerhauser has earned two master’s degrees and has served as a clinical professor at the University of Arizona.
And as a physician at the world-famous Canyon Ranch, Dr. Gerhauser treated celebrities from around the world who paid dearly for the type of next-generation health information he provides Natural Health Response readers each month.
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