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Rocky Run seventh-grade history teacher Maggie Brown stacked the desks in her classroom on top of each other. She then covered the with brown paper to simulate a sod house and had her students sit on the floor inside it.
Then, dressed as Prairie Annie, who’d lived in the 1860s and 1870s, she taught the children about that part of the Westward Movement. She showed them slides of things including wagon trains and land and spoke in an accent as she explained what life was like for the new settlers.
“Prairie Annie and her husband moved from Virginia to Omaha, Neb., and got land from the U.S. government as part of the Homestead Act,” said Brown. “They paid $10 for 160 acres. And because there were no trees where they lived, they built a sod house for them and their seven children.”
Brown was one of four history teachers participating in the seventh grade’s recent Westward Movement experience. Students rotated among each teacher’s class to learn different aspects of the westward expansion in America in the 1870s and 1880s, after the Civil War.
Dressed as a Pocahontas character called “Pocostello,” teacher Jeannie Costello discussed Native Americans. Teacher Jamie Sawatsky became a Thomas the Tank Engine-type character called “The Iron Horse” and taught about the railroads. And decked out in a cowboy hat and kerchief was teacher Daniel Vroman as “Cowboy Vroman,” telling students about the role of the cowboys.
The Homestead Act was passed in 1862 and, said Brown, “It was the first time women had the right to own land. But Confederate soldiers couldn’t get land through this act because they’d fought against the U.S. You had to build a house and cultivate that land and, after five years, the government would give you the deed to the land.”
Since it hardly ever rained in Omaha, settlers there had to learn dry farming. The soil was so rocky that steel plows were invented to tackle it. “So we dig our seeds way down in the soil where there’s water,” said Brown as Prairie Annie. “We don’t have to worry about water from the sky.”
Praising barbed wire, she called it “the best thing that happened to settlers because it keeps the cows out of our homes and property.” However, she added, there was no indoor plumbing and outhouses were built far from the homes. And when a dust storm blew up, layers of dust covered everything.
“We get so excited when the Sears & Roebuck catalogue comes so we can order things out of it,” said Brown. “When we’re through with it, we take it to the outhouse. And do you know what we do with it?” A student answered, “Read it?” Nope, she replied; “We use it for toilet paper.” She also noted that buffalo “chips” were used for fuel to build fires to heat their houses. And she had her students act out various scenarios, pretending to be, for example, a cowboy upset about the barbed wire the farmers had put up.
Brown said the farmers grew corn and wheat and added it to meals with vegetables, dried fruits and milk. “We rely on our neighbors,” she added. “We can’t survive without each other.” As for school, she said, “All grades were together with the same teacher in a one-room, sod schoolhouse. Students walked a half-mile or more to school barefoot, until the freezing weather, because their shoes came from the catalog.”
After her class, student Audrey McCleary said she learned “how it wasn’t easy and what everyone had to do to survive. The toughest part was starting out and trying to make everything from scratch. I didn’t know about [that part of American history] and it was fun to have the visual character of Prairie Annie.”
Deonja McCrimmon learned that “it was hard to make the crops grow; corn was the easiest. And when there were dust storms, you had to put ropes on each side of the house to find your way from one place to the other. Boys weren’t allowed to wear shoes [every day] because they’d tear them up in two days flat. And children ate bread and lard for lunch.” So would she have liked to have lived back then?” Replied Deonja: “No; it would be too hard.”
Patricia Edouard said it was difficult for the homesteaders to settle into their new lives. “You had to send your kids one-and-a-half miles to school, so you’d be worried about them,” she said. Patricia enjoyed learning this way, rather than just reading about this time period in a textbook. “In a book, it would be just plain facts,” she said. “But seeing it in a different perspective gives you a new feel about it.” “I found it fascinating and weird that they found sod more comfortable than wood houses,” said Shreya Menon. “I’d want to have my school close by; I’m sorry, but I don’t want to walk a half-mile. And the outhouses? That’s disgusting; I couldn’t do that.”
Learning about the Westward Movement via slides, reenactments, music and costumed teachers was “attention-grabbing,” added Shreya. “You’re really listening, and I learned fun facts, like people straightening their hair with irons. If I were the mom, though, I’d fear for my family, ’cause I’m not a good cook.”
“We’ve also reenacted the Electoral College – the 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden presidential election signifying the end of Reconstruction,” said Brown. “The students watched a video I made about it and then ‘were’ the Electoral College and looked at the Southern Democrats’ solution to Reconstruction.”
“The best way to learn history is to ‘live’ through it,” she continued. “I also apply it to the students’ regular lives so they can relate to it better and it’s not just a lot of boring, old facts.” | <urn:uuid:f4df5b15-4256-4afb-9202-e562e1f1f2a7> | {
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Do many of us not we enjoy a beautiful sunny day? In general, we have a good perception of the Sun, because we enjoy a warm weather and summer, especially when it comes to outdoor activities. The Sun is an essential element for life on the planet and has positive effects on our body, as for example the stimulation of the synthesis of vitamin D. But rarely are aware of the damage-causing sun rays on our skin; even though the effects are not visible immediately or in the short term, the damage accumulates with the passage of time. Solar energy, also known as ultraviolet rays (UV rays), affect from the outermost layer to the deeper layers of the skin. Many times the skin changes attributed to the old, such as wrinkles and dark spots, are consequence of prolonged exposure to the Sun. This type of premature aging is caused by the incidence of solar rays into the layers of skin, which impairs the production of collagen, frees radicals libres and inhibits skin self-healing mechanisms. Ultraviolet rays are also considered as the environmental factor of increased risk in the occurrence of skin cancer, which is the most common cancer in the United States. This is one of the reasons why in recent years the sunscreen has become so important, beyond the merely aesthetic consequences. But this does not mean that we can not seize the sunny days, or that we have to stop enjoying the summer, simply must take certain precautions to prevent damage from the Sun on the skin. | <urn:uuid:17928cb9-aea5-4f62-9006-7989d37d50ca> | {
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There are plenty of places on the web where speakers get together and discuss their art hoping to become better at it. They share tips; they discuss tactics, and everyone helps each other.
But when I was taking part in a particularly interesting conversation where many speakers were talking about techniques, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t have a clue what these people spoke about. What was their subject?
Much of the literature about speaking states that anybody can become a speaker. It’s a skill that can be learned like riding a bike or a new language; it just takes practice and access to some tuition or by getting help from your peers. But what is it that people speak about?
For many people, speaking is borne out of a need, or even a desire to tell others about their particular passion. You can hear it in the way they project themselves at a conference, whether it be a gathering of model railway enthusiasts or the local Rotary Club, they love the subject so much that speaking about it is easy.
But others don’t speak about such things. Some speakers can speak about anything, and they do, regularly and with great success. How do they do it?
Death by PowerPoint
You’ve probably heard this term before, and it refers to those times you’ve been in a meeting and listened to someone drone on with hundreds of slides, reading off each one. I sat through a presentation once where someone insisted on reading the text, yes, every single word on every one of 90 slides in PowerPoint. It was horrendous and totally unnecessary.
When you speak, you are not there to bombard your audience with information to the point where it starts falling out of their ears. That’s called a lecture. No, you’re there to impart some information in an entertaining and enjoyable way so that people will remember it.
The key here is to focus. If you are speaking about the ways people can lose weight quickly, then you shouldn’t be reading out fifty recipes for people to write down and take away. You should be explaining just a small area of the subject matter and leaving the detail to leaflets and handouts.
Keep the focus small. Concentrate on one small part of the subject matter and learn everything you can about it and impart that knowledge to your audience.
And the important thing about it? You absolutely do not need to be an expert to speak about the subject. A friend of mine once gave an impassioned speech about the benefits of neural network based search engine technology to a group of undergraduates at Cardiff University. He knew nothing about neural networks, but he still got a standing ovation. If you know how to speak, keep your focus small, and you can enliven the crowd, that’s all you need to do.
Even so, if you’re a beginner, it’s good to know your subject matter just in case someone decides to question you.
So to get back to answer the question, here’s a handy reminder:
- When starting out, speak about something you know about. Just speak about a small part of it, however, and don’t feel you need to tell the audience everything in one mammoth session.
- When you’ve got some speaking gigs under your belt, you can eventually speak about anything.
- When speaking about a new subject, pick a small area and learn as much as you can about it.
- Being entertaining can usually plaster over the cracks, but be prepared for some awkward questions!
But most of all, enjoy it! | <urn:uuid:632bfcde-67f6-440c-ba61-9d95e0aad2e5> | {
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Caffeine content in tea
Are caffeine and theine the same substance?
Yes, caffeine and theine are the same substance. Caffeine was discovered for the first time in the coffee bean, which gave its name caffeine. The same substance was also found in tea leaves and other plants.
To refer to tea caffeine it is often used the term theine.
The same applies to other plants containing caffeine, such as guarana, which are said to contain guaranine, which, in fact, is also caffeine. or mateine of yerba mate.
- Caffeine and theine are the same substance and are considered synonymous words.
|Content of caffeine in some stimulating drinks
|Mg. of caffeineper cup of 200ml.
What is caffeine?
Chemically, caffeine (or theine) is classified as a xanthic base or xanthine. There are other xanthines such as theophylline and theobromine. Plants containing caffeine may also contain doses of these xanthines. These substances stimulate the nervous system.
Plants containing caffeine are coffee, cola, tea, guarana or yerba mate. Cocoa contains theobromine, other xanthine that also has stimulatory effects on the nervous system.
Effects of caffeine on the body
When caffeine is absorbed, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it binds to a type of brain receptors called adenosines.
Adenosine receptors are in charge, when there is adenosine, to dilate blood vessels, depress the nervous system and produce a state of sedation. Caffeine prevents adenosine binds to adenosine receptors, preventing the occurrence of these calming effects.
Blocking the adenosine receptor causes increase levels of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine stimulates mental alertness and wakefulness, promoting better association of ideas and greater resistance to fatigue and stimulating thermogenesis and fat burning.
For this reason, drinking coffee, mate or tea increases brain performance. Other effects of caffeine, for the same reason, are: increasing stomach acid secretion, stimulating fat burning, speeding cardiac frequency, etc..
Contraindications of caffeine
People with dyspepsia, heartburn, peptic ulcer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, epilepsy, diabetes, liver or kidney disease should avoid caffeine because of its side effects.
Caffeine in pregnancy and lactation
Scientific studies show that when a pregnant woman drinks caffeine, it can be absorbed by the fetus and appears in breast milk when she is breastfeeding. Because the effects of caffeine are stronger in neonates (caffeine takes 80-100 hours to be removed from the body), women should not consume drinks with caffeine during these stages of their life.
More information on tea
10 January, 2022 | <urn:uuid:ccc25a03-a2ec-4c78-a1e4-17fda556dca0> | {
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1561: Lope de Aguirre, born in Onate, Gipuzkoa, and his men proclaim “Don Fernando, by the grace of God, prince of Peru, Tierra Firma and Chile,” intending to crown him king once they arrive in Peru. Fernando de Guzman is made general of the expedition — searching for Omagua and El Dorado — after Aguirre disposes of Pedro de Ursua, the original leader of the expedition. The document in which this is proclaimed is referred to as the First Act of Independence of America.
According to Aunamendi, it was Fernando de Guzman who was proclaimed Prince of Peru, but a number of English language sites, including Wikipedia, state it was Aguirre himself who was proclaimed Prince.
1972: Cristobal Balenciaga Eizagurrie, fashion designer born in Getaria, dies. Balenciaga became world-reknowned after he is forced by the Spanish Civil War to move to Paris, where among other achievements, he totally transformed the silhouette, broadening the shoulders and removing the waist. | <urn:uuid:faba114c-1eb0-415f-b48b-c255983ddc00> | {
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Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Trust and strong relationships between researchers and traditional tribal leaders of small pacific islands allows for quick and effective implementation of science-based strategies that slow the decline of coral reefs, an international conference has heard.
Coral reefs recovered far quicker when scientists worked directly with leaders of local communities — rather than national governments — on changing the damaging land-use practices that pollute coastal waters, said Robert Richmond, a professor of marine biology at the University of Hawaii, United States.
He was speaking at the biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, United States, last week (23-28 February).
But these strategies can only be a stopgap as the rising sea levels, watertemperatures and acidification — which could spell the end for many reef ecosystems — will need to be addressed by an international climate changeagreement, he said.
For local populations dependent on ever-diminishing coral reefs for survival, conservation laws take too long to devise, and are difficult to enforce and monitor in remote regions, Richmond tells SciDev.Net.
Local chiefs have the ability to quickly change damaging practices but researchers must first work to build trust before their advice will be considered, he adds.
“Many times, the local level is much more efficient than national governance. Working at a local level means communities can act immediately,” Richmond says.
Pacific island examples
Palau, for example, was suffering from decline of reefs and fish stock. Scientists had pinpointed the cause of to an increase in the run-off of sediment caused by the destruction of mangroves along the coastline.
Within two weeks of presenting the data to village chiefs, women’s groups and fishermen, a local moratorium had been imposed on mangrove clearance.
Similar results were achieved on Guam, where a common practice of burning hillside vegetation was halted and on Pohnpei, in Micronesia, where cultivation of a cash root-crop called sakau was relocated to lowlands to avoid forest destruction.
Jim Foley, a marine science educator at the University of Hawaii’s Centre for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, who specialises in local outreach agrees on the value of targeting local communities.
As “canaries in the coalmine”, he says, local leaders and the populations they represent are the first to feel the impact of environmental disruption and therefore are often open to implementing change.
However, with a history of researchers leaving communities as soon as their work has been completed, a level of wariness and scepticism must be overcome to develop productive relationships, he adds.
This problem is not lost on Richmond, who took years to build productive relationships with chieftains during his research.
While there is no substitute for trained scientists from within indigenous communities who can bridge the cultural divide much more easily, trusted outsiders like himself can act as proxies for other researchers trying to communicate their science, while local capacity continues to develop.
And any longer-term solutions will inevitably need to address the impacts of climate change, too, says Richmond.
Computer modelling studies, he says, suggests that cutting the flow of sediment and nutrients into the oceans through better land management will allow corals to keep recovering until 2050.
After this point, however, the benefits will no longer counteract the growing toll of global warming and ocean acidification on reefs and so an international climate agreement will remain a necessity, says Richmond. | <urn:uuid:57939f18-a7a3-49aa-bbfd-1721a1a507b4> | {
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PORTRAIT OF AN UNHEALTHY CITY: NEW YORK IN THE 1800S
From: Columbia University – by David Rosner
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION | As New York City ascended from a small seaport to an international city in the 1800s, it underwent severe growing pains. Filth, disease and disorder ravaged the city to a degree that would horrify even the most jaded modern urban dweller. David Rosner, professor of history and co-director of the program in the History of Public Health and Medicine at the School of Public Health at Columbia University, paints a vivid portrait of a city in the throes of an ecological crisis.
New York City epitomized a city in crisis during the nineteenth century. A small city of approximately 30,000 in 1800, New York began to essentially double in size every 10 years. By the turn of the twentieth century the population had reached 4 million, almost all of whom lived either below 57th Street in Manhattan or along the border of Brooklyn--a tiny portion of the modern city's boundaries. (To enlarge the photo of the horse-drawn streetcar, click on the photo or link)
Such incredible human congestion combined with a primitive infrastructure to create ideal conditions for a dramatic increase in epidemic disease. The relatively healthful city of 1800 experienced an onslaught of infectious diseases. Cholera, typhoid, typhus, yellow fever, malaria and other mosquito- and tick-borne diseases festered. The city's mortality rate skyrocketed, and children died in large numbers. The city seemed to be coming apart.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, New York City's infrastructure relied upon disease-creating entities such as the horse. Between 100,000 and 200,000 horses lived in the city at any given time. Each one of those horses gave off 24 pounds of manure and several quarts of urine a day
The vast majority of city horses were not elegant animals who pulled carriages and lived in stables near the homes of the wealthy; most were big workhorses who did all the hauling--pulling wagons loaded with goods from the shore. Big teams of workhorses powered the city's horse-driven street trolley system. The limited range and speed of these trolleys were one reason everyone lived below 57th Street. Horses are very inefficient in terms of moving people--especially atop big, heavy trolleys. Horses get tired, hungry and thirsty. They also drop dead. The average life span of a horse in New York City in the 1860s and '70s was a meager two and a half years. They were literally worked to death.
Workhorses were poorly kept and lived in big garages within New York's "horse districts," such as in the Twenties on the East Side. Large granaries existed alongside horse garages, attracting rats and other rodents. As an added danger, rotting food within the granaries would occasionally explode, burning down the granary and perhaps the neighborhood.
In fact, New York City in the 1800s was built around supporting not only human beings but animals as well. Horses, pigs, sheep and cattle were all part of everyday city life. Pigs regularly roamed through the city in herds
Stoops, carcasses and manure blocks
Despite the presence of animals, the city had no systematic street-cleaning efforts. During winter, neighborhoods sometimes rose between two and six feet in height because of the accumulation of waste and snow. The middle-class brownstones of the 1880s provided a stoop leading to a second-floor entrance so that the residents would rise above manure--which seeped into the ground floor during a storm or with melting snow.
Horses posed an additional street-cleaning dilemma. A horse carcass can easily weigh 1,200 pounds, far beyond the lifting capabilities of a person. When a horse died, its carcass would be left to rot until it had disintegrated enough for someone to pick up the pieces. Children would play with dead horses lying on the streets.
Once the bridge was built, the city started taking waste out of Manhattan and depositing it in the farmland communities of Queens. They collected it in "manure blocks"--literally huge city blocks devoted to the collection of horse manure. City maps from the era show manure blocks very close to the water reservoir on 42nd Street,
In addition to lacking street cleaning, the city also had no sewage system and no flush toilets. Garbage--which included both human and animal waste--was basically thrown out windows and onto city streets. Today, antique stores on Columbus Avenue in New York sell chamber pots for $300. People would use chamber pots, essentially basins, as a toilet in the middle of the night, to make a deposit of what was called "night soil." Between the hours of 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., you were supposed to bring down your night soil and deposit it in your outdoor privy, usually an overflowing heap. More often than not, however, the actual custom was to sling it out into the middle of the street from the window of your four-story walk-up
This practice led to all sorts of etiquette problems. Etiquette books told
young ladies to wear parasols during the day not just to keep off the sun or the
rain but also to protect them in case something was to fall from the sky. Men
were supposed to wear wide-brimmed hats and walk on the outside of the curb, so
that they might get splattered instead of the young lady | <urn:uuid:2e0cfd82-8607-452e-986e-35f0fd180f88> | {
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What is the importance and meaning of ears in Hamlet? There are so many things related with ears (spilling poison to ear, eavesdropping...)
1 Answer | Add Yours
Ears and the act of hearing are a motif that runs throughout Hamlet, which enhances the theme of "Appearance versus Reality." Words and conversations are used as a form of manipulation and corruption. Manipulation is used by some characters (specifically Claudius) to improve their social status or power.
Join to answer this question
Join a community of thousands of dedicated teachers and students.Join eNotes | <urn:uuid:95344b9f-1b40-40c8-8ad1-617be6d0052b> | {
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It’s fun! It’s therapeutic! It’s sustainable. It’s environmentally friendly. It’s just a darn good way to grow food! So why aquaponic? Here’s why “we aquaponic!”
Aquaponics produces both fish and organic vegetables, in a dynamic, natural, pond-type ecosystem that can either feed you and your family or scaled up to feed many commercially. It’s the farming of the future! Even if you haven’t farmed or gardened extensively, most can grasp this simply way to grow food. Unlike hydroponics and managing chemical inputs and fertilizer, the natural ecosystem of an aquaponics system makes aquaponics an easier to manage. Most of today’s farmers are retiring and leaving a huge deficit in people knowing how and wanting to grow food.
Aquaponics uses only a fraction of the water used in conventional farming and can use even less if you collect rain water to add to your system. Aquaponic farmers are not dependent on huge amounts of water as are conventional in-ground farmers and it does not have the same environmental impact of tremendous water consumption and waste. The minimal use of water means Aquaponics is the answer for drought stricken environments. It’s like the oasis in the desert.
Aquaponics also can grow more produce compared to produce grown conventionally in the ground. Vegetables usually grow significantly faster, and at three to four times the density, without ever depleting the nutrients. Its soil counterpart depletes nutrients with every planting and farmers struggle to replace them with synthetic fertilizers. This way of growing food means the aquaponics farm does not require farmland with fertile soil, or even land with soil at for that matter.
Another huge benefit of aquaponic growing is that it grows 100% chemical free, all natural produce. If any chemical or synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers are used, the fish could die, effectively killing your system generator! There is no question that aquaponically grown food is chem free as it cannot be cheated. Even most approved organic pesticides could kill the fish.
Undeniably organic produce IS better to eat, however farming organically on a commercial conventional scale uses the same amount of petrochemical energy as conventional farming and has higher labor costs. This is why organic produce costs more in the market. While chemical fertilizers and pesticides for use in conventional farming take a tremendous amount of petrochemical energy to make, organic farming on a commercial scale uses just as much petrochemical energy to power tractors, compost shredders, spreaders, cultivators, plows and the organic pesticide sprayers. It is a huge cycle of oil consumption and a far cry from green.
So, let’s talk about how green aquaponics is. Aquaponics energy usage is from 70% to 92% less than a conventional or organic farm which use fuel and/or petrochemical-intensive fertilizers. All energy used is electrical, so alternate energy systems such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric can be used to power an aquaponic farm 100%. This alternate energy can be produced locally instead of being shipped in from oil-refining countries, which may be great distances away from the end-user (this shipping over great distances requires still more petrochemical energy). This technology doesn’t even need oil!
In aquaponics, there is no soil, weeds, soil pests or pathogens. Thus, there is no labor required for tilling, cultivating, fertilizer spreading, compost shredding, manure spreading, plowing cover crops in, or irrigating. Seeding, planting and most harvesting can be done standing and working at waist level. The only inputs to an aquaponic system is electricity, fish food, seeds, and potting media. That’s it.
Aquaponics even boasts benefits for both aquaculture and hydroponic operations. The integration of the two, in effect aquaponics, eliminates costly practices in either one. One of the biggest costs in an aquaculture operation is filtering the water free of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate accumulations. However when combined with hydroponics, the plants are the sole source of filtration as well as a great source of income. When compared to hydroponics, aquaponics doesn’t require system purges or dumps or expensive chemicals that must be constantly replenished to grow the food.
The benefits go on and on. For some reason, food grown aquaponically tastes better than conventionally or hydroponically grown food. Perhaps it is the simplicity and natural way it works. With no chemicals to alter or mask the vegetable’s true taste, it simply tastes better. It also lasts longer! And we haven’t even touched on the fact that aquaponics not only grows veggies and fruit, there’s also great tasting fish! And you can consume and sell your fish with the knowledge of the conditions they were raised in and without hormones or antibiotics. Consider it another stream of revenue or perhaps just a way to farm free. Even just selling your fish at your cost to raise them means growing your produce entirely free, no fertilizer cost! Beyond the business implications, consider aquaponics as a life sustaining practice in places where there is no food. It will produce both protein and vegetables. It can keep people alive.
Aquaponics is absolutely the answer for how we are going to grow and get our food for the future. Don’t you want to join the Farm Revolution? Join us and many others and get in on the ground floor of what is going to be the biggest change to agriculture since the industrial revolution. It’s time for another revolution and you can be a part. What are you waiting for? | <urn:uuid:02fb080b-86d4-4392-abde-1d2f8b833512> | {
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Heart and vascular with Dr. Haqqani: Angina and its cardiovascular signals
Angina is the term used to describe chest pain or discomfort in the chest. There are several types of angina and it often signals coronary heart disease and other serious problems relating to the heart and cardiovascular system. It can also occur in the jaw, back, arms, neck or shoulders. There are identifiable symptoms, treatments and ways to help prevent it and the problems angina foretells.
Not all chest pain is the result of angina. It can be caused by asthma, indigestion or other conditions. However, when angina occurs, there are definite characteristics. The four types of angina are stable angina, unstable angina, variant (Prinzmetal) angina and microvascular angina. Angina occurs when blood flows poorly to the heart, denying it the proper amount of oxygen. Stable angina (angina pectoris), is the most common type of angina. Physical or emotional stress is often associated with it. Rest and medicine can offer relief.
Unstable angina (acute coronary syndrome) occurs unexpectedly. Unstable angina is often caused by loosened blood clots and can happen anytime, even when an individual is at rest, sitting or sleeping. Unlike stable angina, rest and medicine often do nothing to stop the pain. It can worsen as time goes by and may signal a heart attack.
Variant or Prinzmetal angina occurs in only about two percent of angina cases. Usually noticed between midnight and early morning by an individual at rest, it is very painful. Spasms in coronary arteries delivering blood to the heart cause variant angina.
Angina in the smallest coronary artery blood vessels is known as microvascular angina, or MVD. The spasms within the smallest arterial blood vessels prevent proper blood flow and can cause pain that can last from ten to thirty minutes. The pain can be very severe and may be accompanied by shortness of breath or fatigue. MVD is more common among women, especially younger women, but may also appear in men.
Symptoms of angina
While chest pain is the common denominator in those suffering angina, how they feel the pain may differ. A feeling of heaviness or pressure may occur in some, while burning or squeezing may describe angina in others. General discomfort and aching may best describe how an individual may experience angina. Pain in the breastbone area may also spread to the back, neck, shoulders, arm or jaw. Sweating, dizziness or shortness of breath may also take place along with pain.
Risk and prevention
Risk factors for angina and the cardiovascular conditions it may indicate, such as heart attack, include diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. Additionally, smoking, inactivity and an unhealthy diet contribute to risk. Family cardiovascular history may also increase the probability of angina, as could age. Men over age 45 and women over age 55 see an increase in the probability of angina.
Treatment for angina could start with lifestyle changes that would include maintaining a healthy weight, getting appropriate exercise, eating a proper diet and eliminating smoking. Medications to regulate heartbeat, prevent clotting and improve blood flow may be prescribed, as well.
A cardiologist may also recommend angioplasty, a procedure in which the arteries are widened with the use of a tube and a small balloon. Once in place, the balloon helps widen the artery to allow proper blood flow. A stent, or small tube, may be left in the artery to make sure it continues properly deliver blood to the heart. The stent supports the inner artery wall.
If cases are more severe, a cardiovascular surgeon may perform coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), or bypass surgery. Healthy arteries are installed to route blood around damaged vessels and get oxygen-rich blood to the heart. This replaces (or bypasses) the blocked part of the coronary artery. During the same operation, a surgeon may perform several bypasses. The success rate for CABG is good and can eliminate symptoms for years afterward.
Dr. Omar P. Haqqani is the chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Vascular Health Clinics in Midland: www.vascularhealthclinics.org | <urn:uuid:fae44621-4b65-4f7d-85e5-7e2a2d42d936> | {
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Everyone hears about the terms credit, credit report, and credit score most of the time, but few know exactly what they really are.
What is Your Credit Report?
Your credit report is a file that lists down your credit history, from the moment you first obtained credit to your current credit standing. It contains all information related to your debts, such as outstanding balances in your loan and credit accounts, types of accounts that you have closed or have kept active, your credit limits in each account, and your payment histories. Your credit report also lists down public records against you, such as bankruptcies, repossessions, foreclosures, tax liens, and judgments.
What is Your Credit Score?
Your credit score is a three-digit number that pretty much rates how good or bad a borrower you are. It is calculated based on how timely you are with your payments, how you keep your balances below your credit limit, the mix of credits that you have, and your average age of credit.
Why is Credit Important?
Your credit is important because it affects your ability to borrow money. The higher your credit score, the better your chances of getting approved in every loan or credit application. However, even if you don’t intend to borrow money, there are other aspects in life wherein you can see the importance of credit.
First, not only is your credit necessary if you’re trying to apply for a mortgage loan, but it is vital even if you’re just renting an apartment. Many business owners, including landlords, would like to determine if you habitually make payments on time, and they will pull out your credit report in order to see that.
Second, credit also affects your ability to apply for utility or mobile phone services, for the same reason that these companies like customers who pay diligently. If you have bad credit, it would be hard to get approved for these services without shelling out a security deposit.
Lastly, good credit can help you find better employment or achieve your well-deserved promotion. Nowadays, credentials alone aren’t enough. Most employers are cautious when a person has bad credit because it might reflect financial distress and irresponsibility.
How Soon Should a Person Start Building Credit?
Ideally, the best time to start obtaining credit is during college or as soon as the person reaches legal age. This can help establish financial discipline early on. While people in this age group might be the most risky borrowers, they are also the ones who can become financially successful sooner if guided and taught properly.
What You can Do to Protect Your Credit?
While obtaining credit alone is challenging already, maintaining it requires extra effort. To start with, make sure to always pay your bills on time. Keep constant watch of your balances and as much as possible pay off every balance in full. Keep your old accounts active and maintain a good mix of revolving and installment accounts. Additionally, you should protect yourself from identity theft, which can ruin your credit and everything you’ve worked for overnight. | <urn:uuid:2b52bbc9-7dae-4181-96ed-a8b0ad903186> | {
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Earlier this week, while the world was distracted by the buildup to the events in Cupertino, the Swiss team behind the first aircraft to fly around the clock on solar power took that craft's successor on its maiden flight.
Solar Impulse 2, a larger and upgraded version of the first craft, is designed to stay aloft for several days straight in order to allow its pilots to take it across the Pacific. To manage that feat, its designers have built a giant glider with a wingspan greater than a 747's but weighing only as much as about a dozen of the jet's wheels. Every horizontal surface on the aircraft is covered with solar panels, and over a quarter of its weight is accounted for by batteries that will keep its propellers turning overnight.
The updated design involves a number of new materials, so this is the first of a series of tests flights that will be necessary to determine if the craft holds up to the wear and tear of extended use. The pilots will also test whether the performance of the aircraft matches up to the predictions made using aerodynamic models—so far, everything looks good in that regard.
The first flight only took two hours, and it took Solar Impulse 2 to an altitude of 1.6 km (about a mile) and a maximum speed of 55 km/hour (35mph). Future flights will be longer and undoubtedly build up to round-the-clock test flights. The flights will be based out of Payerne, Switzerland, near the city of Lausanne on Lake Geneva. The Solar Impulse team has been working closely with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne since the project's inception. | <urn:uuid:68d70736-b349-41a2-8720-91637da22562> | {
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The problem with looking for clues to deception is that you need to know what you’re looking for before you start. Should we count the number of smiles a person makes? How long they hold the smile for? Whether the smile is of a certain size? Whether it is faked? It requires some expectations, which we know aren’t always accurate.
By using an automated system, we were able to capture overall bodily motion (from the waist up) in a way that did not require us to select a particular behaviour to examine.
In one study, people came into the lab under the guise of a maths study. The study was rigged so that the second maths test was much harder than the first maths test. But we offered a cash prize for those who did better on the second test. Would people claim to have done better on the much harder test in order to get the cash prize? around 60% of people did, while 40% were honest about having done worse on the second test. We captured their body movements while lying and telling the truth.
There was a second opportunity to lie. Half-way through the study, a friendly research assistant accidentally knocked over the experimenter’s laptop while the experimenter was out of the room. At the end of the study, the experimenter checked his laptop and found it not working. Would people drop the friendly research assistant into trouble, or would they lie on the research assistant’s behalf? Again, about 60% of people lied, and about 40% told the truth.
Whether people were lying for a self monetary gain or for the benefit of another (not being reprimanded by the experimenter), we found that people moved less overall than the truth-tellers.
Making use of dynamical systems mathematical techniques (assessing motion recurrence and multiscaled entropy over time), we were able to show that it was not the case that liars simply clamped down their behaviours, as though ‘caught in headlights’. Quite the opposite: although liars moved less overall, there were subtle changes in how they behaved, showing greater flexibility in their patterns of behaviours than truth-tellers. This would seem to suggest that when we lie, we have flexible strategies that allow us to adapt our behaviour to the demands of lying. That is – people in general are skilled liars that have strategies preventing them from giving away their lies.
Duran, N. D., Dale, R., Kello, C., Street, C. N. H., & Richardson, D.C. (2013). Exploring the movement dynamics of deception. Frontiers in Cognitive Science, 4. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140. [pdf]
Eapen, N. M., Baron, S., Street, C. N. H., & Richardson, D. C. (2010). The bodily movements of liars. Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society, 2548-2554. [pdf] | <urn:uuid:ddfb0348-224a-47a1-980b-03631d316789> | {
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Strange human fossils unearthed over a decade ago on Indonesia's island of Flores revealed the existence of an ancient, petite species of human, dubbed Homo floresiensis and nicknamed "hobbits."
At the time, researchers said that the unique, extinct, 3.5-foot-tall human may have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago, perhaps even 13,000 to 11,000 years ago. This would have made the newfound species the last remaining human other than Homo sapiens.
But now those dates have been revised. A new study argues those fossils are actually between 100,000 and 60,000 years old.
The cause of the confusion? Erosion. Researchers date fossils like those of H. floresiensis by determining how long sediment has been covering specimens. Some layers around these fossils had eroded, making it seem as though the specimens had been deposited much more recently, say a team of scientists whose revised chronology was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
"The initial excavations were sampling very small areas," says study author Matthew W. Tocheri, a researcher at the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, in a phone interview with The Christian Science Monitor. "You don't get to see the full picture."
It's a lot like putting together a puzzle, says Dr. Tocheri, who also teaches anthropology at Canada's Lakehead University. "If you only pull out two pieces and try to fit them together, a lot of the time the pictures that you make from that are going to be very different than after you've pulled out 15 or 20 pieces of the puzzle."
And researchers have been pulling out more puzzle pieces over the past decade.
Ever since H. floresiensis skeletons and stone tools were first found at the Liang Bua cave on Flores, archaeologists have been searching for more fossils. The cave is quite large, Tocheri says, so scientists had a lot of ground to cover.
As excavations continued, it became clear that there was some sort of boundary in the sediment right around the layer in which the initial fossils were found. The researchers investigated further and found a stratigraphic unconformity, evidence that sediment had not been deposited continuously. And that missing layer was the key.
But the researchers had to be sure before they announced this revision to the world. "This has really been going on for nine years," Tocheri says. "By 2010 or 2011 it started to become much clearer that there was at least a stratigraphic unconformity, so it was a matter of trying to use as many dating methods as possible. We were trying to be as thorough as we possibly could."
Ultimately the team used stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, luminescence dating, uranium-series dating, and argon-argon dating to determine that the skeletal remains were in deposits dated between 100,000 and 60,000 years old and stone artifacts associated with these archaic humans fit somewhere between 190,000 to 50,000 years old.
"In many ways, science does correct itself. By continually investigating a site, you sometimes find minor errors that you made in the earlier interpretations and then you want to revise those interpretations," explains Russell L. Ciochon, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, who was not part of the study, in an interview with the Monitor.
"Although we think of determining the age of a site as just the simplest thing, it actually is pretty hard," says Michael Chazan, a paleoarcheologist at the University of Toronto who was also not part of this study.
These new findings constitute "the kind of research we've been waiting for in terms of a really well done, pretty fundamental description of how the site formed," he tells the Monitor in an interview.
Tocheri simply says, "It's part of the scientific process."
Evolving a mysterious hobbit
H. floresiensis is enigmatic in its own right, even with the revised dates.
The strange little archaic human has been nicknamed "hobbit" for its stature. But how did it come to be so small?
Two other human species are known to have reached the island region, H. erectus and our own species, H. sapiens. Both are significantly larger than the hobbits.
Scientists have suggested that this is a case of island dwarfism. In such a scenario, a human population would have arrived on the island large but shrunk over generations, thanks to evolutionary selection. Other animals, like elephants, have been found to undergo island dwarfism, but "this is the only example we have of island dwarfing of a human lineage," says Dr. Ciochon.
But which species originally settled the island?
H. floresiensis is morphologically similar to the older human species H. erectus, Tocheri says.
Furthermore, the new dates refute any hypotheses that suggest H. floresiensis was descended from anatomically modern humans, as our species didn't make it to the region until around 50,000 years ago. Perhaps the two species interacted, he says, but currently the earliest evidence of H. sapiens on Flores is from about 11,000 years ago, long after the smaller species went extinct.
An alternate explanation is that "Homo floresiensis is the descendant of another premodern species of Homo that may have been smaller-bodied and smaller-brained (e.g., like in African species attributed to early Homo) to begin with when it reached the island. Further discoveries of older hominin fossils on Flores and elsewhere in Asia are needed to resolve these questions about the ancestry of Homo floresiensis," Tocheri writes in an email to the Monitor.
The researchers point out that the revised dates apply to this site and these fossils, but if H. floresiensis fossils are discovered elsewhere, they might be younger.
"If there was a book that chronicled the entire evolutionary history of Homo floresiensis, then it would be like we have only a few tattered and torn pages with the rest of the pages missing (but hopefully not lost forever!)," Tocheri writes.
Regardless, H. floresiensis "highlights how much variation there probably was in the human family tree," Daniel Lieberman, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University who was not part of the study, tells the Monitor in an email.
"Our genetic diversity as a family group was far more greater in the past than it is today. And that's from a genetic perspective, that's from a morphological perspective, it's from a behavioral perspective," Tocheri says. "It's easy for us to forget because we're the only ones left that can pontificate about what it means to be human." | <urn:uuid:23321d17-0a71-4688-857a-137cee628a27> | {
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Back-to-school time also means children are returning to the environment where head lice proliferate and parents are often at their wit’s end trying to find ways to get rid of them.
And the problem only seems to get worse as the lice are evolving into super bugs that are increasingly resistant to the treatments which in the past have successfully eradicated them.Head lice are pretty harmless but any creepy-crawly in our children’s hair – or our own hair – demands attention regardless of the fact that getting rid of them is sometimes easier said than done.Head lice are wingless creatures which cannot fly or even jump but move from host to host by crawling or climbing. Thus close contact between children gives them great opportunities to spread but it is important not to become complacent because head lice are not confined to children.
In fact, anyone can get head lice but they are more common in children because of the close contact children have with each other. Of course when children have them they are very likely to infest other family members. Having found head lice, the next step is to try to get rid of them.Talk to you community pharmacist about appropriate treatment. They often stock special combs as well as shampoos, cream and other products some of which contain a special insecticide.However, because insecticide resistance is common, you should test if lice are dead after using a product. If they are, treat again in seven days using the same product.
If the lice are not dead, the treatment has not worked and the lice may be resistant to the product and all products containing the same active compound. Wash off the product and treat as soon as possible using a product containing a different active compound. If the insecticide has worked, the lice will be dead within 20 minutes.It is possible a head lice product could cause a reaction and should be used with care by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, children less than 12 months old and people with allergies, asthma or open wounds on the scalp.Your pharmacist can talk to you about how best to treat head lice and which products may work best for you or your children. | <urn:uuid:ce79e951-ed3d-4968-8b37-322898f9339f> | {
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When I was in elementary school, I watched a PBS home video titled, “The Creation of the Universe.” I learned about the four fundamental forces and the search for the grand unified theory. From that moment, I have been in awe about the way that observable reality follows a few universal laws. My passion for teaching comes, in part, from sharing that spark of discovery, that moment of epiphany when a person suddenly understands a concept previously foreign to them. My philosophy of teaching starts with treating students with respect, engaging with them authentically and compassionately in order to create an environment that fosters learning, challenges students to gain scientific literacy, and encourages positive interpersonal relations.
To create that supportive environment, I strive to exemplify the skills and qualities that I want my students to gain. I interact with my students in the way that I would like them to interact with myself and with each other. I listen to their perceptions and viewpoints and accept them as authentic and worthwhile. In turn, I am genuine and compassionate with them while acknowledging the authority vested in my position. I make this explicit, starting with a section in my syllabus . This encourages intellectual risk-taking, which is vital to the learning process. For people to be comfortable playing with ideas, they must be confident that their mistakes will not be held against them, and that their difficulty with learning physics is not abnormal and not because of their background or culture. I often commiserate about how counter-intuitive some concepts are, the misconceptions I have had, and the trouble they have caused me. In fact, I value the students’ missteps, as they represent intellectual effort, and they show me where their misconceptions lie, so that I can more easily address them with guiding questions that help stretch the intellect. In a second-semester laboratory course for science majors, on an end-of-semester survey, a student wrote, “You don’t just give us answers to our questions, but challenge us to learn and understand concepts. [emphasis in original]”. Learning new concepts and unlearning misconceptions is uncomfortable, and I guide the students through that discomfort to gain new understanding and confidence that they can, indeed, learn about subjects that seem at first to be impenetrable.
Once the environment is set up to encourage learning, I help the students improve their scientific literacy. For me, this means that the students learn how scientists create knowledge, what that knowledge actually is so far, and hopefully some of the beauty and awe that brought me into this field. All of this is achieved by having the students actually do science in the classroom. This means that during demonstrations, students are predicting what will happen, observing the demonstration, and evaluating their prediction compared to what actually happened. In the lab, students are working together, learning from each other to figure out how to solve problems, make theories about how something works, and come to conclusions regarding natural phenomena. Even during the lectures, students are engaged in active learning, thinking and reasoning with the concepts. For example, I often use multiple-choice conceptual questions in a “think-pair-share” exercise, where students get to have multiple attempts at solving conceptual physics problems, first individually and then after consulting with their neighbor. In addition to waking some students up, this sort of formative assessment directly encourages risk-taking, gives practice communicating and teaching scientific concepts, and provides instant feedback with a chance to try again. Instant feedback and repeated trials in an online homework system, in particular, has been shown in studies to help level the playing field between men and women in the introductory physics course .
In upper-level courses, many of these techniques still apply. While I haven’t yet taught such a course, there is one thing that I plan to do in particular. In my Methods of Theoretical Physics course, every Friday during class, we worked on homework instead of listening to a lecture. The professor randomly assigned us to groups of three, and we assisted each other in the week’s problem set. Then the final version was due that Monday. This not only provided peer feedback and teamwork opportunities, but it also provided an opportunity to meet other students and more easily form groups on our own. This is great for people who are either not used to working on homework in groups (especially international students) and for those who may not feel comfortable approaching others to form groups, either because of shyness or because they are a member of an underrepresented minority group. Institutionalizing support structures are integral to serving those students.
As a relatively new teacher, I am excited about both studying and contributing to the Physics Education Research literature and learning from colleagues about how students best learn physics. As part of the Certification in College Teaching Program at MSU, I have taken a class on how to teach college science, attended a series of workshops, and presented some of my research in student learning at a national conference . The way I evaluate my teaching is by assessing whether the students learn. I could create a beautifully elegant explanation of a theory, but without connecting the material to the students’ prior knowledge and experiences, the students probably won’t connect with it. Then the explanation is worse than useless – my students have just become at best, less responsive, and at worst, more frightened of the subject or angry at me, neither of which aid the learning process. Exams are a major source of summative assessment for me, and the homeworks are a formative way of letting me know what problem-solving skills or concepts the students are struggling with. Beyond that, I use a group project and paper to help the students connect the material in class to their own world, and they also gain experience in working as a team. In my Art of Physics course, the students form small groups to write a paper and give a presentation on a topic of their choosing. For example, one group chose skydiving. Initially they chose it because one of the group members had gone skydiving, and they thought it would be easy and fun to talk about. They were surprised to find out how much physics was really involved in the whole process. During a feedback session on the last day of class, many students agreed that the project and paper really helped solidify the material for them. For me, it was a great way to assess their understanding of physical principles and, with a peer evaluation, their interpersonal skills as well.
When it comes down to it, I teach because I want to help make the world a better place. For me, that means helping people to better interact with each other, personally and politically. On the personal level, I try to model compassionate and authentic communication. Politically, a democracy relies on a well-informed electorate. When people become more scientifically literate, they are able to make better decisions about the well-being of our shared resources and of our planet that we call home. With these methods, I hope to help make that happen.
1. In the syllabus for my Art of Physics class, I state this: “I want to make the classroom an educational space conducive to student learning, where we interact consensually and compassionately. If we agree on expectations about how we will act, then we all will probably be happier and more productive. We will mutually agree on these expectations the first day of class, and they will form an amendment to this document. ”
2. D. A. Kashy, G. Albertelli, E. Kashy and M. Thoennessen, Teaching with ALN Technology: Benefits and Costs, Journal of Engineering Education, 89, 499 (2001).
3. Specifically the 2012 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers
I’m Seth Hawkins and I approve this discussion! | <urn:uuid:35ea517d-55d0-4ce1-9656-1e3e4ba465d0> | {
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With the declaration by the United Nations on Thursday that Colombia has reduced its coca crop by 25 percent, meaning Peru has likely passed the country as the world’s largest cultivator of coca, Colombians can breathe a sigh of relief. Ravaged by a decades-long civil war in large part funded by that country’s massive drug trade, Colombia is now making progress in bringing its conflict with the FARC rebel group to an end.
But success in Colombia far from heralds the end of the drug war, and decreasing production there only illustrates the degree to which the manufacture of drugs — in particular cocaine — is shifting globally. Even as the traditional strongholds of cocaine use — North America and Europe — witness decreases in the drug’s prevalence, cocaine is becoming more popular elsewhere in the world, particularly in Asia and South America. With economies booming and incomes rising, the once-favorite drug of American yuppies is now more accessible to the new upper classes of the developing world.
Welcome to the new cocaine war.
The story of declining coca production in Colombia and its gradual shift to Peru is part of a long-running trend in cocaine manufacturing. Since the 1990s, crackdowns in one Latin American country have pushed production elsewhere. While cocaine production has generally decreased over the past decade, that decline has been centered in Colombia.
New drug-consumption trends are creating something of an altered picture. Though the rate of drug use remains far lower in Asia than elsewhere in the world, drugs, including cocaine, have made remarkable inroads on the continent in recent years. For Latin America’s cocaine barons, growing disposable income in Asia has created a potentially lucrative market. In July 2012, for instance, authorities in Hong Kong seized their largest-ever shipment of cocaine, valued at a whopping $98 million.
That trend is mirrored in the United Nations’ annual drug report from this year, which documents how the share of global cocaine use is moving away from regions like North America and into other countries:
The prevalence of global cocaine use tells a similar story:
But as methods of making the drug have changed, and as the production and distribution of cocaine have evolved, the drug’s customers have changed too. These changes have undermined the widespread perception that cocaine is predominantly a rich man’s drug. The United Nations has examined this question and found that in Latin America cocaine use is far less tied to increases in income, which likely reflects the availability of the drug along supply routes and the presence of cheaper versions of the drug. In Europe, meanwhile, higher rates of cocaine use are associated with greater levels of per capita income.
With the cocaine market gradually shifting away from the United States, cartels are now moving into countries like Brazil. With its 5,000-mile border with Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia — the world’s three-largest cocaine producers — smuggling the drug into Brazil is a relatively easy and lucrative enterprise. From there, the drug either hits the domestic market or is shipped to Africa en route to Europe. Providing 36.8 percent of global cocaine demand, the United States is still far and away the world’s largest market for the drug. But Brazil is not far behind, with 17.7 percent of the global market. Though trendlines on cocaine usage are moving the right direction in the United States — cocaine use has dropped by an estimated two-thirds in 30 years — drug cartels can still make enormous sums off of moving the drug into the U.S. market.
Colombia’s success in decreasing coca production can be largely attributed to its militarized approach to dealing with its cartels and an aggressive eradication program. Politicians in both Colombia and the United States are likely to point to the U.N.’s findings about coca production as an example of the success of the so-called Plan Colombia.
But as cocaine begins to move out of Colombia, other markets are opening up for the drug, ensuring its continued prevalence both in Latin American and elsewhere around the world. | <urn:uuid:7ea4932c-8c28-479b-93a2-0bfd74402251> | {
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Young Adult Girls and LiteraturePresentation Transcript
Young Adult Girls and Literature LIB 617 Research in Young Adult Literature Fall 2008
Girls as teenagers
Excerpt from A Therapist's Guide to Teenage Girls :
For girls, adolescence poses a unique set of challenges. Sports, education, and career still reflect traditional gender lines, and girls are expected to stay on one side while boys stay on the other. If girls fail to play by society's rules, she sufferers ridicule, mockery, and labels regarding her sexual orientation.
What are the biggest problems for teen girls today?
Let them tell you.
In voices that ring with hope and pain, girls describe the search for identity and the pain of exclusion. “There is a pressure to act in a certain way, dress a certain way, and look a certain way,” says a 15-year-old Asian American girl from Massachusetts. “When girls don’t meet these ‘qualifications,’ they get teased or ridiculed.”
Voices of a Generation : Teenage Girls on Sex, School, and Self (1999)
More Independent, Yet Lacking Self Esteem
Teenage girls today are more independent and see greater opportunities available to them than their baby boomer parents did at their age, according to a survey of health educators by The Vagisil Women’s Health Center (SM). Yet, these same girls also have less self-confidence and weaker self-images than their parents’ generation
Part of the first generation that is reaping the full benefits of the women's movement, today's American girl is maturing with a new sense of possibility and psychological emancipation. Dr. Kindlon provides us with an in-depth portrait of the alpha girls born leader who is ready to explode into adulthood and make her mark on the world and, by her example, serve as an inspiration for women everywhere.
A website for teen girls
gURL.com is a leading online community and content site for teenage girls. It contains stories, games and interactive content produced with an independent editorial voice.
what is gURL about?
gURL is a different approach to the experience of being a teenage girl.
We are committed to discussing issues that affect the lives of girls age 13 and up in a nonjudgmental, personal way. Through honest writing, visuals and liberal use of humor, we try to give girls a new way of looking at subjects that are crucial to their lives.
Please see our note to parents about that.
Choosing books for girls
Amelia Bloomer Project
After searching through hundreds of current titles, the Amelia Bloomer Project of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association honors 30 titles for the fifth annual Amelia Bloomer list. The criteria used by the Amelia Bloomer Committee in selecting books include:
• Significant feminist content
• Excellence in writing
• Appealing format
• Age appropriateness for young readers
Appropriate for Bloomer?
Several key markers:
• Would the story [for fiction] change if the protagonist were male instead of female?
• Does the material show an awareness of gender-based inequalities with action to change these?
• Do females blaze new trails for themselves and those who follow them?
• Do females use power for purposeful action and empowering others?
• Is the character [or subject of informational books] true to herself?
• Do girls and women take on nontraditional roles?
2006 Amelia Bloomer List
She’s just a New York City girl living with her artist mom… NEWS FLASH: Dad is prince of Genovia. (So that’s why a limo meets her at the airport!)
DOWNER: Dad can’t have any more kids. (So there’s no heir to the throne.)
SHOCK OF THE CENTURY: Like it or not, Mia Thermopolis is prime princess material.
THE WORST PART: Mia must take princess lessons from her dreaded grandmère, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.
A “typical” girl book series?
Best Books for Teenage Girls?
An Amazon.com Listmania list by “lopurplestar11”
Princess Diaries Four-Book Set (Princess Diaries; Princess in the Spotlight; Princess In Love; Princess in Waiting) by Meg Cabot
Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare by Tina Schwager
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Bend It Like Beckham (Bite) (Bite S.) by Narinder Dhami
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
“ The Sisterhood is ultimately about friendship. It’s about loving the people around you in an unconditional way. Sometimes that means being honest and challenging with your friends—saying the hard things rather than taking the easy way. It’s also about receiving that kind of love with grace.”
A more “girly” book?
A companion book
“ . . . a terrific little bomb of a book for girls in the 8-to-11-years-old range. It’s set up in an old-school Boy Scout Manual fashion, but is filled with up-to-the-minute good advice, and plenty of pleasant distractions besides.
YA Lit schizophrenic?
Young-adult literature has always had a split personality. On the front shelf are books that adults hope girls will read: dramas with spunky heroines and melodramas with a moral. But push open the secret compartment, and you find the books girls read on the sly (even girls who don’t usually read): Forever Amber and Judy Blume’s Forever (especially the “Ralph” scene).
Psst, Serena is a slut. Pass it on
Books with bite for girls only?
As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight , an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because—he’s a vampire.
Review from Amazon reproduced on Stephenie Meyer’s Reviews for Twilight page
YA Girls’ Literacies
FINDERS, Margaret J. Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High . New York: Teachers College Press, 1997.
Finders provides a rich portrait of adolescent girls in middle school--the “social queens” and the “tough cookies.” She follows the girls, focusing on what they read and write--not just school-sanctioned activities but also the important “hidden literacies”--signing yearbooks, writing notes, bathroom graffiti, and reading teen ‘zines. She interviews and interacts with the girls in and out of the classroom, on sleepovers, mall visits, and other recreational activities. Highlighting the importance of friendship, family, and social networks in girls’ sense of themselves, she suggests that literacy plays an important role in maintaining friendship groups and in the construction of self. The book questions many common assumptions about early adolescence, most importantly the “good girl” role so often assigned to and reinforced in female students.
Book reviews , Adolescence , 00018449, Spring 1997, Vol. 32, Issue 125 | <urn:uuid:39324d88-3520-4720-9cf9-fbde9455b213> | {
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Chicken Math For The Budding Production Flock
How much space does a chicken need and other key questions
Chicken math is more than counting your eggs before they hatch. For those of us who want to expand our home flock enough to feed more than just ourselves, there’s some vital chicken math to calculate. If you’re looking to start a flock that may even (gasp) turn a profit for a small farm or youth project, then this article should serve you well.
Things like square floor space, linear feeder space, birds per nest box and how many birds a single water nipple can serve all represent important physical chicken math. This is the math behind the basic operation of a happy flock. Then there is the financial side of a flock.
It’s okay to run a hobby flock, but if you want your flock to at least pay for its self or turn a buck, then understanding some basic business chicken math will help and guide you along your journey.
Floor space per bird is a debated topic these days, and the answer is dependent on who you ask. An adult hen should have at least one and a half square feet of space according to Penn State Extension Service. The Merck Veterinary Manual suggests a whopping three feet squared per hen, so somewhere between those two numbers is likely best. The University of New Hampshire recommends two square feet per broiler bird if you’re growing meat birds. When you’re deciding how to build a chicken coop, knowing how many birds you want in a flock will help determine the size of your coop.
Chickens like to roost, and roosts add space to your existing barn or coop. I’m fond of using a good old two by four for a perch because they’re cheap and sturdy. Be sure to supply six linear inches of roost space per bird in the flock. Having plenty of roost space is particularly important when introducing new chickens to an existing flock. Having room for new hens to escape the floor and evade aggressive pen mates will help ease the transition.
Penn State Extension Service suggests one nest box per every four hens, although Virginia Tech suggests one box per every five hens. Most commercial operations shoot for one nest per six hens, so again, the ideal number is up for debate.
Feeders come in all shapes and sizes. Regardless of the type of feeder, there should be three inches of linear feeder space per bird to avoid competition between birds. Unlike floor space and nests, everyone seems to be on the same page with the three-inch rule for feeder space.
If you’re using an open-trough-style waterer, you’ll need to supply at least one inch of linear trough space per bird. This measurement rule includes round bell water dispensers and steel double-wall waterers. If you’ve made the transition to nipple valves, which is a far better system in so many ways, you’ll want one nipple valve per every 10 hens. I’ve seen some suggest up to 15 hens per valve, but more the merrier in my opinion. As a side note, as you’re looking into how to raise baby chicks, remember that day one is a perfect time to start birds on a nipple valve system. Unlike with trough systems, I’ve never had a chick drown on a nipple valve, and I’ve never seen a flock not take to a valve system.
Take into account how thick you want your bedding pack to be when you design new coops. I strongly suggest a deep bedding system of at least 12 inches or more. Having a deep bedding pack of pine shavings makes litter management a breeze, and you’ll quickly realize that time is not plentiful in farming.
When I coop in a laying flock, I use a bedding pack of about 18 inches thick. This gives me a bedding pack that should last a full 12 months if nothing catastrophic happens, like a significant water leak. The time and effort saved by only having to coop out the barn once a year is an enormous time saver.
The same depth bedding pack will survive two groups of broilers, which is 12 weeks of broiler bird population. I grow pullets to six weeks old these days, then sell them to backyard farmers. I can get up to four batches of chicks through one bedding pack. All this presumes that you’re following proper biosecurity procedures and that no flock has had an illness.
Two hundred layer chicks will burn through about 600 pounds of chick starter in six weeks, in my experience. A hundred broiler birds will eat about the same from day-old to six weeks. Birds eat exponentially more feed as they age, so be prepared.
The Business Side
Feed is one of the most significant costs associated with running a production flock. Buying feed one 50-pound bag at a time, while paying retail prices, will kill your chances of turning a profit. Research feed mills in your area and see if they allow small bulk pickup on site.
When I was running a small layer operation and growing broilers or turkeys, I would take my truck to the local feed mill and load up 55-gallon drums with the feed I needed. It’s a far more cost-effective way to buy feed, but it’s either equipment-intensive or labor-intensive. Don’t forget to consider your chicken feed storage situation, since spoiling your feed investment will cut deep into your profits too.
Feed conversion ratios are part and parcel of the critical chicken math equation for a successful flock. Big production farms get quite technical over conversion ratios, but for our purpose, merely understanding the concept will help.
Some breeds of birds are better at converting feed into eggs or meat than other breeds. I love the Barred Plymouth Rock, but they are a dual purpose bird that is a jack of all trades and a master of none. If you need a bird for a home flock that can provide meat and eggs, then they’re a great fit. When you’re trying to run an egg business, these birds will consume more feed to produce a single egg than, say, a commercial Leghorn or a sex-link variety.
Effectively, the equation looks like this; (Feed In):(Eggs out). It’s as simple as that. In a meat bird flock, your ratio is; (Feed In):(Dressed Weight Out). Understanding this concept will help you pick the best bird for your production flock.
Buying In Bulk
Feed is not the only opportunity to save money by buying in bulk. If you have a flock of 100 layers, you’ll find that buying virgin egg cartons in bulk is the best solution to your packaging needs. Additionally, purchasing bulk egg boxes gives you the opportunity to brand your egg cartons for that professional look.
Please don’t reuse cartons like so many people do. Reusing containers from USDA processing plants (aka all commercial egg suppliers) is illegal. If you don’t deface the branding, USDA markings, and the packing plant code, it’s mislabeling. The USDA frowns on that, and so does your local health department.
|By The Numbers|
|Floor Space||1.5′ to 3′ sq per bird|
|Roost Space||6 inches per bird|
|Nest Box||1 box per 4 to 6 hens|
|Feeder Space||3 inches per bird|
|Water Trough||1 inch per bird|
|Nipple Valve||1 per 10 birds|
|Bedding||12″ depth or more|
Profit And Loss
The most critical chicken math you need to do in a flock you’re keeping for profit is: are you making money? Tracking where your money went and where you earned the most will help you make business decisions down the road. Without these numbers, you’ll be “winging it.” Keeping these records in a basic excel sheet works well, or you can get fancy with a free accounting program. In either case, knowing the numbers can help you spot problems like higher-than-expected costs, or lack of profits. These numbers helped me find my niche in pullet growing, which is the best business model for me.
By The Numbers
Perhaps these numbers will help you raise a happy flock. Perhaps running the numbers with your children’s 4-H or FFA project will give them insight and teach them about business basics. Maybe, just maybe, these numbers will help you make your hobby a profitable venture. In either case, Let us know if this information helped you by commenting below! | <urn:uuid:d5a7a301-9fca-44cb-98c1-42afc90fe777> | {
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You can resize objects
to make them longer or shorter in only one direction or to make
them proportionally larger or smaller.
can also stretch certain objects by moving an endpoint, vertex,
or control point.
With LENGTHEN, you can change
the included angle of arcs and the length of the following objects:
- Open polylines
- Elliptical arcs
- Open splines.
The results are similar to extending and trimming.
- Drag an object endpoint dynamically
- Specify a new length or angle as a percentage
of the total length or angle
- Specify an incremental length or angle
measured from an endpoint
- Specify the object's total absolute length
or included angle
STRETCH, you relocate the endpoints of objects that lie across or within
a crossing selection window.
- Objects that are partially enclosed by
a crossing window are stretched.
- Objects that are completely enclosed
within the crossing window, or that are selected individually, are
moved rather than stretched.
To stretch an object, you specify a base point
and then a point of displacement.
To stretch with precision, use object snaps,
grid snaps, and relative coordinate entry.
Scale Objects Using a Scale
With SCALE, you can make
an object uniformly larger or smaller. To scale an object, you specify
a base point and a scale factor. Alternatively, you can specify
a length to be used as a scale factor based on the current drawing units.
A scale factor greater than 1 enlarges the object.
A scale factor between 0 and 1 shrinks the object.
Scaling changes the size of all dimensions of
the selected object. A scale factor greater than 1 enlarges the
object. A scale factor less than 1 shrinks the object.
When you use the
SCALE command with annotative
the position or location of the object is scaled relative to the
base point of the scale operation, but the size of the object is
Scale Objects Using a Reference
can also scale by reference. Scaling by reference uses an existing
distance as a basis for the new size. To scale by reference, specify
the current distance and then the new desired size. For example,
if one side of an object is 4.8 units long and you want to expand
it to 7.5 units, use 4.8 as the reference length.
You can use the Reference option to scale an
entire drawing. For example, use this option when the original drawing
units need to be changed. Select all objects in the drawing. Then
use Reference to select two points and specify the intended distance.
All the objects in the drawing are scaled accordingly.
To stretch an object
To scale an object by a
To scale an object by reference
To change the length of
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Paper is one of the simplest and most essential pieces of human technology. For the past two millennia, the ability to produce it in ever more efficient ways has supported the proliferation of literacy, media, religion, education, commerce and art. It has created civilizations, fostering the fomenting of revolutions and the stabilizing of regimes. Witness history’s greatest press run, which produced 6.5 billion copies of Máo zhuˇ xí yuˇ lu, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), or the fact that Leonardo da Vinci left behind only 15 paintings but 4000 works on paper. Now, on the cusp of “going paperless”—and amid rampant speculation about the effects of a digitally dependent society—we’ve come to a world-historic juncture to examine what paper means to civilization. Through tracing paper’s evolution, Mark Kurlansky challenges common assumptions about technology’s influence, affirming that paper is here to stay. Paper will be the history that guides us forward in the twenty-first century and illuminates our times. | <urn:uuid:6b65441e-3025-4da6-aecc-2987f26273e4> | {
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Newton’s third law tells us that for every action, there’s an equal reaction going the opposite way. It’s been reassuring us for 400 years, explaining why we don’t fall through the floor (the floor pushes up on us too), and why paddling a boat makes it glide through water. When a system is in equilibrium, no energy goes in or out, and such reciprocity is the rule. Mathematically, these systems are elegantly described with statistical mechanics, the branch of physics that explains how collections of objects behave. This allows researchers to fully model the conditions that give rise to phase transitions in matter, when one state of matter transforms into another, such as when water freezes.
But many systems exist and persist far from equilibrium. Perhaps the most glaring example is life itself. We’re kept out of equilibrium by our metabolism, which converts matter into energy. A human body that settles into equilibrium is a dead body.
In such systems, Newton’s third law becomes moot. Equal-and-opposite falls apart. “Imagine two particles,” said Vincenzo Vitelli, a condensed matter theorist at the University of Chicago, “where A interacts with B in a different way than how B interacts with A.” Such nonreciprocal relationships show up in systems like neuron networks and particles in fluids, and even, on a larger scale, in social groups. Predators eat prey, for example, but prey doesn’t eat its predators.
For these unruly systems, statistical mechanics falls short in representing phase transitions. Out of equilibrium, nonreciprocity dominates. Flocking birds show how easily the law is broken: Because they can’t see behind them, individuals change their flight patterns in response to the birds ahead of them. So bird A doesn’t interact with bird B in the same way that bird B interacts with bird A; it’s not reciprocal. Cars barreling down a highway or stuck in traffic are similarly nonreciprocal. Engineers and physicists who work with metamaterials—which get their properties from structure, rather than substance—have harnessed nonreciprocal elements to design acoustic, quantum, and mechanical devices.
Many of these systems are kept out of equilibrium because individual constituents have their own power source—ATP for cells, gas for cars. But all these extra energy sources and mismatched reactions make for a complex dynamical system beyond the reach of statistical mechanics. How can we analyze phases in such ever changing systems?
Vitelli and his colleagues see an answer in mathematical objects called exceptional points. Generally, an exceptional point in a system is a singularity, a spot where two or more characteristic properties become indistinguishable and mathematically collapse into one. At an exceptional point, the mathematical behavior of a system differs dramatically from its behavior at nearby points, and exceptional points often describe curious phenomena in systems—like lasers—in which energy is gained and lost continuously.
Now the team has found that these exceptional points also control phase transitions in nonreciprocal systems. Exceptional points aren’t new; physicists and mathematicians have studied them for decades in a variety of settings. But they’ve never been associated so generally with this type of phase transition. “That’s what no one has thought about before, using these in the context of nonequilibrium systems,” said the physicist Cynthia Reichhardt of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. “So you can bring all the machinery that we already have about exceptional points to study these systems.”
The new work also draws connections among a range of areas and phenomena that, for years, haven’t seemed to have anything to say to each other. “I believe their work represents rich territory for mathematical development,” said Robert Kohn of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.
The work began not with birds or neurons, but with quantum weirdness. A few years ago, two of the authors of the new paper—Ryo Hanai, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, and Peter Littlewood, Hanai’s adviser—were investigating a kind of quasiparticle called a polariton. (Littlewood is on the scientific advisory board of the Flatiron Institute, a research division of the Simons Foundation, which also funds this editorially independent publication.)
A quasiparticle isn’t a particle per se. It’s a collection of quantum behaviors that, en masse, look as if they should be connected to a particle. A polariton shows up when photons (the particles responsible for light) couple with excitons (which themselves are quasiparticles). Polaritons have exceptionally low mass, which means they can move very fast and can form a state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)—in which separate atoms all collapse into a single quantum state—at higher temperatures than other particles. | <urn:uuid:85c522a2-f0eb-480b-852f-98476f274016> | {
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Feast of Saint Agatha in Catania, Sicily
One of the largest religious festivals in the world takes place the first weeks of February in the Sicilian city of Catania when it honors its patron saint, Sant’Agata. Some estimate that up to a million people line the streets to honor this martyred young woman with Sicilian roots.
Saint Agatha was a teenager from a wealthy family when she was approached by a Roman prefect. She refused his advances, and he had her tortured in many ways, including the severing of her breasts, which is why Saint Agatha is often depicted holding her amputated breasts on a platter. Indeed, she is the patron saint of bell-founders because of the shape of the severed breasts.
Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burned at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her, healed her wounds, and filled her dreary prison cell with light.
Saint Agatha died in prison around 250 A.D. when she was just 15 years old. In the 11th century, her body was found to be “incorrupt,” i.e., showing no major signs of decomposition, and parts of her incorrupt body still exist today.
The Festa di Sant’Agata in Catania starts with Mass at dawn on 3 February; then a statue of Saint Agatha holding her relics is placed on a 40,000 pound silver fercolo, or carriage, which is pulled up Via San Giuliano by 5,000 men. The celebrations continue into Saint Agatha’s feast day of 5 February.
Here are some sights and sounds of the festa; especially moving are the cries of the faithful and the nuns chanting at dawn:
Along with Catania and bell-founders, Saint Agatha is also the patron saint of San Marino, Malta, bakers, nurses, firefighters, breast cancer patients, and rape and torture victims. | <urn:uuid:40f8b5e2-d68c-40f1-939a-b1c29a2ce3a5> | {
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Definition of atrocious in English:
- This helps to explain why murder is such an atrocious crime.
- It was possibly the most atrocious monstrosity every pulled off on American soil.
- They watched the hideous spectacle, stunned by the monster's atrocious acts.
- The generally poor and occasionally atrocious quality of the writing doesn't help.
- It's unforgivably bad journalism, laughably poor sub-editing, and atrocious proof-reading.
- The weather was atrocious, with heavy snow and high winds.
- Example sentences
- 90 per cent of people here drive atrociously.
- After making my first tuition payment last week, I'm thinking of launching a one-man crusade against the atrociously high cost of higher education today.
- Factory-farmed chickens are transported and slaughtered under atrociously inhumane conditions, says Weisberg.
- Example sentences
- Stravinsky was, in Adorno's opinion, evading existentialist man's duty to confront his own times in all their complexity and atrociousness.
- In her autobiography she said curiosity had made her take the job, but 60 years on she admits she failed to let herself see the atrociousness of the regime she worked for.
- In the opinion of the Chamber, there is no doubt that considering their undeniable scale, their systematic nature and their atrociousness, the massacres were aimed at exterminating the group that was targeted.
Whereas nowadays atrocious tends to describe something such as bad weather or poor English, it used to be a stronger word which referred to great savagery, cruelty, or wickedness, as in Charles Darwin's reference to ‘Atrocious acts which can only take place in a slave country’ (1845). The source of the word was Latin atrox ‘fierce or cruel’, based on ater ‘black’ and literally meaning ‘black-looking’. Atrocity (mid 16th century) has not had its sense weakened in the same way.
Words that rhyme with atrociousferocious, precocious
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:64055e8c-2f0c-42ba-92be-c331229af6e5> | {
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The yellow sand rises as high as white cloud;
The lonely town is lost amid the mountains proud.
Why should the Mongol flute complain no willows grow?
Beyond the Jade Gate vernal wind will never blow!
These words of poet Wang Zhihuan (688-742) echoes through the centuries as he speaks of the Jade Gate in the Great Wall of China. To the Chinese of old, this gate in Xinjiang was the edge of the known world and an outpost before the legendary far Western regions of the world.
The liminal, mythological role of the Jade Gate in Chinese thinking is what the poem allures to and whether keeping some enemies out or not, great walls and their gates seem to be a lot more about the mythologies and makings of us and them.
The ruins of the Jade Gate lie in a final, large bend of the Great Wall, to the west of the last border town of Dunhuang and on the rim of the vast Taklamakan desert. Its name refers to caravans full of jade that entered it from the desert kingdom of Khotan to be transported east along the Silk Road to central China. You can get here today by a 80 km bus ride from Dunhuang, which is well worth a visit also for other reasons.
The Great Wall of China is rather a whole range of walls in different places that were built, changed and rebuilt over more than 2 000 years. Construction of these walls started in the Warring States era in the 7th or 6th century BC and went on until 17th century Ming dynasty times. The main idea was to protect against raids and invasions from nomadic groups from the Steppes in the north.
Chinese walls protected against some invasions, though many raiders and invaders managed to cross them without too much trouble, most obviously the Mongols conquering all of China in the 13th century.
The Great Wall is a main tourist attraction today, of course, and especially some reconstructed parts of it to the north of Beijing. It should best be seen as dark heritage since the cost in human lives building these walls must have been truly terrible.
Entering China proper at Jiayuguan
The western end of the major stretch of the Ming era Great Wall was in the Jiayu Pass at Jiayuguan city in Gansu province. Like the reconstructed sections outside Beijing this is also a major tourist site, where you get to visit a system of rebuilt and touristified fortresses and gates. It’s impressive for sure.
Ming walls at Mutianyu
Most majestic of the preserved walls are the Ming era ones in the mountains to the north of Beijing, which you visit on day tours from the city. I had a look myself at a place called Mutianyu where you can have ice cream, buy souvenirs and walk some kilometres of ancient wall.
The pointlessness of walls such as these seems to me a monument over human ambition and stupidity. In the long run they do not keep people out or prevent invasions but inflict vast collective, mental damage to entire peoples by separating us and strengthen the making of mutually excluding us and others.
In Berlin, the wall may have fallen, but similar walls between people are on the rise worldwide though we should have known much better by now. | <urn:uuid:d35faf63-9742-4dd1-86fe-b5302bce70f1> | {
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Scabies -- or human itch mites -- are eight-legged critters that burrow into the upper layer of your skin. There, they lay eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the mites climb to the surface of your skin, where they spread to other parts of your body. They can also spread to other people.
A severe form of scabies called “crusted scabies” (or Norwegian crusted scabies) sometimes happens in people who have weakened immune systems. It gets its name from the thick crusts of skin that form from large numbers of scabies mites and eggs.
Scabies can live on the human body for 1 to 2 months. They can live in bedding or furniture for 2-3 days.
How Do You Get Them?
Scabies is very contagious. It is spread from one infected person to another through direct, prolonged, close physical contact. Nursing homes, extended care facilities, prisons, and childcare centers are frequent sites for scabies outbreaks.
Healthy adults most often get these mites through sexual contact with an infected person.
You can’t get scabies from pets.
What Are the Symptoms?
Your first signs that something is wrong will be intense itching (especially at night), and a pimple-like rash. You might notice these symptoms all over your body. Or they may be limited to certain areas, like your wrist, elbows, genitals, butt, or the webbing between your fingers.
Children might experience itching or rash on their head, face, neck, palms, and on the soles of their feet.
You might also notice burrows on your skin. These are tiny, raised, grayish-white or flesh-colored lines on your body. They’re caused by the mites digging their way into your skin.
If you have crusted scabies, you might not have the itching or rash that scabies is known for.
If you’ve had scabies before, you might develop symptoms after just a few days of being exposed to the mites. But if you’ve never had it, you may not have any symptoms for up to 6 weeks. Still, you can spread the mites to others -- even if you don’t show signs of infection yourself.
How Is Scabies Diagnosed?
Your doctor may be able to tell you have the mites by checking the rash or burrows on your body. They might also try to remove one of the mites from its burrow. They’ll do this either by scraping your skin or pulling the parasite from its burrow with a thin needle. | <urn:uuid:2a67a951-60d8-44cd-b32a-e3b8ddce5a3d> | {
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Imagine for a moment that Congress woke up one morning, realized that the United States was suffering from a paralyzing long-term unemployment crisis, and, in a moment of progressive pique, decided to create a welfare program aimed at middle-aged, blue-collar workers.
The one thing everybody could probably agree on is that it should help all those jobless 50-somethings find employment, right?
Well, as NPR's Planet Money argues in an eye-opening story, it turns out there already is a "de facto welfare program" for those struggling Americans. The problem is, instead of getting the unemployed back on their feet, it pays them to give up work for good.
I'm talking about Social Security's disability insurance program, which over 20 years has quietly morphed into one of the largest, yet least talked about, pieces of the social safety net. Since the early 1990s, the number of former workers receiving payments under it has more than doubled to about 8.5 million, as shown in Planet Money's graph below. More than five percent of all eligible adults are now on the rolls, up from around 3 percent twenty years ago. Add in children and spouses who also get checks, and the grand tally comes to 11.7 million.
That rapid, under-the-political-radar expansion has turned the program into a massive budget item. As of 2010, its monthly cash payments accounted for nearly one out of every five Social Security dollars spent, or about $124 billion. In 1988, by comparison, it accounted for just one out of eight Social Security dollars. Because disabled workers qualify for Medicare, they also added $59 billion to the government's healthcare tab.
Are disabilities just becoming more common? According to economists such as MIT's David Autor, the evidence says no. The workforce is indeed getting older, and thus more ailment prone. But Americans over 50, who make up most disability cases, report much better health today than in the 1980s. And demographers have found that the percentage of Americans older than 65 suffering from a chronic disability has fallen drastically since then. In the end, economists Mark Duggan and Scott Imberman estimate that, at most, the graying of America's workers explained just 4 percent of the increase in the rate of disability program participation for women, and 15 percent for men, through 2004.
Instead, it seems two things have happened: Qualifying for disability got easier, and finding work got harder. As the Planet Money piece puts it, "there's no diagnosis called disability." According to the letter of the law, disability recipients must prove they are too physically or mentally impaired to hold a job. And early in the program's life, the most commonly reported ailments were easy-to-diagnose problems such as heart-disease, strokes, or neurological disorders. But after the Reagan administration began trying to thin out the program's rolls in the early 80s, an angry Congress reacted by loosening its criteria. Suddenly, subjective measures like self-reported pain or mental health problems earned more weight under Social Security's formula. Today, the most common diagnoses are musculo-skeletal issues, such as severe back pain, and mental illnesses, such as mood disorders -- health problems where the line between a disability and a mild impairment is far blurrier.
Just as the bar for disability fell, the economy turned on the working class. Factories laid off their assembly workers. The service sector picked up the slack. Wages stagnated for anyone without a college diploma. These changes have made disability more attractive for reasons both obvious and subtle. Although program's payments are small -- the average benefit is a bit over $1,000 per month -- they're not much worse than a minimum wage job. Better yet, they're indexed to inflation, meaning they sometimes rise faster than wages, and come with generous government healthcare. For former blue-collar workers who feel they've lost all hope of finding employment, or who don't want to spend their last years leading to retirement standing all day at McDonald's, disability isn't a bad offer.
It's little surprise then that, as MIT's Autor notes, disability applications tend to rise and fall with the unemployment rate (as shown in his chart below), or that most applications come from workers who have recently lost jobs.
If you're a conservative, the reasons to worry about all this are obvious. There are probably a couple million people who could work if absolutely necessary, and are instead choosing to subsist on taxpayer money. The system, from that perspective, is simply being abused.
But the failures here should be obvious to liberals, too. If the job market is so miserably weak that these workers cannot find jobs -- that they are choosing to live in government-guaranteed poverty rather than take a chance on the labor market -- we need to find a better solution than paying them to sit while their skills atrophy. As of now, that's all we seem to be doing. Despite Clinton-era changes to the program that made it possible for participants to ease back into the work force without losing all their benefits, less than one percent of Americans who go on disability ever leave the program.The surge in the numbers of Americans who are now living off of Social Security's disability insurance program is troublesome. But it reflects the harsh reality of an ongoing jobs crisis that is leaving millions of people unemployed or under-employed, barely scraping by, desperate to find work or better jobs.
Moreover, that program, is headed for bankruptcy. As of last year, Social Security's disability trust fund was on pace to run dry by 2016, which would lead to an automatic 21 percent benefit cut affecting all of the program's participants, including the millions who truly can't work because of their impairments.
Like I said, even if we wanted a new welfare program for the struggling poor, this wouldn't be the way to run it.
Conservatives will point out that incentives are all wrong but liberals will point out the real problem is gross inequality, lack of jobs and affordable healthcare as the U.S. government panders to the financial elite, like big banks and rich private equity fund managers who made off like bandits in the fiscal cliff deal, leaving millions of people struggling in this economy to collect disability checks.
But what really worries me is that even those Americans who are working and managing to save something on the side, their retirement dreams are evaporating, and many of them will likely have to enroll in this "de facto welfare program" before they reach retirement age.
And the real losers in all this are the unemployed, under-employed and especially persons struggling with a disabling condition who need this insurance program to survive. As the program heads for bankruptcy, they will get hit harder than anyone else.
Also, one of the comments to the Atlantic article above struck me:
Keep in mind that some disabled people WANT to work but employers are less than willing to make accommodations. I'd love to work. I HAVE worked. I'm currently in school so that I can get a great job. The problem is that most employers aren't willing to work around my "absences" related to my illness. They hear chronic, frequent atypical migraine and freeze up. If more employers were open to telecommuting and flexible work hours, there would be less of a need for disability for pain related absences for people who WANTED to work.The sad fact is that far too many employers treat persons with disabilities as a liability instead of an asset. I bet you many truly disabled people on Social Security's disability program would much prefer to work for an employer who can accommodate their disability and recognize the value they can bring to their workforce.
Finally, while I'm happy to see the unemployment rate for people with disabilities dropped to a four-year low as the job market improves, the latest from Allsup points out the discrepancy in the unemployment rate between people with disabilities and those with no disabilities is concerning:
The fourth quarter 2012 unemployment rate for people with disabilities dropped to its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2008. The number of people with disabilities applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) also reached a four-year low, according to a study by Allsup, a nationwide provider of SSDI representation and Medicare plan selection services.
While this may seem to indicate that the worst of the economic crisis has passed, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was still 70 percent higher than for those with no disabilities during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk. The full study is available at http://www.allsup.com/Portals/4/allsup-study-income-at-risk-q4-12.pdf
Specifically, the unemployment rate averaged 12.4 percent for people with disabilities and 7.3 percent for people with no disabilities during the fourth quarter of 2012. This compares to 13.7 percent for people with disabilities and 7.9 percent for people with no disabilities during the third quarter of 2012. These figures are based on non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"The discrepancy in the employment rate between people with no disabilities and people with disabilities is concerning," said Tricia Blazier, personal financial planning manager for Allsup. "If more people with disabilities capable of working were provided the opportunity to do so, the trust fund for the Social Security disability program would be stronger. These individuals would be paying into the trust fund just as other workers do."
Beginning in 2013, the projected assets of the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will fall below 100 percent of the annual costs, according to the 2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds (2012 OASDI Trustees Report). The DI Trust Fund is projected to exhaust its reserves in 2016.
At that time, revenues from payroll taxes will cover only 79 percent of benefits. This means there would be a 21 percent cut in benefits to the millions of people with disabilities so severe they are unable to work, as well as to their families. At year-end 2012, more than 8.8 million disabled workers received an average monthly benefit of $1,130.34, and nearly 2.1 million children and spouses of disabled workers relied on average monthly benefits of nearly $334.
SSDI Applications Continue to Decline
While the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is still significantly higher than for people with no disabilities, the number of people with disabilities applying for SSDI has declined for the second year in a row.
The Allsup Disability Study: Income at Risk shows that 638,223 people with disabilities applied for SSDI during the fourth quarter of 2012, down from 726,026 for the previous quarter. The quarterly number of applications has not dropped below this level since the fourth quarter of 2008, when there were 577,306 applications.
In 2012, 2.82 million people filed SSDI applications, compared to 2.88 million in 2011. Applications are now down 3.92 percent from the record high of nearly 2.94 million SSDI applications in 2010. The average age of people applying for SSDI is 53.
"The average age of SSDI applicants is about midway in the baby boom generation, so it's likely SSDI applications will remain elevated," Blazier said. "Because of this, more is needed to educate people with severe disabilities about their SSDI benefits. It's also important people understand their options for rejoining the labor pool if their condition improves in the future."
Many people confronted with a disabling condition wait longer than they should to apply for SSDI benefits. Often, Social Security disability applicants must wait several months or years before they receive their benefits. For example, nearly 1.89 million SSDI claims are pending with an average cumulative wait time of more than 800 days, according to Allsup's analysis of the Social Security disability backlog.
Blazier recommends individuals understand the following:
1. Who is covered by Social Security disability insurance?
To be covered, a person must have worked and paid into the SSDI program through payroll taxes (FICA) for five of the last 10 years. They also must be disabled before reaching full-retirement age (65-67) and must meet Social Security's definition of disability. Generally, this means being unable to work because of a verifiable mental or physical impairment expected to result in death, or which has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least 12 months.
2. When should someone with a severe disability apply for SSDI benefits?
Anyone with SSDI coverage who is unable to work because of a severe disability expected to last 12 months or longer or is terminal should apply as soon as possible. It can take two to four years to receive benefits, during which time many people struggle financially as a result of lost income and, often, mounting healthcare costs. The sooner someone applies the sooner he or she may begin to receive monthly benefits. They also are eligible for Medicare 24 months after they start receiving SSDI cash benefits.
3. Is SSDI representation needed?
Individuals can apply for SSDI on their own. However, there are several advantages to having a Social Security disability representative. This is especially true at the initial application. For example, more than half of Allsup claimants are awarded benefits at the initial application level compared to just 34 percent nationally.
4. Can someone with SSDI benefits ever return to work?
Yes. If a person's condition improves to the point where they can return to work, Social Security offers a trial work period, which allows someone to test their ability to work over at least nine months and receive full SSDI benefits no matter how high their earnings. In addition, Social Security's work incentives include the extended period of eligibility, which lasts 36 months. Once someone's benefits stop because they have substantial earnings, they still have five years in which benefits can be reinstated without going through the SSDI application process again -- if they must stop working because of their disability. This is known as expedited reinstatement. Additionally, it's possible to continue Medicare coverage for up to 93 months.
Individuals can determine their Social Security disability benefits using Allsup's free online Social Security benefits calculator. For a free evaluation, or for more information about eligibility for Social Security disability benefits, contact Allsup's Disability Evaluation Center at (800) 678-3276.
Allsup is a nationwide provider of Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, Medicare and Medicare Secondary Payer compliance services for individuals, employers and insurance carriers. Founded in 1984, Allsup employs more than 800 professionals who deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. The company is based in Belleville, Ill., near St. Louis. For more information, go to http://www.Allsup.com or visit Allsup on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Allsupinc.I provided the information above for people who are confronted with a disabling condition and need help applying for disability insurance. If you're confronted with a disabling condition, inform yourself and know that you have every right to collect disability insurance and even work during this time if you feel capable.
Below, Fox News hypes the high number of people receiving federal disability benefit payments to push myths about the program and suggest many recipients are "moochers" and "takers." In fact, a majority of applicants are denied benefits, and experts agree the higher levels of disability recipients are a direct result of the recession and an increased number of women receiving benefits (if video doesn't work, click here).
And CNBC's resident claptrap, Rick Santelli, screams it's all about incentives, propagating more myths on Social Security's disability program. If you want to know the truth, read this comment on Media Matters for America. | <urn:uuid:d4213157-a55c-4b6f-a40e-aa03fab645ed> | {
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Dun Eochla Stone Fort on Inishmore, with standing tourist.
Dun Eochla is a circular bivallate (double walled) stone fort located near the highest point on Inishmore (Arainn), the largest of the Aran Islands. It is an Irish Historic Monument in the care of the Irish Board of Works.
It was subjected to some restoration work in the late 19th Century. The original construction date of Dun Eochla is estimated to be between 550 and 800AD. It is thought to have been the dwelling place for an extended family and their animals. It may have replaced an even older settlement.
It is a dry stone wall type construction. The main inner wall is 5m high at its highest point and 3.5m thick.
It has not been excavated so the date that is ascribed to it is based on the visible remains.
History of This image on RedBubble
Techie Photographic Details
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“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”
– René Descartes
Third grade is an exciting year at Carlthorp School. While enjoying themselves, third graders focus on developing personal responsibility, independence, and learning basic study habits.
The third grade American Indian social studies curriculum frames the year. With trips to the Chumash Museum, third graders begin to broaden their understanding of American history. The Tribe Report allows the children to show their mastery of the writing process and also introduces them to formal aspects of a research paper. The completion of this report is the proudest moment of the year.
Third graders are ready for Current Events! Finding topical articles in the newspaper or children’s news magazines, the students learn to digest information and present it in their own words in front of the class. By the end of the year, the children are confident and composed in front of an audience as you can see when they present a musical revue, Ode to the Code.
Small-group study in English, math, and reading helps to prepare the children for the upcoming challenges of fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Trips to the Art Room, the Science Lab, and Spanish class help round out the day. | <urn:uuid:e3002aa5-6b6f-4b05-ab82-28e36d8bdcab> | {
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Anybody who’s a part of the IT industry will have come across the word “container” during the course of his/her work. After all, it’s one of the most overused terms right now, which also indicates different things for different people depending on the context. Standard Linux containers are nothing more than regular processes running on a Linux-based system. This process category is separate from other process groups thanks to Linux security limitations, resource limitations, and namespaces.
Identifying the Right Processes
When you boot one of the current crop of Linux systems and view a process with cat /proc/PID/cgroup, it immediately becomes known that this process occurs in a cgroup. Once you take a closer look at /proc/PID/status, you begin to notice capabilities. Then you can view SELinux labels by checking out /proc/self/attr/current. Also, seeing /proc/PID/ns gives you a listed view of namespaces the process is currently in.
Thus, if a container gets defined as a process that has resource constraints, namespaces, and Linux security constraints, it can be argued that each process on the Linux system is present in a container. This is precisely the reason why Linux is often considered containers and vice versa.
The term “container runtimes” refer to tools used for modifying resource limitations, namespaces, and security, and also for launching the container. The idea of “container image” was initially introduced by Docker, and pertains to a regular TAR file comprised of two units:
- JSON file: This determines how the rootfs must be run, including the entrypoint or command required to run in rootfs once the container starts, the container’s working directory, environment variables to establish for that particular container, along with a couple of other settings.
- Rootfs: This is the container root filesystem which serves as a directory on the system resembling the regular root (/) of the OS.
What happens is, Docker starts to “tar up” the rootfs while the JSON file develops the base image. The user is now able to install extra content in the rootfs, thereby forming a fresh JSON file, and then tar the variation between the actual image and the new picture with the updated JSON file. Thus, a layered image is created.
Building Blocks of Containers
The tools that are commonly used for forming container images are known as container image builders. In some cases, container engines are responsible for this task, but numerous standalone tools can also be found for creating container images. These container images or tarballs are taken by Docker, and then moved to a web service. This enables them to be later pulled by Docker, which also develops a protocol for pulling them and dubs the web service as container registry.
The term “container engines” are programs capable of pulling container images from the container registries and then reassembling them onto the container storage. If that’s not all, container engines are also responsible for launching container run times.
The container storage is generally a COW or copy-on-write layered filesystem. Once the container image gets pulled down from the container registry, the first thing that needs to be done is untar the rootfs so it can be placed on disk. In the event that multiple layers are present in the image, every single layer gets downloaded and then stored on a separate layer of the COW filesystem. This means every single layer contains a separately stored layer, which increases sharing for the layered images. Container engines tend to support multiple kinds of container storage, such as zfs, btrfs, overlay, aufs, and device-mapper.
Once the container engine has completed downloading the container image to the container storage, it must form a container runtime configuration. This runtime configuration is a combination of input from the user or caller as well as the content from container image specification. The container runtime configuration’s layout as well as the exploded rootfs are often standardized by the OCI standards body.
The container engine releases a container run-time that is capable of reading the container run-time specification, modifying the Linux cgroups in the process along with Linux namespaces and security limitations. Afterward, the container command gets launched to form the PID 1 of the container. By now, the container engine is able to relay stdout/stdin back the caller while gaining control over the container.
Please keep in mind that several of the container run-times get introduced for using various parts of the Linux so the containers can be isolated. This allows users to run containers with KVM separation. They are also able to apply hypervisor strategies. Due to the availability of a standard run-time specification, the tools may be launched by a single container engine. Even Windows may use the OCI Run-time Specification to launch Windows containers.
Container orchestrators are a higher level. These tools help coordinate the execution of containers on various different modes. They interact with the container engines for managing containers. Orchestrators are responsible for telling container engines to start the containers and wire networks together. They can monitor the containers and introduce ones as the load expands.
Benefits of Containers
Containers provide numerous benefits to enable the DevOps workflows, including:
- A simple solution for consistent development, testing and production environments
- Simpler updates
- Support for numerous frameworks
When the user writes, tests and deploys an application within the containers, the environment stays the same at various parts of the delivery chain. This means collaboration between separate teams becomes easier since they all work in the same containerized environment.
When software needs to be continuously delivered, it requires application updates to roll out on a constant, streamlined schedule. This is possible with containers as applying updates becomes easier. Once the app gets distributed into numerous microservices, every single one gets hosted in a different container. If a part of the app gets updated by restarting the container, the rest of it remains uninterrupted.
When performing DevOps, it helps to have the agility to switch conveniently between various deployment platforms or programming frameworks easily. Containers provide the agility since they are comparatively agnostic towards deployment platforms and programming languages. Nearly any kind of app may be run inside the container, irrespective of the language it’s written in. What’s more, containers may be moved easily between various kinds of host systems.
There are plenty of reasons why containers simplify the DevOps. Once system administrators understand the basic nature of the containers, they can easily use that information when planning a migration at the organization.
Author: Rahul Sharma | <urn:uuid:aac8f520-da85-4c04-9bc7-e0b510b4438a> | {
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New Zealand, Enemy Aliens and the Great War Experience, 1914-1919
Central to this book is an examination of the extent to which proimperial sentiment, concepts of citizenship and national identity, increasing European settlement and a progressively volatile European scene set the tone for the manner with which the dominion’s British settlers treated its enemy alien counterparts. Themes discussed include the public’s reaction to war; the government’s internment policy; the establishment of anti-German trade organizations; and the challenges facing Prime Minister William Massey, whose wish to remain fair and just towards enemy aliens often brought him into direct conflict with the more hostile anti-German elements within New Zealand society.
Chapter Three ‘Proof of Loyalty’: Naturalization, Enemy Aliens and the Public Response 69
Chapter Three ‘Proof of Loyalty’: Naturalization, Enemy Aliens and the Public Response The outbreak of war in August 1914 handed the New Zealand government the extra burden of dealing with enemy aliens. This burden proved, in both theory and practice, one of the most contentious home front issues for Massey’s administration during the four-year conf lict. A series of emer- gency measures was introduced against enemy aliens, including placing them under surveillance, ensuring they could not leave the country, arrest- ing military reservists and, if necessary, interning those deemed a danger to domestic security.1 Initially it was believed that, in its most simplistic form, an enemy alien was someone from an enemy power resident in New Zealand who had not become a naturalized Briton. Therefore, those who had become naturalized Britons – in some cases decades previously – could legally expect to be exempt from these emergency measures, as well as the raft of other legislation introduced under the War Regulations Act in November 1914.2 The naturalized Briton was not, however, safe from scrutiny. War Regulations defined an enemy alien to include, ‘any person who has been naturalized in New Zealand and who would have been an enemy alien had he not been so naturalized, and also includes any person reasonably sus- pected of being an enemy alien.’3 With this piece of legislation, naturalized 1 Arrests were made as early as 10 August in the four major centres of Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Dunedin; Dominion, 11 August 1914, 6. Internment of those...
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China — the world’s largest emitter of carbon-dioxide — expects power demand to grow by 5 percent annually and plans to more than double its power generation capacity by 2030 to meet its relentless demand though a mix of fossil fuel and renewable energy-powered plants.
Half of China’s new plants will be powered by renewable energy, but dirty coal remains — and will remain for the foreseeable future — the most important fossil fueling China’s growth. China may add 1,583 gigawatts of capacity and attract $294 billion in renewables investment by 2030 even though the coal will still account for more than 50 percent of power generation.
While the environment might appreciate the rise in renewables, the specter of coal still haunts the atmosphere. To this end, China has indicated it may invest an additional $340 billion in energy-saving and emissions-reducing projects. In addition, the Chinese Environment Ministry is considering stricter controls on vehicle and industry pollution.
Beijing is also boosting solar-power targets as it seeks to curb pollution that spurred unrest about dirty air and water resources. It is expected that once renewables are added, carbon emissions from power generation could start to decline by 2027.
China accounts for half of the world’s coal consumption, and while coal-fired capacity will drop as renewables and gas generation rise, the fuel’s share in the power mix will remain at a high of 58 percent in 2030 — though this projection is considerably lower than what we’re seeing now. For 2012, that figure was a horrifying 72 percent.
China aims to cut total coal consumption to below 65 percent of total primary energy use by 2017 as part of a comprehensive new plan to tackle air pollution. Beijing will stop approving new thermal power plants in key industrial areas. China would also aim to raise the share of non-fossil fuel energy to 13 percent by 2017, up from 11.4 percent in 2012. Its previous target was 15 percent by 2020.
The government is encouraging big companies such as Sinopec (NYSE:SNP) to strengthen their commitment to protecting the environment. To that end, Sinopec has announced it would invest 22.9 billion yuan (about $3.7 billion) on an environmental protection plan. But Sinopec’s hand is being forced here, and the government is playing it tough, announcing that it will stop approving new refining projects for the two top state oil firms — Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPZ:CH) — because they have failed to meet key pollution targets for 2012.
Last year, China asked seven cities and provinces to put in place regional caps and pilot programs for trading emission rights. China ranks first in the world in attracting clean energy investment, receiving $ 65.1 billion in 2012. The country has provided nearly $40 billion dollars to other countries’ solar and wind industries over the past decade. Chinese companies have made at least 124 investments in solar and wind industries in 33 countries over the past decade, more than half of which were made in 2010 and 2011. Most of the investments were in developed countries, led by the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Australia.
Originally written for OilPrice.com, a website that focuses on news and analysis on topics of alternative energy, geopolitics, and oil and gas. OilPrice.com is written for an educated audience that includes investors, fund managers, resource bankers, traders, and energy market professionals around the world.
Don’t Miss: 8 States With an Unemployment Problem. | <urn:uuid:819a9921-acbc-426e-ba4c-9deba57bb876> | {
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Distracted Driving program provides logical and factual information to help you make better driving decisions. There are three main types of distraction: Visual - taking your eyes off the road, Manual - taking your hands off the wheel, Cognitive – taking your mind off what you're doing. Distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing. While all distractions can endanger drivers' safety, texting is the most alarming because it involves all three types of distraction. This training video demonstrates distracted driving and the consequences of such actions. Driver distraction could present a serious and potentially deadly danger. In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. Distracted driving comes in various forms, such as cell phone use, texting while driving, eating, drinking, talking with passengers, as well as using in-vehicle technologies and portable electronic devices. An important addition to your Defensive Driving library.
Runtime: 19 Min.
The CD-ROM of written materials may include: Leaders Guides, Questions & Answers, Manuals, and Power Points. | <urn:uuid:28681fa0-9c44-41bd-943c-d5b417d6441b> | {
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a worldwide threat to human health and biosecurity. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via conjugative plasmid transfer is a major contributor to the evolution of this resistance. Although permitted as safe food additives, compounds such as saccharine, sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium that are commonly used as nonnutritive sweeteners have recently been associated with shifts in the gut microbiota similar to those caused by antibiotics. As antibiotics can promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), we hypothesize that these nonnutritive sweeteners could have a similar effect. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that saccharine, sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium could promote plasmid-mediated conjugative transfer in three established conjugation models between the same and different phylogenetic strains. The real-time dynamic conjugation process was visualized at the single-cell level. Bacteria exposed to the tested compounds exhibited increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, the SOS response, and gene transfer. In addition, cell membrane permeability increased in both parental bacteria under exposure to the tested compounds. The expression of genes involved in ROS detoxification, the SOS response, and cell membrane permeability was significantly upregulated under sweetener treatment. In conclusion, exposure to nonnutritive sweeteners enhances conjugation in bacteria. Our findings provide insight into AMR spread and indicate the potential risk associated with the presence of nonnutritive sweeteners.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognized as one of the greatest health threats that human beings face now and in the coming decades [1,2,3]. Globally, 700,000 people die due to infections caused by resistant bacteria every year. It is estimated that 10 million people will be killed by infections due to AMR by 2050 if immediate action is not taken now . The emergence and propagation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that confer AMR to bacteria is generally attributed to the misuse or overuse of antibiotics [5,6,7]. The spread of ARGs among different bacterial species is mainly driven by horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Conjugation is a significant HGT mechanism, disseminating ARGs by transferring mobile genetic elements (MGEs), including plasmids, integrons, and transposons [8,9,10]. ARGs carried on MGEs can be transferred by cell-to-cell contact through a pilus or pore channel connecting the host and recipient bacteria . This process may occur frequently within genera but also at lower frequency across genera [12, 13].
Nonnutritive sweeteners, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are widely being introduced as safe sugar substitutes in food and beverages as they provide a sweet taste but low calories or energy. The consumption of nonnutritive sweeteners has increased because of their potential to improve the health of individuals suffering from obesity, glucose intolerance, type II diabetes mellitus, and metabolic derangements [14,15,16]. The global consumption of these compounds is estimated to be approximately 117,000 metric tons annually . After intake of food or beverages, these compounds can pass through the human digestive system without being metabolized and their concentration estimates can be as much as tens of mg/L in the human urine [18, 19] and even hundreds of mg/L in the human gastrointestinal tract [20, 21]. With metabolically inert structures, these nonnutritive sweeteners can be directly excreted to the environment from the human body. Currently these compounds are frequently detected in subsurface water, groundwater, and especially, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The concentrations of sweeteners detected can be up to 2.5 mg/L in effluents from WWTPs [22, 23].
Although nonnutritive sweeteners have been developed to allow individuals to avoid the negative effects related to common sugars, a few commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners have recently been associated with health risks. For instance, in vitro tests demonstrated that nonnutritive sweeteners (saccharin (SAC), sucralose (SUC), and aspartame (ASP)) can induce the formation of urinary bladder tumors . In addition, nonnutritive sweeteners are associated with the occurrence of glucose intolerance, which is thought to occur through alterations in the gut microbiota , and there is evidence that SAC, SUC, ASP, and acesulfame potassium (ACE-K) cause DNA damage in bacteria [26, 27]. The latter would likely activate the DNA damage response system (SOS response) of bacteria for remediating the damage. Conjugative ARG transfer has been indicated to be related to the SOS response . Therefore, we hypothesize that these nonnutritive sweeteners may enhance the horizontal transfer of ARGs.
In this study, we tested our hypothesis that the commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners play a role in the spread of AMR. We selected four widely used nonnutritive sweeteners (SAC, SUC, ASP, and ACE-K) to test this hypothesis. We established three model conjugation systems to investigate whether these sweeteners promoted plasmid-mediated conjugative transfer in both environmental and clinical settings. In addition, the dynamic conjugation process at the single-cell level was visualized in real time through microfluidics and confocal microscopy. The underlying mechanisms of conjugative transfer were inferred from changes detected in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, the SOS response, cell membrane permeability, and transcriptomic responses. These findings show that nonnutritive sweeteners pose an underappreciated ecological risk because they can promote the dissemination of ARGs.
Bacterial strains, growth conditions, and nonnutritive sweeteners
Donor strains E. coli K-12 LE392 and E. coli K-12 MG1655 harbor the plasmid RP4 (carries the ampicillin (Amp), kanamycin (Kan), and tetracycline (Tet) resistance genes) and the plasmid pMS6198A (carries the ampicillin (Amp) resistance gene), respectively. While recipient strains E. coli K-12 MG1655 and P. alloputida, both of which are resistant to chloramphenicol (Chl), were selected as recipients for the conjugation within and across genera, respectively. E. coli strain J53, which is resistent to sodium azide, was also used as another recipient. Strains were cultivated in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth that contained 100 mg/L Amp for the donors, 10 mg/L Chl for P. alloputida, 17 mg/L Chl for E. coli K-12 MG1655, and 100 mg/L sodium azide for E. coli J53. Four nonnutritive sweeteners, saccharine (SAC), sucralose (SUC), aspartame (ASP), and acesulfame potassium (ACE-K) used in this study, were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (USA).
Determination of MICs against antibiotics
Plate-reader measurements of bacterial growth in the presence of various antibiotic concentrations were used for MIC values. For the strains used in conjugative experiments (both within and across genera) as well as the post-conjugation transconjugants, all dose responses for the four antibiotics (Amp, Kan, Chl, and Tet) were quantified as previously described . Initially, the strains were inoculated in LB media and exponential growth was obtained. Cell concentrations were adjusted to about 105 CFU/mL using LB media and then transferred to 96-well plates. For each well containing 75 µL LB media with different levels of antibiotics, 75 µL of cell suspensions were added. The plates were then incubated at 30 °C for 20 h before measuring the optical density (OD) by a plate reader at a wavelength of 600 nm (Tecan Infinite M200, Swiss). Three replicates per concentration of all antibiotics were prepared and the control containing only sterilized Milli-Q water was simultaneously prepared. MIC90, determined as the antibiotic concentration, at which 90% of cell growth is inhibited, was used in this study.
Mobile plasmid-mediated conjugative transfer models
Since our aim was to unravel whether and how the tested sweeteners (water soluble) would affect the conjugation dynamics in water environment, rather than soil-like environment, we used liquid media (rather than solid media) to do conjugation assays. In this study, three conjugative transfer models were established to evaluate the effects of nonnutritive sweeteners on the conjugative transfer of ARGs. Model I consisted of intra- and inter-genera conjugation process under environmental setting. For the intragenus conjugative transfer, the recipient was selected on the LB agar plates containing 17 mg/L Chl. The intragenus transconjugants were selected on the LB agar plates containing 100 mg/L Amp, 33 mg/L Kan, 17 mg/L Chl, and 20 mg/L Tet. For the intergenus conjugative transfer, the recipient (P. alloputida) was selected from LB broth media containing 10 mg/L Chl. The intergenus transconjugants were selected from LB agar plates containing 100 mg/L Amp, 33 mg/L Kan, 10 mg/L Chl, and 20 mg/L Tet.
After culturing in LB broth media overnight, the bacteria were centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 5 min and washed by substrate-free phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) two times in order to remove the culture media and antibiotic residues. The collected bacteria were then suspended in PBS. The mating system for the conjugative transfer was conducted in a PBS-based solution and consisted of both donor and recipient bacteria at cell densities of 108 CFU/mL with a donor/recipient ratio of 1:1. The mixture (total volume of 1 mL) was then exposed to different concentrations (0, 0.003, 0.03, 0.3, 3, 30, and 300 mg/L) of the four tested nonnutritive sweeteners. These levels of sweeteners cover both environmental and clinical relevant range and were lower than MIC concentrations for the bacteria used in this study (Table S1). Following addition of sweeteners, the mating systems were well mixed by a vortex and subjected to 8-h incubation at 25 °C (the mating process). The system was then mixed again and then poured onto LB agar-selective plates containing antibiotics (prior to selection plating, 100 times dilutions were made for the intragenus conjugation, while no dilution was made for the intergenus conjugation). Separate preparations of the donor and recipients were simultaneously poured onto the transconjugant selective plates in order to measure the background mutation of strains resulting in antibiotic resistance. The plates were incubated at 30 °C for 48 h and then counting of transconjugants and recipients was performed separately. Moreover, the reverse conjugation experiment was also conducted (see the details in Text S1).
Model II was set up to test the conjugation process under clinically relevant condition by using clinical relevant plasmid pMS6198A (isolated from the urine of a patient suffering from a urinary tract infection, UTI ). The donor E. coli K-12 MG1655 containing pMS6198A plasmid with Amp resistance gene and recipient E. coli J53 containing resistance to sodium azide were used. Experiments were conducted following the similar procedures as Model I but the mating medium (LB), time condition (37 °C for 2 h), and selective plates (LB agar plates containing 100 mg/L of both Amp and sodium azide) for transconjugants were different.
Model III referred to the single-cell level analysis based on microfluidic system (Text S2). Briefly, overnight cultures of donor (P. alloputida containing gfp-RP4 plasmid; dsRed/GFP-lacIq, red fluorescence) and recipient (wild type of P. alloputida; no fluorescence but green only when the conjugative plasmid was received) were diluted tenfold and were incubated in LB broth media with shaking at 30 °C for 2 h. Afterward, cell suspensions were washed with PBS solution to remove any LB broth residue and were adjusted to an OD600 comprised between 0.7 and 0.8. In total, 300 µL of both donor and recipient cells were mixed (1:1 ratio, v/v) and vortexed before loading onto the B04A microfluidic plate chamber (ONIX, CellASIC®, Merck) with 5 psi for 1 min. Simultaneously, four nonnutritive sweetener solutions were loaded at 1 psi and the temperature was maintained at 25 °C. In total, 100 µM IPTG was also supplied. Cells were imaged at different time intervals for 2–3 h.
Measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS)
To understand whether oxidative stress has an effect on ARG’s transfer, intracellular ROS concentrations were measured using the 2’,7’-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFDA) cellular ROS detection assay kit (Abcam, UK). Initially, the cell suspensions (initial concentration of about 106 CFU/mL in PBS solution) were incubated with DCFDA at 20 μM for 30 min, at 37 °C in the dark. The sweeteners were then added and incubated for 2 h at room temperature in the dark. After that, the suspensions were analyzed by a CytoFLEX S flow cytometer (Beckman Colter, USA) with excitation at 488 nm and emission at 525 nm. Both positive (3% hydrogen peroxide, final concentration) and negative (Milli-Q water) suspensions were used as controls in the ROS analysis.
Measurement of cell membrane permeability
The condition of cell membranes was examined to explore how they may contribute to the gene transfer. Cell membrane permeability of both donors and recipients was determined using the propidium iodide (PI, Life Technologies, USA) dye at the final concentration of 20 µM, according to the described method [12, 31]. Typically, bacterial cell suspensions of ≈106 CFU/mL in PBS solution were obtained after washing the collected cells that were cultured in LB liquid overnight. Then, for each test, 100 μL of cell solution was added to the 2 mL tubes containing different levels of one of the four sweeteners. These tubes were put at room temperature (25 °C) for 2 h. A control of damaged cells was prepared as described above that was heated at 80 °C for 2 h. Another control of cells was prepared as above, except it had no sweetener treatment. Following the treatments, 1 μL of PI dye (2 mM) was added to the above cell solutions and incubated in the dark for 15 min at 25 °C. Samples of each cell preparation were applied to the flow cytometer that used 488 nm-excitation and 561 nm-emission detection. All samples were prepared in biological triplicates and technical duplicates.
Plasmid extraction, gel electrophoresis, and PCR assays for resistance genes
The donors E. coli K-12 LE392 (RP4) and E. coli K-12 MG1655 (pMS6198A), the recipients P. alloputida, E. coli K-12 MG1655, and E. coli J53, as well as transconjugants (obtained from the transconjugant-selective plates) were cultured in LB broth overnight at 30 °C. Plasmids were extracted from the prepared cultures using the GeneJET Plasmid Miniprep Kit (Life Technologies, Australia), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Agarose gel electrophoresis was used to confirm the presence of plasmids in the transconjugants. Further, qualitative PCR was employed to confirm whether the amplified ARGs in the transconjugants were the same to their corresponding plasmids (RP4 or pMSA6198). The PCR assays were carried out in a 20-μL volume reaction, which contained 1 μL of DNA sample, 10 μL of Platinum Green Hot Start PCR 2× Master Mix (Invitrogen by Thermo Fisher Scientific), 2 μL of Platinum GC Enhancer, 0.2 μL of forward and reverse primers, and 6.6 μL of Milli-Q water. The information about those primers was shown in Table S2. The amplification process was run on an Applied Biosystems machine in the following conditions: 94 °C for 10 min, followed by 30 cycles of 94 °C for 1 min, 60 °C for 1 min, and 72 °C for 1 min. This was followed by a final extension at 72 °C for 7 min. To confirm whether a specific ARG blaTEM-1 was successfully transferred from donor E. coli K-12 MG1655 to recipient E. coli J53, total DNA was extracted from the donor, recipient, and transconjugants (E. coli J53 with pMS6198A plasmid) using PowerWater® DNA extraction kit (MoBio), according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Afterward, PCR assays were conducted as described above. Visualization of all bands was conducted by SYBR safe DNA gel staining and the GeneRuler 1 kb DNA ladder.
RNA extraction, genome-wide RNA sequencing, and transcriptomic analysis
The intergenera conjugation between E. coli K-12 LE392 and P. alloputida was set up as described above. The mating systems were treated by four types of sweeteners at 0 and 3 mg/L for 2 h and were used for the RNA extractions. Each system was run in biological triplicates. The bacterial cell pellets were collected by centrifugation at 6000 rpm, 4 °C for 6 min. Total RNA was extracted from the pellets using the RNeasy Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Germany) based on the manufacturer’s instructions, with an additional cell lysis step of bead-beating. All RNA samples were then delivered to Macrogen Co. (Seoul, Korea) for construction of strand-specific cDNA library and Illumina sequencing of paired-end genome (HiSeq 2500, Illumina, USA) after passing their quality control. CummeRbund package in R was used to conduct the statistical analysis and visualization. The fragments per kilobase of a gene per million mapped reads (FPKM) was measured to quantify gene expression. The difference in gene expression between the control (without addition of any sweeteners) and the sweetener-treated groups was presented as log2 fold change (LFC). The significance of transcriptome data for expression of genes was determined by a false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted p value less than 0.05. All samples were prepared in triplicates.
All the experiments were conducted independently at least in biological triplicate. All phenotypic data were expressed as mean ± SD and were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 (SPSS, Chicago, USA). The results were analyzed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Independent-sample t test methods, with the Benjamini–Hochberg correction. The corrected p values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
Nonnutritive sweeteners promote conjugative transfer
To test the effect of nonnutritive sweeteners on the conjugative transfer of ARGs, both intra- and intergenus-transfer experiments (model I) were first conducted, in which the bacteria were exposed to various concentrations of four commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners (SAC, SUC, ASP, and ACE-K) for 8 h at room temperature. Notably, in both mating systems, the whole concentration range (from 0.03 to 300 mg/L) of three sweeteners (SUC, ASP, and ACE-K) caused a significant concentration-dependent increase (p = 0.00017 ~ 0.047, Fig. S1a, b); Pearson correlation analysis was shown in Table S3 in conjugative transfer compared to the control (Fig. 1a, b). The intragenus (donor Escherichia coli K-12 LE392 and recipient E. coli K-12 MG1655) spontaneous conjugative transfer frequency was (1.9 ± 0.2) × 10−4 transconjugants per recipient cell (Fig. S2). However, the conjugative transfer frequencies were significantly enhanced by the sweeteners SUC, ASP, and ACE-K at 0.3 mg/L or above. For example, SUC, ASP, and ACE-K at 300 mg/L enhanced the conjugative frequencies by 1.5- (p = 0.00027), 4.1- (p = 0.000000089), and 3.4-fold (p = 0.0000020), respectively (Fig. 1a). In contrast, SAC did not significantly change the conjugative transfer frequency in the conjugation system (p = 0.200 ~ 0.670, Fig. 1a). For intergenus conjugation (donor E. coli K-12 LE392 and recipient Pseudomonas alloputida), all sweeteners at concentrations of 3 mg/L or higher (except for SAC) were seen to promote the conjugative transfer of the donor RP4 plasmid to recipients of different genera (p = 0.000047 ~0.042, Fig. 1b). SUC, ASP, and ACE-K at 300 mg/L caused a great increase in conjugative transfer, by 2.6- (p = 0.0000020), 4.1- (p = 0.000036), and 4.2-fold (p = 0.000019), respectively (Fig. 1b). It should be noted that the enhanced transfer frequencies were associated with the increased number of colonies on selective transconjugant plates, rather than decreased recipient numbers (Fig. S3).
To test whether conjugative transfer would be promoted by the tested compounds under clinical conditions, we used an IncA/C plasmid pMS6198A, which contains multiple clinically relevant resistance genes, in a uropathogenic E. coli strain isolated from a patient who suffered from a urinary tract infection to conduct a conjugation experiment (model II, donor E. coli K-12 MG1655 and recipient E. coli J53) in liquid culture at 37 °C. Similarly, a significant concentration-dependent increase (p = 0.00017 ~ 0.047, Fig. S4 and Table S3) in pMS6198A transfer was also observed upon exposure to all four sweeteners (Fig. 1c and Fig. S5). This is different from the result in which SAC failed to enhance both intra- and intergenus conjugative transfer of the RP4 plasmid under environmental conditions.
The successful transfer of donor plasmids (RP4 and pMS6198A) to recipients was confirmed by a series of analyses. The MIC levels for transconjugants (recipient with transferred plasmid) were comparable or even higher than those for their corresponding parents that were resistant to all antibiotics (Fig. S6). In addition, plasmid extraction and PCR amplification of related resistance genes showed that all the transconjugants contained the same type of plasmid as the donor did and harbored the corresponding ARGs (Fig. S7). Thus, profiling of all the transconjugants confirmed that the donor plasmid was transferred to the recipient cells and conferred antibiotic resistance.
To understand whether transconjugants were capable of transferring ARGs to other candidates, we performed a reverse conjugation experiment (model III, donor P. alloputida containing the RP4 plasmid and recipient E. coli K-12 MG1655; Methods and Text S1) for 8 h at room temperature. Interestingly, this reverse conjugative transfer occurred and it was enhanced by all nonnutritive sweeteners (p = 0.000033 ~ 0.036, Fig. 1d; Fig. S8 and S9). Specifically, similar to the result of pMS6198A transfer, SAC significantly increased RP4 plasmid transfer (p = 0.036). Thus, the transferred RP4 plasmid in transconjugants maintained its mobility and could be transferred to other potential recipients. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the tested four sweeteners promoted plasmid-mediated conjugation in both nonpathogenic and pathogenic strains.
Real-time visualization of conjugative plasmid transfer
The spread of ARGs by conjugation is a dynamic process. However, clear real-time visualization of the cellular dynamics of conjugative transfer has yet to be obtained. Specifically, little is known about whether nonnutritive sweeteners could speed up the transfer of conjugative plasmids at the single-cell level. To achieve this, we developed an experimental system that is capable of real-time visualization of RP4 plasmid transfer by conjugation at the single-cell level using a fluorescence labeling technique (Methods and Text S2). This method could be useful or inspirational to other ecological studies, such as evolution of antibiotic resistance at a community-wide level. Time-lapse microscopy images showed that in the control group (without the addition of any sweeteners), the RP4 plasmid was successfully transferred to the recipient after 5 min of contact (Fig. 2a; Movie S1). In contrast, under exposure to four sweeteners, the plasmid acquisition process was accelerated, and successful transfer was observed within 5 min (Fig. 2b; Movie S2). Moreover, the number of transconjugants within 150 min were significantly increased under exposure to the tested sweeteners compared to the control (Fig. 2c–g). This was also mathematically supported by single-cell quantitative analysis, which showed higher transfer rates (r) under exposure to the tested sweeteners than in the control (Fig. 2h). A 6.0-, 5.0-, 5.0-, and 7.0-fold increase of transfer rate was induced by SAC, SUC, ASP, and ACE-K, respectively. The fitted maximum number of transconjugants (Nm) showed a more than 2.0- to 4.0-fold increase under treatment with these sweeteners. These results further confirm that nonnutritive sweeteners promote plasmid-mediated conjugation at the single-cell level.
Nonnutritive sweeteners enhance ROS production and the SOS response
It has been reported that nonnutritive sweeteners can cause DNA damage and induce oxidative stress in bacteria . Thus, we measured ROS production in cells exposed to the tested sweeteners. Notably, in the strains treated with the sweeteners (except for SAC), concentration-dependent increase in ROS was detected (Fig. 3a–c; Fig. S10). For example, under treatment with the sweeteners (except SAC) at 300 mg/L, the relative fold change in ROS production in the donor E. coli K-12 LE392 increased 1.5-fold (p = 0.0010 ~ 0.0070, Fig. 3a). This increase was also observed when both the recipients E. coli K-12 MG1655 and P. alloputida were treated with these sweeteners (Fig. 3b, c). In contrast, exposure to the sweetener SAC did not result in any increase in ROS production in these donor and recipient strains. To further verify the promotion of ROS production by these compounds, thiourea, a scavenger of oxygen-free radicals [33, 34], was added to the mating system together with nonnutritive sweeteners. As expected, significant decrease in ROS production was detected in the three strains treated with SUC, ASP, and ACE-K after thiourea was added (Fig. S11).
To determine whether the increased production of ROS induced by these sweeteners promotes conjugative transfer, thiourea was added to both the intra- and intergenus conjugative systems, together with the sweeteners. Compared to the group without thiourea in both conjugative systems, addition of the scavenger caused no change in the conjugative transfer frequency in the SAC-treated group but significantly decreased the transfer frequency in the SUC-, ASP-, and ACE-K-treated groups (p = 0.000033 ~0.035, Fig. 3d, e). These results suggest that ROS production plays a significant role in the plasmid-mediated conjugation process.
Under oxidative stress caused by the tested sweeteners, bacterial defense may include changed expression of ROS-related genes (or ROS detoxification) as well as changed expression of SOS response-related genes. To track the expression of genes related to ROS production and the SOS response regulated by the tested sweeteners, the mRNA transcription level of genes from both the donor E. coli K-12 LE392 and recipient P. alloputida was measured. The transcripts for genes encoding enzymes involved in ROS detoxification in the donor were increased under exposure to the tested sweeteners (Fig. 3f; Table S4). For example, the gene encoding superoxide dismutase (sodA) exhibited a 1.3- (p = 0.032), 1.8- (p = 0.0052), and 1.8-fold (p = 0.0023) increase in expression in the donor treated with SUC, ASP, and ACE-K, respectively. Accordingly, an SOS response was detected in the donor after exposure to these sweeteners (Fig. 3f; Table S5). Increased transcription was detected for the genes sulA (1.3- to 1.6-fold change, p = 0.0040 ~ 0.036) and umuC (1.6- to 2.1-fold change, p = 0.014 ~ 0.040) after treatment with the three sweeteners. We also found increased expression of ROS detoxification- and SOS response-related genes in recipients treated with SUC, ASP, and ACE-K (Fig. 3g; Tables S6 and S7). In contrast, SAC treatment did not result in significant regulation of the genes mentioned above in the donor or recipient.
It is apparent that SUC, ASP, and ACE-K increased ROS production in both intra- and intergenus conjugative systems, whereas SAC did not induce any change in ROS production in the strains tested. We propose that nonnutritive sweeteners induced ROS overproduction and increased ROS detoxification, and correspondingly stimulated oxidative stress responses (the SOS response) in the strains, eventually contributing to the promotion of intra- and intergenus conjugative transfer.
Nonnutritive sweeteners increased cell membrane permeability
It is worth noting that addition of the scavenger thiourea did not completely reverse the increase in the frequency of conjugative transfer caused by sweeteners (i.e., SUC, ASP, and ACE-K). For example, after addition of thiourea to the mating system that was exposed to 300 mg/L ACE-K, the frequency of conjugative intragenus transfer was (3.5 ± 0.4) × 10–4 transconjugants per recipient cell, which was still significantly (p = 0.0090) higher than the value for the control ((2.0 ± 0.3) × 10–4 transconjugants per recipient cell, Fig. 3d). This indicated that ROS production is not the only mechanism for conjugation.
Bacterial cell membranes act as a barrier against horizontal transfer of ARGs , and the permeability of this barrier could play a significant role in the transport of substances into or outside of cells. Therefore, we tested whether nonnutritive sweeteners could change the cell membrane permeability. To examine this concept, we treated both the donor E. coli LE392 and the two recipients (E. coli K-12 MG1655 and P. alloputida) with different concentrations of the four sweeteners. After 2 h of treatment, the cell membrane permeability was increased by up to 3.7-fold (p = 0.000047 ~ 0.0019) in the donor by all the sweeteners (300 mg/L) except SAC (Fig. 4a; Fig. S12). This increase was also observed in the two recipients treated with all sweeteners (Fig. 4b, c), exhibiting an increase of up to 1.5- and 1.6-fold, respectively (p = 0.0010 ~ 0.028), under exposure to all tested sweeteners at 300 mg/L. In addition, we found that SAC, together with the other three sweeteners, significantly increased the permeability of another donor strain, E. coli K-12 MG1655 (p = 0.00024 ~ 0.0082, Fig. S13a). Similar results were also found for the permeability of the recipient strain E. coli J53 (p = 0.000088 ~ 0.0074, Fig. S13b).
Our results showed that the SAC failed to enhance ARG transfer from E. coli LE392 to either E. coli K-12 MG1655 and P. alloputida but enhanced conjugative transfer between E. coli K-12 MG1655 and E. coli J53, as well as between the strain P. alloputida containing the RP4 plasmid and the strain E. coli K-12 MG1655 (i.e., reverse conjugation). This raises the question of whether the permeability of the donor or recipient (or both) is important for conjugative transfer. To this end, we performed different pre-exposure to separately increase the cell membrane permeability of the donor (E. coli LE392) and two recipients (E. coli K-12 MG1655 and P. alloputida) before mixing for conjugation experiments (Text S3; Table S8). We treated each strain with 3 mg/L SUC, which significantly increased the permeability of the donor and recipient (Fig. 4a–c). The results showed that there was no significant change in conjugation frequency when the recipients were pre-exposed to SUC (p = 0.078 ~ 0.19, Fig. 4d, e; Fig. S14). This indicates that the increased permeability of the recipient did not guarantee enhanced conjugative transfer. In contrast, both intra- and intergenus conjugation frequencies were significantly (p = 0.00000000034 ~ 0.040) promoted when the permeability of the donor was significantly increased. Overall, these results indicate that cell membrane permeability is positively mediated by nonnutritive sweeteners in mating systems and that donor permeability plays a more critical role than recipient permeability in the conjugation process.
We tested whether genes that mediate membrane permeability at the molecular level were upregulated in the donor and recipient (P. alloputida) after treatment with the tested sweeteners at 3 mg/L. Genes related to cell membrane permeability in both donor and recipient cells were upregulated after exposure to the tested sweeteners (Fig. 4f, g). For instance, fecA, which encodes an outer membrane transporter, and ybgE, which encodes an inner membrane protein, were significantly upregulated (1.5- to 7.0-fold (p = 0.0020 ~0.037) and up to 2.7-fold (p = 0.0060 ~0.044), respectively, Table S9) in the donor cells treated with SUC, ASP, and ACE-K (Fig. 4f). In contrast, SAC did not induce significant changes in the expression of cell membrane-related genes in the donor. These findings are consistent with the results showing that all sweeteners, except SAC, increased the membrane permeability of the donor. Nevertheless, cell membrane-related genes in the SAC-treated recipient showed increased expression, as seen in the other sweetener-treated recipient groups (Fig. 4g; Table S10).
These results confirm that the tested sweeteners increased the expression of cell membrane-related genes, and then increased the cell membrane permeability of the donors or both parents to promote the conjugative transfer of plasmids between strains.
Nonnutritive sweeteners upregulate the expression of conjugation-related genes on the RP4 plasmid
The process of conjugative transfer mediated by the RP4 plasmid requires the regulation of global regulatory genes and conjugative transfer-related genes [35, 36]. After treatment with 3 mg/L SUC, ASP, and ACE-K, we found that the core global regulatory gene korC was repressed in comparison with the control group. Accordingly, the conjugative transfer regulator gene traG (which connects the relaxosome and mating pair formation complex) and DNA transfer and replication (Dtr) genes traC1 and traC2 exhibited increased expression compared with the mRNA expression detected in the control group (Fig. 5). During the conjugation process, the plasmid is thought to be transferred via a pilin bridge between donor and recipient cells . The expression levels of pilin formation-related genes, including traA, traB, traF, and trap, were also upregulated in the sweetener-treated groups (Fig. 5). These genes also contribute to the formation of the mating pair formation (Mpf) system. For example, compared to the control, mRNA expression of gene traB (encoding a conjugative transfer protein) was significantly upregulated by more than 1.5- (p = 0.0046), 1.4- (p = 0.047), and 2.1-fold (p = 0.000050) under exposure to SUC, ASP, and ACE-K, respectively (Fig. 5a; Table S11). Together, these results reveal that these sweeteners (except for SAC) cause increased mRNA expression levels of genes related to RP4 plasmid transfer and replication (Dtr genes) and then promote the formation of the pilus channel in the Mpf system to allow RP4 plasmid transfer from the donor to the recipient.
The conjugation process also requires direct cell-to-cell contact. This can be achieved by the periplasmic pilin of donor cells. In the donor E. coli K-12 strain, pili operons have been found to play roles in cell adhesion and colonization . In the present study, the expression of genes in these adhesion-relevant operons was upregulated. For example, the expression of gene ecpA was upregulated by 1.8- (p = 0.035), 4.2- (p = 0.0070), and 2.1-fold (p = 0.033) after treatment with SUC, ASP, and ACE-K, respectively (Fig. 5b; Table S12).
Based on the three established conjugation models and a real-time dynamic conjugation system at the single-cell level, our work for the first time demonstrates that four commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners can promote ARG transfer by conjugation at environmentally and clinically relevant concentrations. Multiple pieces of evidence were gathered, including from measurement of ROS production, cell membrane permeability, and whole-genome RNA sequencing analysis, to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. These measurements, coupled with the real-time dynamic analysis of conjugation process, enable the identification of key factors in HGT and quantitative estimates of the extent of HGT in diverse microbial communities. Although the enhanced conjugative frequency could be significantly decreased after adding the scavenger thiourea, nonnutritive sweetener (SUC, ASP, and ACE-K)-treated groups still showed higher frequencies of conjugative transfer than the control group. These results suggest that ROS production induced by nonnutritive sweeteners plays a significant role in the promotion of conjugative transfer but is not the only underlying mechanism.
As a permeable barrier controlling the entry of extracellular substances, the cell membrane also plays a role in the conjugative transfer of ARGs [12, 38, 39]. Our results demonstrate that in addition to increased ROS production, cell membrane permeability, especially that of the donor, also plays an important role in the conjugative transfer frequency of the RP4 plasmid. Specifically, SAC increased the cell membrane permeability of both recipients (E. coli MG1655 and P. alloputida) but failed to increase that of the donor E. coli LE392. This might be why SAC did not increase the conjugative transfer frequency of the RP4 plasmid in mating model I. In contrast, SAC can increase the conjugative transfer frequency of the RP4 plasmid (reverse conjugation), the GFP-labeled RP4 plasmid in P. alloputida, and the pMS6198A plasmid, since the cell membrane permeability of the donor P. alloputida (Fig. 4c) or E. coli K-12 MG1655 (Fig. S13a) increased significantly. We further verified this hypothesis, based on experiments, with the exposure of different donors and recipients to nonnutritive sweeteners. When the permeability of the donor was increased but that of the recipient was not, conjugative transfer was significantly promoted. In contrast, when the permeability of the recipients was increased but that of the donor was not, both intra- and intergenus conjugative transfer showed insignificant changes. It has been reported that in the transfer of ARGs, donors with high expression of the conjugation machinery were shown to be associated with low-receptivity recipients . Thus, the increased permeability of the donor may cause increased ARG transfer to the recipient and result in increased conjugative transfer frequency.
As aforementioned, we suggest that the mechanisms (Fig. 6) underlying the tested sweetener-promoted conjugative transfer include increased ROS production and detoxification, and increased cell membrane permeability of the parent bacteria. In addition, the tested sweeteners promote increased expression levels of conjugative transfer-related genes and activate plasmid DNA processing (Tra1) and mating pair formation (Mpf or Tra2) to enhance the intercellular transfer of the RP4 plasmid through a pilus channel.
As the environment and human gut system are reservoirs of various microbes, the emergence of nonnutritive sweeteners can be a driving force to shape these microbial communities. Specifically, nonnutritive sweeteners might play a significant role in the dissemination of ARG transfer in both environmental and clinical settings.
In the environmental setting, although various techniques, including adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, and biological treatment, are used to remove nonnutritive sweeteners, the removal efficiency of these sweeteners is generally low (less than 30%) [41,42,43]. We also found that nonnutritive sweeteners used were metabolically resistant to the tested bacterial strains (p = 0.062 ~ 0.700; see in Text S4; Fig. S15). Noticeably, the concentrations of nonnutritive sweeteners used in this study were environmentally relevant (e.g., 0.03 ~ 3 mg/L) . Moreover, previous studies found that WWTPs served as hotspots harboring antibiotic- resistant bacteria (ARB) and ARGs due to HGT among indigenous bacterial species [45, 46]. Upon exposure to these compounds, it is reasonable to assume that the transfer frequency of ARGs would be promoted in WWTPs. In addition, our results show that the ARGs on the RP4 plasmid from transconjugants can also be transferred to other candidates (Fig. 1d) and the transfer rate can be facilitated by the four commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners (Fig. 2). It is possible that these sweeteners could cause a cascading spread of ARGs in the WWTPs, thus facilitating increased development of antibiotic resistance in downstream environmental bacteria. However, it should be noted that our work highlighted the results of conjugation between pure cultures. Further studies could be carried out to test whether these sweeteners could promote conjugation in mixed culture-based systems (e.g., activated sludge). In addition, our work highlighted the results of an acute exposure (~8 h) to the tested four sweeteners, rather than a chronic exposure. Considering that these compounds are being soaringly consumed and can exist in the environment for a long period, a chronic exposure to the tested sweeteners may induce an accumulative effect on the spread of antibiotic resistance, as antibiotics or heavy metals did [47,48,49]. Thus, it is meaningful and necessary to study the long-term effect of these sweeteners at lower concentrations (e.g., ng/L) on the spread of antibiotic resistance.
On the other hand, our work provided evidence that the four commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners (at 3 mg/L or above) significantly promoted conjugative transfer of plasmid pMS6198A that was isolated from the urine of a patient suffering from UTI (Fig. 1c). Considering that the concentrations of the tested sweeteners can be higher than 30 mg/L in urine , our result indicates that these nonnutritive sweeteners might enhance plasmid conjugation in the human urinary system. In addition, it is estimated that the human gut microbiota is composed of as many as 1014 bacteria , which are involved in multiple interactions relevant to host health and serve as a transporter and even a reservoir of ARGs . In fact, the levels of consumed nonnutritive sweeteners in the human gastrointestinal tract are likely to be far higher than the ones used in the present study [20, 21]. The highest concentration (300 mg/L) of these compounds is also within the dosage range for average daily intake (i.e., 5 mg/kg/d sucralose) suggested for an individual with a body weight of 60 kg by the U.S. FDA and is also lower than the threshold concentrations (>1000 mg/L) regulated by the Codex General Standard for Food Additives (CODEX STAN 192-1995). Moreover, our study did in vitro assays of plasmid conjugation driven by the tested sweeteners in PBS or LB media, which were not totally clinically relevant to the human urinary and gut system conditions. In the future, it is worthwhile to validate whether these nonnutritive sweeteners could promote conjugative plasmid transfer in animal or human gut microbiomes, which will provide more concrete evidence.
Collectively, the findings of the present study provide evidence that four commonly used nonnutritive sweeteners can promote the horizontal transfer of ARGs via conjugation in both environmental and clinical settings. The establishment of a real-time dynamic analysis of conjugation process in this study will advance the ecological studies such as the spread of AMR in diverse conditions. Considering the substantial application of these sweeteners in food industry (over 117,000 metric tons globally consumed per year), our findings are a wake-up call to start evaluating the potential antibiotic-like roles induced by nonnutritive sweeteners. In vivo assays could be further applied to test whether nonnutritive sweeteners are able to promote conjugation in human urinary and gut systems in the long-term run.
All RNA sequencing data have been deposited to the Gene Expression Omnibus of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and are accessible through the GEO series (GSE139245).
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This study was financially supported through Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT170100196) awarded to JG and the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards. ZY also thanks UQ Research Training Scholarship for the financial support. We thank Dr. Uli. Klümper (Technical University Dresden) for sharing GFP-labeled strains and Prof Mark Schembri (The University of Queensland) for the donation of pMS6198A plasmid and E. coli J53 strain. We also thank Dr. Michael Nefedov (The University of Queensland) for flow cytometer analysis, Dr. Likai Mao (The University of Queensland) for assisting with mRNA data analysis, Mr. Nigel Dawson and Nathan Clayton (The University of Queensland) for quantitative LC–MS analysis of nonnutritive sweeteners, and Dr. Steven Mason (The University of Queensland) for microscopy and imaging.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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Yu, Z., Wang, Y., Lu, J. et al. Nonnutritive sweeteners can promote the dissemination of antibiotic resistance through conjugative gene transfer. ISME J 15, 2117–2130 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-00909-x
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Help with substance abuse problems
Nearly all treatment related to alcohol, drug or medicine abuse is based on the voluntary consent of the care recipient. The treatment is always confidential.
You can book an appointment at a health centre, municipal substance abuse services, such as an A-Clinic or a substance abuse clinic, occupational health care services or private services for substance abusers. You will usually need to be referred to inpatient treatment.
If you are at school or studying, contact your school health nurse, student health care provider or municipal youth services, such as a youth station.
You can also ask for advice by calling the National Crisis Hotline or the telephone service of the EHYT Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention. You can also search for instructions online at the websites of Mentalhub or the A-Clinic Foundation.
If you are worried about the situation of an intoxicated person, you should directly contact the emergency response centre.
A large amount of alcohol can lead to the paralysis of bodily functions. Nausea and vomiting can predict alcohol poisoning, as the body is attempting to remove alcohol from the stomach. The person's control of their thinking, speech, movement and balance is reduced and they can no longer take care of themselves. The person loses consciousness.
You must attempt to wake up a person who has passed out and try and find out how much alcohol they have drunk by asking the person or those who have spent time with them. If you suspect alcohol poisoning, contact health care emergency services or the emergency response centre, as alcohol poisoning is always life-threatening. You must not leave a passed out person alone.
You can find out for your family member or friend what kind of substance abuse treatment is available for them and make it as easy as possible for them to seek treatment.
As a parent, you are responsible for the alcohol, drug or medicine abuse of your under-aged child. Intervene in the situation as early as possible. Every municipality must refer the young person to services that can help them. Some municipalities offer substance abuse services especially aimed at young people.
The loved ones of substance abusers can also get counselling to support their personal coping. For example, your municipality's substance abuse services or different organisations offer counselling.
A person may be ordered to undergo treatment if they behave violently, if there is an immediate risk to their life or if their substance use is seriously endangering their health. A person may be committed to treatment based on a health hazard for the maximum of five days. Involuntary treatment measures are rare.
Substance abuse rehabilitation is arranged as outpatient and inpatient care. Detoxification and rehabilitation aim at stopping substance abuse and helping the patient with their withdrawal symptoms. Social support and psychosocial treatment and rehabilitation is provided in addition to the detoxification and rehabilitation. Sometimes simply sorting out the person's situation will bring sufficient help. Issues related to the person's housing and income are discussed.
If the services provided in outpatient care are not enough, the treatment or rehabilitation is continued as inpatient care or rehabilitation. Detoxification can take place in outpatient care or an inpatient facility. Detoxification typically takes between a few days to a week or two.
You must receive first aid and urgent care immediately. In non-urgent cases, you must receive care in primary health care within three months.
Every resident of Finland is entitled to access the services organised by the municipality. The costs for inpatient treatment are paid for by your employer, municipality or you personally. If you use private services for substance abusers, you will personally pay the costs.
AA groups, A Guilds and NA groups provide peer support to substance abuse rehabilitation patients. There are hundreds of different AA groups in Finland. The most important goal of the group members is to achieve sobriety and help others in achieving theirs. AA has a national helpline and many local telephone lines.
A Guilds provide peer support and intoxicant-free activities in local communities and generally carry out collaboration with the social and health services at the municipalities.
NA, or Narcotics Anonymous, is an association that provides groups in which those who wish to give up drugs can meet and offer peer support to one another. NA is not affiliated with the authorities or health care professionals. The association organises meetings in all large towns and has a helpline.
Al-Anon and Alateen provide peer support for those suffering from the alcohol use of their loved one. The Al-Anon groups are intended for the families and friends of those with alcohol problems. Alateen is a peer support organisation connected to Al-Anon that is particularly aimed at young people aged 10–20.
Peer support is also available online for both substance abusers and their family and friends, for example on the Addictionlink.fi website. | <urn:uuid:a5e212a3-0a97-489e-8c86-0d41a03c86ce> | {
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Squaring the Square
N 1936, FOUR STUDENTS AT TRINITY COLLEGE, Cambridge-Brooks, Smith, Stone, and Tutte--considered the problem of cutting up a rectangle into squares of unequal size (no two alike). It was known, at that time, that a rectangle 32 by 33 could be "squared" as shown in Figure 7.1.
Stone became particularly interested in trying to prove that it was impossible to cut a given square into unequal squares. While not able to do this, he did discover a squaring of another rectangle (see Figure 7.2).
One way of attacking the problem of finding rectangles that can be squared is to make a sketch of a proposed partition into squares, labelling the edge-length of each square, writing down all the relations that the edge-lengths must satisfy in order to fit into the rectangle, and solving the system of equations thus obtained.
We shall carry this out for some examples. Instead of carrying as many unknowns as there are squares in the subdivision, we shall try to label neighbouring squares so that they fit together in the sketch; thus we shall have fewer unknowns to eliminate later.
In Figure 7.3, we label the neighbouring squares x, y and z, as shown. Then it is easy to label the remaining squares in the order
x + y, 2x + y, y - z, y - 2z, y - 3z, 2y - 5z.
Next, we obtain relations between our unknowns; for example, we can equate the lengths of opposite sides of the containing rectangle The horizontal sides yield
2x + y + x + y = 2y - 5z + y - 2z + y - z,
that is, (1)
3z - 2y + 8z = 0;
and the vertical sides yield
2y - 5z + 2x + y = y - z + y + x + y,
x - 4z = 0.
x = 4z and Y = 10Z.
We observe that if we set z = 1, we obtain the tiling shown in Figure 7.1; if we set z equal to any other positive quantity, we obtain the same configuration, blown up (or shrunk) by the factor z. If we prescribe the length of the horizontal edge, say 64", then z would be 2" and the figure would be completely determined.
In Figure 7.4, two unknowns, x and y, suffice to express the edgelengths of all compartments.
Equating the lengths of the horizontal sides of the containing rectangle, we obtain
9x - 5y + 6x - 2y = 2x + 5y + x + 2y + x + y + 2x + y,
that is, 9x - 16y = 0, whence (3) X 16 -- = -- Y 9
The values x = 16, y = 9 yield Stone's tiling of the 177 X 176 rectangle (see Figure 7.2), and other values satisfying (3) would give a similar figure.
To show that such schemes do not always yield feasible results, we give another example.
Starting with x and y as shown in Figure 7.5, we can label the other squares
X + Y, 2x + y, 3x + y;
and equating lengths of the vertical borders, we get
2x + y + 3x + y=x + y + y
our middle square turns out to be a point and the remaining four squares axe equal. We have merely quartered the given rectangle, which must have been a square!
Our examples indicate that the system of linear equations we get from an arbitrary sketch of a partition seems to have a unique solution (except for a scaling factor), although the solution is not necessarily geometrically feasible. It could happen, for example, that some of the edge-lengths turn out to be negative, and that would not make sense in the context of our tiling problem.From our previous experience with systems of linear equations we know that there may be too many equations (in which case there is no solution) or there may be too few (in which case there are infinitely many solutions) or the number of equations may bejust right, that is, they are satisfied by exactly one set of numbers. In all our examples, the number of equations obtained by prescribing the length of one pair of edges of the containing rectangle, but not the length of the other, was just right; i.e., each system had a unique solution. Was this just a happy accident? We shall show, by appealing to electrical network theory, that a system of linear equations obtained from a sketched partition always has a unique solution.
To make things more precise, consider a given subdivision of a rectangle into squares. With respect to each horizontal segment of the partition (see Figure 7.6) we have a relation
a + b = c + d + e
telling us that the sum of the lengths of the edges of squares bordering the segment on one side is equal to the sum of the lengths of the edges of squares bordering the segment on the other side. We shall call all such relations horizontal compatibility relations. Similarly, the analogous relations obtained from vertical segments will be called vertical compatibility relations. Clearly, the set of all compatibility relations forms a system S of linear equations.
THEOREM. If one of the two dimensions of a partitioned rectangle is prescribed, the system S of compatibility relations always has a unique Solution (though not necessarily geometrically meaningful).
Imagine that the rectangle is a plate of uniform thickness made of some conducting metal. Suppose all points of the upper edge of the rectangle were given the same electric potential V, and all points on the lower edge had a lower constant potential V'. (This could be accomplished by coating these edges with some perfect conductor.) Because of the prescribed potential difference V - V', there will be a steady flow of current through the rectangle, in the vertical direction. The rate at which electrons cross over a horizontal interval is proportional to the length of that interval. Thus, if I is the current crossing over a horizontal interval of unit length, then the current flowing across an interval of length I is 11. The resistance of such a rectangle to electric current is directly proportional to its vertical height L (to the distance the current must traverse) and inversely proportional to its horizontal width W (the distance along which the current may enter); i.e., resistance = (RL/W). Thus, if the rectangle happens to be a square (L = W ), then its resistance is R and does not depend on the size of the square.
Now suppose that such a current-carrying rectangle has been partitioned into squares. Since the flow is vertical (there is no flow in the horizontal direction), we may cut through vertical segments without interfering with the current. Now regard the cut-up plate as a network where the constituent squares are identified with conducting wires and where horizontal segments axe identified with points, or vertices at which the conducting wires meet. (See Figure 7.7, where the vertices A, B, - - . in the network correspond to horizontal segments at levels a, b, . . . of the rectangle, wires AB, AC, correspond to squares extending from levels a to b, a to c,
The magnitude of the current flowing through each wire is proportional to the length of the side of the square represented by that wire.
The law of conservation of current states that, at each vertex of the graph, the total amount of current flowing in equals the total amount of current flowing out. For example, the vertex C (corresponding to the horizontal segment at level c) receives current tI + wl through wires AC and BC (corresponding to squares t and w) and C loses current xI + zI through wires CD and CE (corresponding to squares x and z). The law cited above yields the relation
t + w = X + z
which is just one of our horizontal compatibility relations.
Since current flows in at the upper edge of the plate, moves down vertically and flows out at the lower edge, we see that every point at the same horizontal level is at the same potential, and points at higher horizontal levels have higher potentials than points at lower horizontal levels. According to Ohm's law, the difference in potential between two Points of the network joined by a wire is equal to the product of the current through that wire and the resistance offered by it. For example, the Potential difference between B said C (representing levels b and c of the plate) is wI x R (wI being the current entering at the upper edge of the square w, and R the resistance of any square; see p. 52). Moreover, the potential difference is additive; that is, if A and D are two vertices in the network connected by a path AB, BD through B, then the difference in potentials between A and D is the sum of the differences in potentials between A, B and B, D: sI.R + vI.R in our illustration. As a consequence, for any closed path in the
network, say ABDCA, the corresponding sum is zero+, and for any two paths from the same beginning point to the same end point, the corresponding sums are the same. Thus for ABD and ACD, we have
sI.R + vI-R = tI.R + xl.R
which reduces to
s + V = I + X.
This is one of our vertical compatibility relations.
The law of conservation of current and Ohm's law yield a system of linear equations equivalent to the system S of compatibility relations. Now it seems plausible that if a difference in potential is prescribed for a network such as ours (say the potentials at vertices A and E are given, or equivalently, at the top and bottom edges of the plate) then the current flowing in each wire is determined. This, in fact, is the content of the celebrated theorem by Kirchhoff:
If a potential difference between any two points of a network is prescribed, then the laws of conservation and Ohm determine -uniquely the flow in each wire.
Since these physical laws axe equivalent with the geometrical compatibility relations (the prescribed potential difference corresponding to the vertical dimension of the rectangle), the assertion that the system S has a unique solution (see p. 52) is seen to be just a corollary of Kirchhoff's theorem.
A rigorous proof of Kirchhoff's theorem is beyond the scope of this essay.$
Let us now re-examine the problem of partitioning a rectangle into squares.
First we note that a solution of the linear system S may include
non-positive quantities. These cannot be made to correspond to lengths of sides
of subdivision squares, so such solutions of the system S are not solutions
of the tiling problem.
We might try to attack the rectangle-tiling problem by first devising a systematic method of enumerating all possible partitions into n squares and letting the integer n increase. We might then solve the system S for each partition and discard all partitions with geometrically non-feasible solutions. Even among the feasible solutions, many would be uninteresting (i.e., partitions into equal squares, etc.). Requirements such as (a) no two squares in the partition may be congruent, or (b) the partitioned rectangle may not contain a smaller rectangle, impose further conditions on the solutions of S. Perhaps we can approach the problem simultaneously from the other direction; that is, weed out all networks about which we know a priori that the solutions of the associated system S are either geometrically not feasible or produce unwanted partitions of types (a) or (b) above.t
A squaring or tiling in which no two squares are the same size is said to be "perfect". Tutte and his friends were chiefly after perfect tilings. They wanted to find a "perfect square", that is, a square with a perfect tiling. All their results involved non-square rectangles. And so they began to think that a perfect square did not exist. However, in 1939 Roland Sprague of Berlin found one, and, since then, many others have been discovered.
Attention was then turned to finding the perfect square with the smallest number of squares in it (i.e., of lowest order). The record to date is one of order 24, found by an amateur mathematician, T. H. Willcocks of Bristol, England. (See Figure 7.8.)
Figure 7.8 (Compound) perfect square of order 24.
A tiling tiling is said to be "simple" if the arrangement of the squares does not form any smaller squared rectangle inside the original. Willcocks' perfect square is compound, not simple. Accordingly, attention was focussed on the simple perfect square of lowest order. Until recently, Willcocks also held this record with a square of order 37. However, in. 1964 Dr. John Wilson of the University of Waterloo (a student of Tutte), using an electronic computer, found one of order 25 (see Figure 7.9), and he is the record-holder at present.
It has been shown, using computers, that there is no perfect square of order less than 20, simple or otherwise. Consequently, there is not much room for improvement in the above records.
So many perfect squares have been found that experts in the field suspect that tiled rectangles of unequal sides are the harder to come by.
We close this essay with the following easy-to-prove theorem: It is impossible to fill a rectangular box with a finite number of unequal cubes.
Figure 7.9. Simple perfect square of order 25
Proof: Any successful packing of the box provides a perfect tiling of the bottom of the box by those cubes which rest on the bottom. Now the smallest cube S among those lining the bottom certainly could not touch an upright side of the box; for then there would have to be an even smaller one touching the bottom. (See Figure 7.10.)
Figure 7.10. View of bottom rectangle of the box.
This smallest cube on the bottom, being out in the middle part of the bottom, must be bordered on every side by a bigger cube (it is the smallest). Its upper surface, then, is completely walled in; see Figure 7.11. In order to cover this upper surface, even smaller cubes must be used.
Among the cubes on the upper surface of S, the smallest, again occurring in the middle part, is surrounded by bigger ones. Consequently, even smaller ones still must occur in a third layer on the top of this walled-in cube. This argument continues without end, implying that there is no end to the number of cubes that must be employed.
Prove that there exists some rectangle which can be tiled into N unequal squares for each value of N greater than 8, i.e., for N = 9, 10, 11, . . .
In tiling an equilateral triangle with unequal equilateral triangles, prove:
(b) the smallest
tile, T, touching the top of S meets the top of S in just
(c) Does this lead to an endless tower of little triangles, providing a proof of the theorem "it is impossible to tile an equilateral triangle with unequal equilateral triangles (no two alike)", which was first proved by Tutte around 1948?
+ Some headway in this direction has been made, for example, by applying Euler's formula to the graphs of our networks.
+ A path in our network leads from a vertex along an edge in the direction of a next vertex, etc. We take these directions into account by using signed quantities in this sum. For example, A C corresponds to tI, and CA corresponds to - 11.
$The interested reader may look it up, for example, in R, E. Scott, Elements of Linear Circuits, Addison-Wesley, 1965, Reading, Mass.
J. Bouwkamp, On the Dissection of Rectangles into Squares, Kon. Ned.
Ak. van Wet.,
1946, Vol. 49, pp. 1176-1188; 1947, Vol. 50, pp. 1296-1299. | <urn:uuid:24058c70-47ea-44ab-8d33-27423201c00c> | {
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In 1980 Francis Shaeffer and J. P. Moreland published a book entitled “He Is There and He Is Not Silent”. The title of that work suggested something profound about the existence of God and his self-disclosure.
There are of course, many things about God and his ways that he has chosen not to reveal. But God has not been silent about gender roles. His actions have been recorded, his commands have been preserved and at least some of his reasons have been revealed. Taken together, these move us toward a theology of gender roles.
We begin this discussion by noting that the bible as a whole treats the Genesis account of creation as an historical record. It is neither myth nor metaphor. Luke’s genealogy traces the ancestry of Jesus back to the first man Adam who was not an imaginary figure.
One can scarcely begin to read the bible before coming to the creation of Man. The scriptures affirm that God created a single humanity, composed of two people with two distinct genders each of whom was made in the image of God. Genesis chapter two expands this story, explaining that God made the man first and then made the woman from a body-part of the man (Genesis 2, 1st Tim. 2:13). Once created, the woman was brought to the man and presented to him as a companion and a wife. Adam called her ‘woman’ for she was taken from man (Gen. 2).
Now when we first read this, there do not appear to be any self-evident conclusions. The bare facts do not really speak for themselves. The theological significance of the order of creation emerges only as we read further. It becomes quickly apparent that Adam is in charge. By giving her a name, Adam relates from a position of leadership and headship. God reinforced that headship by making what had been implicit, explicit, reminding Eve that despite her desire to the contrary, her husband would rule over her (Gen. 3:16).
The apostle Paul explained the significance of the creation order by stating that the man is the head of the woman, for the man was not made for the woman but the woman for the man. For the man was not made from the woman but the woman from the man (1st Cor. 11:3, 9). God gave Adam authority over his wife and that aspect of the husband-wife relationship remains in place.( Eph. 5:23 1st Pet. 3:1)
What Paul means to say is that God did this deliberately. It did not happen because He was inattentive or somehow distracted. God did precisely what he set out to do. He created a single humanity made up of two separate people, two distinct genders for which he had in mind two distinctly separate roles. He signaled this by creating one first and then the other.
The Old Testament consistently reflects this headship in the covenants and ordinances of God. Men were called to act as the head of their families and to lead in spiritual matters.
This arrangement persists as we enter the New Testament. When God came to earth in human form, he came as a man. When Jesus chose those who would lay the foundation for the church he chose twelve men from among his disciples to serve as apostles. (Matt. 10:1-4, Luke 6:12-16, Mark 3:13-18). When the apostles organized the church according to the will of Jesus, they appointed men to serve as evangelists, elders, deacons and teachers. When the gospel came to the egalitarian culture of Greece, the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian church about the headship of the man and the distinct leadership roles given to men and not to women. (1st Cor. 11:1-17, 14:34-40). He repeated these instructions to Timothy, serving in a very different culture in Asia. (1st Tim. 2:8-15) The roles that Paul identified applied equally to the church in each and every culture of the ancient world. (1st Cor. 11:16)1. Paul makes it clear that distinct gender roles find their source and parallel in the makeup of the godhead and in God’s plan for our salvation. (1st Cor.11:3)
The fact is that the order of God’s creation cannot be undone. Nor can the theological significance of this creation-order be removed from scripture. To do so does great violence to the Biblical doctrine of Man and even greater violence to the doctrine of the Godhead.
The scriptures teach that there is one and only one God. They further affirm that there are three members of the godhead. These are identified for us as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. All are equally God. All are equal in essence and being. Theirs’ is a shared divinity whose sum is; one God.
What emerges within scripture as further revelation about God is that the persons of the godhead have voluntarily assumed distinct and separate roles. These roles predate creation and remain beyond The Judgment. They act as bookends for our existence2.
There are three prominent features attending these divine roles.
- The first is organizational. The godhead functions as a hierarchy. God the Father has had authority over God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Thus, the father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. And God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to empower the Son and to indwell His people. The Son in turn sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within and to be with his people. Though equally divine, these three do not act – for the present – from a position of equal authority.
- The second thing about these roles is that they have been voluntarily entered into. Jesus agreed to the incarnation. He agreed to submit to the Father while on earth.
- There is every indication that these roles are not interchangeable. God the Father has at no time ever been the Son or fulfilled the role of the Son. In Gethsemane, the Son did not implore the Father to change places with him. All three persons of the godhead have been true to their roles no matter the cost.
It is reasonable therefore to conclude, that at the very core – at the very essence of the being of God, there is a nature of humility and condescension. No one could have suspected it. There is no apparent reason why God should be humble. Nor can we conceive why it could ever be right for God to submit. What we learn from the godhead is a unique truth about God that is found nowhere else.
While the doctrine of the godhead is 2000 years old, it is hard to find anyone marching in the streets, demanding equal rights for the Son. The theological form that this protest is taking is to deny the doctrine of the godhead altogether. After all, one cannot reasonably worship a god of submission and humility while promoting ‘egalitarianism’. What is truly alarming is that this denial has even surfaced within the churches of Christ.
The bible teaches, that what God is in his essence and in the godhead, is reflected in creation. There is only one God and only a single humanity. But being made in the image of God also suggests that mankind must reflect the truth about the godhead. To that end, God has made a distinction between men and women from the very beginning, giving to each a uniquely separate role. He served notice of this by creating one first and then the other. Like the roles of the godhead, human roles cannot be exchanged. They are God’s doing and not our own.
Denying that such roles exist denies the essential truth about God. It disowns the God who in three persons created the world. It is ashamed of the God who from eternity purposed to save us from sin by taking upon himself our humanity. And it renounces the God who condescends to dwell within us, sent by both the Father and Son. The great irony is that God is willing to do what we are not.
Should the church renounce these roles it will cease to reflect the true nature of the godhead. The writers of the New Testament knew this and made it very clear that in God’s new creation, the roles of men and women have not changed.
We are very much aware that the world is watching us. The great danger is that we will be embarrassed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and decide to preach another. The great privilege remains for us to conform to the image of God himself, honoring him from within the roles that He has given.
This alone puts the wisdom of God on display. It elevates God’s will above our own and invites the world to ask why? To which we must reply “I’m glad you asked; let me tell you about my God”.
1 These roles should therefore never be confused with or compared to those things that human beings have put in place within culture. God created Mankind (male & female) in his own image. Male and female he created them. He did not create women with veils on nor did he create some men as masters or others as slaves. The presence or absence of these human practices has no bearing on the subject of God-given roles for men and women.
2 The Apostle Paul states that all (created) things are from God the father for whom we exist and all things are through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we exist (1st Cor. 8:6). John expresses this same distinction between the roles of God (the Father) and the Word (the Son) in John 1:1-3. The separate roles of Father and Son predate creation. 1st Corinthians 15:28 explains that at the end of time, “The Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Having ruled and reigned until he has put every enemy under his feet, the Son will hand the kingdom over to the Father, placing himself in subjection again to the Father. No terminal point to the fatherhood of God or the son-ship of Jesus is indicated in this text.
Editor’s Note: this article was first published in the Gospel Herald in the December issue in 2007 and is being republished with the encouragement that congregationss who have dismissed or downgraded the significance of Biblical gender roles will reconsider these in light of their theological roots. | <urn:uuid:cefdc5de-a086-46d1-9b94-de2a32e8d7d2> | {
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Smartplanet is reporting that current models of 3D printers are emitting concerning quantities of ultrafine particles (UFPs). The news comes on the back of a recent study in Atmospheric Environment on the topic. The study reported emission ranges of 20–200 billion UFPs per minute, depending on the feedstock used.
These levels of emissions are a cause for concern, but come with two caveats. The first is that there isn’t a lot of toxicology information on feedstocks studied, polylactic acid or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Second, there are coagulation effects that may reduce the reactivity of the emitted UFPs.
Though these qualifications are signs that we need more research on the topic, the article serves as an important reminder that distributing scientific and manufacturing power also distributes the health and safety issues that come with those tools. There isn’t yet good evidence that with the gradual erosion of economies of scale in manufacturing comes a reduction in the impact of manufacturing. Even if it does, there are still important health issues to be considered when it comes to 3D printing, of which current consumers may not be aware.
This is only going to get more serious. As 3D printing expands, along with DNA synthesis and chemical micro-process devices (subject of a recent, excellent paper by Amy E. Smithson), chemical and biological foundries will continue to miniaturise and find their way into homes. It is alarming that we’re already seeing health concerns with 3D printers, much less these more advanced applications.
We should continue to investigate the health and security impacts of citizen manufacturing, and how we approach the design and sale of these devices in the future. We should also look to consumer education about filtration and air ventilation as these devices continue to device to proliferate. 3D printers and their ilk are likely here to stay, but we should work to make them as safe to use as possible.
- B. Stephens, P. Azimi, Z.E. Orch, and T. Ramos, “Ultrafine particle emissions from desktop 3D printers,” Atmospheric Environment 79 (2013): 334–339. ↩
- For those interested, the updated version of this paper and its companions was published in J.B. Tucker (2012) Innovation, Dual Use, and Security: Managing the Risks of Emerging Biological and Chemical Technologies (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). ↩ | <urn:uuid:3c0c23d5-557c-43ca-b832-de3d5c585453> | {
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The Bakken Pipeline, also known as the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a very controversial oil pipeline that is currently being constructed, that is being fought for the endangerment of water and soil resources, its proximity to the Standing Rock Reservation of the Sioux Tribe and its cultural resources, and the improper use of eminent domain. Thousands of people have gathered in protests along the pipeline, especially in North Dakota and Iowa. The pipeline is being built across four states, from North Dakota, where shale oil is being extracted, and pumped through South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, where it will be hooked to an existing pipeline to deliver oil to the Gulf of Mexico.
This map shows the precise location of the pipeline and allows you to locate your current position, shows the current construction progress, properties it crosses and taken by eminent domain, and property owners in a lawsuit with Dakota Access LLC. The diameter of the pipeline is 30 inches, and the 50 ft easement is shown, as well as the temporary 150 ft right of way.
The map is an effort coordinated by Nitin Gadia, a resident of Ames, Iowa, in an effort to support the efforts to inform people about the pipeline, and support the efforts to resist the pipeline, who develops content with mapstory.org, a website dedicated to open mapping data.
Efforts in North Dakota to obtain map data were denied when Dakota Access requested that authorities restrict the data. People have had to rely on hard copies of maps to see where the pipeline lies, and the map was drawn using hundreds of public record maps from each of the states.
The pipeline has been mostly constructed in all states. Construction progress is only reported in Iowa, and was previously updated weekly; since the pipeline has mostly been laid since the last update on 11/16/2016, all of the pipeline has been marked as "mostly complete". Weekly construction maps have been required to be provided to Dakota Access to the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB). Users are encouraged to crowdsource information, like locations of protests and events. For more information about the map and how participate, read the About page and blog post written by Gadia.
For more on the motivation and issues surrounding this map, and to view and obtain an embed, check out the blog post:
Mapping the Bakken Pipeline and Our “Secret” Infrastructure
This map could use your help. It needs to add the precise locations of protests and events. If you're interested in helping, contact Nitin below.
Map license: CC-BY. Credits can be listed as: bakkenpipelinemap.com, Nitin Gadia of MapStory.org, Carl Sack
Github page (for sources, data, collaboration):
nittyjee at gmail dot com | <urn:uuid:d7bb35d1-3371-4b09-a82a-b2fc7b2b1d51> | {
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Is it important if you want to impress your significant other on the dance floor? Absolutely. Could it be relevant in other instances? Based on recent research, it sure seems like it!
124 high school students were studied at Northwestern University and the surprising link between music, rhythmic abilities and language skills was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr. Nina Kraus works shows, for the first time, biological evidence linking the ability to keep a beat to the neural encoding of speech sounds as it has significant implications for reading.
Dr. Kraus was able to demonstrate that accurate beat keeping involves synchronization between the parts of the brain responsible for hearing as well as movement.
Hearing sounds of speech and associating them with the letters comprising written words is crucial to learning how to read, say the Northwestern researchers. They reasoned that the association between reading and beat synchronization likely has a common basis in the auditory system.
Two tests were performed on the subjects. In the first test, they were asked to listen to a metronome and tap their finger along to it on a special tapping pad. Tapping accuracy was computed based on how closely their taps aligned in time to the tick-tock of the metronome.
In the second test, a “brainwave test”, the subjects were fitted to electrodes measuring the consistency of their brain response to a repeated syllable.
The more accurate the subjects were at tapping along to the beat, the more consistent their brain response was to the speech syllable.
Kraus says that rhythm is an integral part of both music and language.
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Cleanup work of any kind can be dangerous, but flood conditions make this work even harder. However, following the recommendations set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will help keep you safe and healthy while cleaning up. After natural disasters excessive moisture, flooding, and standing water can cause mold growth in buildings. When returning home be aware that mold may be present and can be a health risk.
Cleaning Up Mold:
Porous items, such as, carpeting, carpet padding, upholstery, wallpaper, drywall, ceiling tiles, insulation material, some clothing, leather, paper, some wood and wood products and food, must be removed if they have been wet for more than 48 hours. These items must be removed as these items can remain a source of mold growth. Other wet items and surfaces must be cleaned with detergent and water to prevent mold growth. Do not mix cleaning products together. DO NOT mix bleach and ammonia because it can create toxic vapors. If there is excessive mold, professional cleaners must be hired. When hiring contractors make sure that they are experienced in cleaning mold and are licensed by your state. Check references and ask the contractor to follow the recommendations in the guidelines of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (www.ACGIH.org) or other guidelines from professional organizations or state agencies. Contact your state health department’s website for information about state licensing requirements for contractors in your state.
Other Mold Removal Tips:
- Use fans and dehumidifiers to remove moisture. Do not use fans if mold has already started to grow, because they may spread the mold.
- Ensure that laundry is washed in safe water. If the items are only wet, they can be laundered normally. Adding chlorine bleach to the wash cycle can remove most mildew and sanitize the clothing.
- Nonporous items (e.g., dishes, pots, glass items, and hard plastic items) can be salvaged. However, because floodwaters are contaminated, nonporous items should be washed by hand in a disinfectant and then air-dried. Do not use a dish towel.
- All surfaces of an HVAC system and all its components that were submerged during a flood are potential reservoirs for dirt, debris, and microorganisms, including bacteria and mold. Therefore, all flood water-contaminated and moisture-laden components of the HVAC system should be thoroughly inspected, cleaned of dirt and debris, and disinfected by a qualified professional.
- Take frequent rest breaks when lifting heavy, water-laden objects. Avoid overexertion and practice good lifting techniques. Also, consider using teams of two or more to move bulky items that weigh more than 50 pounds. Or, use a proper automatic lifting assistance device, if practical.
- When working in hot environments, have plenty of water available to drink, use sunscreen and take frequent rest breaks out of the sun. Wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
- Be sure that a first aid kit is available in case of cuts or other small injuries. If you do get hurt while working, protect the injury with waterproof gloves and dressings.
- Wash your hands often during the day, especially before eating, drinking, touching your face or applying cosmetics.
- Before entering a flooded area, use a wooden stick or pole to check for pits, holes and protruding objects.
- Ensure that all ladders and scaffolds are properly secured prior to use.
- Conduct a preliminary worksite inspection to verify stability before entering a flooded or formerly flooded building, or before operating vehicles over roadways or surfaces.
- Do not work in or around any flood damaged building until it has been examined and certified as safe for work by a registered professional engineer or architect.
- Washouts, trenches, excavations and gullies must be supported or their stability should be verified prior to entry. All trenches should be supported with a trench box.
- Establish a plan among employees for contacting medical personnel in the event of an emergency.
- Report any obvious hazards (downed power lines, frayed electric wires, gas leaks or snakes) to the appropriate authorities and your supervisor.
- Use fuel-powered generators outdoors only, as they present a carbon monoxide hazard.
- Use life vests when engaged in activities that could result in deep water exposure.
- Use extreme caution when handling containers holding unknown substances or known toxic substances. If you see any of these hazards, alert your supervisor so he/she can contact the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for disposal information.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Clothing
- Always wear watertight boots with a steel toe and insole, gloves, long pants and safety glasses during cleanup operations; street shoes should not be worn because they cannot protect against punctures, bites or crush injuries. Also wear a hardhat if there is a risk of falling debris.
- Wear a NIOSH-approved dust respirator, if you are working with moldy building materials or with vegetable matter (hay, stored grain or compost).
- When handling bleach or other chemicals, follow the directions on the package and wear eye, hand and face protection. Also have plenty of clean water available for emergency eye washing or other first aid.
- Do not touch downed power lines or any object or water they may be in contact with.
- Treat all power lines as if they are energized until you have specific confirmation that they have been deenergized.
- Beware of overhead and underground power lines when clearing debris. Extreme caution is necessary when moving ladders or other equipment near overhead power lines to avoid accidental contact.
- If damage to an electrical system is suspected (examples: wiring has been under water, you can smell burning insulation, wires are visibly frayed or you can see sparks), turn off the electrical system in the building and follow all lockout/tagout procedures. Do not turn the power back on until the electrical equipment has been inspected by a qualified electrician.
- When using a generator, be sure that the main circuit breaker is OFF and is locked out prior to starting. This will prevent unintentional energization of power lines from back feed electrical energy and will help protect utility line workers from possible electrocution.
- Be aware that de-energized power lines may become energized by a secondary power source.
- Any electrical equipment used in wet environments must be marked for use in wet locations and must be undamaged. Be sure that all connections are out of water.
- All cord-connected, electrically operated tools and equipment must be grounded or double-insulated.
- Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) must be used in all wet locations.
- Immediately evacuate any building that has a gas leak until it is controlled and the area is ventilated.
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Evidence shows that high temperatures lead to excess morbidity and mortality in adults, but less is known about how heat affects children. Our study, led by Dr. Aaron Bernstein in Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first to evaluate the impacts of heat on children’s health in all major regions around the country.
The study looked at over three million child and adolescent emergency department (ED) visits in children’s hospitals in 27 states from May to September, 2016-2018.
It found that heat increases the number of children who visit the emergency department for any reason in the summer months and this underscores the need for more aggressive adaptation measures, especially given that climate change is anticipated to make summer heat more common and severe. Importantly, the study found that children present to the ED at higher temperatures for different reasons than adults, which underscores children’s unique vulnerabilities.
Key takeaways and insights for clinicians
- Hotter days were associated with higher risks of ED visits for any reason as well as for specific conditions, including heat-related illnesses, bacterial intestinal infections, ear infections, and nervous system diseases.
- 11.8% of all warm-season ED visits, 31.0% of ED visits for heat-related illnesses, and 25.2% of visits for bacterial intestinal infections were attributed to heat.
- Associations between high temperature days and ED visits were not confined to the hottest days, but rather were evident across a range of warm season temperatures. Pediatric care providers may not currently consider temperatures in this range as a risk to child health.
- ED visits for several conditions, including asthma, respiratory system diseases, and mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders, were not clearly associated with higher temperatures.
- Children with existing health conditions, genetic susceptibilities, or who face additional obstacles like housing insecurity or access to clean water may be at particular risk of heat exposure and the ensuing health effects
Aaron S. Bernstein MD MPH, Shengzhi Sun PhD, Kate R. Weinberger PhD, Keith R. Spangler PhD, Perry E. Sheffield MD MPH, Gregory A. Wellenius ScD | <urn:uuid:b8a8c7cf-97de-4733-ab91-3c978b948a5c> | {
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Calming the COVID-19 storm
Our scientific teams with expertise in inflammation, infection and immunity hold vital clues to help tackle deadly virus outbreaks—like COVID-19.
Inflammation is a normal, protective reaction to infection—and a critical first step in activating the body’s full immune response. However, if uncontrolled, inflammation can lead to a range of debilitating and life-threatening conditions—acute respiratory syndromes, sepsis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, pneumonia, endometriosis, infertility and even cancer.
The life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in severe COVID-19 cases results from hyper-inflammation, similar to that seen during other SARS, MERS and avian influenza outbreaks. While most infections can be mild and cleared quickly, this is not true of all cases. The effect on our aged and immune-compromised communities has been devastating. Restricting this inflammation could help save lives before antiviral therapies and vaccines are developed and ready.
Several research teams at Hudson Institute are working on different approaches to curb this hyper-inflammation. In addition, we are investigating why some patients are affected more severely by COVID-19 than others—including the differences seen in adults and children.
When it comes to responding to a new infectious disease, there are many different pieces of the puzzle. In this issue, we look at some of the innovative approaches underway at Hudson Institute.
- The coronavirus pandemic will affect millions globally
- The life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in severe COVID-19 cases results from hyper-inflammation
- The infection is most severe in the aged and immune-compromised
- The SARS CoV-2 virus appears to have originated in bats and passed to humans via an intermediary mammal
- COVID-19 is the most severe global pandemic since ‘Spanish’ influenza in 1918–1919, which killed between 50-100 million people and infected about a third of the world’s population.
Inflammation and infectious diseases
Severe COVID-19 infection presents as excessive lung inflammation, involving the build-up of cells and fluid in the lungs. This phenomenon, known as ARDS, restricts breathing and causes damage to the lungs. Severely affected patients will need ventilator assistance in intensive care.
COVID-19 has similar characteristics to severe Influenza A virus (IAV) infections, including the damaging lung inflammation that causes ARDS. Associate Professor Ashley Mansell and Dr Michelle Tate are collectively using their knowledge of severe inflammation from IAV studies to repurpose and develop potential drugs to treat COVID-19. The team has been sought out by international biotech companies due to their specialist expertise.
How we are tackling acute inflammation
- Identifying the molecular mechanisms of SARS CoV-2 induced inflammation
- Examining how COVID-19 results in severe lung inflammation
- Developing and testing new, and repurposed, anti-inflammatory compounds to treat ARDS in COVID-19.
Why is research into inflammation caused by infectious diseases needed?
“At the moment there are no effective treatments to address the devastating effect of inflammation caused by COVID-19,” A/Prof Mansell said. “There is a desperate worldwide need to identify and develop new therapies as quickly as possible.”
Dr Michelle Tate added, “Inflammation is involved in nearly every disease known to humankind and yet we understand very little of how, why and where this occurs and what causes it. If we understand the how and why, we can try and target it to reduce disease.”
COVID-19 MAY NOT BE OUR BIGGEST WORRY
There’s still the threat of an avian influenza virus emerging which may make COVID-19 look like a bad cough.
The current pandemic highlights several concerning facts
- The world is poorly prepared for new and sudden emerging infectious diseases.
- While vaccines are highly effective, the timeframe to develop, test, make and distribute a new vaccine for an emerging disease like COVID-19 is at least 12-18 months.
- The world currently lacks approved and effective anti-inflammatory drugs to treat emerging inflammatory infectious diseases.
- It is impossible to contain an infectious disease in a global community without strict quarantine measures that severely damage the economy. We have to be prepared with strategies and treatments when pandemics arise. A range of measures is needed to tackle a new virus on the scale of COVID-19 and ‘buy’ time until a vaccine is ready.
A/Prof Ash Mansell
Research Group Head, Pattern Recognition Receptors and Inflammation Research group
Dr Michelle Tate
Research Group Head, Viral and Immunity and Immunopathology Research group
NHMRC, commercial partners
Further funding is needed for this team to pursue research into repurposing existing drugs and for the methods of delivery to patients, including inhalers and nebulisers.
Help our researchers discover new treatments to save the lives of the most vulnerable COVID-19 patients.
Using our immune system to fight COVID-19
There is something unusual about the initial—or innate— immune response to COVID-19 compared to usual influenza patterns.
The disease severity is surprisingly low in children, but high in older people. Our innate immune response provides early antiviral protection and shapes the immunity required later for vaccine responses. But, if uncontrolled, the resulting hyper-acute inflammation from excess cytokines can lead to potentially lethal ARDS.
A Hudson Institute and Monash Health collaboration between Professor Paul Hertzog, Dr Sam Forster, Professor Phil Bardin, Professor Marcel Nold and Professor Jim Buttery will study the innate immune response of COVID-19-infected patients admitted to Monash Health wards, comparing those who have mild disease and recover, with those who suffer severe disease requiring intensive care. The study will compare disease in adults and children.
This collaboration demonstrates the benefits of the Institute’s location onsite at Melbourne’s largest healthcare network, Monash Health—enabling this exciting translational project to occur.
How we are tackling acute inflammation
- Does the antiviral interferon response (inflammatory signalling proteins) align with disease severity?
- Which inflammatory cytokines influence development of severe lung disease?
- Does the immune cell response dictate protection, or drive long-term immunity?
- How does the lung microbiome influence the innate immune response including inflammation?
Why is research into the innate immune response needed?
“We don’t understand why some people have mild disease and recover, while others develop life-threatening illness,” Prof Paul Hertzog said. “This includes the apparent ‘resistance’ of young people and sensitivity of older patients.” This study aims to study everything from patient genetics, to the nature of their immune cells and the molecules they produce.
Understanding early immune responses to COVID-19 will help scientists design vaccines to optimise successful protection.
Prof Hertzog said the response to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the global scientific community’s ability to work at pace, thanks to the latest cutting-edge technology and highly skilled scientists. “We have seen remarkable advances in the ability of the international scientific community to respond to a crisis such as this pandemic. The virus was isolated and its whole genome sequenced in three days, enabling tests to be available quickly, and vaccine projects to begin at an unprecedented pace,” he said. “Nevertheless, a vaccine would take at least 12 to 18 months to develop.”
In the interim, he said there was much more work to be done around the potential to harness innate immunity to fight pandemic and/or drug-resistant infections or respond to health issues by developing better immune biomarkers for disease diagnosis and surveillance, or immunotherapeutics and vaccines for treatment and prevention.
The benefit of targeting the innate immune response is the existence of common elements regardless of the infection—COVID, SARS, EBOLA, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This complements approaches that do target specific infections, such as antiviral drugs, vaccines and antibiotics.
Professor Paul Hertzog
Centre Head, Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases
Dr Sam Forster, Research Group Head, Microbiota and Systems Biology
Professor Phil Bardin, Research Group Head, Respiratory and Lung; Head of Unit, Respiratory and Sleep, Monash Health
Professor Marcel Nold, Research Group Head, Interventional Immunology in Early Life Diseases; paediatrician, Monash Health
Professor Jim Buttery, Head of Unit, Infection and Immunity, Monash Children’s Hospital
This project requires funding for analysis.
Hyper-acute inflammation in COVID-19
Sepsis is a hyper-acute inflammatory response leading to life-threatening organ dysfunction.
Sepsis is usually caused by bacterial infections; however, the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates that hyper-acute inflammation can also be part of viral infections. Many critical COVID-19 patients develop dangerous levels of hyper-acute inflammation, and this is associated with a high death rate.
The Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity research group, headed by Dr Michael Gantier, is looking for treatments to help prevent chronic and hyper-acute inflammation.
Nucleic acids are the root cause of toxic inflammation in chronic diseases like lupus, or acute sepsis. This team is working with potential drugs targeting inflammation driven by nucleic acids, by validating the anti-inflammatory properties of these drugs in preclinical models of sepsis and chronic inflammation.
How we are tackling acute inflammation
- Selection of molecules that can be quickly repurposed as anti-inflammatory drugs to prevent chronic inflammation and sepsis
- Development of new treatments that build on ‘good’ inflammation to help the body’s immune system successfully fight pathogens and cancer
- Understanding how chronic inflammation driven by nucleic acids controls cancer development.
Why do we need to research life-threatening inflammation?
“It is clear that the world is not prepared to deal with the number of ARDS patients generated by COVID-19,” Dr Gantier said.
The body’s immune response to some infections can be toxic to patients, damaging major organs. This triggers a chain of responses that can ultimately result in organ failure and death.
“In critical COVID-19 patients, the progression from ARDS to death directly relates to out-of-control inflammation from damaged tissues,” Dr Gantier said. “This progression is slow (over a week), allowing a window of opportunity to prevent the inflammatory storm and protect these patients. This is a primary focus for us.”
Dr Michael Gantier
Research Group Head, Nucleic Acids and Innate Immunity
Further funding is needed to pursue research into validating the drugs identified by this lab, to treat diseases driven by chronic and acute inflammation. | <urn:uuid:4db29539-7089-4727-b618-e264133d0dcc> | {
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When does Purim 2015 start?
Purim 2015 begins at sunset on Wednesday, March 4, and ends on Thursday evening, March 5.
The Background of Purim
However, Ahashuerus’ newly crowned queen, Esther–who replaced Vashti when she was thrown out of the kingdom–is secretly a Jew.
Due to her courage and her eventual role in saving the Jews, the story of Purim is known as “Megillat Esther,” or the Scroll of Esther.
What to Do on Purim
There are four common practices on Purim:
* We give gifts to poor people.
* We read the megillah, the Purim story.
* We eat a festive meal, or seudah.
* We give food gifts, called mishloah manot, to our friends.
Other Purim Activities
Many people dress up in costume, following the theme of Purim as a holiday of disguise where nothing is quite as it seems. Synagogues and communities hold plays and festivals specifically for the day. Traditionally, a noisemaker or grogger is sounded when Haman’s name is said aloud during the megillah reading; today some people have instituted a new practice of waving a celebratory flag when Esther’s name is recited.
How Much Do You Know?
Pronounced: muh-GILL-uh, Origin: Hebrew, meaning “scroll,” it is usually used to refer to the scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther, also known as the Book of Esther), a book of the Bible traditionally read twice during the holiday of Purim. Slang: a long and tedious story or explanation.
Pronounced: PUR-im, the Feast of Lots, Origin: Hebrew, a joyous holiday that recounts the saving of the Jews from a threatened massacre during the Persian period. | <urn:uuid:8acb49b6-fe30-43f9-a64b-a6eaae6b962d> | {
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IONS – December 2011
If the art of holiday giving is starting to feel a little more contrived this year, a little more commercial, then the science of giving has some news to bolster your holiday spirit: research suggests that not only is giving good for you—your health, your happiness, and your sense of purpose—but gift-giving activates the good things that people do to heal a wounded world. In our worldview transformation research, IONS has identified three gifts of giving—altruism, interconnectedness, and compassion—that catalyze positive human behaviors that improve communities, societies, and the planet. You may be thinking that’s a lot of glory attributed to a single pebble dropped into an ocean of need, but the work of IONS emphasizes that consciousness matters; in other words, it’s not the pebble in your hand but the ripple in your heart that ultimately creates the concentric waves of benevolence that brings warmth to those in need.
Consciousness research, which has been studying the science of giving for decades, has taught us that giving and receiving are among the most healing expressions that humans can make. They can help heal the separateness we often feel from ourselves, each other, the environment, and the sacred.
Love Knows No Bounds – Compassion
By cultivating compassion, people experience a greater connection with others that transcends the physical realm.
- Results of our Compassionate Intention Study (nicknamed “The Love Study”) suggest that loving or compassionate intention can influence a person’s physiology, ranging from brain activity measurements to skin conductance and gut feelings. (See also the case study.)
- Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson has shown how contemplative practices can activate the neural circuits of our brain that promote joy, fulfilling relationships, inner peace, and a sensitivity to the needs of others. (Dr. Hanson’s upcoming course, “Buddha’s Brain: Taking in the Good,” begins March 14, 2012. )
- Dacher Keltner’s work in the fields of biology and psychology has found that humans are born with a propensity toward goodness and altruistic feelings and actions.
Good Deeds, Good Health – Altruism
Altruism describes the act of giving without expecting anything in return; it is the ultimate expression of love. According to research IONS sponsored in the late 1990s, acts of altruism can elicit the immune system response:
- In his research on the relationship between love and health, Dr. Jeff Levin, an epidemiologist who also serves as a research consultant for the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love (IRUL), along with a colleague found that a correlation exists between almost every dimension of love and patients’ descriptions of better health, more positive emotional well-being, higher self-esteem, and a sense of personal control in their lives.
- A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine by Dr. Stephen Post, professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University and president of (IRUL), suggests a strong correlation between a person’s well-being, happiness, health, and longevity and their inclination toward altruistic acts—so long as they aren’t overwhelmed by helping too much!
Interconnectedness on Genes
An especially compelling study conducted by Dr. Dean Ornish demonstrated that feelings of increased interconnectedness with others can change gene expression, making relationships critical to health and well-being. In “Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy,” Ornish writes: “…love and intimacy are at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well…I am not aware of any factor in medicine—not diet, not smoking, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery—that has greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness, and premature death from all causes.”
I Heal, You Heal, We Heal
In IONS’ “I to We” study, compassion and altruism were found to arise as natural consequences of experiences of interconnection and oneness. These experiences appear to lead to shifts in perspective and changes both in one’s sense of self and their relationship to others. Based on these findings, the study suggests several mechanisms by which transformative experiences and practices might influence the development of compassion and altruism.
Give for Giving’s Sake
You’ve heard the expression, “give ’til it hurts.” Now science shows you can “give ‘til it heals” and do even more good. So give generously this year to the nonprofits you believe in, and we hope that IONS is among them. Your end-of-year donation will help us continue to conduct research and provide the educational programs that are helping to heal a world in need. | <urn:uuid:b84238f6-3e37-4765-ad21-acaccd99d007> | {
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A study from England’s Loughborough University reveals that women need more sleep than men because their brains are more complex.
“For women, poor sleep is strongly associated with high levels of psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression and anger,” said Jim Horne, director of the college’s Speech Research Center. The data from the sleep of men did not show the same levels of distress in sleep disruption.
According to the professor, women’s brains are needed to perform more complex tasks on a daily basis. They are wired differently and are more complex, so the need for sleep is greater. Women tend to multitask more than men, which requires their brain to overwork and need more recovery time.
The average woman, according to Horne, needs about 20 more minutes of sleep than men. The National Sleep Foundation recommends getting regular exercise, setting night and wake up times, limiting caffeine and alcohol intake, and improving your overall sleep environment. | <urn:uuid:ad47be23-c027-4dfe-bb12-f5d5cba48748> | {
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We’ve talked about the car, we also talked about money management, then what’s next? Today, the healthy topic will be our main topic. You have a nice car and much money, but if you’re sick, everything is zero, Am I right? 😀
Often we are asked how to start healthy eating habits, and we also meet a lot of people who misapplied healthy diet. Well, this time let’s discuss how to implement healthy eating in everyday life.
Healthy eating is definitely needed in our daily lives. Starting healthy eating earlier will help prevent any chronic diseases, such as diabetic, cancer, high blood pressure, and many other diseases.
So, it’s vital and important to start paying attention to what you eat and consume daily. Before starting with the 10 Simple and Best Ways To Start Healthy Eating, let’s understand our body first.
Our body has its own way to determine how much nutrition it needed, please read the nutrition fact first. Thus, not all food, nutrition, and diet are suitable for you. That’s why, before determining what kind of food or diet you are going to apply in your daily lives, you should listen to your body first.
Here are 10 Best Tips on How To Start A Healthy Diet:
1. Eat food that is rich in nutrition. Our body needs 40 kinds of nutrient to make our body healthy. One type of food can not be sufficient to fulfill all the nutrition that required for our body. Pick the right food for your daily diet. You’ll need carbohydrates and whole grains products, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, fish or other protein-containing foods. You need to have complete nutritional food.
2. Add more grains, fruits, and vegetables to your daily meals. Surveys show that most people do not consume enough of these foods. Do you eat 6-1 servings of rice or cereal? And is it 3 portion of the kind of food you eat contain whole grains? Do you eat food that consists of 2-4 fruit servings and 3-5 vegetable servings?
3. Set Weight Balanced. The weight that is appropriate for you depends on many factors, including gender, height, age and heredity. Excessive weight will increase your blood pressure, causing liver disease, stroke, diabetic, and some types of cancer or other diseases.
4. Right portion : If you maintain your portion sizes reasonable, it’s easier to eat the foods you want, and stay healthy. It’s recommended to have around 3 ounces of food you’re going to eat. Medium-size fruit is one serving, and a cup of pasta is balanced two servings, and 4 servings of ice cream.
5. Eat Regularly. Skipping meals will only make you starving. When you feel hungry, it means that you forget about the nutrients in your food.
6. Decrease, not limiting the portion of your food. Most people eat food to pleased themselves. If your favorite food loaded with fat, salt, or sugar, the key is to make it feasible. Check the ingredients and foods in your diet and change it if it is necessary.
7. Balance Your Food Choices Every Time. Not all food must be perfect. When you eat foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar, select the lowest level of fat, salt, or sugar of the foods. If you miss these food groups in a day, fix the next day.
8. Understand the difficulty of your diet program. If you are going to fix your eating habits, the first step you should take is to identify what is wrong with your previous eating pattern. Write down everything you eat for three days, then check the list and match with these tips.
9. Make changes gradually. You do not need to eat perfect food or super or super food. Starting healthy eating does not happen overnight. You have to do it gradually, step by step.
10. Remember, eat is not a bad habit. The bad part of eating is the unhealthy food that you consumed. Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not based on ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Do not feel wrong if you love foods, like pies, potato chips, chocolate or ice cream. Eat properly, and choose other foods that can balance your nutrition and good for your health.
A healthy diet is not only valid while you are a teenager or in a development phase. Maintaining a healthy diet is good. It’s for the sake your body. | <urn:uuid:dbf2c100-55c3-4a70-9d53-0a03e029b91c> | {
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Great talk by Steven Guyenet on the hypothesis that increased food palatability is an important factor in growing rates of obesity.
There is no doubt that increased calorie consumption is a proximate cause of increased levels of obesity. But that is not very useful information. The question is WHY are we eating so much more?
Guyenet provides details from a number of studies which suggest that food palatability is driving our consumption of calorie dense processed foods.
- Study found that rats ignored their rat show in favor of human “cafeteria” junk food diet and gained weight rapidly. Such tasty human food far exceeded any other rat chow diets in producing weight gains – Sclafani & Springer, 1976
- Overweight patients who were free to consume as many calories as they wanted from a bland diet consistently lost weight without reporting hunger despite, at times, consuming less than 300 calories per day. Lean patients on the same diet maintained their body weight. “This machine-feeding regimen was nearly as close as one can get to a diet with no rewarding properties whatsoever.” – New York Academy of Sciences, 1965
- These findings were replicated in a similar study in which “subjects reduced their calorie intake voluntarily and were always in good spirits” while consuming a bland diet. – Michel Cabanac, 1976
Guyenet has more detailed write-ups on these studies here.
Factors involved in the reward value of a diet:
- calorie density
- absense of bitterness
- free glutamate (MSG)
- textures (crunchy, soft, liquid(
- certain aromas
- consistency of flavour
The last point is worth noting: the more we can depend on a food tasting the same, the more we are likely to crave it for the certainty of the food reward. Think McDonalds.
He went on to compare two weight-loss diet studies, one low carb and another low fat, and showed that loss was comparable regardless of the preponderance of these two macronutrients. It suggests that, perhaps, whether you remove fat or carbohydrates, the common factor is a reduction in food palatability.
He also gave examples of a two native peoples who, despite having diets with widely different macronutrient contents, were both extremely lean:
- Kung San of Botswana: consumed mostly nuts, starchy tubers, fruit, assorted leaves, insects and, less often, large and small game. At times up to 58% of their diet came from a single food (Mongongo nuts). “Somewhat monotonous”. Overall their diet was 60% fat, 25% carbs, 15% protein.
- The people of Tukisenta, Papua New Guinea: Sweet potato accounted for 90% of food consumed. The rest included taro, sugarcane, pandanus, insects and, rarely during festivals, pork. Overall their diet was 95% carbs, 2% fat, 3% protein.
It seems that the low fat versus low carb wars may be a red herring.
So what has happened to our own tribe? Americans have changed where they eat, and therefor what they eat, quite significantly over the past 100 years with the presence of fast food really taking off since the late 60’s.
Guyenet points out that this graph understates the magnitude of the change in diet as much of the food now being consumed at home is also processed.
His next graph illustrated the massive increase in sugar consumption, another marker of this processed food intake:
A similar trend is seen in the consumption of fresh versus processed potatoes:
So what’s the bottom line? Return to simple food.
“Food that is professionally engineered to maximize palatability and reward value is uniquely fattening. The solution is to avoid it.”
The first step is to eliminate comfort aka “maximum reward” foods:
- Ice cream
- Potato/corn chips
- Fast food
If that thought is painful, he proposes a strategy for easing into a healthier diet. Each step requires increased effort so get comfortable with a stage before moving on to the next one:
- Eat three of fewer meals per day, but no snacks
- Cook food at home from simple ingredients
- Restrict palatability/reward factors that were absent in the ancestral environment
- Eat a few staple foods consistently, with no flavorings added
This sounds quite daunting but he claims that simple food becomes more satisfying after a 1-2 week period of withdrawal. He doesn’t actually say withdrawal but as you look at this list, you can feel the monkey on your back and he does NOT want off.
It’s a sensible plan. Should definitely work. Requires effort.
Isn’t there a pill I can take instead???
What I find interesting about his theory is how it somewhat overlaps but clashes with Seth Robert’s theory behind the Shangri-La diet. The diet involves taking a small serving of flavorless calories 1-2 times per day and that this on its own seems to cause the body to change its body fat set point. Food palatability IS a factor but you don’t have to completely eliminate modern foods from your diet. Roberts does not know how this works or what the mechanism is but many people claim to have successfully lost weight this way without any other changes to their diet or activity levels.
Is it possible that Guyenet is describing a much more arduous route to reach the same Shangri-La brain hack so to speak? The question is to what extent those people who claimed to have lost weight on the Shangri-La diet have continued to eat junk food. Maybe they spontaneously lost interest in junk food due to this protocol. Perhaps the actual hack of Shangri-La is to change one’s preference for highly palatable foods.
Certainly the Shangri-La route seems much easier. But try downing 100 calories of light olive oil and you will certainly question whether it is healthier, regardless of how easy it goes down.
Guyenet’s advice is undoubtedly no-nonsense and will work. But it may require massive changes to how you meet and socialise over food. It is likely that most people could adjust to the dietary changes required here. But in the long run, how many can maintain the social changes eating an ancestral diet may require? I doubt there are many.
So yes there are still no shortcuts. And maybe that’s the point. We have all the answers, just not ones we like. | <urn:uuid:a096b10a-1e35-45e8-9ddf-6402cce1c523> | {
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It’s just cool, that’s all. Watch this 40-second video of an octopus squeezing through a tiny hole to escape a box.
Octopuses have an amazing ability to squeeze through tiny crevices, cracks and holes. This video was taken by Bermuda Institute of Ocean Studies student Raymond Deckel, who was investigating just how small a hole they can fit through as well as how long it takes them to squeeze through different sizes of holes.
Why are they so good at these kinds of escapes? Well, octopuses have no bones or outer shell. Plus they’re highly intelligent- likely more so than any other invertebrates. In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play -a sign of intelligence – for example, releasing toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
Bottom line: In this video, an octopus escapes from a plexiglass box by squeezing through a small hole. | <urn:uuid:e47e9ed8-185b-4d4e-841f-0a1cda4d1405> | {
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Research in Social Sciences: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. How to Conduct an Effective Keywords Research?C. Focus Groups a group of respondents are put together to join one research. Conducting A Focus Group. aims to provide qualitative researchers in IS - and those wanting to know how to do qualitative research - with useful information what is focus group discussion in qualitative research on the conduct, evaluation and. Number of focus groups conducted - or sampling will depend on the segmentation or different stratifications (e.g. age, sex, socioeconomic status, health status) that the researcher(1997). Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. (2nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Qualitative Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation: How to Conduct Focus Groups for Qualitative Data Collection.The Focus Group Interview, in Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact, San Francisco: Wiley, 2013, pp. 167-173. Why conduct Focus Group Research gay rights research paper topics rather than what is focus group discussion in qualitative research other types of research?What are Focus Groups? 43 May 2005 Participant Observation as a Data Collection Method. How to Run a Focus Group. Both it and the next chapter on how to conduct and analyze focus groups will have more emphasis on technical procedures. Such practicalities are an important aspect of any research technique, and focus groups do not differ greatly from other qualitative methods of data collection in this regard.
We start with a discussion of the rationale for conducting qualitative research in health services, and proceed to cover two data collection methods most used in qualitative studies: interviews and focus groups. In addition to providing practical tips on how to collect data using these two methods, the Numerous books and manuals on focus groups exist. Many discuss how to conduct focus groups for market research.This led a group in the World Health Organization to pioneer a new type of qualitative research manual on health with the following characteristics With a focus on general user trends, qualitative research attempts to explain how visitors view a website, its offering, and its competitors.Among the different methods of conducting qualitative research, you can find focus groups and user testing. Scholars regularly debate about what qualitative research is, how and why it should be conducted, how it should be analyzed, and in what form it should be presented.Its no accident that focus groups are so widely used in product design research.
When should Qualitative Research be Conducted?How is qualitative formative research conducted? Two of the most common approaches used in formative research are focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). What is a focus group and for what is it suitable? How to facilitate a focus group. Design issues of focus groups.Focus groups are a data gathering technique used in qualitative and ethnographic research, and as such they share many of the latters assumptions and call for many of its skills. Instead, samples in qualitative research are usually purposive. This means participants are selected because they are likely to generate useful data for the project.can help to identify common. bility of wife beating by conducting focus groups A focus group is a group comprised of individuals with certain characteristics who focus3. Conducting the Focus Group Starting the session with some transitional period is highly desirable.Fraenkel, J. R. Wallen, N. E. (2003). How to design and evaluate research in education. (5th ed.).Morgan, D.L. (1997). Focus groups as qualitative research. Newbury Park: Sage. In contrast, shifting data collection methods from face-to-face (F2F) to an (asynchronous) online qualitative research platform that has these functions will not only produce more data and cost less than focus groups How is qualitative formative research conducted? Two of the most common approaches used in formative research are focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). The special features what is focus group discussion in qualitative research of focus groups. How many Focus Groups should I do?Question: Abstract: A survey is typically and quicker and more precise way to conduct qualitative research than a focus group. A survey is typically and quicker and more precise way to conduct qualitative research than a focus group.Are you researching how your product is received among adolescents? What age range specifically? Do they have specific interests, hobbies, or spending habits? Week 1: Define qualitative research and how it differs from quantitative research.In this module, you will transition into applying what youve learned previously to conduct a focus group, from design to implementation. Keywords Focus Groups, Qualitative Research, How-to-Guide.As a human services practitioner and researcher, I became interested in learning how to conduct focus groups in order to apply these steps to my research and gain valuable insights about the human experience that the focus group Focus group: In a focus group, a researcher engages a small group of participants in a conversation designed to generateHow to Conduct an Interview in Sociology. What You Need to Know about the Case Study Research Method. Affordable Software that Can Help You Analyze Qualitative Data. How to conduct Focus Groups.Research process (Qualitative Research) and Focus Groups. Focus groups begin from an interface point of view and intend to show how an issue is constructed and changed while the group discusses this issue. Part of Oxfams Research Guidelines series, this guideline gives an overview of how to organize and conduct focus group discussions for qualitative research . A marketing research technique for qualitative data that in a discussion of to conduct focus groups good topics for annotated bibliography with the use of focus group. How what is focus group discussion in qualitative research much does Focus Group Research cost? As with any research study, the first stage in conducting a quality focus group is to define the study purpose. This is critical as it defines how all subsequent activities will proceed.2. The Focus Group Guidebook (Focus Group Kit) by David L. Morgan. 3. Focus Groups as Qualitative Research Home Blog Focus Groups How to Conduct Qualitative Research.Like baccarat and vaulting, qualitative research analysis is easy to learn and hard to perfect. Similarly, a qualitative researchers approach really depends on the subject and setting. Introduction This paper discusses how to conduct focus groups in family planning and reproductive research and follows a four-part series outlining the general principles of qualitative Instead, samples in qualitative research are usually purposive. This means participants are selected because they are likely to generate useful data for the project.can help to identify common. bility of wife beating by conducting focus groups A focus group is a common qualitative research technique used by companies for marketing purposes. A focus group typically consists of a small number of participants, usually around six to 12, from[Focus Group Discussion] | How to Conduct a Focus Group Discussion. Conducting a focus group discussion with a natural group may reveal discrepancies and similarities between what people say and how they act, and howParticipants are typically selected to participate in qualitative research based on transparent criteria, such as their knowledge, life-experience In many cases the term focus group is used for group discussions even though the discussions do not follow the common rules for conducting focus groups.Levels of data A great deal of qualitative research focuses on social processes, on how. A qualitative research project may require review of documents such asHow To Conduct a FGD.Duration of Sessions. A focus group session typically lasts up to an hour and a half. An earlier post to this blog discussed the idea that qualitative research, namely focus groups, shares many of the research-design issues or concerns associated with quantitative marketing research.How we conduct and interpret our qualitative research whether we (consciously or unconsciously) Key words: Qualitative research methods, focus group, in-depth interview, academic research.Both focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted in the same universityis considered to be low and how do you appreciate the relation between academic research and business environment. Preparing for Focus Groups: Qualitative Research Methods - Продолжительность: 4:42 ModU: Powerful Concepts in Social Science 4 818 просмотров.Conducting a Focus Group - Продолжительность: 5:37 UBC LEAP 133 310 просмотров. The strength of qualitative research is its ability to provide complex textual descriptions of how people experience a given research issue.Ideally, note-takers should have the versatility to conduct the focus group in the moderators stead should the need arise, but their expertise draws for the most Dig Deeper: How to Define Your Target Market. How to Conduct Qualitative Market Research: Understand What Methodology will be Used.But you dont have to have the traditional group of people closed in a room. You can do a webcam or online bulletin board focus group, in which You may want to know how to conduct a focus group in order to understand how buyers feel about your brand, which new product ideas to pursue, or who your buyers are.One thought on How to Conduct a Focus Group. Pingback: 7 Signs Its Time to Conduct Qualitative Marketing Research. Brainstorm. How to Conduct a Focus Group.Online Qualitative Research. Quantitative research is going beyond focus groups. o Bulletin boards. Real time chats. Keywords: Focus Group, qualitative research, group interview, data collection.4. FOCUS GROUP STAGES This section describes HOW to utilize Focus Groups and WHAT to do with the data that they produce.The three phases of a Focus Group are planning, conduct of the interviews, and analysis.
Focus groups, however, allow you. Question: Know the what is focus group discussion in qualitative research five major categories of bias in. Designing and Conducting computer research and response team Focus Group Interviews This resource includes a detailed discussion of how to Compare, contrast, and combine the focus group information with information gathered from other sources such as surveys, interviews, or secondary research sources. Sources: Judith Sharken Simon, How To Conduct A Focus Group http The paper examines each method in detail, focusing on how they work in practice when their use is appropriate and whatConducting qualitative interviews with school children in dental research .A focus group is a group discussion on a particular topic organized for research purposes. Much of what goes into conducting focus groups touches on the same issues that arise in any effort to collect qualitative data.The simplest test of whether focus groups are appropriate for a research project is to ask how actively and easily the participants would discuss the topic of interest. A Qualitative Framework for Collecting and Analyzing Data in Focus Group Research.Abstract Despite the abundance of published material on conducting focus groups, scant specific information exists on how to analyze focus group data in social science research. Ever wondered what a focus group discussion is or how to conduct it?A Focus Group Discussion (or FGD) is a qualitative research method in the social sciences, with a particular emphasis and application in the developmental program evaluation sphere. Depending on the skills of the researcher, it might be necessary to contract a facilitator to conduct the focus group.How do you best combine focus groups and individual interviews in qualitative research? 1 Qualitative research should be systematically and rigorously conducted.You might want to take this further by stimulating interaction of particular kinds through group or focus group interviews, where you guide group discus-sion through a particular set of topics so that you can observe how Further features of qualitative research and how it differs from quantitative research are listed below.Bearing in mind the cost of conducting a series of one to one interviews2. Several focus groups should be run in any research project. It would be wrong to rely on the views of just one group. How do we conduct Qualitative. Research? Tools in this module.Example: Focus Groups during the Baseline in Nepal: One aim of a focus group discussion would be to identify perceptions and the range of opinion about participating in national elections. | <urn:uuid:e29557ab-2118-4d12-8f19-7d61ac3e588c> | {
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Galapagos Cruises, Tours and Vacations
How did the animals and the plants arrive?
The first species of the flora and fauna were carried here by the winds and ocean currents. The great majority came from the coasts of South and Central America.
Galapagos: paradise of reptiles
Vegetation rafts from the continent would take a minimum of two weeks to reach Galapagoes. Only those species capable of with standing the lack of water, such as reptiles, could survive this journey. In the absence of mammalian predators and competitors, reptiles such as the tortoises and land iguanas thrived and became the dominant land animals.
Amphibians, such as frogs, that have a moist and sensitive skin, live very little time without freshwater and shade. Amphibians do not occur in the Archipelagos; if one had been trapped on a natural raft it would have died long before reaching the islands.
After arrival, there were many difficulties.
The pioneer species had to find a place to live, find a mate and raise young. Very few were successful. Those able to adapt faced a new and fascinating process of natural selection.
Why are the plants and animals of Galapagos different from those on the mainland?
Evolution, or change in the form and behavior of species, obeys the necessity of adaptation to a new environment. Only those most fit can survive; the less fit are eliminated. This dramatic process is known as natural selection. The evolution of species, as a consequence of natural selection, makes it possible that, from generation to generation, favorable characteristics are transmitted that permits a better adaptation. For this reason, the organisms that now inhabit the islands are very different from their main land ancestors. | <urn:uuid:f869ec2a-5539-482c-98b2-18648ab30ee1> | {
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Malaria epidemic expected in MozambiqueBMJ 2000; 320 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7236.669 (Published 11 March 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:669
- Pat Sidley
Health experts fear epidemics of several infectious deseases in Mozambique as the flood waters recede and mosquitoes begin breeding.
According to Pierre Kahozi of the Maputo office of the World Health Organization, malaria is endemic in the region but there are fears that a much greater outbreak might occur in around a month. It is too early to tell if the situation has already worsened markedly, he said.
Scores of suspected cases of cholera have been reported and more are expected, along with cases of other diarrhoeal conditions. The Mozambican government has reported a “high degree” of cholera and malaria in camps. Cholera is endemic in Maputo and Beira, but numbers of cases are expected to …
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- How High Is Mount Damavand?
There is a difference between the exact height of Damavand Peak between experts and even climbers. Damavand height estimation from 18,400 feet (5,610 m) to 18,600 feet (5,671 m). NASA’s SRTM and ASTER data are both consistent with the official 5610 meters (We did not find a source for this yet!), but you can see that in most of the websites the elevation of Mount Damavand recorded 5671 meters. It seems that the 5671 m measured by mountaineers and has no strong sources.
However, we have no choice but to refer to the official sources. In September 2007, researchers of the Mapping Organization of Iran, during a multi-month study, completed the Damavand elevation points, measured the height of Damavand Peak, which was previously mentioned in books and geographic resources of 5671 meters, 5609 meters and 20 centimeters. The studies of this project were carried out in a profile with five stations in 2000 meters to 5,600 meters. Finally, with a difference of 61 meters and 80 cm, the height of the Damavand peaks of 5, 609 and 20 cm was measured. At all stations in the Damavand Peak, they conducted at least 12 hours of continuous GPS measurement, which can be achieved using the permanent GPS station of the same area with a precision of one centimeter.
So today, we must consider the official height of Damavand Peak at 5610 meters. Although modern and up-to-date GPS shows us a higher altitude. But we still have to wait for more accurate comments from the official authorities to measure the height of the summit.
Mount Damavand is the 12th most prominent peak in the world, and the second most prominent in Asia after Mount Everest. It is the highest volcanic mountain in Asia, and part of the Volcanic Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.
- The Sulfuric Band or Sulfuric Area in Mount Damavand
As it was said, Damavand is a semi-silent volcanic mountain. On the other hand, Damavand can be said Potentially Active volcano, because it has many powerful fumarolic sulfur vent near the summit in about 5400 m and upper, also Hot Springs around this mountain. Most of this vents which emitted SO2-rich gases at a temperature of about 50°C, are in the southern flank, but because of the wind, they turn around the summit and make difficult conditions for climbers. This pressure becomes more perceptible when you imagine that you are at an altitude of 5500 meters with a lack of oxygen and you should breathe Sulfuric air to continue climbing Damavand summit. Fortunately, this is not a permanent situation, and most of the time, with the prevailing wind blowing from the west, sulfur gases go to the northeast. Otherwise, and when sulfur dioxide is surrounded by peaks, our experienced guides know how to bypass the gas source and bring you easily to the summit.
Most of the time during year, even in winter, there is not too much snow because of the heat of the sulfuric band around Damavand summit.
Perhaps one of the most interesting and most famous features of Mt. Damavand is it Icefall that frozen whole the year. This amazing Icefall that placed on South Flank, is in the 5100 m altitude and can be seen from the Polour village or Haraz road in clear weather. The length of Icefall, depends on weather conditions, changes every years and is between 8 to 16 meters. To arrive and visit this icefall, you must turn right and exit the main route (200 meters) in height of about 5000 meters along the southern route of Damavand Peak.
Though some had ice climbing on Damavand Icefall, but because of its high and unstable ice, we do not recommend this to you.
- Facts & Figures of mount Damavand
|Complete Name||Mount Damavand, Damavand Peak, Damavand Summit|
|Location in Iran||Amol, Mazandaran, Iran|
|Elevation(Official record)||5,609.2 m (18,403 ft)|
|Prominence(height)||4,667 m (15,312 ft) 12th highest mountain in the world|
|Isolation||1,165 kilometers (724 mi)|
|Parent peak||Mount Elbrus|
|Parent range||Alborz – Mazandaran|
|Last eruption||~ 7300 Years ago (5350 BCE ± 200)|
|First ascent||905 by Abu Dolaf Kazraji|
|Easiest route||Hiking from Southern flank in summer|
Damavand’s edges & Routs
Damavand has 16 known edges and four main paths in South, North, Northeast and West, that are normal routes of Damavand.
Damavand climbing edges are:
|—||directions||Local Names||—||directions||Local Names|
|9||South of Southeast||Vezminchal Edge||10||North of Southeast||Mallard Edge|
|11||Souuth of Northeast||Yakhar Edge||12||North of Northeast|
|13||North of Northwest|
|14||South of Northwest||Vararoo Edge|
|15||North of Southwest||Chal Chal Edge||16||South of Southwest||Espirin Sar Edge|
- Damavand Vegetation and animals
At various altitudes of Mount Damavand, there are plenty of plants, some of which can be seen only at a certain height. Damavand Mountain is totally covered with Anemone at altitudes of 2000 to 3500 meters. This unique flower is known in the world and has been registered with the name of Shaghayegh-e-Lar in the world’s leading botanical books. Also, this area is very rich in pasture and pastures; even at high altitudes of Damavand (below 4,000 meters) there is not much poverty there. Due to its unique location, which extends from the north to the woods and to the south to the mountains bordered by the disert, this region hosts a variety of animals, including:
Foxes, jackals, dogs and wolves are scattered around Damavand. These animals are also seen up to 4000 meters above Mount Damavand. Bears are also present in this area, but they are mostly seen in the west and north, and they stay away from high altitudes.
Whole, ewe, deer, hog, rabbit. Except boars and rabbits, who live in the mountainous plains of Mount Damavand, other animals spend warmer seasons at altitudes and descend as the temperature cools down. These animals can go up to 5000 meters high in Damavand.
Hunting birds, golden eagles, owls and bats can be seen in Damavand. Other birds in this region are Teto, Coco, black chest and other birds.
Also Damavand is home to Brown Trout, Mountain Goats, and the Caspian Snowcock bird.
- Damavand Hot Springs (SPA)
Due to certain geological conditions in the Alborz slopes, especially around Damavand Mountains, there are mineral waters with various therapeutic properties, most notably in the Larijan village, which has created an attractive collection. The village is located on the slopes of Damavand Peak. The warm waters of the village are about 62 degrees saturated with sulfur content and therefore useful for the treatment of various skin diseases, bone pain, joints and rheumatism. There are plenty of hot water baths in the village that attracts a lot of people in different seasons. From Larijan spa springs, about 1000 liters of water is removed every minute, with a temperature of 65-70 degrees Celsius in main spring.
The taste of this water is unpleasant, smells sulfur hydrogen and its color is clear. It also has magnesium bicarbonate salts which is useful for skin diseases, old ulcers and neurological disorders.
- Damavand Best Climbing Season
Determining the best season of Damavand is directly related to the type and purpose of your trip to Mount Damavand. So, if your goal is mountain trekking and climb the summit, the best season for you, will be in the summer (July & August). If you want to enjoy the nature and flowers of the anemones, you must go to the slopes of Damavand in the spring (April & May). Certainly, for a professional and technical mountaineering, you should come to Damavand in the winter (January & February). The best season for Ski-Touring, Free-Riding, Back-Country (Off-Piste) skiing in Damavand area and mountains around it, is March, April and May. In the beautiful autumn season, you can come to Damavand for bird-watching and wildlife photography tours in the silence and tranquility. So depending on your trip and point of view, you can come to Damavand in all seasons and enjoying its beauty.
Regardless of the few meter difference on real height of Damavand, this is an alone and huge mountain with special weather conditions and more than 5600 meters altitude. Damavand has a remarkable rainfall during the winter due to its loneliness. So Damavand ascend in the summer and winter is completely difference and incomparable. In the summer, mountain trekkers go up to Goosfandsara (3000 m), by 4WD cars and start from there, but in the winter, you should walk by feet from Poulor village or Raineh (~2400 m) on asphalt road (10 to 15 km) that covered by more than 50 cm fresh snow to reach the beginning of mountain route. On the other hand, you have to carry all your luggage and stuff personally, because in the winter the mules or porters can’t carrying your loads. So Damavand winter ascend is a real expedition and heavy mountaineering. Because of this, most of the Iranian climbers who want to go himalian mountains, training on Damavand at winter.
Fortunately, Iran Exploration, due to its professional and strong guides, organizing many successful winter ascend on Damavand annually.
- Part of the Volcanic Seven Summits project
Every year, thousands of mountaineers are trying to climb to different summits of the world. Meanwhile, as many mountaineers try to climb 14 of the 8,000-meter peaks of the world, many of them are struggling to climb seven volcanic summits of seven continents. The Volcanic Seven Summits are the highest volcanoes on each of the seven continents, just as the Seven Summits are the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Summiting all seven is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such in 1999. Proudly, Damavand is the highest volcanic summit of Asia (read more in “Highest Single and Cone Volcano of Asia”) and part of the Volcanic Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.
- Damavand in Literature, History & Mythical
Damavand has a special place in mythology in Iran. Its reputation more than anything else is that Fereydoun, from the mythological characters of Iran, dragged Zahak into a cave there, and Zahak was imprisoned there until the end of the world. Some local people near this mountain believe that Zahak is imprisoned in Damavand and believe that some voices heard from the mountains are his moaning.
At the time of the invasion of the Assyrians on the Iranian plateau, this mountain is part of the Median, and is also mentioned in the Assyrian texts. Sargon II had been a landowner to the Damavand Mountains in his squadron. At the time of Asrahodon, the Assyrians were also stationed at the foot of Mount Damavand. But they did not continue to advance because Damavand and their descendants saw the Lut desert as the end of the world.
Mount Damavand has a total of 7 shelters, bivouac and cottages with different facilities (basic facilities) on its main routes (north, south, northeast and west). The rest of the 12 other Damavand ridges do not have any accommodations or bivouac. In addition, there are three guesthouses in Polour village, Raineh town in the south, and Nandal village in the north side of Damavand.
Name and details of Shelters & Huts:
- Southern route
- Goosfandsara and Sahib Al-Zaman Mosque, built in 1992 at an altitude of 3000 meters southern edge.
- Old Bargah-e-Sevom metal Cabin (bivouac), built in 1967 and at an altitude of 4200 southern edge. The metal Cabin was destroyed by the avalanch in the winter of 1972, and after a year, the stone building was replaced. Around it there are places for camping.
- Old Bargah-e-Sevom shelter (cottage) was built in 2008 and about 50 meters above the old one, on the southern edge. The shelter includes a public storage room, a dining room, a kitchen, electrical energy, a management room, a common bedroom, a private bedroom and a public bathroom.
- The Simorgh shelter (cottage) was built in 1995 at a height of 4200 m on the western edge.
- Takht-e-Fereydon metal Cabin (bivouac), which was built in 1976 at an approximate elevation of 4,400 meters from the northeastern edge.
- Northern route
- The 4,000-meter metal Cabin (bivouac), built in 1981 at an altitude of 4,000 meters from the northern edge.
- The 5,000-meter metal Cabin (bivouac), built at a height of 4630 meters, on the northern edge, but is known as the 5,000-meter metal Cabin (bivouac).
- Damavand main Glaciers
Although Damavand with 5610 meters altitude is high mountain, but its glaciers are not too big, vertical and most of them (except Yakhar glacier) are not suitable for ice climbing.
- Sioleh glacier (Northern side)
- Dobicel glacier (Northern side)
- Arosakiha glacier (Northern side)
- Yakhar Valley glacier (Northeast side)
- Northwest glacier
- Western glacier
- Damavand Weather & Climate
Damavand is an alone and huge mountain with special weather conditions. The minimum temperature in the Damavand Highlands is – 60 degrees centigrade (in the winter) and to -1 or -2 degrees centigrade (in the summer). The speed of the wind in Damavand sometimes ranges from 150 km / h. Wind speed in the foothills reaches 70 kilometers per hour in bad weather condition. Most winds are from the west and northwest. The average rainfall in the Damavand Highlands is 1,400 mm per year, and rainfall in the highlands are usually snow. The air pressure at Damavand Peak is half the air pressure at sea level.
- Highest Single and Cone Volcano of Asia
There are many discussions about the highest volcanic peak in Asia. For many years, Mount Damavand was known as the highest volcano in Asia, as long as Chinese introduced the Kunlun Volcanic Group in Tibet and They claimed that these mountains are the highest volcano in Asia. There are several scattered volcanic centers located in Tibet and western China which lie at elevations of 17700-19000 ft (5400-5800 m), potentially placing some of them in contention for the honor of highest volcano in Asia over Iran’s Damavand. However, these very minor volcanic cones are unlikely to meet any reasonable mountaineering standard of prominence (such as 1000 ft / 305 m used here), and thus they have been excluded from this list of Seven Summits. This list seeks to include real volcanic mountains, not minor outpourings of lava that happened to leak to the Earth’s surface in high-elevation regions. Anyway, they are higher than Damavand, but certainly they are not mountain.
According to definitions of Base Camp, and with a little tolerance, it can be said that guesthouses in Polour village, Raineh town and Nandal village are base camps of Mount Damavand. You can book accommodation in this guest houses befor your trip and buying your requirement, foods, fruits in this villages shops, so you don’t need to carrying everything from your own country. Also if you didn’t book accommodation, you can rent a local house in this villages.
- Damavand Photo Gallery
- 5 Reasons to climb Damavand
- Damavand mount is the highest volcano of the Asia and part of Seven Summit Project
- Damavand peak is the highest point of Iran and you can see the Caspian Sea & Iran Central Desert from the summit
- Damavand Peak is a symbol of sustainability, a national symbol in the culture of Iran and has been registered as a national monument
- Mount Damavand is one of the most important and unique ecosystems in Iran and the world, where in the south is border by a dry desert and reaches the rain forests in the north
- Damavand peak is really easy reachable high mountain, and you can top its summit in few days
- How Much does it Cost to Climb Mount Damavand
The cost of climbing Damavand is directly related to your trip type. You can buy a high quality tour and reach Damavand summit easily and healthily with the help of experienced guides. Or try to organize your own plan, carrying all the stuff by yourself and climb without guide. Also pricing for tours in Damavand are difference as who want to organize your tour! An experience and businesslike tour operator or local guide!!!
Totally, you can climb Damavand peak by a cost up to 400,00 euros with full board and high quality services (depends on your itinerary, seasons, and your group numbers, the price changes).
- How long does it take to climb Mount Damavand?
Climbing Damavand are absolutely depends on your readiness, physical fitness, seasons, acclimatization and weather conditions. In the summer time, the best and guaranteed itinerary to climb Damavand peak takes 4 to 5 days. At winter climbing Damavand takes more than 7 days. Of course some strong and acclimatized climbers sky runners can top summit from the asphalt road in less than 24 hours.
The most important point in climbing Damavand is acclimatization process. If you acclimatize well, you don’t have any problems, climb Damavand summit easily and safe. The second key is using expert and professional mountain guide for climbing Damavand. They know everything about their mountain and has too much experience. If you have a guide, you don’t need anything except trust your guide. The last important point to be safe on Damavand trekking, is paying attention to the forecast. Damavand is a cone shape and alone mountain, so the weather are changes too fast and unexpected. As our experiences on Damavand trekking, we strongly recommend you to book your wishes tour in Iran Exploration website, then you can climb Damavand easily and safe, with no worries of booking accommodation, food supplies, weather conditions and anything more. Just rest and climb.
- Training to Climb Damavand
Training and exercises to reach the best fitness for trekking Damavand is relevant to your age, health and experience in mountaineering.
Suggested preparation; 1 hour of aerobic exercise, three to four times a week and extended periods of exercise during the weekend will accustom you to regular exercise. Hill walking with a pack in variable weather conditions will be beneficial if you are taking part in a trekking Damavand. running or road cycling is also recommended depending upon the activity you plan to undertake.
- What Gear do I need to climb Damavand?
Duffel bag (Carrying by 4WD cars or leave in Hotel/Guesthouse), Daypack (to carry camera, water bottles, extra clothing, Lunch box), Luggage tags and locks
- Camping Gear: Sleeping bag and stuff sack (Fleece/Down sleeping bag liner), Mattress
- Outerwear: Goretex jacket with hood (waterproof and breathable), Goretex/wind stopper pants (side zippers are convenient), Insulated parka, down or synthetic filled, fleece or wool sweater, Fleece pants or tights, Mid-weight thermal underwear tops and bottom (synthetic or wool), Hiking pants, Long-sleeve shirts, T-shirts, synthetic are best, Underwear
- Clothing Accessories: Sun hat, Wool or fleece hat (over ears), Wool or fleece gloves, Thin liner gloves, Gaiters
- Footwear: Mountaineering boots (sturdy and ankle support, water-resistant), types of Socks, Camp shoes (trail shoes or running shoes)
- City Clothing: Bring a few lightweight, easily washable items for travel and daily wear, Comfortable shoes, (Woman should wear long sleeve shirt, Scarf, long Shirt in the cities)
- Travel Accessories: headlamp (lithium batteries are best for cold weather), Pocket knife or pocket tool, Ear plugs, Small quantity of favorite energy snacks, hiking staff or trekking poles, Small waterproof pack cover for daypack, Sunglasses with strap (side-shields or glacier glasses recommended), Sun block cream and lip balm, Personal hygiene supplies including biodegradable soap, Small quick-dry towel, Personal first aid kit, medicines, Hand sanitizer gel or hand wipes
- Optional Field Gear: Camera, memory cards, spare batteries, Battery charging station for cameras or personal electronics, Solar charger for batteries, Travel Adapter (UK to EU), Antibacterial wet wipes
- Nomad life on Damavand
Damavand with a total area of 2,950 hectares, is one the biggest and unique grassland for shepherds and nomad life. There are more than 500 nomadic families around Damavand. They breeding their sheeps in the summer and migrate to hot areas in the cold winter of Damavand. The Nomads of Damavand are very kind and hospitable, and in addition to breeding sheep, are beekeepers and produces high quality honey. Some of them are working by their mules in mountaineering routes to carrying mountaineer’s backpacks and luggage.
- Damavand Porters and Horse Riders
As mentioned above, some of the nomads and local people are working as a porters or mule/hours driver in mountaineering routes. Normally they carrying stuff and backpacks for mountaineers, from the end of gravel road (dirt road) to the huts or camping areas. They just working at summer time and good weather, not winter. Also the price of transportation is not too cheap (more than 40 euros for each backpack).
- Damavand marathon and speed Climbing Records on Damavand
Today sky running is one of the branches of mountain sports and has its fans. In the way, several ski running competition have been held in Damavand since 2002 with the name of Damavand Marathon. The best record ever reached is 3 hours and 3 minutes from asphalt road (~ 2600 m) to the summit.
- The Oldest & Youngest Summiteers
The oldest summiteer was an Iranian man with 83 years old and the youngest was a 7 years old girl. We do not endorse these reports, in addition that we believe that ascent to the summit of mount Damavand in childhood or old ages are not reasonable.
- Top 5 Dangers on Mount Damavand
The 5 dangers mistakes on Damavand that cause most of accidents and injured are:
- Altitude sickness
- Losing the way
- Changes of weather
- Lake of equipment
- Persist on climbing Damavand summit
- What is the best food to Eat on Mount Damavand
Everybody knows appreciate the importance of good foods on mountain programs specially on long trekking tours. So, as our policy in Iran Exploration, we strongly recommend you to use fresh vegetables and food instead of canned or long lasting foods. Don’t forget importance of fresh fruits on your foods plan. On the summer you can easily buy organic fruits from Polour or Raineh.
- Damavand Permit, Rules & etiquette
like most of the mountains around the world, climbing Damavand has its rules that should to be observed. For start your ascent on Damavand you should to introduce yourself to the IR.Mountain Federation guesthouse in Poulor or Rhineh, and get a 50 $ Permit license to climb Damavand. Otherwise, your climb will be prevented by police. Although, using Mountain Guide in Damavand is compulsory, but if you do not do this, there will not be a problem for you, except in case you need rescue! That you should pay for any supports and rescue operations. So we advise you to use mountain guides for climbing Damavand.
- Ski touring on Mount Damavand
Are you interested in mountaineering Damavand, but coming down from the mountain is annoying you??? Do you want to climb Damavand peak without walking in the heat of the summer and thirsty??? Do you hate of crowds of hikers and beginner climbers in Damavand summer trekking??? The best choice for you is Ski Turing Damavand. Every year, hundreds of skiers and mountain climbers who know Ski Touring or Ski Mountaineering, comes to climbing Damavand peak.
Damavand slope with angle about 20 to 35 degrees, with appropriate cover and favorable snow conditions, is one of the best and most desirable peaks for mountain skiers. The weather conditions in March, April and May provide you the best, most enjoyable and safest season for skiing on mount Damavand. Imagine, after climbing the summit, within a few hours, you will ski down from a height of 5610 meters to 2,400 meters, take a warm shower, share your photos with your friends and have a relax in the Polour (or Rineh) guesthouse.
On the other hand, quick and easy access to the starting point of ski touring at peaks above 4,000 meters (Doberar mountain ridge) is one of the best alternatives for acclatization process to ski-touring Damavand. Every day you can take a hot and delicious breakfast in the guest house and get out to the starting point of the ski-touring to a 4,000-meter peak in less than 20 minutes (in Doberar mountain ridge with more than 30 summits). Climb the summit, return to your bed at the evening and check your emails.
These attractions and facilities have made Damavand Ski Touring, one of the best options for those who like to climb highest volcano of Asia by Ski.
- Paragliding on Mount Damavand
Although jumping with paragliders from the summit like Damavand is not so common. But many athletes have done so hard, and they have fulfilled their ambition by jumping from the roof of Iran and the Middle East. In 2010 September, a group of athletes from Kordestan province of Iran, could fly from Damavand peak by paraglider. They had climb summit many times without a good window of weather conditions, but finally they did it.
- Mountain Biking on Mount Damavand
Thanks to Damavand’s non-technical route on the southern side as well as the dirt road up to 3000 meters high, every year a large number of mountain bikers come here for cycling around and even top the summit of Damavand by their bicycles. From a height of 3000 meters to the top, due to the Damavand slope, in some areas you can ride a bicycle. But on most part of the road, you should carry the bike with your hand or have a high stamina for a cycling. From a height of 4250 meters to the top, it is a sandy and gravel route and requires a lot of cycling skill. However, it’s not wise to climb a 5610-meter summit by bike and carrying it by hand, but many mountain bikers climb Damavand Mountains every year with their bicycles.
Although climbing Damavand peak is difficult and not very attractive with bikes, mountain biking around Mount Damavand (altitude below 3500 m) is very enjoyable and exciting. “Around Mount Damavand” Cycling Tour, “Lar National Park and Lar Dam Lake” Cycling Tour, “From Damavand to Caspian Sea” Cycling Tour are some of the beautiful Mountain Biking Tours in Damavand areas that Iran Exploration performs every year.
- Services on mount Damavand for mountaineers
Are you alone mountaineer? Are travel independently? Do you want to know which facilities and accommodations you can have in your trip to Damavand? So we can help you by sharing our experiences and knowledge about Damavand.
- On the cities
How to reach Damavand from Tehran? As you know mount Damavand paced between Alborz mountain range, and to reach to the foothills of Damavand, there is no way except Haraz mountain road. The easiest and cheapest way from Tehran to Polour village, or Raineh town (start points of Damavand peak), is to go to the “East Terminal” of Tehran by Taxi or Metro, then rent a private car to Polour or Raineh. Or buy a ticket of “Tehran-Amol” or “Tehran-Sari” buses and ask the bus driver to take you off in Polour or Raineh in the middle of the way.
There are three guesthouses of I.R Mountain Federation in Polour village, Raineh Town, and Nandal village (north side) in Damavand areas with sleeping rooms, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and etc (note that you should book your space before arrive, especially in high seasons). Also you can rent a private room in local houses of the area and enjoy their people hospitality.
- Damavand Permit fee and getting allowed to enter the area
For climbing Damavand, every foreign mountaineers should pay 50$ to I.R Mountain Federation of Iran. Also you should inform Federation agents from your group information (name, numbers, itinerary) then getting allowed to climb Damavand peak. If you don’t this, you force back by police and should pay a penalty.
- Buying foods and needs for climbing Damavand
You can find ever kind of foods and everything you may need for climbing Damavand on Polour or Raineh shops. So you don’t need to bring your heavy stuff and foods from your country.
You should rent a 4WD car from Polour or Raineh to bring you to the start point of Mount Damavand. In the south and north route you can rent a mules to carry your backpacks or luggage to the hut.
The best hut of mount Damavand is a new hut of southern route. It has a few 6 person rooms and public bedroom with mattress and pillow, dining hall, bathroom, and small shop. If you want to climb Damavand from south room and need accommodation, you book a room or beds (you can ask us for every kind of bookings).
- Mountain guide for Damavand
Climbing mountains with a mountain guide is necessary in our rules and every foreign mountaineers should climb with professional mountain guide. Although this rule, does not have a strong guarantee of execution, and you will not be fined for it, but in case of any accident or emergency needs, you should pay too much for the services and also there are no insurances coverage for you without mountain guide. So we strongly recommend you, for more safety and guaranteeing successful climbing to Damavand peak, for sure take a professional mountain guide (you can ask us to present you a skillful and professional mountain guide).
- Is oxygen needed in Damavand summit?
As most of high mountains, air pressure and oxygen content at Damavand Peak is lower than the Earth’s surface. The density of oxygen at the summit of Damavand is about half the sea surface. On the other hand, the presence of sulfur gas in the sulfuric band near the peak makes the breathing very difficult. However, climbing to Damavand in good condition and for healthy climbers does not needed for oxygen supplements.
Depend on your decision and purpose of your trip, Damavand Best Itinerary will be different. For example:
- Best itinerary for Damavand trekking in summer is;
Day 1: Goosfandsara (The Masque) 3000 m
Day 2: Bargah-e-Sevom 4250 m
Day 3: Acclimatization day
Day 4: Damavand Summit day
Day 5: Return back
- Best itinerary for Damavand Ski Touring in spring is;
Day 1: Arrive to Polour, rest
Day 2: ski touring to the hut 4250 m
Day 3: Acclimatization or bad weather reservation day
Day 4: Damavand summit day
Day 5: Descend Polour & Hot Spring (SPA)
- Best itinerary for Damavand winter ascent is;
Day 1: Arrive Polour, rest
Day 2: Start trekking to Goosfandsara 3000 m
Day 3: Continue climbing Damavand to Bargahe Sevom hut 4250m
Day 4: Acclimatization or bad weather reservation day
Day 5: Push summit of mount Damavand
Day 6: Bad weather reservation Day (last chance to push summit)
Day 7: Descend to Polour
- Best itinerary for Damavand Hiking in Spring is;
Day 1: Arrive Polour, rest
Day 2: Hiking to Gol-e-Zard (Yellow Flower) foothills
Day 3: Walking in Lar National Park
Day 4: Hiking to Goosfandsara 3000 m
Day 5: Larijan Hot Spring
- Best itinerary for Damavand Mountain Biking in Spring/Autumn is;
Day 1: Arrive Polour, rest
Day 2: Mountain Biking in Lar National Park/ Camping
Day 3: Mountain Biking to Vararou plateau in Damavand west side
Day 4: Mountain Biking to Goosfandsara 3000 m
Day 5: Mountain Biking to Larijan Hot Spring
Also we have many other interesting itineraries around mount Damavand, just tell us your wishes and desires, so our technical team will make a Tailor-Made itinerary for your trip.
- Family adventure on Damavand
As climbing science has proven, climbing high altitude for children is not recommended. Therefore, Mount Damavand is no exception to this rule, and if you have children less than 10 years of age in your family, we do not advise you to climb Damavand peak. This does not mean that we do not recommend families to come to Damavand area, on the contrary, it should be said that Damavand is not only a high and cold peak, but it has vast pastures, Lar Lake & National Park, beautiful valleys and hospitable nomads, that providing a pleasant environment for an adventure journey to families. So, we suggest you that never put Damavand aside from your list, if you want to have an adventure trip with your family.
Finding the difficulty of a mountain is a complex task, because climbing routes are often long and have many complications and hardships. Therefore, difficulty of Damavand mountains varies depending on its routes. On the other hand, there are several different ways to grading the difficulties of mountain paths. so Mountaineering (Alpine climbing) routes are usually graded according to all their different aspects, because they can be very diverse.
Considering all these cases, Damavand’s southern route (normal route) difficulty in summer season, can be as following details:
- International French adjectival system (IFAS): PD: peu difficile (slightly difficult).
- Alaskan: Alaska Grade 2: Either a moderate fifth-class one-day climb, or a straightforward multiday nontechnical climb.
- Russian (post USSR countries): Grade 1B: Easy ascent of a peak between 2000–5000 m over rocks, with sections of snow and ice or mixed ground.
- British: Moderate (M, or “Mod”)
- HIKING (Italian system): EE – skilled hikers – Trails are often marked but orienteering skills are actually required: routes usually encounter slippery grassy slopes, short sections of scree (small loose rocks on average angle slopes). Rock outcrops can usually be negotiated without the use of hands, but sometimes hikers could have to climb short rock bands requiring use of hands. Scrambling does not usually require specialized climbing equipment or skills, but hikers can meet with short and easy equipped stretches of trail. Alpine experience, firm and steady step are required. Hikers may also be exposed to heights and have to be trained for a whole day walk.
- Damavand Environmental concern
As already mentioned, Damavand is an alone and cone volcanic mountain, with unique weather conditions and a special sensitive ecosystem. In addition to its unique attractions, these conditions have made Damavand highly sensitive to changes in human interactions. Mount Damavand is a volcano, and there are many mineral resources around it that tempts people to harvest them. Mineral harvesting has led to high mountain roads in the Damavand slopes and changes in the environment of plants and animals. Fortunately, in recent years, with the local people’s awareness, they have been stopped by these rapes, and Damavand’s ecosystem is recovering. But as we face it all over the world, the most hostile and destructive of the environment is humanity.
- Rubbish on Mount Damavand
Humans climb mountains, take photos and go back down. But what are they left behind them self? Rubbish!!!
Fortunately, in recent years, with the advent of social networks and training, most of the climbers are focusing on the mountains’ environment and transferring their waste to cities. But there are still those who ignore environmental issues, and infecting the mountains. Iran Exploration is trying to provide a clear understanding of how to protect the mountains and prevent them from being destroyed by planning and continuing training and raising the level of knowledge of the beginner climbers.
- How to prepare a successful climb on Mount Damavand?
The answer is very simple. Use experienced guides to climb Mount Damavand. Iran Exploration, with experiences of decade in adventure and outdoor tourism, always uses the best guides, encourages them to learn new knowledge and equip them with new and up-to-date equipment, to provide a high quality services and safety trip for its customers in Iran.
So, the wisest way to make a safe and successful climb to Mount Damavand is to use Iran Exploration’s guides.
- Need more information about Damavand?
You can find everything about Damavand peak and climbing Damavand in our website. For more information about Mount Damavand and other mountains in Iran, further questions or Tailor-Made tours, please contact us. | <urn:uuid:9f9abb11-1f05-415f-9458-605504904f13> | {
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Many cleaning products, such as soap and oven cleaner, are bases. Bases neutralize (cancel out) acids. Alkalis are bases that dissolve in water. Strong bases, such bleach, are corrosive and burn skin. Bases contain particles called hydroxide ions. The more hydroxide ions a base contains, the stronger it is.
Limestone is an important base that is dug from the earth in quarries. It comes from calcium carbonate, which formed millions of years ago from the compressed remains of sea-shells and other marine life. Once quarried, limestone is crushed and used to make cement, fertilizers, paints, and ceramics. | <urn:uuid:196aad57-5671-4e1b-9dda-aa5b3d75bf8f> | {
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Here are 19 simple ways to reduce energy this summer:
Heating and Cooling
1. Add a few degrees to your home’s temperature. In your home, wear summer clothes designed for warmer temperatures.
2. When temperatures drop in the evening, consider using only a ceiling fan.
3. Every few years, inspect and repair caulking and/or weatherstripping around windows.
4. Clean your window-mounted air conditioner’s air filter.
A clogged air filter will result in significantly more energy consumption and can lead to costly air conditioner repairs.
Related info: How an air conditioner works
5. Close the drapes and shades.
Draw window shades and drapes closed in order to deter the fast-warming rays of sunlight from reaching your rooms. This may reduce the room temperature by at least a few degrees, taking a load off your AC.
6. Prevent a sudden central air conditioning breakdown.
Central air conditioner condensers should be cleaned annually to keep them operating properly. Use a garden hose and gently wash out leaves, grass, dirt and other debris from between the coils.
7. If you go on vacation, set your water heater to its “vacation” setting.
8. Lower your water heater’s regular temperature setting.
“Every water heater has an adjustable temperature setting,” said Dino Tatangelo, RepairClinic.com’s in-house water heater expert. “Most people keep water heaters at a much higher setting than is necessary for their needs. This means they are wasting energy keeping water exceptionally hot for most of every day – while they are sleeping, at work, walking their dogs, etcetera. A setting of 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) is generally sufficient for most households.”
9. Drain water from the water heater a few times per year.
This will remove natural sediment buildup that can reduce energy efficiency.
10. Turn off and unplug appliances that you don’t use regularly.
11. Find the appliances in your home that are energy hogs.
Find out what appliances are energy hogs by plugging in an energy usage meter. This will enable you to track consumption, discover inefficiencies and possible problems.
12. Clean off refrigerator condenser coils.
Condenser coils have the important job of removing heat from refrigerators and keeping the temperature cool.
Condenser coils are your refrigerator’s large, radiator-like coils located at the back or beneath the unit. Unfortunately, they’re dust and dirt magnets. Such build up on the coils makes it more difficult for refrigerators to function properly and the result is increased energy consumption.
Related post: 5 fast appliance fixes
These coils should be cleaned every 12 to 18 months; if you have pets, you may need to do this more frequently. A long-handled bristle brush and your vacuum cleaner will work best to remove dirt and fur from the coils.
On models with coils located beneath the unit, you can access this area by removing the bottom grill or kick-panel located at the front or an access panel at the back. A flashlight will be helpful in this dark area to prevent any damage to the fan.
13. Reduce cooking times by using lids on pans and pots.
Related post: Range cleaning 101
14. Use preset cooking times on your microwave oven.
Many people don’t bother using their microwave oven’s preset cooking features. This will heat food more effectively and conserve energy.
Related post: Seven ways to keep your microwave working well
15. Replace your refrigerator/freezer door gasket (the rubber seal).
Gaskets have the important job of sealing the door and preventing warm air from entering but they can get ripped or torn over time. Your refrigerator and freezer may be working overtime because of air flow between the door and the interior of the appliance.
16. Clean your dryer’s lint filter (lint screen) after every load. A clogged lint filter means it will take longer for your dryer to dry clothes. It’s also an extreme fire hazard.
17. Once per year, clean out your entire dryer venting system.
18. Remove clothing from your dryer when they’re still a bit damp.
Hang them up right away. This will save energy and prevent wrinkles.
Related post: How to reduce wrinkles and avoid ironing
19. In lieu of using hot water in your washing machine, warm or cold water is sufficient for cleaning clothes.
Add this infographic to your website or blog:
RepairClinic.com® makes fixing things easy for millions of people. Founded in 1999, it’s North America’s popular, trusted online store with replacement parts for outdoor power equipment, major household appliances and heating and cooling equipment. Free repair resources including more than 1,200 how-to videos empower people to fix stuff on their own. One million parts for 160 brands are stocked at its 86,000-square-foot facility in Canton, Michigan. Do-it-yourselfers also appreciate its generous, no-hassle 365 Days. Period.® return policy. In-stock parts are guaranteed to ship the same business day. Visit RepairClinic.com for more information. Contact Jody Lamb, Public Relations Manager, at JLamb [at] RepairClinic.com. | <urn:uuid:a5e7dce9-8253-45ec-8e41-322fa58dc014> | {
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Mapping New Healthcare Infrastructure After Genocide
In July 1994, the Great Lakes region in Central Africa was in tatters as mass genocide marred the land. “No people, no nation” was a common call; the Tutsis who represent 14% of the region’s population were deemed worthy of death by the government.
Of survivors, widows and orphans were traumatized. Repatriates and refugees became disoriented. As for the nation’s civic infrastructure, there were no markets, no food, no hospitals, and no schools.
From the days of horrific tragedies to the present, pieces of the broken country had to be rebuilt by this shattered, vulnerable society.
As a result, epidemics in the form of HIV/AIDS, meningitis, tuberculosis, measles, malaria, and malnutrition, among others, led to decades of unimaginably high child mortality rates and low life expectancies throughout the region. Inadequate healthcare coverage and poor health system performance resulted in the deaths of nearly 9 million children under the age of five each year.
The most devastating, yet at the same time promising, fact is that the primary causes of these diseases and deaths are now preventable. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that even though the health resource base has been steadily climbing for decades, mainly in developed areas of the world, “The health sector remains massively under-resourced in far too many countries.”
For instance, for every 1,000 people living in Central Africa, there is one doctor. Despite ample resources in the developing world, the WHO calls the international response to struggling nations “inadequate and naïve,” not to mention “too little, too late” or “too much in the wrong place.”
Last year, both the Healthcare Initiative in The Design School and the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University had the incredible opportunity to offer students a traveling design studio experience focused on addressing some of the critical health and wellness issues facing people in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, specifically child mortality.
Led by professors James Shraiky and Gerri Lamb, this traveling studio utilized the skills and expertise of an eager, multidisciplinary team of 12 students from architecture, landscape architecture, healthcare innovation, social sciences, and design research.
During fieldwork in Rwanda, as well as back on campus in Tempe, Arizona, students worked tirelessly to propose the design of a new multifunctional clinical facility, plan a healthcare campus, develop a comprehensive site plan template, create a suitable and sustainable landscape program, and conceptualize an effective and efficient healthcare delivery model.
As the program for this research experience is highly uncommon in today’s academia, so, too, was it unique and exciting for all participants. The unusual class structure united students from varied academic disciplines to collaborate in an effort to solve a healthcare problem from a design research perspective while under the direction of two professors with distinct backgrounds: one a nurse scientist and the other a design researcher.
Team members arrived to the first day of class worlds apart in perspective and focus. The following represents the diverse ways of thinking, processing, and understanding that they brought to this project.
Healthcare innovation and nursing
Arriving in a design studio for the first time, the healthcare and nursing students did not know what to expect. In accordance with traditional healthcare environments, they anticipated structured schedules; pre-set, incremental semester plan rollouts; and innovative uses of technology, not only for all presentations and renderings, but also in the documentation of the healthcare system design.
Online collaboration and discovery is the natural mode of study for this group of students. They assumed that classwork and teamwork would be performed during daylight hours. A patient-centered, holistic focus is foundational to this group.
On the first day, the term “pin-up” conjured up thoughts of colored photos of women. The suggestion that the class spend time doing pin-ups had them frozen in their chairs in confusion, wondering what sort of world they entered.
Most of them were full-time graduate students and had full-time jobs. Being that they are so highly structured, timing of class projects was considered mandatory in order to accomplish the goals of this class.
Architecture and landscape architecture
A holistic approach is fundamental to these groups, as well, but from a different perspective. Their architecture and landscape architecture academic roots were well-established in design studio settings, which appeared to be an advantage from the beginning in that an orientation to a new learning methodology was not required.
This group valued a flexible, creativity-based approach over a structured environment with reports and hard timelines. All were full-time students with part-time jobs whose best work was often produced between midnight and 4 a.m.
Architects and designers learn and communicate visually. As such, pin-ups are common to the practice, and the students often utilized them in formal presentations as well as casual conversations. Three-dimensional miniature models of structures are as natural to these students as laboratory specimen tubes and syringes are to the healthcare innovation group.
Their conversations centered on functionality of design, accessibility to materials, holistic concepts of air flow and seasonal lighting patterns, and the relationship of Rwandan rural family lifestyle characteristics to the necessary components of a functional healthcare facility.
Social innovation and design research
These students added yet another component to the complexity of this interdisciplinary team. The importance of multiple data collection methods, accurate and extensive documentation of data, unlimited investigation, and tireless striving toward the perfection of the final documented recommendations of this study drove their efforts.
The students also had jobs outside of their academic commitments, but were somewhat familiar with the design studio environment and therefore served as a bridge for communication and translation between the other two extremely diverse groups.
Their investigative nature and structure connected them to the healthcare innovation group. Their familiarity and ease with design perspectives related directly to the big-picture, holistic view of people and how they interact with design and physical structures, which the architecture students hold so dear.
The students also added the facets of family member roles and how historical cultural impacts on the current Rwandan society should factor into the final design and recommendations.
Introductions and ice breakers opened the kickoff discussion for the class. Instructors asked students about their academic background relating to the project, their motivation to participate, and what they hoped to accomplish. They led the group of varied and unique individuals through a brainstorming session to begin to identify pre-travel research, using the instructors’ preliminary research as a launching point.
The team determined probable stakeholders using mind-mapping to facilitate the identification of relationships and themes. This, in turn, led to the development of a tentative schedule of research activities to occur during the 11-day Rwanda trip.
The research identified government agencies, families, healthcare professionals—both urban a
nd rural, mental health workers, and indigenous healers—as key stakeholders in the Rwandan healthcare system. At the end of the trip, the team organized a charrette with the stakeholders to present their findings and validate the collected data.
The professors conducted literature reviews on the health and wellness needs of children in Central Africa for more than a year prior to the beginning of this course. For the first three weeks of class, during the travel prep period, students conducted their own literature reviews on the same topic but each through the lens of their perspective disciplines.
After synthesizing the instructors’ research with the students’ research, the collective team developed a methodology based on the following hypothesis: High child mortality rates can be greatly reduced in the Great Lakes region of Africa through the development of a self-sustaining and culturally adaptable mobile medical clinic that delivers healthcare and healthcare training for the community.
To test this hypothesis in the field, the team generated a series of design questions to assess the current healthcare system. Questions sought to define the availability of and access to healthcare, the barriers to receiving it, and who is most affected by the lack of resources. Additional questions looked to identify where the delivery of healthcare occurs, and the level of public awareness of healthcare treatment and the causes of serious health problems.
In Rwanda, students and instructors divided into interdisciplinary teams to collect data. Data collection occurred through stakeholder observation, shadowing, storytelling, and interviews. It was recorded through field notes, photos, videos, and audio recordings. Research teams visited various locations, including nursing schools, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), medical schools, the Ministry of Health, rural community health workers’ homes, villages, urban and rural hospitals, the Rwanda Development Board, and a refugee camp.
Upon return to the United States, data processing took center stage and was painstakingly carried out. The research and social innovation students took the lead of this process by transcribing all notes to assure accuracy and verify sources.
The revised problem statement
After synthesizing and reviewing all data collected, the research team concluded that the original hypothesis did not fully address the high-priority health and wellness needs for children in central Africa. Though lack of access to adequate healthcare facilities and technologies affects public health in Rwanda, the research pointed to even greater gaps in wellness, prevention, and health education for the community.
Based on these findings, the team developed a new hypothesis, which focuses on education and awareness for both healthcare providers and patients on healthcare accessibility.
The preliminary literature reviews, field work in Rwanda, and data analysis uncovered underlying and unified themes that are critical to the success of future design interventions. The team concluded that the design solutions must facilitate community engagement, be designed for flexibility and adaptability, support existing infrastructure, incorporate technology, and focus on prevention, detection, and referral.
Utilizing the design themes to support the revised hypothesis, the team established three final design solutions. The first solution focuses on the region’s overall healthcare system, the second on a campus scale, and the third on a specific clinical environment. The students divided into three interdisciplinary teams, each tasked to investigate one of the three final design solutions.
The system template
A systems approach to develop a holistic solution was utilized because research identified numerous interconnected issues that were collectively impacting public health. Many health ailments were not being addressed until they had progressed into severe acute stages, requiring immediate attention and maximum resources.
The data suggested that public health in Rwanda is currently affected by the lack of access to adequate healthcare facilities and technologies, as well as prevention-based education. Additionally, healthcare providers are in need of continuing educational opportunities to further improve their knowledge and skills. To further complicate the problem, access to clean water is a daily challenge for many Rwandan citizens, causing numerous health problems for individuals and families.
The proposed system template involves stakeholders from the community, health workers, healthcare professionals, and the Rwandan government, and consists of multiple, interconnected, operational models. An education and knowledge transfer model delivers prevention-based education for community members as a bottom-up and top-down organizational learning tool. A mobility/connectivity model provides bicycles, Internet, smart phones, and telemedicine options to community health workers and staff.
A transitional patient care model aims to increase efficient patient movement across the healthcare system while also providing for return patient care support. A partnerships model improves the communication among the NGO and foreign aid efforts and resources, as well as local government and universities, and thus increases their overall effectiveness.
A facilities model addresses access to clean water that is necessary for public health and can be incorporated into the funding model. The team devised a water social entrepreneurship model to provide such funding.
Tuition from a residency program may also support operation costs.
The campus template
The final solutions address a needed shift in the healthcare delivery system to bridge the gaps at the early stages of treatment and prevention. This concept occurs at the community health center level, between the clinical facility (also referred to as a health post in Rwanda) and district hospital.
In Rwanda, healthcare tends to be perceived as acute care only, a way to manage illness when it progresses to the point of being intolerable or even life-threatening. This fact was validated in a small district hospital in Munini, Rwanda, where the team interviewed several patients who waited to the point of severe health problems before seeking treatment.
The campus design structure allows the community to take ownership of its local wellness system. It redirects the health system to a more holistic, wellness model through education at all levels and a gradual redirection toward prevention and healthier lifestyles. Major dysfunctional aspects are revised using local resources, skilled labor, and working elements of the current system’s structure as a framework.
The intention is to enhance the strengths of the current system rather than present a complete system overhaul. This new typology of a wellness campus provides minimal yet preventative services to include primary care, counseling, family planning, maternity care, pharmacy, laboratory, screening, referral, telehealth education, and traveling specialists.
The flexibility of this campus design allows for continued growth in size to meet the needs of the community. The development is planned in three phases to accommodate gradual implementation while addressing the high-priority areas first. Phase one involves the immediate local infrastructure deficiencies and educational processes.
Phase two establishes the design implementation and construction strategies developed in conjunction with the community. Phase three expands the functions of the community health center within a campus concept, assessing the completed system prior to turning over facility operations to the community.
The clinical template
Field research indicated that a typic
al community health worker delivers care from his or her home, and is compensated and trained by the Ministry of Health and NGO partners. During interviews, the community health workers indicated that a new work facility would be needed due to the inadequate conditions of their homes. Health posts are intended to support the limited capacity of the community health worker, whose primary responsibilities are detection, referral, and serving the basic needs of care delivery.
As the clinical team focused on supporting the role of the community health worker through improved facilities, technology, and education, the goal was to maintain the current physical scale of the village home through the creation of a new health post typology. The health post design solution would offer the community health worker a new environment that maintains the current scale of the home and is respectful of the culture, social structure, and local vernacular.
In order to achieve a scale for the facility representative of the village, a density study was first used to establish an approximate number of community members currently and potentially served by a community health worker.
The resulting design of the studio is not only a valuable outcome, but also represents the students’ growth through complex, collaborative efforts. The interdisciplinary model, introduced at an elementary level during the first class, evolved and adapted to support the planning and implementation of a powerful charrette in Rwanda, and carried through to the development and presentation of the final design.
Research team: instructors/students
Gerri Lamb, James Shraiky, Allison Magley, Al Peyketewa, April Ward, Denise Santiago, Linda Voyles, Lisa Santy, Matt Krise, Mary Villarreal, Rhoda Collie, Sheila Wakelam, and Taylor Gloeckler
James Shraiky, M.Arch, MA, is the director of the healthcare design initiative at The Design School, part of Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. He can be reached at [email protected]. Linda Voyles, MHI, RN, BSN, CNOR, is a holistic perioperative nurse, author, speaker, and certified Dream Coach with more than 30 years of nursing experience. She can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:87f0aca5-0953-42b7-9e51-99967ae19c8b> | {
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For all our talk on "the future now," there is one future we'd prefer to delay for the next five billion years, and that's the inevitability of our planet's destruction. Mankind's speculated on the end of the world for thousands of years, but it wasn't until recent centuries that people began attaching scientific possibilities to doomsday scenarios, instead of blaming the gods for our demise.
During the first half of the 20th century, we focused our imaginations on cosmological disasters. Billions of years from now, the sun will explode, vaporizing the Earth in a ruthless inferno. Or perhaps a swarm of asteroids would bombard our cities and crash into our oceans, resulting in a series of megatsunamis. Other scenarios included one where the Earth's surface would shrink so tightly, that its core would explode with the pressure, turning our beloved planet into just another asteroid belt. The most bizarre theory was that a rogue star would cross into our solar system, swallowing our planet within streams of deadly solar rays.
More terrifying, however, than the prospect of getting zapped by cosmic rays is the possibility that mankind will bring about its own destruction. Between the end of World War II and the early 1970s, sections of Popular Science essentially functioned as guides to surviving nuclear fallout. Nowadays, "Doomsday machine" sounds like an antiquated sci-fi myth, but type those terms into our archives and see if you don't feel unsettled by the paranoia surrounding this hypothetical weapon.
At any rate, we lived through the Cold War, although there's no telling which impending disaster will scare us quite as badly. In the meantime, click through our gallery for more creepy scenarios for how our world will end.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more. | <urn:uuid:ec399e74-10f6-4435-919f-b447628bd76b> | {
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UT students organize exhibition about artists’ depictions of diseaseBy Staff : April 21st, 2011
How human disease has been represented in art through the ages is the subject of the exhibition titled “What’s Wrong With Me? Art and Disease,” which will open Friday, April 22, in the Toledo Museum of Art Hitchcock Gallery.The University of Toledo students curating the exhibition are enrolled in an art history class that provides them with hands-on training in the design of art exhibitions. The course is part of a curriculum developed collaboratively by UT and the museum that prepares students in museum practices.
“After learning about the history of disease, students get to know related objects in the Toledo Museum of Art’s permanent collection in the process of designing their own exhibition,” said Dr. Mysoon Rizk, UT associate professor of art history, who is teaching Exhibition: Art and Disease.
“The class has taught me so much — that the existence of disease played an integral part of our history, culture and art,” said John DuVall, a UT student taking the class. “By studying the way people afflicted with disease have been stigmatized and isolated throughout history and in our lifetime, society as a whole still has much to learn regarding compassion for the sick.”
Visitors in the early weeks of this exhibition will see an “installation in progress” as the eight students continue their work through the remainder of spring semester. The completed exhibition will remain on view through Sunday, Aug. 7.
Three themes emerge from the selected works: disease is part of life; isolation and social stigma have accompanied various diseases at different times in human history; and disease can inspire hope, faith and compassion for one another.
Thirty-one works of art, including prints, three-dimensional objects and a video, are shown. All but one object are from the museum’s collection.
Some of the artists have had firsthand experience with disease, and their works express emotions that include anger, grief, compassion and hope, resulting from their encounters with illness.
“Sterbezimmer” (“The Death Chamber”), an 1896 print by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, was created after the artist’s sister died from consumption, now is known as tuberculosis.
A series of woodcuts by German artist Käthe Kollwitz relates to World War I and World War II. Kollwitz lost a son and a grandson in battle. Her work, “The Parents” from the “Krieg (War)” series, connects to everyone’s losses through war.
“The Good Samaritan,” an 1861 print by Rodolphe Bresdin, is a reminder of the strength of human compassion.
Art relating to disease can be found from every period and reflects common beliefs of those times, Rizk said. For instance, bloodletting was prescribed when people believed illnesses were caused by one’s body being “out of balance.” Bloodletting was thought to remedy the imbalance.
Stigmas associated with some illnesses, such as cancer, have decreased over time as our understanding of the diseases and effective treatments have grown. The stigma associated with AIDS, particularly in the 1980s when the syndrome was little understood and before treatments were developed, is gradually abating, she said.
“A Fire in My Belly” (1986-87), a 13-minute video version of an unfinished film by American artist David Wojnarowicz, is part of the exhibition. Visually powerful with images some may find disturbing, the video depicts the inevitability of death as well as the artist’s anger and grief after losing many friends to AIDS-related illnesses, of which he, too, would die. The work is on loan from the PPOW Gallery in New York.
The free exhibition is made possible by members of the Toledo Museum of Art and supported in part through the sustainable grant program of the Ohio Arts Council.
The Toledo Museum of Art is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. | <urn:uuid:7df4f172-4d28-4fc0-8987-88775531c343> | {
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vendredi 25 mars 2016
SOFIA Releases New Map of Orion’s Horsehead Nebula
NASA & DLR - SOFIA patch.
March 25, 2016
Image above: NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory pictured in flight with the door open to its 2.5-metre infrared telescope. Image Credit: NASA.
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, has released a new map of the interstellar cloud called the Horsehead Nebula, located in the constellation Orion.
This new map is made of 100 separate views of the nebula, each mapping carbon atoms at different velocities. When combined, these different views create a multi-faceted representation of the nebula. Each location on this new SOFIA map of the nebula contains a far-infrared spectrum of the gas and dust there, allowing astronomers to examine the dynamics, chemistry, temperatures, and velocity within the nebula.
“We are pleased to provide this data to the world and greater scientific community,” said Erick Young, SOFIA science mission operations director of NASA Ames Research Center, at Moffett Field, California. “Orion’s Horsehead Nebula is an iconic interstellar feature and a prime laboratory for studying star formation processes.”
Animation above: Animated map of Orion's Horsehead Nebula showing 100 separate views in sequence. The yellow and white areas have the most intense radiation from carbon atoms.
Image Credits: NASA/DLR/USRA/DSI/SOFIA/GREAT Consortium.
Scientists made the observations using an instrument called upGREAT – the upgraded German Receiver at Tereherz Frequencies. It uses 14 infrared detectors simultaneously, which increases the efficiency of observations. An equivalent map created prior to the upgrade would have required more than 200 hours, but took only four hours of observing time, thanks to upGREAT’s sensitivity.
SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, manages the SOFIA program, science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center's hangar 703, in Palmdale, California.
The full data set can be downloaded from the SOFIA Science Center’s data archives from:
For more information about SOFIA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/index.html
Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Ames Research Center/SOFIA Science Center/Kassandra Bell.
Publié par Orbiter.ch à 17:19 | <urn:uuid:0e60c5b0-111d-4f0a-a7e2-de28a9e5e235> | {
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|Quotes • Headscratchers • Playing With • Useful Notes • Analysis • Image Links • Haiku • Laconic|
Common title convention. Somewhere in the title will be the words "age of (insert age here)". "The" is optional.
A subtrope of The X of Y.
Examples of Age of Titles include:
- The Ages of Super Hero Comics
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton.
- The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology by Thomas Paine.
- The Age of American Unreason, by Susan Jacoby.
- The books of James Lovegroves Pantheon series: The Age of Ra, The Age of Odin,' The Age of Zeus and The Age of Aztec.
- Iron Maiden's "Age Of Innocence"
- Turbonegro's The Age Of Pamparius
- Blind Guardian - "Age of False Innocence"
- Dark Age of Camelot
- Age of Empires
- Warhammer: Age of Reckoning
- Age of Conan
- Fall From Heaven Age of Ice
- The Age of Decadence
- Age of Wonders
- Remember 11: The Age of Infinity
- Hair: "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius..."
- Commonly used to describe time periods to emphasize certain elements of the time period. (Age of Sail, Age of discovery, etc.)
- To wit: Age of Austerity.
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Other Botanical Collections
Plate from Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1731-1743).
Mark Catesby (24 March 1682/83 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first published account of the flora and fauna of North America. It included 220 plates of birds, reptiles and amphibians, fish, insects, and mammals, as well as plants.
Catesby spent the next seventeen years preparing his Natural History. Publication was financed by an interest-free loan from one of the fellows of the Royal Society, the Quaker Peter Collinson. Catesby was the first to use folio-sized colored plates in natural history books. He learned how to etch the plates himself. The first eight plates had no backgrounds, but from then on Catesby included plants with his animals. He completed the first volume in 1731, and in February 1733 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. The second volume was completed in 1743, and in 1746-1747 he produced a supplement from material sent to him by friends in America, particularly John Bartram. Catesby’s original preparatory drawings for “Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands” are in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, and a selection was exhibited in USA, Japan and at the Queen’s Gallery, London, in 1997-1998. On 5 March 1747, Catesby read a paper entitled “Of birds of passage” to the Royal Society in London, and he is now recognized as one of the first people to describe bird migration. Mark Catesby married Elizabeth Rowland on 2 October 1747. He died just before Christmas 1749 on Saturday 23 December in his house behind St Luke’s Church, Old Street, London. Catesby’s “Hortus britanno-americanus …” was published posthumously in 1763, and a second edition, entitled “Hortus Europae americanus …” was issued in 1767.
“The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands:containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: particulary the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. “ London :printed for C. Marsh 1754. | <urn:uuid:cdbcbe95-408b-4a41-8231-bffc15336824> | {
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Colors and Styles
You can control the appearance of graphical elements in schematics and symbols in a number of ways.
Colors of objects in a schematic or symbol are set using a limited color palette, with the various colors having particular meanings. To change which color an object is drawn in, select it and select Edit→Color. This will display the “Color Edit” window, where you can choose the color to use from a drop down menu which shows a preview of each color and color name.
Remember that other users may view your schematics and symbols using a different color map to the one you used to create them, so they may not appear in the same way that they do to you. See also Viewing schematics
Line width and dashing
Lines, arcs and the outlines of boxes, circles and polygons have an adjustable line width and dash pattern. Select the items to be modified, and use Edit→Line Width & Type to show the “Edit Line Width & Type” window. There are several supported dashing patterns:
“Solid”. Continuous solid line (this is the default).
“Dotted”. In this case, the line is drawn with a series of dots spaced by the “Dash Space”, and the diameter of the dots is controlled by the line width.
“Dashed”. The line is drawn with a series of dashes; the length of the dashes is controlled by the “Dash Length”, and the space between dashes by the “Dash Space”.
“Center”. The line is drawn with alternating dashes (of length “Dash Length”) and dots. The spacing between the dashes and dots is the “Dash Space”.
“Phantom”. The same as “Center”, except with two dots between each pair of dashes (i.e. “dash-dot-dot-dash” instead of “dash-dot-dash”).
Fill patterns for shapes
Boxes, circles and polygons can have their interiors filled with a variety of patterns. Use Edit→Fill Type… to show the “Edit Fill Type” window. The available patterns are:
“Hollow”. The shape is unfilled (this is the default).
“Filled”. Fill the shape with a solid color.
“Hatch”. Fill the shape with hatching. You must specify the angle for the hatching lines (“Angle 1”) and the spacing between them (“Pitch 1”).
“Mesh”. Fill the shape with hatching in two directions. Like “Hatch”, you must specify angle and spacing, but once for each hatching direction.
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Similarities and Differences
Great work so far. By Friday it was more clear to me how inquiry is common to all human understanding/exploration/generation of meaning. Each domain can be characterized by a process of inquiry that continues to give birth to revised and novel stories, some about ourselves, our emotions our hopes and fears, some about the external material world that we live in as well as stories about our emotions, hopes and fears. Many comments to this effect in the online forum as well.
But what about the differences between the Humanities and the Sciences.
Let's Compare and Contrast:
|Understanding, Creation of Meaning||Understanding, Creation of Meaning
Exploring Human emotions, artifacts and self
|Exploring material world, mostly outside of self and human emotions ( some overlap with humanities particularly with cognative sciences).|
|Self reflection on emotions, human artifacts.||
Reflections on subject using controled, repeatable, falsifiable methods.
| Priveledges self expression and the subjective.
||Priveledges interpretations that minimize subjective points of view. All interpretations are subjective, but science strives for explanitory narritives that remove as much interpretation as possible.
What needs work in the above table? Additions? Subtractions?
Both are story telling, but about different "things". The only difference is the content.
Another difference is the tools each domain primarily use.
What about the similarities and differences between a Bacteria, a Strawberry and a Human?
List as many similarities as you can between a singled-celled Bacteria, a Strawberry and a Human:
- - dna or rna (nucleic acids)
- - alive
- - perform complex chemical rxs
- - bounded: membranes, lipid/liquid fats
- - cells
- - made of parts
- need food, source of energy
- need water
- respire/metabolize - break down energy
- produce outputs
- hold 'em
crime scene investigation
Let's isolate and look at the stuff of life. Click - here - for the written procedure for strawberry DNA extraction.
Click - here - for overview, images and a useful metaphor for DNA | <urn:uuid:285b96f3-553f-4720-94bc-fa4dc3e4f940> | {
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- Federal Status: Not Listed
- FL Status: State-designated Threatened
- FNAI Ranks: G5/S4 (Globally: Demonstrably Secure/State: Apparently Secure)
- IUCN Status: LC (Least Concern)
The little blue heron is a small wading bird species that can reach a length of up to 29 inches (74 centimeters), with a wingspan of 41 inches (104 centimeters) and a weight of 14 ounces (397 grams). Little blue herons have a grayish-blue body and a dark red head during breeding, and a purplish head and neck during non-breeding periods (Rodgers et al. 1995).
The diet of the little blue heron primarily consists of fish, insects, shrimp, and amphibians. Little blue herons feed alone, usually along freshwater systems and on floating vegetation.
The little blue heron nests in colonies, often with other species of long-legged waders. Nests of sticks are placed in trees and shrubs on islands, thickets near water, or emergent vegetation over water. Little blue herons will lay three to five blue-green eggs that hatch in 20 to 24 days. The young are able to leave the nest and fly (fledge) at 28 days of age.
Little blue herons inhabit fresh, salt, and brackish water environments in Florida including swamps, estuaries, ponds, lakes, and rivers (Rodgers et al. 1995). In the U.S., the little blue heron can be found from Missouri, east to Virginia, down to Florida, and west to Texas. In peninsular Florida they are relatively common and widespread but somewhat rare in the Panhandle. Outside of the U.S, the little blue heron can be found in Cuba, both coasts of Mexico and Central America, down into central South America.
The current threats to the little blue heron are not well understood. Threats may include coastal development, disturbance at foraging and breeding sites, environmental issues, degradation of feeding habitat, reduced prey availability, and predators. Other threats may include exposure to pesticides, toxins, and infection by parasites (Rodgers et al. 1995).
Conservation and Management
The little blue heron is protected by the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act and as a State Threatened species by Florida’s Endangered and Threatened Species Rule.
Rodgers, Jr., James A. and Henry T. Smith. 1995. Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online. | <urn:uuid:d3f87855-754a-4b2a-8059-ca8601878122> | {
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La Silla - For the first time, dark galaxies — an early phase of galaxy formation, predicted by theory but unobserved until now — may have been spotted. These objects are essentially gas-rich galaxies without stars. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, an international team thinks they have detected these elusive objects by observing them glowing as they are illuminated by a quasar.
Dark galaxies are small, gas-rich galaxies in the early Universe that are very inefficient at forming stars. They are predicted by theories of galaxy formation and are thought to be the building blocks of today’s bright, star-filled galaxies. Astronomers think that they may have fed large galaxies with much of the gas that later formed into the stars that exist today.
Because they are essentially devoid of stars, these dark galaxies don’t emit much light, making them very hard to detect. For years astronomers have been trying to develop new techniques that could confirm the existence of these galaxies. Small absorption dips in the spectra of background sources of light have hinted at their existence. However, this new study marks the first time that such objects have been seen directly.
“Our approach to the problem of detecting a dark galaxy was simply to shine a bright light on it.” explains Simon Lilly (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), co-author of the paper. “We searched for the fluorescent glow of the gas in dark galaxies when they are illuminated by the ultraviolet light from a nearby and very bright quasar. The light from the quasar makes the dark galaxies light up in a process similar to how white clothes are illuminated by ultraviolet lamps in a night club.”
The team took advantage of the large collecting area and sensitivity of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and a series of very long exposures, to detect the extremely faint fluorescent glow of the dark galaxies. They used the FORS2 instrument to map a region of the sky around the bright quasar HE 0109-3518, looking for the ultraviolet light that is emitted by hydrogen gas when it is subjected to intense radiation. Because of the expansion of the Universe, this light is actually observed as a shade of violet by the time it reaches the VLT.
“After several years of attempts to detect fluorescent emission from dark galaxies, our results demonstrate the potential of our method to discover and study these fascinating and previously invisible objects,” says Sebastiano Cantalupo (University of California, Santa Cruz), lead author of the study.
The team detected almost 100 gaseous objects which lie within a few million light-years of the quasar. After a careful analysis designed to exclude objects where the emission might be powered by internal star-formation in the galaxies, rather than the light from the quasar, they finally narrowed down their search to 12 objects. These are the most convincing identifications of dark galaxies in the early Universe to date.
The astronomers were also able to determine some of the properties of the dark galaxies. They estimate that the mass of the gas in them is about 1 billion times that of the Sun, typical for gas-rich, low-mass galaxies in the early Universe. They were also able to estimate that the star formation efficiency is suppressed by a factor of more than 100 relative to typical star-forming galaxies found at similar stage in cosmic history.
“Our observations with the VLT have provided evidence for the existence of compact and isolated dark clouds. With this study, we’ve made a crucial step towards revealing and understanding the obscure early stages of galaxy formation and how galaxies acquired their gas”, concludes Sebastiano Cantalupo.
The MUSE integral field spectrograph, which will be commissioned on the VLT in 2013, will be an extremely powerful tool for the study of these objects.
This deep image shows the region of the sky around the quasar HE0109-3518. The quasar is labelled with a red circle near the centre of the image. The energetic radiation of the quasar makes dark galaxies glow, helping astronomers to understand the obscure early stages of galaxy formation. The faint images of the glow from 12 dark galaxies are labelled with blue circles. Dark galaxies are essentially devoid of stars, therefore they don’t emit any light that telescopes can catch. This makes them virtually impossible to observe unless they are illuminated by an external light source like a background quasar.
This image combines observations from the Very Large Telescope, tuned to detect the fluorescent emissions produced by the quasar illuminating the dark galaxies, with colour data from the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2 and S. Cantalupo (UCSC)
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance illuminated by a light source. In most cases, the emitted light has longer wavelength than the source light. For instance, fluorescent lamps transform ultraviolet radiation — invisible to us — into optical light. Fluorescence appears naturally in some compounds, such as rocks or minerals but can be also added intentionally as in detergents that contain fluorescent chemicals to make white clothes appear brighter under normal light.
Quasars are very bright, distant galaxies that are believed to be powered by supermassive black holes at their centres. Their brightness makes them powerful beacons that can help to illuminate the surrounding area, probing the era when the first stars and galaxies were forming out of primordial gas.
This emission from hydrogen is known as Lyman-alpha radiation, and is produced when electrons in hydrogen atoms drop from the second-lowest to the lowest energy level. It is a type of ultraviolet light. Because the Universe is expanding, the wavelength of light from objects gets stretched as it passes through space. The further light has to travel, the more its wavelength is stretched. As red is the longest wavelength visible to our eyes, this process is literally a shift in wavelength towards the red end of the spectrum — hence the name ‘redshift’. The quasar HE 0109-3518 is located at a redshift of z = 2.4, and the ultraviolet light from the dark galaxies is shifted into the visible spectrum. A narrow-band filter was specially designed to isolate the specific wavelength of light that the fluorescent emission is redshifted to. The filter was centered at around 414.5 nanometres in order to capture Lyman-alpha emission redshifted by z=2.4 (this corresponds to a shade of violet) and has a bandpass of only 4 nanometres.
The star formation efficiency is the mass of newly formed stars over the mass of gas available to form stars. They found these objects would need more than 100 billion years to convert their gas into stars. This result is in accordance with recent theoretical studies that have suggested that gas-rich low-mass haloes at high redshift may have very low star formation efficiency as a consequence of lower metal content.
This research was presented in a paper entitled "Detection of dark galaxies and circum-galactic filaments fluorescently illuminated by a quasar at z=2.4", by Cantalupo et al. to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The team is composed of Sebastiano Cantalupo (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA), Simon J. Lilly (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) and Martin G. Haehnelt (Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge, United Kingdom).
The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. | <urn:uuid:d73e8f7b-00d0-4ade-ad5b-a1b5ed940dff> | {
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Every organisation will have different practices for storing information. It is important that you fully understand how information is stored by your organisation, and why. Workplace policies and procedures for storage and access of information provide a guide for workers to follow, and if you are conscientious in adhering to these, information can be kept secure and in good order, and will be easily accessible to those who need it.
In this section you looked at:
- keeping information in accordance with organisational guidelines
- providing access to information to appropriate individuals
- maintaining confidentiality and security of information
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December 3, 2011
People with disabilities face challenges in the workplace that often go unnoticed by co-workers. Everyday tasks that many people take for granted can present great obstacles for those of us with disabilities. Worse still, people with disabilities can face discrimination and even harassment at work because of their disability.
That’s why marking the International Day for Persons with Disabilities is so important. Our members who face these challenges need our support and our solidarity to ensure that employers provide the accommodations our members need to do their work. Days like this are crucial to raising awareness about this important issue.
In recognition, delegates at CUPE’s national convention passed an important resolution that opens the door for a new six-month disability rights awareness campaign. Such a campaign would not only raise the profile of disability issues, but also help produce new materials and tools for education, compile collective agreement language related to disability issues, and improve access to courses with disability rights components.
CUPE is also planning to launch a series of fact sheets on disability rights issues in the new year. Keep an eye on CUPE.ca for more details.
What can you do in your local?
On this date last year CUPE highlighted the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Canada is a signatory.
This year we are asking CUPE locals and divisions across the country to consider ways in which CUPE can implement the UN Convention principles of accessibility, inclusiveness, freedom from discrimination, and equality of opportunity. We need to educate, negotiate, arbitrate and agitate.
EDUCATE: CUPE has been very active in education, creating full courses and shop steward training modules on disability rights and duty to accommodate. Projects from CUPE’s Persons with Disabilities National Working Group have included an electronic disability rights game called “The Wheel of Chance,” and a primer on “How to Communicate with Our Brothers and Sisters with Disabilities.” Duty to accommodate courses are available to CUPE members in most divisions.
NEGOTIATE: Negotiation is an important tool for disability activists. At the division and local level, we must work to ensure that every bargaining committee has a person with a disability on it or, if this is not feasible, that a member with a disability is given an opportunity to provide input to the committee. Through dogged and creative collective bargaining, CUPE locals across the country have achieved some very beneficial language dealing with the establishment of joint accommodation committees and processes to ensure fairness to everyone involved, as well as improved benefit language.
In addition to collective bargaining, CUPE servicing representatives, sometimes with the assistance of legal and equality representatives, are successfully and creatively negotiating workplace accommodations for members with disabilities every day, whether those disabilities are physical or mental, permanent or temporary, visible or invisible, easy or challenging.
ARBITRATE: When necessary, CUPE arbitrates disability issues, including denials of short and long-term disability benefits, appeals of benefit denials, workers’ compensation issues and accommodations and much more. It is clear that a wide range of disability issues now form part of CUPE’s mainstream work, but there’s still plenty more to be done.
AGITATE: CUPE’s Persons with Disabilities National Working Group provides advice to the union on a number of disability-related campaigns. The incorporation of disability issues into collective bargaining and educational materials provides our members with tools to advocate for change and to lobby governments for better laws, better pensions, and better benefits for all people with disabilities.
Whether the struggle is at the bargaining table, negotiating accommodations with the employer, lobbying for legislation, or raising awareness and education about the protection and advancement of disability rights, CUPE can assist you with resources and expertise to fight these battles.
This year, to mark this important date, we must resolve to ensure that our union and our workplaces are accessible, inclusive, respectful and accommodating so that CUPE and the communities we work in are strengthened by the contributions of all CUPE members. | <urn:uuid:b7c0bd7d-144c-4d4e-9229-bc8881492423> | {
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More than one-third of American households will put up a Christmas tree during the holiday season. Shortly there- after, many may begin experiencing suspicious symptoms mimicking seasonal allergies. This can include sneezing, a runny nose, and itchy, watery eyes. If you have any of these symptoms, don’t panic, you’re not allergic to Christmas, although it may feel as though you are. You might, however, be allergic to your Christmas tree. Enter Christmas Tree Syndrome.
Can Christmas Tree Syndrome Be Prevented?
The good news is that the effects of Christmas tree syndrome can be prevented by limiting exposure to the allergens found on the trees. Here are some tips for minimizing allergens on your tree so that you can enjoy the holiday season!
- keep hands and arms covered to prevent touching the sap.
- Prior to putting it up, shake and wash the tree with water to remove any mold.
- The tree stump should also be soaked in water to prevent future mold.
- If you have allergies but can’t resist having a live tree, keep it in the house for no more than a week.
Yep, you could also, though not as often, be allergic to an artificial tree. Here are some tips:
- Be sure to store your artificial tree properly during the off season – wrap the tree securely, store in a cool and dry place and avoid storing in places that accumulate dust, dirt or mold.
- Wipe or vaccuum down the tree before putting it up in your home.
- Wipe down any ornaments before decorating the tree.
- Go easy on the spray snow to frost your windows —, or the “fresh pine smell”. Any aerosol chemical can cause irritant reactions in the eyes, nose or lungs as well.
Symptoms of Christmas Tree Syndrome
- Itchy Nose
- Watery Eyes
- Problems Sleeping
What Causes Christmas Tree Syndrome?
Christmas Tree Syndrome is an allergic reaction to your Christmas Tree. Researchers at the State University of New York found that 70 percent of the molds found on live Christmas trees can cause severe asthma attacks, fatigue, sinus congestion and more. Now you might be thinking that can’t be because I have an artificial tree, however, both live and artificial trees can cause Christmas Tree Syndrome. See above.
Christmas Tree Syndrome can be prevented by limiting exposure to the allergens found on the trees. This procedure differs for both artificial and real Christmas trees.
Contact Us Today!
If you’re Christmas season is off to a miserable start because of your Christmas tree, there are options besides going directly from Thanksgiving to New Years.
Call us at 860-986-6440 or come in, no appointment needed. We are located at 1030 Boulevard, West Hartford, CT. We’re open 7 days a week and will be happy to help you! You can save time by checking in online and we accept most insurances! | <urn:uuid:1e48f13c-5ee1-4f81-b74d-e920fc7a2483> | {
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The liner shipping industry generated $436.6 billion in direct and indirect benefits to the world economy in 2007 and provided 13.5 million jobs, according to a new study commissioned by the World Shipping Council.
The study by IHS Global Insight was conducted for the relaunch of the WSC’s Web site as part of its 2-year-old campaign to increase public awareness of the shipping industry’s contribution to the global economy.
The Web site, www.worldshipping.org, is part of the Container Shipping Information Service the WSC initiated in 2007 to provide the public with a more comprehensive explanation of the industry, its contribution to trading nations’ economic health, and the status of current policy issues, such as the environment and security.
Using 2007 as a base year, the study found cargo transported by the liner shipping industry represents about one-third of the value of total global trade, equating to more than $4.6 trillion worth of goods.
The shipping industry made a direct contribution to global GDP of $183.3 billion, invested $29.4 billion in capital projects and provided 4.2 million jobs, with total compensation of $27.2 billion.
Workers at ports worldwide loaded and unloaded cargo for more than 10,000 liner vessel calls a week, with the average ship making 2.1 port calls a week.
Liner shipping companies deployed more than 400 services providing regularly scheduled service, usually weekly, connecting all countries of the world. In mid-2008, there were more than 17.8 million containers in the global fleet, which cost the industry $80.1 billion to purchase.
In the U.S. alone, the industry spends $869 million a year to operate the fleet of chassis used to move containers over land.
The liner shipping industry has spent more than $236 billion in more than a dozen countries on the purchase of new vessels.
The results of the study are used throughout the WSC Web site. A copy of the full report can be downloaded at: www.worldshipping.org/pdf/Liner_Industry_Valuation_Study.pdf. | <urn:uuid:fa5fb32c-0c51-4f4d-ba2a-95f16e1ea859> | {
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IT took several years of negotiations for fastjet, a low-cost private airline based in Tanzania, to get the traffic rights to fly between Harare and Bulawayo this July. The flying distance between these two major cities in Zimbabwe is only about 228 miles—a 45-minute trip. Worse still, it had originally taken three years for fastjet to even begin its operations in Zimbabwe, let alone dare to expand its domestic flights in the country.
This isn’t unique to Zimbabwe, either. Many African countries restrict their airspaces to prop up state-owned air carriers. That’s why it is notoriously difficult for private airlines to succeed in Africa. They are quite literally dewinged before they’ve even had a chance to explore the skies due to protectionism, high taxes, and restrictive regulations. New airlines are prevented from entering markets, existing companies are unable to offer flights of their choice, routes are predetermined, and prices are inflated. These restrictive policies originated in the early 1960s when many newly-independent African states created national airlines to assert their status as nations.
But these national airlines offer little to be proud of. The majority of state-owned airlines have failed, not being able to make enough revenue to cover their costs. Today, there are only three major sub-Saharan intercontinental airlines: Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, and South African Airways. The only profitable one is Ethiopian Airlines (it’s not managed by the government), but the others incur hundreds of millions in losses every year, and survive on government bailouts.
Besides the overwhelming evidence that state-owned airlines waste resources, costing the continent millions of jobs and billions in revenue, the dream just won’t die. There are initiatives to re-boost defunct carriers across the continent, including in Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia. The worst part of the disastrous state of African skies is that for the last fifty years, there have been multilateral agreements in place that could transform aviation on the continent. They only need implementation.
Fifty years ago, the newly-independent African nations founded the African Airlines Association (AFRAA). Created to facilitate the integration of African skies and make African airlines more globally competitive, AFRAA is no closer to that goal today than it was in 1968. African governments just can’t seem to be able to stop getting in their own way.
Indeed, African politicians are particularly skilled at attending summits on the urgent need for freedom in aviation, while having no will to implement them.
In 1988, twenty years after the creation of AAFRA, African states signed the Yamoussoukro Decision, a multilateral agreement with 44 signatories, to liberate African skies. In 2018, this agreement has not yet been implemented. In fact, earlier this year, the Yamoussoukro Decision was replaced by yet another agreement that will likely not be implemented, the so-called Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Launched in January 2018, SAATM has the same noble goals of opening up Africa’s skies. Except this time, instead of the 44 signatories from 30 years ago, only 23 states bothered to make the commitment.
While generations upon generations of African leaders continue to shake hands, sign agreements and smile for the cameras, the continent pays dearly for it.
Air transport plays a critical role in facilitating business, international trade and tourism. When governments regulate airline industries to buttress national carriers, private sector innovation is hampered. In African skies, safety is subpar, sometimes deadly, routes are circuitous—one often has to fly through Europe or the Middle East just to get from one African city to the next, fares are expensive, and airport landing costs are incredibly high. Africa as a whole only has about two percent of global passenger traffic. Regulations might prop up national carriers and buttress some misguided sense of national pride, but they tear down African economies.
The lack of freedom in African aviation costs the continent millions of jobs and billions of dollars are lost in investment every year. With deregulation, there would be increased competition and improved connectivity leading to lower transport costs and encouraging smoother trade flows. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), air cargo represents more than 35 percent of global trade by value. Africa only captures 1.9 percent of air freight market.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Africa already has the policies written out. If nations would only implement them, it would be a transformative experience for passengers and businesses, as it was for Europe and the USA.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act, which somewhat freed the American airline industry, hitherto regulated like a public utility. Through deregulation, Southwest, which had been forbidden from flying outside Texas, was free to offer its then-unique shorthaul, low-priced service on an interstate basis, paving the way for the development of low cost carriers. In Europe, Ryanair was only able to compete freely and inspire new carriers to enter the market, because the EU completed the “open skies” deregulation in 1997.
Today, a typical European or American traveler, has a range of options for air travel. They could choose the low-cost, no-frills service of carriers like Southwest, JetBlue or Ryanair, or the more luxurious services of a Virgin Atlantic or Delta Airline. Air travel is no longer confined to the wealthy because deregulation helped create affordable and efficient options for everyone.
If African states want to be competitive in a modern economy, they’d do well to let go of such vanity projects as national airlines, and implement fifty years worth of liberalization accords.
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Using Microbes to Biodegrade All Waste
Since the discovery of microbes, mankind has always wondered about their functions and possible uses. Scientists already understand most of the reasons why and how microbes sustain life, but scientists are now able to manipulate particular types of bacteria to biodegrade particular types of wastes. Using this procedure, scientists are now able to reduce some of the environmental waste problems. Scientists are still unable to biodegrade all types of wastes with microbes and bacteria, however scientists are also now able to mutate or modify some species of bacteria to create new species that hopefully will one day result in bacteria that will safely consume and breakdown any undesirable waste.
In 1675, Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), a Dutch draper, was the first man to discover microbes. Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered these microbes due to the fact, that he had some sort of tooth problem that caused him intense pain. He therefore quite painfully removed the problem tooth. Once the tooth was removed, he noticed that the tooth was unusually hollow with tiny holes throughout it (Sagan 3). Leeuwenhoek using his own hand-made microscope, discovered living organisms which moved at phenomenal fast speeds that lived inside his hollow tooth. He later called these organisms "animalcules," because he thought of these microbes as minute animals (Sagan 4). Once called "animalcules" by Leeuwenhoek, scientists quickly changed this name to what is now called "microorganisms" or "microbes", which today means microscopic living life forms not visible to the naked eye (Gamlin 35). It was later I earned that these microbes, could be used in medicine, industry, science, and in biosphere technology (Sagan 4). Blue-green and other forms of nitrogen fixing bacteria fertilize soil for agriculture. Most photosynthetic organisms (like plants, algae, some bacteria, and fungi) break down solid rock, turning them into fertile soil (Sagan 5). Leeuwenhoek was also the first person to notice that these microbes could be either docile or destructive organisms, to the other microbes surrounding it, but other scientists took little note of this discovery (Sagan 4).
Microbes have been in existence for millions of years, and also the most dominant and abundant lifeform in this biosphere (Sagan 5). Bacteria is known to be located everywhere there is life, because of their ability to live more comfortably than protoctists and fungi in extreme conditions that appear all over the Earth. Bacteria can handle greater heat, greater cold, more acidity, more alkalinity, and more pressure, than any other known living thing (Sagan 105). Most bacteria have a high rate of reproduction and mutations, thus enabling them to quickly adapt in changing environments (Gamlin 36). They are also capable of living inside rocks, between sand grains in a desert, in scalding springs, in the stratosphere, in plants, in animals, and at the bottom of dark oceans. Bacteria can affect the environment by being neutral, negative as in causing diseases or illnesses, or positive helping the continuation of the biosphere, at any point during their lifetime (Sagan 105). Bacteria is also very useful in genetic research, physiology, cytology, and biochemistry, because they are able to live short lives, have large amounts of offspring, only need minimal laboratory space, grow fast, and are quite easy to control, but some preparation must be done, such as: sterilizing tools, glassware, and the culture before and after use because the culture or outside environment may be contaminated (Hauser 3).
Nitrogen fixers are capable of taking inert nitrogen from the air and making it accessible to all living organisms, therefore making it one of the most important life forms on Earth. These types of bacteria are found all over the Earth, in both soil and water, but mostly in garden soils on leaves or roots, turning them into fertilizer. The most common nitrogen fixing bacteria are known as the Azotobacters, which are aerobic, cyst-forming, rapidly growing, and oval-shaped cells that exude profuse amounts of slime. They also produce tiny black pigments which are insoluble in water. These types of nitrogen bacteria are easily found, by digging up a leguminous plant (like a radish or carrot), cleaning the soil off the roots gently with water and observe the pink root nodules on the roots (Sagan 120). For example, soil scientists at Ohio State University have discovered a pollution-eating bacteria, which eats quinoline, a very toxic poison given off by factories and industries. This type of bacteria could help clean up industrial wastes that might seep into the underground water supply. This bacteria is being investigated if it could be used in future oil spills, since quinoline is found in crude oil. The researchers at Ohio State University still do not know why this bacteria consumes quinoline or what by product it makes from consuming the quinoline. The researchers have many theories why, but the most logical theory is that enzymes are involved in degrading the quinoline, but the problem is finding which enzyme. These scientists believe that future geneticists will be able to make new types of bacteria using this bacteria to biodegrade some of the toxic substance produced by factories (USA Today 3).
In conclusion, future scientists and geneticists will eventually have the power to create all new species of bacteria to biodegrade any substance that they believe to be harmful to the environment.
- Eating "Bug" to the Rescue, USA Today, Vol.118, June, 1990, p. 3.
- Gamlin, Linda, The Evolution of Life, New York, USA, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 33-35.
- Hall, Stephen S., Invisible Frontiers, USA, Morgan Entreships, 1987.
- Hauser, Juliana T., Techniques for Studying Bacteria and Fungi, USA, Carolina Biological Supply Company., 1986, pp. 3-27.
- Sagan, Dorion, Garden of Microbial Delights, USA, Harrcourt Brace Jovenovich, Inc., 1988, pp.3-5, pp. 105-120.
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The Washington Examiner cited Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on the prohibition mindset.
Michelle Minton for the Competitive Enterprise Institute: On December 5, 1933 the federal government’s nationwide prohibition against alcohol ended. Eighty-five years later, the beer market seems to have finally recovered. Today, there are more than 6,000 breweries — more than at any time before or since Prohibition — making a seemingly endless variety of beer for us enthusiasts to enjoy. But, while we may be living in the “golden age” of beer, the specter of Prohibition remains. Its effects continue to influence how beer is made, how it can be sold, and how much it costs. More worrisome, the mindset that led to Prohibition has never fully changed — it’s simply become more sophisticated. And, unless those who make and enjoy alcoholic beverages take a unified stance on principle, we could soon be living under Prohibition 2.0.
What few people realize about Prohibition is that it was not the product of some larger cultural movement that recognized the harms of alcohol on society. It was a lobbying campaign by a small group of moralists that succeeded by playing on growing xenophobic and racist sentiments. The beer industry was dominated by German immigrants, while distilling was largely run by Jewish families (considered foreign no matter where they were born). Together, these immoral foreign influences — according to the temperance movement — corrupted black men who, under slavery had been “protected” from alcohol and, as a result, “developed no high degree of ability to resist its evil effects.” Some, like Rep. John Newton Tillman, D-Ark., even argued that banning alcohol would bring an end to the southern lynching of black men and boys because it would cause them to commit fewer crimes.
Modern prohibitionists are not so crude as to believe that advocating for total bans of alcohol will ever be successful, nor are their arguments as crass as they once were. Instead, they now advocate for an ever-increasing number of small, sensible limitations to protect “vulnerable” individuals in our society from the evils of alcohol. These may include bans on certain products deemed too dangerously high in alcohol or, more commonly, making sure that alcohol prices are high and availability low. | <urn:uuid:84b159c5-4ed0-49a2-9d59-58b4b6e528f9> | {
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Every foreign traveler in Japan is delighted by the verdant forest-shrouded mountains that thrust skyward from one end of the island chain to the other. The Japanese themselves are conscious of the lush green of their homeland, which they sometimes refer to as "the green archipelago." Yet, based on its fragile geography and centuries of extremely dense human occupation, Japan today should be an impoverished, slum-ridden, peasant society subsisting on a barren, eroded moonscape characterized by bald mountains and debris-strewn lowlands.
In fact, as Conrad Totman argues in this pathbreaking work based on prodigious research, this lush verdue is not a monument to nature's benevolence and Japanese aesthetic sensibilities, but the hard-earned result of generations of human toil that have converted the archipelago into one great forest preserve. Indeed, the author shows that until the late 1600s Japan was well on her way to ecological disaster due to exploitative forestry. During the Tokugawa period, however, an extraordinary change took place resulting in a system of "regenerative forestry" that averted the devastation of Japan's forests. The Green Archipelago is the only major Western-language work on this subject and a landmark not only in Japanese history, but in the history of the environment.
Conrad Totman is Professor of History at Yale University and author of Japan Before Perry: A Short History (California, 1981) and Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600-1843 (California, 1988).
"This is a superb book on an important subject: the pulling back of Japan beginning in the late 17th century from the utter destruction of her forests—a course on which the country seemed bent in 1600—and from the ecological, economic, and social catastrophe that would have followed. The immense importance of the subject for Japanese history is obvious."—Thomas R. Smith, University of California, Berkeley | <urn:uuid:92f3fbea-4c86-4dc9-8b4d-fecd385788b1> | {
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Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:42:32 GMT — The upcoming political debate on immigration reform is expected to be a heated one. As for now, citizen hopefuls are required to take a naturalization test in which they must answer a series of questions about the U.S. correctly and in English. Do you think you could pass the test without any outside help? 1. How many justices are on the Supreme Court? a. ten (10) b. eleven (11) c. nine (9) d. twelve (12) 2. What did Susan B. Anthony do? a. founded the Red Cross b. fought for women's rights c. made the first flag of the United States d. the first woman elected to the House of Representatives 3. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers. a. George Washington b. James Madison c. Thomas Jefferson d. John Adams 4. Name one branch or part of the government. a. United Nations b. legislative c. parliament d. state government 5. Who vetoes bills? a. the Speaker of the House b the President Pro Tempore c. the Vice President. d. the President
6. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
a. Harry Truman
b. Calvin Coolidge
c. Franklin Roosevelt
d. Herbert Hoover
7. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
a. the Bill of Rights
b. the Articles of Confederation
c. the Declaration of Independence
d. the inalienable rights
8. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
a. third President of the United States
b. U.S. diplomat
c. youngest member of the Constitutional Convention
d. inventor of the airplane
9. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s. a. Korean War b. Civil War c. World War I d. World War II 10. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President? a. the Secretary of the Treasury b. the Secretary of State c. the Speaker of the House d. the President Pro Tempore | <urn:uuid:64df5a7e-e7dc-4f8b-b1e3-a5ca7a66f34d> | {
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Mathematician:Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac
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Also known as Claude (Gaspar) Bachet.
First member to hold Seat 13 of the Académie Française.
- Born: 9 October 1581 in Bourg-en-Bresse, Savoy (now France)
- Died: 26 February 1638 in Bourg-en-Bresse
Theorems and Definitions
Believed to have provided a proof of what is now known as Bézout's Identity.
- 1612: Problèmes plaisans et delectables qui se font par les nombres, a collection of arithmetical tricks and questions
- 1621: A translation from Greek to Latin of the Arithmetica of Diophantus. It was in the margin of this edition that Fermat stated his famous "last" theorem
- 1624: Problèmes plaisans (2nd edition)
Les éléments arithmétiques, which exists in manuscript form
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive | <urn:uuid:3e090295-78d9-46a5-9075-b799d7a58cdb> | {
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XAML Attribute Usage
|Public||The exact string you pass to specify TypeAttributes.Public versus TypeAttributes.NotPublic varies, depending on the code-behind programming language that is used. See Remarks.|
If a XAML production uses
x:FieldModifier anywhere, the root element of that XAML production must declare an x:Class Directive.
x:FieldModifier is not relevant for declaring the general access level of a class or its members. It is relevant only for XAML-processing behavior when a particular XAML object that is part of a XAML production is processed, and becomes an object that is potentially accessible in the object graph of an application. By default, the field reference for such an object is kept private, which prevents control consumers from modifying the object graph directly. Instead, control consumers are expected to modify the object graph by using standard patterns that are enabled by programming models, such as by obtaining the layout root, the child element collections, the dedicated public properties, and so on.
The value for the
x:FieldModifier attribute varies by programming language, and its purpose can vary in specific frameworks. The string to use depends on how each language implements its CodeDomProvider and the type converters it returns to define the meanings for TypeAttributes.Public and TypeAttributes.NotPublic, and whether that language is case sensitive.
For C#, the string to pass to designate TypeAttributes.Public is
For Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, the string to pass to designate TypeAttributes.Public is
For C++/CLI, no targets for XAML currently exist; therefore, the string to pass is undefined.
TypeAttributes.NotPublic is the default behavior because it is infrequent that code outside the assembly that compiled the XAML needs access to a XAML-created element. WPF security architecture together with XAML compilation behavior will not declare fields that store element instances as public, unless you specifically set the
x:FieldModifier to allow public access.
x:FieldModifier is only relevant for elements with an x:Name Directive because that name is used to reference the field after it is public.
By default, the partial class for the root element is public; however, you can make it nonpublic by using the x:ClassModifier Directive. The x:ClassModifier Directive also affects the access level of the instance of the root element class. You can put both
x:FieldModifier on the root element, but this only makes a public field copy of the root element, with the true root element class access level still controlled by x:ClassModifier Directive.
Send feedback about: | <urn:uuid:a8f3332d-d009-4ee4-813c-37239787d71e> | {
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In order to internally broach a metal part, a pre-existing hole must be made. The broach then changes the shape and size of the starter indent into a hole with a keyway, spline, hexagonal, square or custom designed profile. A broaching tool that has successively larger and larger teeth pierces through the pre-existing hole by pulling or pushing through the metal part.
Internal broaching machines are automated, often CNC operated and able to quickly and efficiently produce holes in metal parts and products. Sometimes called shell broaches, internally cut broaching is done mostly for holes with large diameters that are to be mounted on an arbor.
Broaching is most effective on softer metals, including aluminum, brass, bronze and graphite. Many different tools and machinery parts are formed by the broaching process, including key holes, gears, pulleys, screw heads and other hardware. Because the broaching machines can get pricey but the tools and parts they produce are necessary in so many industries, broaching job shops are facilities that provide a variety of broaching services.
Particularly when going to a broaching shop, it is cost effective, highly repeatable and able to produce large volumes of metal parts with little to no variance or error. Broaching tools may become dull over time if used often, and are therefore periodically reground to retain their original sharpness.
Drilling the pre-existing starter hole is referred to as blank prepping. During this process, a simple, shallow hole is drilled and must be .005 to .015 inches larger than the smallest diameter of the broach. There are two main types of internal broaching; push broaching and pull down broaching, each with their own methods of forming a wide hole in metal.
Push broaching is done with vertical machines, and the broach tool is pushed linearly either up or down through the metal work-piece. Short broaches are used to avoid buckling, which limits the amount of metal that is able to be removed.
This type of internal broaching is suitable for light work and low runs, and the machinery is less expensive than pull down broaching. Pull down broaching, on the other hand, is only able to push the tool down on a vertical machine.
It keeps the tool in tension and prevents buckling, and is used with long, thin broaches to make deep holes. | <urn:uuid:6d4c661c-d66f-4b0e-ac02-2c522dfe5d32> | {
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Learning Advantage Quizmo® Money
Reinforce money value and recognition from 1¢ to $1.00. Uses actual-sized coin graphics on game cards. Coin recognition. Numeration by ones, fives, tens. Recognition of equivalent values. Addition and subtraction of money. Auditory/visual association. By playing Money Quizmo® students will: 1. Distinguish between the pictured pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. 2. Associate the correct value with each coin. 3. Demonstrate skill in counting the values of various sets of coins. 4. Improve their ability to add mentally. 5. Recognize that several different combinations of coins can have the same money value. 6. Determine the kind and number of coins that constitute a given value. Requires no reading. May be used as a class activity or in cooperative learning groups. 36 card set can accommodate large groups. Includes 40 large, double-sided game boards, 60 calling cards, plastic markers, and instructional guide. 2-36 players.
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My project is about Solidarity, the independent trade union that revolutionised the way the communist government of Poland governed Poland and the working people. Last summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Poland, and Gdańsk, the birthplace of Solidarity. I chose this topic because it is something that does not get much publicity or acknowledgement in the United States of America, but Solidarity, or Solidarność in Polish, revolutionised the country and influenced the world.
For my research I had read various articles from 1980; articles and papers that reflected back on the event; and the Solidarity and the Gdańsk website. I read the articles and papers and took notices for reference. I also looked for some quotes from people such as Lech Wałęsa from 1980 around the time of the strike.
I chose to do an exhibit because I thought it would best display the information that my project contains.
Solidarity is the independent trade union that was set up in Gdańsk, Poland during a time of economic struggles due to the oppression of the Communist government in Poland. Solidarity succeeded in improving the rights of Polish workers, such as employment, compensation, workplace and health & safety conditions, influencing economic and social policies, the protection and promotion of culture and education, and the overall improvement of the human rights of the workers. What made Solidarity so revolutionary was that this was the first time any group of people had successfully changed the way the strict and oppressive communist government of Poland governed. The creation and success of the Solidarity Movement is what led to the downfall of the communist government in Poland. Solidarity was also the influencing factor in reforming the Polish government. Together, with the people of Poland, Solidarity paved the way for other post-Soviet countries to become independent from their Soviet communist rule.Bibliography:
„Count on Me” - „Solidarity” Poster. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. „Count on Me” - „Solidarity” Poster. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/?document=63>.
As a part of their campaign, Solidarity created various posters promoting their cause. This poster is of two hands grasping each others wrists as if to show that they support each other and that they are there for one another. At the top of the poster is the text „Licz na mnie,” which translates into english to „Count on me.” The posters were used to visually promote the feeling that Solidarity was there for the workers and were trying to improve the working conditions and living quality for them as well as ending the communist rule.
"Europe's Revolution 20 Years on." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation, 2 Nov. 2009. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7879687.stm>.
The Solidarity movement triggered the end of the cold war and the communist rule in Eastern Europe in Poland and Eastern Europe. The relationship between the United States and Poland has been strengthened because of the pro-democracy Solidarity Movement. Solidarity also influenced other countries to revolt and take back their country from the communist government’s rule. Followed by Solidarity’s victory in the Polish election, many other countries began to reform their government. The struggle between Solidarity and the Polish communist government lasted for a decade. But in the end, it really was Poland and the Solidarity movement that lead to the first non-communist government in Eastern Europe.
Górka, W. Anna Walentynowicz, Activist of Free Trade Unions, among Workers. 1980. Photograph. Solidarity, Gdańsk. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/?document=63>.
In the photograph, Anna Walentynowicz is talking to a group of Polish shipyard workers and other civilians. Anna Walentynowicz was the very dedicated shipyard worker who got fired just a few days before she was due to retire. She played an active role in the start of Solidarity. The strike was sparked by the shipyard workers’ outrage over the firing of Walentynowicz. Walentynowicz became a main speaker and advocate for the workers because she had worked so hard for the shipyard and for the defense of the workers. This photograph shows the passion that Walentynowicz had in the concerns for the workers and the interest that others had in hearing her words.
Karta. Gdańsk Memorial Unveiling Ceremony. December 1970. Digital image.Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/23/MSWiA%20198-15-113.jpg>.
This picture shows the unveiling of the Monument for the Fallen Shipyard Workers. The monument was erected as apart of the Gdańsk Agreement to pay tribute and honour the 42 workers who had died in the 1970 December strike. The monument is composed up of three large steel crosses with an anchor crucified to the top of each. At the unveiling of the monument, people packed in the surrounding area to see the monument located outside of gate 2 of the Lenin Shipyard. In the photograph, you can see that people were standing on top of buildings, fences, anything that would get them a better vantage point of the monument.
Kulish, Nicholas. "Poland Leads Wave of Communist-Era Reckoning." New York Times. New York Times, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/world/europe/poland-leads-wave-of-communist-era-reckoning-in-europe.html?pagewanted=1&ref=poland>.
The Polish Court is now cracking down on the Communist Leaders and declaring them a part of a criminal group because of their martial law in December 1981. Other Countries that were formerly under the Iron First are taking similar action. Looking at the current situation in the Arab Nations has motivated Poland and other Eastern European countries to look back when the communists still held power. "Poland is wrestling with its past." The Communist government were oppressive and torturous to those under their rule.
Lewandowski, G. V-for-victory Sign Was One of Many Symbols of “Solidarity” (. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/40/OK_053.jpg>.
This poster shows the V-for-victory sign, which was one of the symbols of Solidarity for their great success over their first year in existence. This poster was created a year after Solidarity was formed. At this time, people were reflecting back on Solidarity and it’s progress. As the first independent and self-governing trade union of Poland, it was great feat for the workers and people of Poland in overcoming the communist rule. Solidarity had achieved a lot of great things in their first year, and had already become a very influential factor in the workers unions of other countries and the rule of the Eastern European communist countries.
"Poland." New York Times. New York Times, 05 Mar. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/poland/index.html?scp=2>.
Poland was the only post-Soviet country to come out of Soviet rule and not go into economic recession. On October 2011, Donald Tusk triumphed over conservative Jarosław Kaczynski in the Polish elections. Tusk is the new pro-European Union prime minister, who is in support of many contemporary concerns such as gay rights, abortion, and some drug legalisation. Because Poland is apart of the EU, it has embedded itself in Europe economics and politics. However, Poland does not use the Euro, which is considered a Euro-Soviet Bloc trait. Poland is trying to continue to independently raise above their previous oppressors, Russia and Germany.
McIntire, Suzanne, and William E. Burns. "The Value of Human Solidarity." Speeches in world history. New York: Facts on File, 2009. 502-505. Print.
“I belong to a nation which over the past centuries has experienced many hardships and reverse. The world reacted with silence or with mere sympathy when Polish frontiers were crossed by invading armies…” (Lech Wałęsa). “In July and August of 1980 a wave of strikes swept throughout Poland. The issue at stake was then something much bigger than only material conditions of existence.” (Lech walęsa). “In the brief history of those eventful years, the Gdańsk Agreement stands out as a great charter of the rights of the working people which nothing can ever destroy.” (Lech Wałęsa). “Our union—the Solidarity— has grown into a powerful movement for social and moral liberation. The people, freed from the bondage of fear and apathy, called for reforms and improvements. We fought a difficult struggle for out existence. That was and still is a great opportunity for the whole country. I think that it marked also the road to be taken by authorities, if they thought of a state governed in cooperation and participation of all citizens.
Michalak, T. Strike in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. 1980. Photograph. Solidarity, Gdańsk. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/?document=79>.
The picture is an aerial view on the shipyard in Gdańsk, where the strike started on August 14th, 1980. In the picture, you can see a mass of people gathering around the entrance of the shipyard. The crowd of people is composed up of both shipyard workers and other citizens who just came out to show their support for the shipyard workers in their strike. The people are crowded around the fence and entrance to the shipyard as well as a cross, located in the middle of the courtyard. The photograph really shows the amount of support the shipyard workers had from their community and fellow Polish citizens.
Poster Commemorating the Unveiling in Gdańsk of the Memorial to Killed Shipyard Workers. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/23/plakat.jpg>.
This poster is promoting the unveiling of the Monument for the Fallen Shipyard Workers, honouring the workers who were killed in the strike in 1970. The 1970 strike was violent; 42 people were killed when the security services fired on the workers’ revolting. As apart of the demands of the workers who when on strike in 1980, a monument honouring those who died was to be erected. The poster is of the monument and on the left of it is the word „Grudzień,” which in Polish, means December, which is when the 1970 strike happened. The monument is composed up of three crosses, each with a anchor on the top, to symbolise the shipyard workers.
Składanowski, S./Karta. Lech Wałęsa, Triumphantly Carried Shoulder-high after the Signing of the First Point of the Agreement. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/17/7-3,%20MSZ.JPG>.
Lech Wałęsa is held up on the shoulders of Solidarity supporters in celebration of victory after the signing of the agreement. This was a great accomplishment for the Solidarity Trade Union because it was their first break through in the communist bloc of Poland. Behind Lech Wałęsa are crowds of supporters and even people looking out of their windows; this shows the wide spread support that Solidarity had amassed. The first signing of the agreement was something that all Polish citizens in support of Solidarity celebrated, especially the workers of the Lenin Shipyard and other surrounding Shipyards.
“Solidarity” Poster Using the Colours of the National Flag. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/19/AOPL_000178.JPG>.
After the signing of the Gdańsk Agreement, posters such as this one were used to promote Solidarity and celebrate their victory. This poster used the colours of the Polish flag, and tie it into a knot as if to illustrate the new found unity of the workers at the Shipyard and the people of Poland. After the agreement had been signed, Solidarity’s main goal was gaining more support and organising itself to become very successful. Posters were used as an advertisement for their campaign, reaching more people than going from person to person.
Tagliabue, John. "Thousands at Gdansk Shipyard Join Polish Strike - New York Times."The New York Times. The New York Times, 3 May 1988. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/03/world/thousands-at-gdansk-shipyard-join-polish-strike.html?pagewanted=all>.
Strikes continued after 1980, demanding higher pay and legalisation of the Solidarity trade union. The government retained regional Solidarity leaders. “A strike wave is covering the country. They are not just local conflicts. They are across Poland because the cause is the economic crisis and lack of convincing reform policies that would offer prospects for the future,” (Lech Wałęsa). Crowds would gather around the shipyards and striking workers and leave flowers to show their support. Police would push the crowds back and away from the striking workers. The strikes were centred around more equal and fair treatment and higher pay as well as their trade union being more acknowledged.
Trybek, Z./Karta. Signature of the Agreement between the Interfactory Strike Committee and the Government Delegation. Digital image. Solidarity. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Web. <http://www.solidarity.gov.pl/gallery/gazeta/18/p-31-1-02,%20Trybek.JPG>.
The workers’ representatives and government commission meet together to sign the Gdańsk Agreement. The Gdańsk Agreement ended the strike and agreed to the demands of the workers, allowing the establishment of self governing trade unions. Lech Wałęsa can be seen signing the Gdańsk agreement with an oversized plastic pen, bearing the face of the pope, Pope Jan Paweł II. The workers’ representatives, MKS, met with Mieczysław Jagielski, who at the time was surviving as prime minister for the communist government. The Gdańsk Agreement was Solidarity’s big breakthrough. Unlike the strike in 1970, which ended in violence, the Gdańsk Agreement was what ended the 1980 strike in peace.
Alex. "1970-71: Uprising in Poland." Libcom.org. Libcom, 31 Oct. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2012. <http://libcom.org/history/1970-71-uprising-poland>.
December strikes in 1970, when thousands of shipyard workers in Gdańsk marched into the city in protest of the increased prices on basic consumer goods. Their goal was to reach the local regional office of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR). The protesters were met by police and engaged in fighting. The three port cities of Poland were placed under telecommunications block by the government. By the end of December, most of the shipyards in the main port cities had gone on strike. At the end of January, a more democratic strike committee was formed and an agreement was formed. This uprising was the first time the Polish workers had demanded a change and won. It paved the way for the strikes that changed Poland forever.
Blazejowska, Justyna. "Solidarity 1980-2010." Free Poland. Free Poland, 04 Oct. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://freepl.info/9-solidarity-1980-2010>.
More strikes continued but Solidarity stood as a mediator for the workers, reducing the amount of strikes but getting the workers their demands. Solidarity became politically involved giving them more power while slowly taking away the power of the communist leaders. Lech Wałęsa was put into power but resigned on December 12, 1990. The Union got about 5% of the support in the elections in 1990, which gave them 27 deputy seats. But the little votes for Solidarity throughout various elections were considered a failure for the Union. But in 1997, Solidarity received 33% of the votes. Then the Union left the political scene, but they had reformed the political scene completely.
Donovan, Jeffrey. "Poland: Solidarity -- The Trade Union That Changed The World."Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. RFE/RL, 24 Aug. 2005. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060898.html>.
The strike that began on the 14th of August 1980 changed both Poland and the world. 17,000 workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in protest of the rising food prices among other things. This was the first time that the Communist government had given into the demands of the workers. In September of 1980, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ) was formed. After a year, nearly a quarter of Poland ad joined the trade union. Solidarity was the first breakthrough in the Communist block of Poland. Leader of the shipyard strikes was Lech Wałęsa, who had nearly been arrested by the secret police the morning of the strike, but succeeded in climbing over the shipyard gate and join the rest of the workers.
Moberg, Beata. Solidarity. University of St. Francis - Joliet, Il. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/Solidarity.html>.
Trade union was formed during the economic and social struggles in communist Poland. Workers of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańśk started the wave of strikes on August 14th. The demand was more freedom from the communist management of the shipyards. Their request was for an increased pay, fair treatment, free trade union, and uncensored media. The strikers got a mass of support from the other citizens around the area and the church. On August 31st Mieczyslaw Jagielski and Lech Wałęsa signed the Gdańsk Agreement. This was a great breakthrough in the communist government and party. Solidarność became a nationwide organisation that revolutionised the communist involvement in industry. This was a big deal because the communist government did not tolerate loss of authority. Together the workers overthrew communism in Poland, and it all started on August 14th with the shipyard strike in Gdańsk.
"NSZZ Solidarność History in Dates." NSZZ Solidarność History in Dates. Multimedia Productions. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/history-in-dates.html>.
The Solidarity movement has continued to make progress and provide more rights for the workers. They had managed to increase minimum wage up to 40% in 2006. The continue to set up campaigns in support of the workers in Poland and workers all across the world. They have trade union representatives from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia; all countries that were formally under the Iron Fist. While they have taken a few steps away from directly being apart of the political scene, they are still have a great influence on it and often meet with parliamentary representatives.
"NSZZ Solidarność Objectives." NSZZ Solidarność Objectives. Multimedia Productions. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/objectives.html>.
The object of Solidarity continues to be the guarantee of workers rights as in all areas, fight unemployment, improve vocational qualifications, protect the interests of the workers and their families, maintain and mediate for a proper management, influence economic and social polices, promote democracy, foster patriotic attitude, help those with special needs and care, strengthen family life, cooperate and collaborate with other international organisations, protect culture and education, advocate for environmental protection, as well as represent the workers. Solidarity will achieve this by continuing to represent their members before their employers, the government and other institutions, monitoring the workplace, provide legal counselling, union training, and just being there for the workers and attend to their needs.
NSZZ Solidarność. Multimedia Productions. Web. 10 Jan. 2012. <
On July 1st 1980, the government introduced commercial prices on food and other everyday objects, provoking the workers to protest. August 14th 1980, the Gdańsk shipyard goes on strike, soon after inspiring other shipyards in the region and country to go on strike as well. Main demands were the reinstatement of Anna Walentynowicz and the erection of a monument for the fallen shipyard workers killed in the December revolt in 1970. On September 13th, the agreement for a free and independent trade union is ratified. Supreme courts and committees begin to adopt and acknowledge “Solidarność.” In December the monument for the Fallen Shipyard was erected outside the Gdańsk shipyard.
Siegelbaum, Lewis. "1980: Solidarity in Poland." Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. Soviet History. Web. 14 Jan. 2012. <http://soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1980solidarity&Year=1980>.
The formation of the Polish trade union, Solidarity, in 1980, disturbed Soviet Authorities. It was considered a embarrassment for the Marxist-Leninists to be confronted by the workers with such widespread support. The start of Solidarity was the Lenin Shipyard, which was the same shipyard whose workers went on strike in 1970 over raised food prices. There were many other protests over raised food and commercial goods prices and unfair treatment between 1970 and 1980. On the 3rd of September 1980, the Politburo came up six “theses.” Solidarity was characterised as an “anti-socialist opposition” which caused for of a threat to the communist government. In December 1981, there was a declaration of martial law, where the Soviet leadership extended economic assistance.
"The Story of the Solidarity Movement." Solidarity Gdansk Poland. Gdansk Life. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.gdansk-life.com/poland/solidarity>.
Solidarity was established in September 1980 at the Gdańsk shipyards. It was an independent labour union that was the catalyst in the transformation from communism to democracy in Poland. In 1980, Poland was suffering from an economic crisis, which forced the rise in price of goods and curbing the growth of wages. The firing of Anna Walentynowicz, as well as the previous firing of Lech Wałęsa sparked the shipyard strike at the Lenin Shipyard. The strike started on the 14th of August. On the 16th, many other strike committees joined the strikes. By the 18th the Szczecin shipyard joined the strike, which began a wave of more strikes along the coast of Poland. Solidarity was the first independent labour union in the Soviet Bloc.
"1980: Shipyard Poles Strike for Their Rights." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_2802000/2802553.stm>.
Shipyard workers in Gdańsk stage strike over the dismissal of Anna Walentynowicz. The strike was apart of the growing campaign to improve the economic situation for the workers and gain political freedom. Around 16,000 workers succeeded in getting Walentynowicz reinstated and a compromise for more accurate media coverage, and the right to form their own representative bodies instead of using official trade unions. In the 1970 riot, the workers succeeded in getting the Communist Party leader, Wladyslaw Gomulka out of office. They also got the authorities to allow the construction of the Monument for the fallen shipyard workers. The workers also got a 40% pay rise. | <urn:uuid:d4ac415a-a9ca-450b-86c6-4addf0bf3ba4> | {
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What is a pulmonary function test?
Pulmonary function test or lung function test is a group of tests that check the workings of the lungs. They are noninvasive test which can determine the functional status of the lung cells and how well the lungs are working.
The tests look for:
- How much air can lungs hold?
- How well can air move in and out of the lungs?
- How well the lungs move oxygen the into bloodstream.
There are several types of lung tests. They include:
- Spirometry: The most common type of lung function test. It measures how much and how quickly air can move in and out of the lungs.
- Lung volume test: It is also known as body plethysmography. This test measures the amount of air an individual can hold in the lungs and the amount of air that remains after exhalation (breathing out).
- Gas diffusion test: This test measures how oxygen and other gases move from the lungs to the bloodstream.
- Exercise stress test: This test looks at how exercise affects lung function.
These tests may be used singly or together, depending on specific symptoms or conditions.
How is a pulmonary function test performed?
Below are the steps for the most common four types of lung function tests.
For a spirometry test:
- The patient is asked to sit on a chair and a soft clip will be put on the nose. This is done so that patient breathes through the mouth, rather than your nose.
- The patient is asked to place lips tightly around the mouthpiece and breathe in and out as instructed.
- The spirometer will measure the amount and rate of airflow over a period of time.
For a lung volume (body plethysmography) test:
- The patient asked to sit in a clear, airtight room that looks like a telephone booth.
- The patient may wear a nose clip and place lips around a mouthpiece connected to a machine.
- The patient is asked to breathe in and out as instructed.
- The pressure changes inside the room help measure lung volume.
For a gas diffusion test:
- The patient may wear a mouthpiece connected to a machine.
- They may be asked to inhale (breathe in) a very small, non-dangerous amount of carbon monoxide or other types of gas.
- Measurements will either be taken as they breathe in and out.
- The test can show how effective the lungs are functioning by moving gases to the bloodstream.
For an exercise test:
Why would my doctor order a pulmonary function test?
- Find the cause of breathing problems
- Diagnose and monitor chronic lung diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema
- See if lung disease treatments are working
- Check lung function before surgery
- Check whether exposure to chemicals or other substances in the home or workplace has caused lung damage.
Testing pulmonary function tests can help doctors diagnose other conditions such as:
What do the results of the pulmonary function test mean?
If a patient has abnormal lung function test results they might have a lung disease. There are two main types of lung diseases that can be diagnosed with a lung function test:
- Obstructive diseases: These diseases cause airways to become narrow, making it hard for air to flow out of the lungs. Obstructive lung diseases include asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema.
- Restrictive diseases: In these diseases, the lungs or chest muscles aren't able to expand enough. This reduces airflow and the ability to send oxygen into the bloodstream. Restrictive lung disorders include scleroderma, sarcoidosis, and pulmonary fibrosis.
- Mixed pattern: Sometimes, a disease may be a combination of obstructive and restrictive patterns, this may need a different management protocol.
Lung Disease/COPD Resources
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How much malt is really in a 1.040 beer? We need to understand how to use the PPG values associated with your malt, regardless of its source as grain, DME or LME. PPG stands for Points per Pound per Gallon. PPG relates the amount of gravity points contributed by one pound in one gallon of water. PPG bridges the gap between a “dry” ingredient (DME or grain) and the anticipated specific gravity of that ingredient once its in solution. Remembering that specific gravity as a number refers to the density of a liquid.
The best way to illustrate and conceptualize this in your mind is to think about a one-pound bag of DME. DME has a PPG of 44, or 44PPG. If you dissolved a one-pound bag of DME in on gallon of water it the resulting gravity would be 1.044 SG (specific gravity). Subsequently, an easier way to use this number is to ignore the gallon part of the equation. Before you add the water to your 1 pound of DME, that dry bag has 44 points in it (or 44 points per pound). Using easy math you can see that if you put that 44-point bag (one pound) in 2 gallons the 44 points would be diluted to a gravity reading of 1.022SG. Likewise, you can put that same 44 points into half a gallon and the resulting gravity would be 1.088SG (44/0.5 is 88). But the total points are always the same regardless of gravity readings. (22*2=44, 44*1=44 and 88*0.5=44)
How do we translate PPG numbers into 5-gallon batches? It may be easier if we think of recipe formulation in reverse. Let’s say you want to make a 5-gallon batch of 1.044 OG. A specific gravity of 1.044 can be taken to mean 44 points per gallon. So in a 5 gallon batch there is actually 5*44=220 total points. So to make that beer you need to get 220 total points of malt in there. If you were to make it entirely using DME, which is 44PPG, then you would need 5 pounds. 220 total points divided by 44 points per pound (ignore the gallon part of PPG because you already accounted for the gallons by calculating total points). 5 pounds makes sense because if 1 pound of DME in one gallon makes a 1.044 gravity wort, then it would take 5 pounds in 5 gallons to make the same strength beer.
Here is a tougher example:
You want to make a 6 gallon batch of 1.064 beer using LME. LME has a 37PPG rating.
The principle is the same for LME; just think of it as if it were a dry ingredient. You can do this because its PPG is lower because the water in the LME has already been accounted for, hence lowering the malts PPG from 44 to 37.
So for 6 gallons of 1.064 that would be 6*64 or 384 points needed. LME provides 37 points per pound, so 384/37 is 10.3 pounds of LME.
Being able to calculate anticipated gravity from the ingredients we use is critical to being able to formulate your own recipes, or more importantly to make changes in recipes you have. If you have a 1.040 beer and you think it would be better as 1.050 you’ll be able to calculate how much more DME to add to get there.
(BTW, for 5 gallons you would need 1.1 pound of DME to boost the gravity to 1.050) | <urn:uuid:23d2c056-7287-45f3-9d24-2a713ccb554d> | {
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We at the Women’s Museum of Ireland are creating a unique map of Dublin city, to draw attention to sites around the city that are related to women’s history, in the hopes of inspiring preservation and recognition of those sites.
We have commissioned two Dublin-based designers to create the map, but we need your help in mapping the city! Over the next three weeks we will be putting a call out for online submissions, to plot out sites across the city. We will then create a shortlist of sites to include on the physical map, and include a larger database of sites on an interactive map on womensmuseumofireland.ie
This physical map will be made available for you to pick up or print out, to lead you around Dublin’s fair city. Rediscover the residences of Society hostess Lady Jane Wilde and the social activist Rosie Hackett, and the hidden histories of Moore Street and Henrietta Street in the city centre. Out in the suburbs of Dundrum, did you know that the sisters of the artist Jack B. Yeats ran the Cuala printing press, the only Arts and Crafts press to be run and staffed solely by women?
There are still a great many stories to be uncovered, and we are appealing to you to share those stories with us. We want to present these stories to the wider public, and make them accessible to both locals and visitors to our great city. Once the project takes off, we hope to extend it beyond Dublin and around the country.
We are using the hashtag #WomenofDublin to gather data, or you can contact us via Twitter and Facebook to help us plot out these sites around the city!
Alternatively, email us at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:f875f07e-82a3-49db-9c22-e023466c6b0b> | {
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1. Force yourself to eat, sleep, and exercise. Realize that your ability to be strong and to help in the search for your child requires that you attend to your own physical and emotional needs. If you have trouble sleeping at night or coping during the day, ask your physician for help.
2. Stay away from alcohol, drugs, and harmful medications, which can prevent you from being an effective member of the search team and can even induce depression.
3. Find productive ways to release your emotions, such as keeping a journal, talking with a friend, taking a walk, exercising, cooking, cleaning, or thinking up ways to extend the search. Don't isolate yourself.
4. Don't blame yourself for your child's disappearance or allow yourself to shoulder the blame of others. Treat yourself and others as kindly as you can.
5. Don't feel guilty if you need to return to work. Remember that you are working to provide a home for your child to return to.
6. Stay united with your spouse in your fight to find your child. Don't allow the stress of the investigation to drive a wedge into your family life, and don't misjudge others because their response to the disappearance is different from yours.
7. Don't allow the absence of your child and your deep sense of loss to become a taboo subject. Encourage open discussion of feelings in a safe, caring, nonjudgmental environment during family meetings.
8. Establish different routines for daily life and for celebrating birthdays, holidays, and other events. Find a safe place away from your home -- perhaps with friends or relatives -- where your other children can feel free to play and express themselves, away from the spotlight of the search and the media.
9. If it seems appropriate, allow your other children to participate in the search, perhaps by distributing posters, fliers, or balloons. Remember that both emotional and security issues need to be addressed.
10. Don't be surprised if your other children's behavior changes drastically. Bedwetting, stomach aches, depression, anger, sullenness, quietness, and truancy are common reactions. But remember that children, just like adults, react differently to the disappearance of a child, and some may not show any change in behavior.
11. Help your other children return to some type of normalcy by going back to school, but listen carefully to them before they go. Request that the school bring counselors into the classroom to discuss the situation with the children, and ask your law enforcement contact to arrange for an officer to go to the school to teach the children both how to recognize dangerous situations and how to get away.
12. Extended family members can serve a variety of functions in the search effort -- as spokesperson for the family, coordinator of media events, coordinator of volunteers, or coordinator of searchers. They can also help with posters and fliers, request assistance from missing children's organizations, and gather information to give to law enforcement.
13. Don't try to provide emotional support to everyone in your family. Seek professional counseling for yourself and your children to help you cope.
14. Bring callers up to date on the progress of the search by recording simple messages on your home answering machine.
15. Never stop looking. Dedicate part of each day to your missing child by making phone calls, writing letters, contacting law enforcement, or doing whatever you think will help in the search for your missing child. | <urn:uuid:cfe3f0d9-17c1-41fd-9975-2edc449e0d52> | {
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Have you received a letter about retrospective recruitment? Click here to see our FAQ.
Our genes (or DNA) determine how vulnerable we are to sepsis and other forms of critical illness. We aim to discover specific genes that control the processes that lead to life-threatening illness. If we understand these processes, we think we'll be able to design effective treatments.
To do this we need to get a single DNA sample from lots of criticaly-ill patients with a range of carefully-selected conditions ( see the entry criteria here). The more patients, the better.
Distributed, open-source critical care research
Genetic effects will differ among the many different causes of sepsis, and different ethnic groups. This requires global collaboration among critical care doctors, sharing of data between researchers, and an innovative approach to funding.
GenOMICC in your region
If you want to get involved in
- we will be delighted to collaborate; or
- we can help you set up your own study using our protocol, documentation and REDCap data collection tools as a starting point; or,
- you can copy and adapt the various study documents available on this website to run your own independent
We will support investigators in new regions to establish and lead local research studies using the tools that we have created. Ultimately our motivation is to use
If you are a patient or relative please see our patient and relative information section.
If you would like to read more about this study and its design you can read our rationale which goes into further detail.
Death from critical illness is strongly affected by genetics
Susceptibility to infection, including sepsis and influenza is known very strongly genetically determined. There are strong reasons to believe the same is true for COVID-19.
In critical illness, a complex cascade of immune signals leads to failure of critical organ systems and death. These events are often not specific to a particular type of infection - they can happen to any patient with a severe infection. Although we know that susceptibility to a particular bug, such as the influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that causes COVID-19), or a bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, is genetic, it is harder to tell if there are specific genes that alter a patient's chance of survival once they are already desperately sick with sepsis. But we do know that the immune system plays a key role in causing organ failure in sepsis, and in other forms of critical illness. Genetic differences have a very strong impact on immune function.
How to look for answers
There are millions of DNA sequence differences between any pair of humans. Any of these could be important in determining the outcome in sepsis. Finding the ones that matter requires us to look at DNA from huge numbers of patients. We need to look at DNA from thousands of people in order to find robust genetic associations with outcomes. This is urgent, because if we can achieve it then we may be able to find treatments that will ultimately save lives. | <urn:uuid:c2e1046f-bb9a-4c53-84ba-d24bb9daa6d4> | {
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Multiple forms of photography allow photographers to explore their individual interests and visual goals while still documenting the world in captivating images. This blog will explore a few of the most widely known subgenres of photography in particular, examining what makes them distinctive and inspirational. Whatever the genre is, however, photographers should know Yvette Heiser – The Crucial Role of Light in Capturing Exceptional Images and how it impacts the end result.
1. Landscape Photography
Taking photos of landscapes, or nature in general, is an art form in and of itself. Photographers who specialize in landscapes depict the natural splendor of the Earth in all its forms, from majestic mountains to placid oceans to pastoral farmlands. If you would like to be an accomplished nature photographer, you require patience, a good eye for arrangement, and an authentic appreciation of the outdoors.
2. Portrait Photography
Photographing humans is what portraiture is all about. To do this, one should go to the core of a person or group, pulling out their distinctive characteristics and traits. While studio portraiture is widespread, outdoor portraiture, candid photography, and lifestyle pictures are all popular subgenres for portrait photographers. Communicating with those you photograph while adding life to their tales via photography.
3. Street Photography
Street photography is a method of capturing photographs in public areas. The common objective of street photographers is to photograph candid moments in urban environments. Playing in this manner successfully necessitates extremely quick reactions, covert movement, and precise timing. Photographers who specialize in street photography have the ability to take commonplace locations and turn them into spectacular narratives.
4. Wildlife Photography
Taking photographs of wildlife is similar to going on a safari and capturing wildlife in their native environments. To be successful in this line of work, one has to be patient, have an in-depth knowledge of how animals act, and use gear like long lenses and camouflage. Photographers who specialize in wildlife take photographs that contribute to attracting attention to and funding endangered wildlife.
5. Architectural Photography
Photographs of skyscrapers and other structures frequently qualify as works of art in and of themselves. The style often includes compositions that demonstrate architectural components such as lines, forms, and details. Photographers who specialize in architectural subjects need to have a solid understanding of composition, lighting, and perspective in order to capture buildings at their optimum.
The art of astrophotography records the expanse of space via pictures of stars, planets, and other celestial objects. Long exposures, specialist gear, and acquaintance with the night sky are usually prerequisites. The efforts of astrophotographers are awe-inspiring and intriguing because they provide a view into the universe as a whole.
The various sub-genres of photography all give their own unique chances and challenges for creative exploration. By digging into an extensive range of styles, photographers can improve their abilities and learn to understand the types of work that appeal to them. If you have not found your style afterreading Yvette Heiser Texas – 5 Interesting Photography Types for Beginners, hopefully, you will find your style from the types mentioned above. | <urn:uuid:c8db4b7b-a46f-4244-84f4-f980753b83d2> | {
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There are many sources of data that landscape architects have to collect as a starting point in the landscape and visual impact assessment (LVIA) process.
To make it easier, I sub-divide the data collection into three main strands that help to inform the LVIA. These include:
- Visual amenity receptors
- Landscape relevant designations
- Landscape character
This is the third of three short blogs outlining the sources of data that I use to inform a LVIA.
The starting point for collecting information on landscape character is the national character areas promoted by Natural England (www.naturalengland.org.uk ). Currently being updated, this is an excellent source of data for strategic ‘national’ landscape character areas, which can provide a starting point for a more detailed assessment.
Most county, local or unitary authorities have also undertaken their own landscape character assessment, many of which have been adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG’s). A quick search of the local authority’s website will usually throw up the relevant landscape character assessment.
In addition, many local authorities have also undertaken their own sensitivity or capacity assessments, usually based on the landscape character assessment and often relating to a particular type of development such as wind energy or large scale solar.
This hierarchy of landscape characterisation forms the basis for a more detailed description of landscape character on a site specific basis. | <urn:uuid:8187e1f2-57f0-4055-94ce-229e6bbb94fd> | {
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The Human Microbiome Project.
The aim of the HMP is to characterize microbial communities found at
multiple human body sites and to look for correlations between changes
in the microbiome and human health. More information can be found in the
menus above and on the NIH Common Fund site.
In the news:
1. Scientists map bacteria living inside us (CBC)
2. Study seeks to map the microbes that live in and on us
(The Boston Globe)
3. U.S. scientists map genes of microbes in healthy people | <urn:uuid:65005098-d3fb-456d-a619-b04c2eb4fc63> | {
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When most people hear “fossil,” the first image that springs to mind is of a dinosaur – or perhaps, if you live in North Carolina, a large shark tooth.
Though these creatures were compelling in their own rights, they are not the oldest fossils in North Carolina. For these, we have to go all the way back to the Ediacaran Period (635 million to 542 million years ago). Found in sediments from Stanly and Davidson counties, the oldest undisputed fossils from the state are impressions of soft-bodied marine organisms and the preserved traces of their movements across the seafloor.
These fossils are not particularly showy, but they are nonetheless important because they represent some of the earliest evidence for multicellular life.
Approximately 547 million years in the past, the world was different from the one we inhabit. Imagine a world with no mammals, no birds, not even a cockroach. There was no terrestrial life to speak of, yet the oceans were teeming with living organisms.
Put on your imaginary scuba gear and have a look around. You won’t see seashells, crabs or starfish, but you will see a bunch of soft-bodied creatures with unfamiliar names such as Pteridinium, Swartpuntia and Aspidella. If you put your foot down, you will probably notice that the seafloor is covered in a scum-like layer known as a microbial mat. All the animals around you are living on, in, or slightly under this mat. It is this mat that will ultimately preserve these organisms for millions of years.
Some of these animals look like plant fronds swaying with the currents; some resemble large flatworms. Others just look like tubes. And almost none of them will look familiar to you.
This unfamiliarity is one of the great joys and also one of the great frustrations for paleontologists. Because paleontologists generally use the present as a key to the past, fossils from the Ediacaran Period can be difficult to identify and can stir much debate: Which group of organisms do they belong to (especially when they are just fragments)? Paleontologists who work with fossils from this period have had to do some major adjustments to their worldview, and perhaps now that you’ve read about these enigmatic animals, you will, too.
See for yourself: Some of North Carolina’s Ediacaran fossils are on exhibit on the third floor of the Nature Research Center at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh.
Patricia Weaver is collections manager geology/paleontology for the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. Her research focuses on fossil and extant coleoid cephalopods. In particular, she studies taxonomy of fossil cuttlefish, and biochemistry of fossil and extant squid, octopus and cuttlefish. | <urn:uuid:4933ac52-b828-4b28-9b30-146afeb5a260> | {
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Road-related incidents are one of the leading causes of unintentional injury death across all ages in BC.1
Each day, more than 820 crashes occur in BC, and around 170 of them result in an injury or fatality.3 Most of the injuries resulting from collisions involve vehicle drivers and passengers; however, injury also occurs among vulnerable road users—pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Speeding, distracted driving (e.g., phone use and texting), and impaired driving (using alcohol, drugs, or medications) are the leading contributing factors for motor vehicle collisions.
Transport incidents cost British Columbians approximately $700 million dollars per year.4
BCIRPU supports road safety efforts at the policy, practice, and community levels. Road safety for all is one of the provincial priorities for injury prevention.
The goal of Objective 3 of the CHASE study is to identify implementation strategies for built environment change at the municipal level to encourage safe, active transportation. Key informant interviews are being conducted in Vancouver and the surrounding area with those who have worked on projects involving optimizing the built environment—such as urban planners, researchers, school board representatives, and provincial transportation authorities—in order to identify the facilitators and barriers for implementing built environment change at the municipal level.6
Injury Trends in Cyclists in BC
The objective of this study is to investigate temporal trends in serious injury rates in cyclists, with a focus on understanding changes in crash counterparts. This is a retrospective review of data from the BC Trauma Registry and the Discharge Abstract Database on hospitalized pedal cyclist patients injured in land transport events over the period of April 1, April 2012 to March 31, 2019.
- Injury Insight: Motorcycle Injuries in British Columbia (PDF) (May 2020)
- Injury Insight: Young Drivers: A Population at Risk (PDF) (May 2019, updated from July 2016)
- Injury Insight: Pedestrian Injury from Motor Vehicle Crashes in BC (PDF) (May 2017)
- Injury Insight: Road Safety Among Vulnerable Road Users (PDF) (November 2014)
- Injury Insight: Cycling Injuries in Children (PDF) (June 2011)
- Police Traffic Accident System Data, available on our Injury Data Online Tool (iDOT)
59 communities receive funding for Vision Zero projects
Over $1 million in grants to go towards improving vulnerable road user safety across British Columbia, including in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Dr. Ian Pike receives fellowship from Japanese research society
Dr. Pike will work on a child passenger safety campaign with researchers in Chiba.
New website outlines financial and human cost of injury in BC
costofinjury.ca uses interactive charts and graphs to illustrate the burden of injury in BC.
37 projects funded in this year’s Vision Zero Grant Program
Projects funded include improvements such as crosswalk infrastructure, closed streets, traffic calming, speed limit reduction pilots, and road safety planning.
First-ever Vision Zero Summit in BC
Over 100 road safety experts, municipal government staff, civic leaders, researchers, and public health professionals attended the first-ever Vision Zero summit in BC.
October 15-21 is Teen Driver Safety Week
Youth are over-represented in all road-related injuries and deaths.
Injury Insight: Young drivers, a population at risk
This Injury Insight investigates the circumstances around teen driver deaths in BC.
1.Provincial injury prevention priorities. (2017). BC Injury Prevention Committee. Available at: http://www.bccdc.ca/pop-public-health/Documents/bcipc-provincial-injury-prevention-priorities-2017.pdf
2. Traffic Accident System Tool, Injury Data Online Tool, BCIRPU.
3. ICBC. Quick Statistics for the Media Manual: Crashes and Casualty Crashes. 5 year average from 2014-2018. Available from: https://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Documents/fatal-victims.pdf
4. Rajabali, F., Beaulieu, E., Smith, J., & Pike, I. (2018). The economic burden of injuries in British Columbia: Applying evidence to practice. British Columbia Medical Journal, 60(7), 358-364. [Cost converted to 2020 dollars with CPI].
5. ICBC RoadSafetyBC. Motor vehicle related crashes, injuries and fatalities. 10-year statistics for British Columbia, 2010-2019. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, 2020. Available at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/driving/roadsafetybc/data/motor_vehicle_related_crashes_injuries_and_fatalities_in_british_columbia_2010-2019.pdf
6. Hagel, B. E., Macpherson, A., Howard, A., Fuselli, P., Cloutier, M. S., Winters, M., … & Hubka, T. (2019). The built environment and active transportation safety in children and youth: a study protocol. BMC public health, 19(1), 1-13.
7. Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators. Canada’s Road Safety Strategy; 2025: Towards Zero: the Safest Roads in the World (2016). Available at: https://roadsafetystrategy.ca/web/road-safety-strategy/files/public/docs/RSS-2025-Report-January-2016-with%20cover.pdf
8. Government of BC. (2016). PHO’s Annual Report: Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Reducing the Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes on Health and Well-Being in BC. Available from: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/reports-publications/annual-reports/reducing-motor-vehicle-crashes-bc.pdf | <urn:uuid:16b1fdbf-d800-4799-b4b9-495825dd453c> | {
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MALCOLM CALDWELL and LEK HOR TAN, CAMBODIA IN THE SOUTH EAST ASIAN WAR, Monthly Review Press, New York and London 1973, pp 446, ^6.45.
Although now it is nearly one year after the signing of the Vietnam cease-fire, continued US actions in Cambodia reveal the depth of a resolve to hang on to Indochina, come what may. All the same, more than four fifths of the country is in the hands of the liberation forces and the Lon Nol regime in Phnom Penh is in a state of virtual collapse. Aroused by aggression, Cambodia has shown the transformation of a supposedly lethargic people from nationalism to resurgence and revolution.
This book analyses the history of Cambodia and the evolution of US foreign policy leading to the convergence of 1970 : the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the direct invasion of US troops. It contains detailed accounts of Sihanouk's pursuit of independence and neutrality, US intrigues, at home and abroad, which frustrated these efforts and his final emergence as head of state in exile in China, dedicated to Cambodia's national liberation in alliance with North Vietnam, the NLF and the Pathet Lao.
The united resistance of the Indochinese people against foreign aggression has a parallel in the 1884-6 anti-French struggle, one of the first people's wars of independence in Asian history. It was also fought in the name of a king, Norodom. France's 'pacification' campaign forced the various national and regional movements—especially Cambodian and Vietnamese—into a united resistance.
The French won and survived in Cambodia until the 1950s. Cambodia's economic value to France, in addition to the tax revenues, was enhanced with the introduction of rubber cultivation in the 1920s. This was to have a significant consequence. It was plantation workers radicalized and politicalized in the miserable conditions of the rubber estates | <urn:uuid:b698855d-f3fe-4f7b-9e4d-e3f6ba37c89c> | {
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TEHRAN, Aug. 13(MNA) – Iranian nanotechnology researchers from Sharif University of Technology have produced a laboratorial sample of nerve conduction channel that can be used in treating nerve injuries.
According to Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council, biodegradable and biocompatible polymers and graphene were used in the production of the channel. The channel can be used in the treatment of nerve injuries after passing the complementary tests and obtaining the desirable results.
Neural system is divided into two local and central parts. Neuron is the main cell in the neural system. Neurons are not able to proliferate but they can recover themselves. This recovery is much more significant in the local neural system. Many people suffer from local neural system injuries every year, and there are different methods to recover the injuries.
The aim of the research which was conducted by Iranian researchers from Sharif University was to design an optimum nerve conduction channel to carry out crack treatment process successfully inside the local neural system. The optimization process focused mostly on the appropriate combination to produce nerve channel.
The conductive composite of polyaniline/graphene (PAG) was synthesized to produce the nerve conduction channel, and it was used in the production of the final conductive scaffolds (PAG/gelatin/chitosan).
This research also studies various bioengineering properties of nerve conduction channels, including mechanical properties, conductivity, porosity, morphology and structure, toxicity and compatibility with human body. It was approved that the product is suitable for the recovery of local neural system injuries. The positive effect of electrical impulse was also approved by carrying out experiments.
Results of the research have been published in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, vol. 74, issue 1, 2015, pp. 360-366. | <urn:uuid:1c3d143f-714e-4547-bdaf-b80011ce64b3> | {
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Use "LaTex" code. There is a tutorial here: http://www.mathhelpforum.com/math-help/latex-help/.
You can see the code used for
, or any formula, by clicking on it.
Since is the identity matrix, as other have told you, A is just the "inverse matrix to .
There are a number of different ways to find the inverse matrix to a given matrix and, of course, we don't know which you have learned or are expected to use.
One very fundamental way would be to write that matrix equations as four linear equations: Writing A as we can write that matrix equation as
and, setting the same components equal, a+ 2c= 1, b+ 2d= 0, 3a+ 5c= 0, 3b+ 4d= 1, four equations in four values. (Actually, they can be separated- you really have two sets of two equation for two values which is a little easier.) Solve those for a, b, c, and d. | <urn:uuid:930081df-6d03-49e7-8074-ebdfc5e78c29> | {
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“Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.” — Jules Renard
“ideas to get your student’s pencils moving”
Writing is and isn’t an easy thing to do in the classroom. Especially nowadays when students don’t have long attention spans and are more and more “digital” and visual learners.
However, it is a vital skill that opens up a world of possibilities for any student. Written communication in whatever language, even with the advent of the internet, is still a necessity. Writing allows communication, controlled and deliberate – POWERFUL, communication. So we have to get our students writing more and better. How?
Below, find a rundown of what I consider the “standard” writing activities for any age group. Just change the topic/theme. Most are for any classroom, EFL / ESL or the regular classroom. My belief is that writing in English is writing in English. Whether it be a second language or first makes no difference because the “eating” is all the same.
I’ve divided the activities into different categories. These are just for the sake of having some kind of organization. I’ve also labeled them
WUP – for a warm up writing activity and something to do quickly.
CP – Controlled practice. Writing activities that help the beginning writer and offer support, repetition and guidance.
F – Free writing activities which activate student learning and allow them to practice what they already know and “test the waters” so to speak.
Where appropriate, I’ve linked to some resources that compliment the writing activity as described.
Listen — Write
There are many ways to “spice” up the standard dictation. The simplest is to have the students fold a blank piece of paper “hamburger” style (Up/down) 4 times. Unfold and they have a nice 8 line piece of paper. Speak 8 sentences , repeating each several times as the students write. Get the students to record their answers on the board and correct. Collect and keep in a portfolio!
There are many online sites where students can do the same but in a computer lab or at home. Or the teacher can even try in the classroom.
http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio – for older students
http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/ – for young learners
2. Story Rewriting
The teacher reads a story or the class listens to an audio story. After, students make a story board (just fold a blank page so you have 8 squares) and draw pictures. Then, they write the story based on those pictures. Very simple and powerful! – F
The students close their eyes and the teacher describes a scene. Play some nice background music. The students then write and describe the scene they imagined, sharing their scene afterwards with the class or a classmate.
4. Pop Song Rewrite
Play a familiar pop song. One with a “catchy” chorus. Afterwards, write out the chorus on the board with some of the words missing. Students can then rewrite the chorus and sing their own version. Higher level students can simply write their own version without help. Here’s a very simple example –
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got ___________ and ___________
In his hands. (3x)
He’s got the whole world in his hands
Watch —– Write
Students watch a TV Commercial. Then, they write their own script based on that commercial but focused on a different product. Afterwards, they can perform. F
2. Short videos.
Just like a story but this time students watch. Then, they can rewrite / respond / reflect. Students can choose to reflect on one standard Reading Response question or as part of a daily journal. Ex. The best part was ….. / If I had made the video, I would have ……
Short videos are powerful and if well chosen can really get students writing in a reflective manner. CP / F
How to Videos
Students can watch a short “How to” video that describes a process. There are some excellent sites with User Generated Content. Expert Village and eHow are recommended. After the students watch the video several times, they can write out the steps using transitions which the teacher lists on the board. [First, first off, To begin, then, after that, next, most importantly, finally, last but not least, to finish ] CP / F
3. Newscasts / Weather reports
Watch the daily news or weather report. Students write in groups or individually, their own version of the news for that week/day. Then perform for the class like a real news report! F
4. Travel Videos
Watch a few travel videos (there are many nice, short travel “postcard” videos online). Groups of students select a place and write up a report or a poster outlining why others should visit their city/country. Alternately, give students a postcard and have them write to another student in the classroom as if they were in that city/country. For lower leveled students, provide them with a template and they just fill in the details. Ex.
I’m sitting in a ………… drinking a …………… I’ve been in ……. for ………. days now. The weather has been
……………. Yesterday I visited the ………….. and I saw …………….. Today, I’m going to ………………. I highly recommend ……………….. See you when I get home …………………
CP / F
Look —– Write
1. Pictures / Slideshows
Visuals are a powerful way to provide context and background for any writing. Make sure to use attractive, stimulating and if possible “real” photos to prompt student writing. Students can describe a scene or they can describe a series of pictures from a slideshow.
An excellent activity is to show a nice photo and get students to “guess” and write their guess in the form of the 5Ws. They answer all the 5w questions and then share their thoughts with the class.
Show a picture and get students to write a story or use it as background for a writing prompt. For example, Show a picture of a happy lottery winner. Ask students to write in their journal – If I won a million dollars I would ……
This is a much better way to “prompt” writing than simple script! – CP
Show students a selection of fairly similar pictures. The students describe in writing one of the pictures (faces work really well). They read and the other students listen and “guess” which picture is being described. Similar to this listening activity. CP
Provide students with a series of pictures which describe a story. I often use Action Pictures. Students write about each picture, numbering each piece of writing for each picture. The teacher can guide lower level students like this Mr. X’s Amazing Day example. After editing, the students cut up the pictures and make a storybook. Gluing in the pictures, coloring, decorating and adding their own story text. Afterwards read to the whole class or share among the class. CP / F
Provide students with a sequence of pictures which are scrambled. The students must order the pictures and then write out the process. Ex. Making scrambled eggs. F
Read —- Write
1. Reading Journal / Reading Response
The students read a story and then respond by making a reflective journal entry. Alternatively, the students can respond to a reading response question like, “Which character did you like best? Why?” F
Read a short story and then give students a copy of the story with some text missing. The students can fill it in with the correct version OR fill it in and make the story their own.
These are stories where words are replaced with icons/pictures. Students can read the story and then write out the whole story, replacing the pictures with the correct text. Here are some nice examples. – CP
3. Opinion / Essay
Select an article or OP Ed piece that students would find interesting or controversial. After reading and discussing, students can respond with a formal essay or piece of writing reflecting their opinion. Read them anonymously afterwards and get the class to guess who wrote it! F
4. Giving Advice
Students read a problem provided by the teacher (even better, get students to provide the problem by having them write down what they need advice on). This can often be an Ann Landers style request for advice from a newspaper. Students write their own response, giving advice. F
5. Running dictation
This is a lot of fun but quite noisy. Put students into groups of 3 or 4. For each group, post on the wall around the classroom, a piece of writing (maybe a selection of text you will be reading in your lesson). One student is appointed as the secretary. The other students must “run” to where their piece of writing is on the wall and read it. Then run back and dictate it to the secretary who records it. Continue until one group is finished (but check that they got it right!). CP
Think —- Write
1. Graphic Organizers
These you can make on your own by having students draw and fold blank sheets of paper or by giving them a pre-designed one. Students write out their thoughts on a topic using the organizer. An alphabet organizer is also an excellent activity in writing for lower level students. Graphic organizers and mind maps are an excellent way “first step” to a longer writing piece and are an important pre-writing activity. WUP
2. Prompts / Sentence Starters
Students are prompted to finish sentences that are half started. They can write X number of sentences using the sentence starter. Many starters can be found online. Prompts are also an excellent way to get students thinking and writing. Every day, students can “free write” a passage using the daily prompt (ex. What I did this morning etc… ) Creative writing of this sort really motivates students to write. There are many lists online you can use.
3. Thinking Games
Using a worksheet, students play the game while writing down their responses in grammatical sentences. What the Wordle / Not Like the Other and Top 5 are some games I’ve made and which help students begin to write. Each has a worksheet which students fill out. CP
4. Decoding / Translating
Translating a passage into English can be a good writing activity for higher level students.
Students love their cell phones and Transl8it.com is a handy way to get students interested in writing. Simply put in English text and Transl8it.com will output “text messaging”. Give this to students to decode into standard English and then check against the original. Lots of fun! See the games I’ve designed (Pop Song / Dialogues ) using this principle of decoding text messaging. CP
5. Forms / Applications
Students need to practice writing that will be of use to them directly in the wider world. Forms and filling in applications are a valuable way to do this. Fill in one together as a class and then get students to do this same for themselves individually. – CP
6. Journals / Reflection / Diaries
This type of free writing activity should be done on a regular basis if used in class. Use a timer and for X minutes, students can write upon a topic that is important to them, that day. Alternatively, students can write at the end of the day and record their thoughts about the lesson or their own learning. These are all excellent ways for the teacher to get to know their students. One caution – don’t correct student writing here! Comment positively on the student’s writing – the goal is to get them feeling good about writing and “into” it. – F
7. Tag Stories / Writing
Students love this creative exercise. Fold a blank piece of paper vertically (Hamburger style) 4 times. You’ll have 8 lines. On the first line, students all write the same sentence starter. Ex. A man walked into a bank and ……..
Next, students finish the sentence and then pass their paper to the student on their left/right. That student reads the sentence and continues the story on the next line. Continue until all 8 lines are completed. Read the stories as a class – many will be hilarious! I often do this with a “gossip” variation. I write some gossip “chunks” on the board like; “I heard that..” , “I was told…” “The word on the street is…” “Don’t pass it around but…”. Students choose one and write some juicy gossip about the student to their right. They then pass their paper to the left with everyone adding onto the gossip. Students really get into this! CP / F
8. Describe and guess
Students think of a person / a place or a thing. They write a description of them / it and they are read out and others students guess.
Jokes and riddles are also effective for this. Students write out a joke or riddle they know and then they are read and other students try to guess the punchline. – F
TEXT —– Write
1. Sentence Chains
The teacher writes a word on the board and then students shout out words that follow using the last letter(s). The more last letters they use, the more points they get. The teacher keeps writing as quick as possible as the students offer up more correct words. Ex. Smilengthosentencementality…..
Give students a blank piece of paper and in pairs with one student being the secretary, they play! This is a great game for simple spelling practice and also to get students noticing language and how words end/begin. They can also play for points. Compound words and phrases are acceptable! – WUP
2. Guided Writing
This is a mainstay of the writing teacher’s toolkit. Students are either given a “bank” of words or can write/guess on their own. They fill in the missing words of a text to complete the text. Take up together and let students read their variations. A nice adaptation to guided writing for lower level students is for them to personalize the writing by getting them to draw a picture for the writing passage to illustrate and fortify the meaning. Here’s a nice example. CP
Use a time line to describe any event. Brainstorm as a class. Then students use the key words written on the board, to write out the time line as a narrative. Really effective and you can teach history like this too! Biographies of individuals or even the students themselves are a powerful writing activity and timelines are a great way to get them started. – F
Students are given notes (the classic example is a shopping list but it might be a list of zoo animals / household items etc…) and then asked to write something using all the noted words. This usually focuses on sequence (transitions) or location (prepositions). F
5. Grammar Poems
Grammar poems are short poems about a topic that students complete using various grammar prompts. This form of guided writing is very effective and helps students notice various syntactical elements of the language.
Put the grammar poem on the board with blanks. Here are some examples but it could be on any topic (country, famous person, my home, this school, etc..). Fill out as a class with one student filling it in. Then, students copy the poem and complete with their own ideas. Change as needed to stress different grammatical elements. And of course, afterwards SHARE. Present some to the class and display on a bulletin board. Your students will be proud of them!
SPEAK — Write
1. Surveys / Reports
Students have a survey question or a questionnaire. They walk around the class recording information. After, instead of reporting to the class orally, they can write up the report about their findings.
This can also be used with FSW (Find Someone Who) games. Students use a picture bingo card to walk around the classroom and ask students yes/no questions. They write the answers with a check or X and the student’s name in the box with the picture. After, they write up a report about which student ……. / didn’t …… certain things. CP
2. Reported Speech
Do any speaking activity or set of conversation questions. Afterwards, students report back by writing using reported speech, “ Susan told me that she ………..” and “ Brad said that ………..” etc….. CP
3. Introducing each other
Students can interview another classmate using a series of questions / key words given by the teacher. After the interview of each other is over, students can write out a biography of their partner and others can read them in a class booklet. – F
4. In class letter writing
Writing for a purpose is so important and nothing makes this happen better than in class letter writing. Appoint a postman and have each student make a post office box (it could just be a small bag hanging from their desk). The students can write each other (best to assign certain students first) and then respond to their letter. Once it gets started, it just keeps going and going… – F
4. Email / messaging / chat / social networking
This is an excellent way to get students speaking by writing. Set up a social networking system or a messaging / emailing system for the students. They can communicate and chat there using an “English only” policy. Use videos / pictures like in class – to promote student discussion and communication. Projects online foster this kind of written communication and using an CMS (Content Management System) like moodle or atutor or ning can really help students write more. – F
5. Class / School English newspaper or magazine
Students can gain valuable skills by meeting and designing a school English newsletter. Give each student a role (photographer, gossip / news / sports / editor in chief / copy editor etc…) and see what they can do. You’ll be surprised! – F
WRITE —— Do
Students can write dialogues for many every day situations and then act them out for the class. The teacher can model the language on the board and then erase words so students can complete by themselves and in their own words. Here’s a neat example using a commercial as a dialogue. – CP
Students draw a picture and then write a description of the picture. They hand their description to another student who must read it and then draw the picture as they see it. Finally, both students compare pictures! – F
3. Tableaus / Drama
Students write texts of any sort. Then the texts are read and other students must make a tableau of the description or act out the text in some manner. For example – students can write about their weekend. After writing, the student reads their text and other students act it out or perform a tableau. F
4. Don’t speak / Write!
I once experimented with a class that wouldn’t speak much by putting a gag on myself and only writing out my instructions. It worked and this technique could be used in a writing class. Students can’t speak and are “gagged”. Give them post it notes by which to communicate with others. Instruct using the board. There are many creative ways to use this technique! – F
RECOMMENDED BOOKS 4 TEACHERS
I highly recommend the following two books for ideas and some general theory on how to teach writing. Purchase them for reference.
1. HOW TO TEACH WRITING – Jeremy Harmer
Very insightful and cleanly, simply written. The author explores through example and description, all the facets and theory behind that “looking glass” which we call teaching. I use this as a course text for my methodology class for in-service teachers.
2. Oxford Basics: Simple Writing Activites
- Jill and Charles Hadfield
This book (and series) is a gem! Jill Hadfield knows what working EFL / ESL teachers need and in this book there are 30 simple writing activities which teachers can use with a wide variety of levels and with only a chalkboard and a piece of chalk / paper.
See my Blog post and download the list of my TOP 10 WRITING WEBSITES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS | <urn:uuid:109f6e6f-6472-4941-b722-14657bb1599e> | {
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Interactive Multimedia and Music
Virtual Instrument research
（1）Human Computer Interaction is becoming a major component in computer science related fields allowing humans to communicate with machines in very simpler ways exploring new dimensions of research.
（2）Kinect, the 3D sensing device introduced by Microsoft mainly aiming computer games domain now is used in different scopes.
（3）We use kinect for controlling sound signals producing aesthetic music.
（1）Kinect is a sensor which is capable of capturing depth and color information of the user in front of it using an array of RGB and infrared cameras. Further it is capable of capturing the sound input though an array of microphones.
（2）Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)
（3）Technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another.
（4）MIDI controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices.
（5）Our Virtual Instrument is a novel MIDI controller design based on Kinect!
（1）Visual C++: Programming Language
（2）OpenNI: Kinect Driver and API functions
（3）OpenCV: Visual Interaction display
（4）MIDI: Music signal to control MIDI instrument
（5）Cubase and VST instrument: MIDI instrument (Audio Library)
（6）Once the depth information is captured using Kinect, user skeleton can be obtained with the available functions of OpenNI with 24 joints.
Midi Programming and Audio
（1）For the MIDI signal, we use the RtMidi API from Gary P. Scavone from McGill .Sending MIDI signals to audio library for controlling the note key, duration and velocity.
（2）VST instrument from Steinberg Company is the audio library which is capable of simulating the sound of real instruments.
（3）Using MIDI as the input mechanism, VST instruments output the sounds vividly as instructed.
（1）Three areas in front of the user is identified as the Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat and Cymbal.
（2）Left Hand ,right hand and right knee are used as the triggers against the above specified regions.
（3）When the coordinate of the triggering point is larger than a specified threshold with respect to the defined regions of the virtual drum sets, program triggers MIDI signals, and then MIDI signals trigger the sound in audio library.
（1）Same like in Drum, using Kinect and OpenNI, user skeleton is captured first.
（2）Then according to the user skeleton coordinates, we set a Chord selection position in front of the user’s left hand. In the Chord selection position, we have defined six different areas, each representing a chord.
（3）To play the virtual guitar, we also set a virtual guitar string in front of the user’s right hand. When the right hand coordinate is in a special value interval, the program sends MIDI signal to the audio library and then triggers the relevant sound.
（1）The program virtually draws a circle around the user. We divide the circumference into several intervals. Then users’ hands are used to control the key and volume.
（2）When the hand is closer to the circumference, the volume becomes louder. The sound is also from MIDI signal as with drum and guitar, and we connect MIDI signals to different audio libraries.
Advanced Spider king
The Virtual Cello
- Use two sensors to play
- Totally with 17 scales for the instrument
- Can use another MIDI signal such as violin or others
- Get the X and Y axis gyroscope values from the sensor
- When a gyroscope value is over the threshold, send a message to the cello program
The Virtual Piano (Leap motion)
- Use OpenGL to design the piano
- Separate keys into the upper and lower arrays
- Pre-selection of key using colors to match keys and fingers
- Use a relative average threshold to trigger sound
- Use the left most two keys at the same time to trigger chords
- Use hand gesture (move left or right) to shift to higher or lower keys
Keynote Speech and Plenary Talk in International Conferences
- Keynote Speech, “The MINE Virtual Band – Music Performance via Sensors,” The third International Conference on Visual Informatics 2013 (IVIC’13), Malaysia, November 2013
All the virtual instruments presented here, Guitar, Drum and Spider King and several other virtual instruments are presented in a live performance concert in NCU. –May,9th,2013
—103 CSIE Concert – MINE Studio Virtual Instrument Performance (2/2)
—103 CSIE Concert – MINE Studio Virtual Instrument Performance (1/2)
—102 CSIE Parent-teacher meeting
—102 CSIE Concert – MINE Studio Virtual Instrument Performance
—102 CSIE MINE Lab – MINE Studio Virtual Instrument Demonstration
—101 CSIE MINE Lab – MINE Studio Virtual Instrument Demonstration | <urn:uuid:52983606-94a1-47b7-8663-098afc89b261> | {
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Causes of Forest Fires
Wildfires can be ignited by a variety of occurrences. In addition to lightning, human-related activities start a large number of fires every year. Unattended or out-of-control campfires, a discarded burning cigarette, arson, or even equipment use can set off a blaze.
Once a forest fire has started, many factors contribute to its spread and intensity.
More than 83% of forest fires in 2006 were started by human activities, accounting for the burning of nearly 4.4 million acres. However, lightning-caused fires burned more total area – nearly 5.5 million acres. *
* Source: National Interagency Fire Center
How You Can Help.
Some gifts last a lifetime.
Every card you send
plants a tree in our | <urn:uuid:919dd1f0-f07b-41ba-8e7b-4c44fd1a9d69> | {
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The world’s most beautiful and inspired paintings are hot commodities on the international market. However, unscrupulous people waiting in the wings have learned to exploit this demand for their own gain. Over the years, frustrated portraitists and humble art restorers have lined their pockets by imitating great artists. Some have done it for the thrill of being mistaken for a master, while others needed ready cash to prop up their opulent lifestyles.
1. Han van Meegeren
As a teenager in the Netherlands, Han van Meegeren fell in love with the works of Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer. He became well-versed at imitating Vermeer’s style, as well as techniques by other similar artists like Frans Hals and Pieter de Hooch. Although he found success painting portraits for clients, art critics were less complimentary. They declared his style old-fashioned and unoriginal. As a result, van Meegeren turned to forgery in the 1930s, amassing an enormous fortune from fake Vermeers. His most famous work was The Supper at Emmaus, a supposed lost Vermeer that he sold in 1938 for $280,000. However, the advent of World War II was van Meegeren’s downfall. He made the mistake of selling a Vermeer forgery to Nazi leader Hermann Göring, who displayed the work openly alongside stolen artwork and bragged about its value to guests. After the defeat of Germany, the Dutch authorities arrested van Meegeren for collaborating with Nazis and selling the country’s valuable cultural history to the invaders. Facing the death penalty, van Meegeren finally came clean and admitted that he had forged the painting. Upon careful examination, art experts identified van Meegeren’s works as forgeries, but some experts insisted for years that van Meegeren’s fake Vermeers were genuine. Despite his conviction for forgery, the Dutch public viewed van Meegeren as a national hero for fooling Göring. In a twist of fate, van Meegeren’s original paintings have increased in value over the years, making them an attractive subject for forgers.
2. Zhang Daqian
The Chinese painter was born into an impoverished family in Sichuan province. He began painting at a young age and soon became an expert in traditional Chinese painting techniques, using a silk scroll instead of a canvas for his work. He became famous for his traditional-style paintings in the 1930s after moving to Beijing. However, in addition to his well-known works, Zhang was secretly forging paintings by great Chinese artists like 10th-century landscape artist Guan Tong. Due to the precision of his forgeries, Zhang fooled art experts and museums around the world. Even the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston purchased a phony silk scroll in 1957, believing it to be a 10th-century masterpiece. He painted many of his forgeries in different styles to make it harder to detect their provenance. Zhang made a large fortune from both his original and forged works. Over his long career, he earned an estimated $11 million from selling his art. After Zhang died in 1983, art historians realized that he had forged several of the historical paintings found in his collection. He left an enormous assortment of art, and experts today are still divided on the provenance of the period paintings formerly in his possession. Despite his fraudulent ways, Zhang’s originals are still considered some of the most desirable paintings in China. In 2016, his Peach Blossom Spring sold for $34.7 million in Hong Kong.
3. James Tetro
A furniture salesman from upstate New York, Tetro was an unlikely candidate for the title of most notorious forger in the United States. He was entirely self-taught as a painter, learning his craft from reading art books and visiting museums. He launched a legitimate business painting art reproductions, but secretly began forging works by famous artists like Rembrandt and Chagall. To prevent art experts from detecting his forgeries, Tetro traveled the globe, carefully selecting materials that the painters actually would have used. Tetro worked in a wide variety of styles, aping Impressionists like Monet and Renoir, as well as Cubists like Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Tetro amassed a large fortune from his forgeries and became well known for his lavish parties in the upper circle of Los Angeles society. Tetro’s career came to a screeching halt when he sold a fake watercolor, ostensibly by local artist Hiro Yamagata, to a Beverly Hills gallery. Yamagata spotted the fake and immediately alerted police, and the forgery was traced back to Tetro. Authorities raided his home, discovering hundreds of fakes. Although Tetro never served any jail time for his fraudulent activities, his reputation was ruined, and the court ordered him to sign every work of art that he produced. Art experts speculate that many of Tetro’s forgeries still hang undetected in museums all over the United States.
4. Mark Landis
The Southern painter is unusual among forgers because he never profited monetarily from his fakes. Landis developed a love of fine art as a child when he visited museums and copied the masterpieces at home. He also struggled with mental illness and found solace in painting fakes by famous artists. Landis did not try to sell his paintings, but donated them to small museums across the United States. The museums often did not have the resources to authenticate the works and were grateful for the generous donations. After more than 20 years of using different names to donate fakes to various museums across the US, Landis was finally caught when he donated similar paintings to several different museums. Museum employees became suspicious and soon discovered that more than five dozen museums had been duped into displaying Landis’ forged paintings. Despite his fraudulent activities, authorities were not able to charge Landis with a crime. Since he did not accept payment and did not deduct the donations from his taxes, he technically was not committing any crime. Landis has since become a well-known eccentric figure in the art community and even launched an exhibition of his forgeries in 2012.
5. Elmyr de Hory
A Hungarian painter who found little success with his own creations, de Hory struck gold when he moved to Paris and began copying Picasso drawings. He later entered the American museum circuit, where he offloaded forgeries purportedly painted by Matisse and Renoir. He slipped up in 1955 when he offered three paintings to Harvard Art Museums. A suspicious curator noticed that the paintings looked very similar, although they were supposedly painted by different artists. She began investigating de Hory and alerted museums and galleries that a new forger was on the loose. With the help of Egyptian art dealer Fernand Legros, de Hory continued to sell his fakes across the US and Europe. Despite using a variety of false names, de Hory was not able to escape law enforcement forever. He was caught by Spanish police in 1968 and served two months in prison. He became famous after novelist Clifford Irving wrote a biography of his life. He was also the subject of F for Fake, a documentary film by Orson Welles and became an infamous figure in the art world. The notorious forger died in 1976, but his fakes are still popular with collectors. Many of his paintings have themselves been forged by more recent artists.
6. Eric Hebborn
A graduate of England’s prestigious Royal Academy of Arts, Hebborn entered into forgery accidentally when he began working as an art restorer. He soon realized that he could easily duplicate the styles of the great masters whose work he was restoring. Hebborn concentrated on forging drawings and paintings by famous artists like Andrea Schiavone, van Dyck and Rubens. His carefully crafted works fooled experts at Britain’s most prestigious auction houses and even convinced Sir John Pope-Hennessy, the Director of the British Museum. Hebborn’s crimes were discovered in 1978 when he carelessly used the same sheet of antique paper for multiple drawings that had allegedly been completed by two different artists. The drawings were revealed publicly as fakes, but art dealers were too afraid to accuse Hebborn directly. Since so many reputable art experts had authenticated his work and it was so similar to the styles of the original masters, they feared it would be difficult to prove forgery. Hebborn baldly admitted to his forgery in his 1991 autobiography, Drawn to Trouble. Despite this confession, he was never prosecuted. Over his lifetime, Hebborn claimed that he produced around 1,000 fake drawings, as well as various forged sculptures and paintings.
7. Wolfgang Beltracchi
The German painter was inaugurated into the art world at a young age. He learned how to paint from his father, an art restorer, and began forging paintings to pay for his living expenses. When approaching dealers, he claimed that his relatives had been enthusiastic art collectors and the forged works were from their collections. Beltracchi was fond of imitating works by painters like Johannes Molzahn and Max Ernst. Many of his forged paintings were authenticated by reputable art experts. Beltracchi made a miscalculation when he added aged stickers to the back of his forgeries. He hoped the name of a famous art dealer on the stickers would convince buyers that the paintings were old. However, an eagle-eyed art appraiser spotted one of his fake stickers and realized the work was a forgery. The German police began investigating Beltracchi and uncovered more than a dozen fake paintings that could be traced back to him. Beltracchi served three years in jail for forgery, but remained unapologetic, writing two books about his life and appearing in a 2014 documentary about his fakes. He claims that he has forged over 300 paintings, although police have only identified around 58.
8. Ken Perenyi
Ken Perenyi discovered he had a talent for art at an early age, but instead of painting original works, he preferred copying the style of 19th-century masters. Over his thirty-year career, he churned out at least 2,000 phony masterpieces in the styles of famous artists like Martin Johnson Heade and James E. Buttersworth. Perenyi painted fake pictures for years to support his lavish lifestyle, but eventually, he made a mistake. One of his girlfriends nabbed a painting and gave it to Bonhams auction house to sell. However, Bonhams realized that they had seen the exact same masterpiece for sale at Sotheby’s. They informed the FBI, who began investigating him. Instead of panicking, Perenyi patiently waited for the statute of limitations to expire. Despite the FBI’s scrutiny, they were never able to find sufficient evidence, and he eventually went on to openly detail his forgeries in a memoir and a documentary. To this day, he has never been charged with a crime.
Fraudulent painters have long taken the easy way to fortune by riding on the coattails of more famous artists. These master counterfeiters have fooled art lovers and expert appraisers alike by applying their talents to clever forgeries rather than original works. A few of these forgers even managed to find success under their own names. Some managed to evade detection, but they were all discovered in the end. | <urn:uuid:08901312-4363-4fe1-87cb-ec42f6615788> | {
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Cody Roberts: Inspired by Rauschenberg, Jim Dine, Shepard Fairey, and Dada
Sophie Eichner: Inspired by Sol Lewit
Kaelee Humphrey: Inspired by Chris Metze, Mary Scurlock, and Cindy Neuschwander
Application of Research
Throughout each level of the DRHSART program, students are required to keep a visual journal that records research, planning, art history, and ideas about their work. One major component of the visual journal is the artist research that is to be turned in once per quarter. The students have complete autonomy with who they choose to study in their journals, and in most cases the artists they study become instrumental in the development of the students' unique artistic voices.
This second semester Art 3 project is aimed at helping students reflect on who they have studied thus far, and challenges them to create a work of art that touches on the styles, techniques, media, and processes explored by each studied artist. The most successful of our past art students have met that success through the trusted process of Copy > Combine > Transform.
In essence, the creative process requires appropriation and the combination of ideas that have meaning to the artist. Ideally, this project will build upon the skills learned in the Subject, Media, Mashup assignment that preceded it. The goal here is to develop a voice that can be explored over the summer before Art 4.
Brainstorm with Purpose
When beginning this assignment, I'd like each of you to follow this methodical approach that is more likely to yield good results.
In order to give yourself a clear direction for this work, please answer the following questions for each artist you've studied in your visual journal.
1. What are the visual trends you notice in the artist's work.
2. If you boil down the major concepts explored by the artist, what seems to be most consistent?
3. Which works of art are you most drawn to by the artist? Give a brief explanation of why.
After answering these three simple questions for each artist, please complete the following activities to better provide inspiration for this assignment.
1. Using either a Google Doc or Word, create a full page of small color thumbnail images that represent the most important and interesting works for each artist. Limit yourself to one page, and include only those works that interest you the most. You should have a minimum of 20 images total on your document.
Print this document, cut out each work of art, and paste them into your journal. This will act almost like a Pinterest board of inspiration.
2. Take one page in your journal, and fill that page with legible words that represent the following:
As you write these words, increase the boldness or size of those words that seemed to trend the most in the artists' works. This will help you quickly spot those concepts, materials, and compositional tendencies that most overlap.
During the critique of this project, the students will be required to project and discuss the work of the artists whose work inspired their own. As they discuss the studied artists' works, they will discuss how they borrowed techniques and ideas from that work. The goal of this critique is to share inspiration with each other, discuss the many ways each artist successfully solved the creative problem, and to collectively brainstorm other ways that could enhance the student work.
Rebecca Kuzemchak: Inspired by Damien Hirst, Joseph Kosuth, and Chris Jordan | <urn:uuid:ed81e63d-f3a7-454b-b89c-05bd137d7ad1> | {
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From Griffith Park to Irvine to the Westside, cadres of hikers answer a call to hike these dark wilderness areas most nights of the week. They pound out tough miles in blackness and shadows, often mud, sometimes fog, without using flashlights, relying instead on moonlight, ambient city light and their own night vision.
If the moon’s out on a clear night, there’s plenty of light to see trails, though I might caution that creatures of the night which have evolved much better night vision are gonna be out there with you. Slackpacker’s hiker checklist includes this comment about the darkness:
A comment about flashlights: You can usually see better at night without one. Sound crazy? Go out at night, away from all lights (not possible if you live in an urban environment) and sit quietly somewhere for a minute or two. You will be surprised how much you can see. After five minutes, turn on your flashlight. You’ll wonder why it suddenly got so dark.
Fact: The average human eye will dilate to compensate for the available light. If the light is dim, your eye will eventually make out everything illuminated by the dim light (starlight, moonlight, whatever). Once the flashlight is on, the eye will dilate to that…and you will only be able to see that which the flashlight illuminates.
Try it out on your next camp-out. | <urn:uuid:a7241576-37b4-42d8-9e70-a407bb1e8aa4> | {
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How to Care for Your Rainbow Boa
Brazilian rainbow boas (Epicrates cenchria cenchria) are medium-sized, semi-arboreal, nocturnal snakes native to the central South America, particularly the Amazon River Basin area. They tend to prefer tropical rainforest for habitat, and divide their time between the forest floor, low branches, and swimming in bodies of water.
Rainbow boas typically grow to around 6’ long, although females are capable of growing larger. They have an oval head, slender body, and large labial (lip) scales. They are best known for their stunning color: Brazilian rainbow boas are typically vibrant red-orange with a pattern of contrasting rings and three stripes on the head. But most noteworthy is the incredible iridescence that gives them their common name.
Although there are several subspecies of rainbow boa, the Brazilian rainbow boa is the most common in the pet trade. Due to high humidity requirements and a somewhat nippy temperament as youngsters, these snakes are intermediate-level pet reptiles. With good care, they can live 20-25 years.
How much space do rainbow boas need?
Because rainbow boas are slender, it’s easy to think of them as smaller than they really are, keeping them in enclosures that are too small for them to stretch out fully, explore, and climb. The minimum for appropriately keeping one adult rainbow boa is 48”L x 24”W x 24”H. This is just the minimum, so using larger dimensions is beneficial and will happily be used!
Cohabitation (keeping multiple rainbow boas in one enclosure) is not recommended, as this is not a social species, and keeping them together causes competition and stress.
Do rainbow boas need UVB?
They seem to be able to survive without it, but it’s still best practice to provide UVB lighting for optimal health and wellbeing. Providing UVB lighting to your snake gives them all of the vitamin D that their body needs, stimulates better appetite and activity, and generally allows them to be healthier than they would be without.
The best UVB bulbs for rainbow boas housed in a 48” x 24” x 24” enclosure are:
- Arcadia T8 6%, 24”
- Zoo Med T8 Reptisun 5.0, 24”
The UVB bulb should be housed in a reflective fixture and placed close to the heat lamp, about 8-13” above the basking branch if over mesh, and 10-15” above the basking branch if not. UVB is blocked by glass and plastic, so you can’t give your snake UVB by placing its terrarium in front of an open window. Also make sure that the fixture your UVB bulb is in does not have a clear plastic bulb cover. UVB bulbs decay over time, so don’t forget to replace your bulb every 12 months to maintain good performance.
Lights should be on for 12 hours/day.
What basking temperatures do rainbow boas need?
Like other reptiles, rainbow boas are ectotherms, which means that they need a temperature gradient in their enclosure to help them regulate their metabolism and stay healthy.
Rainbow boas need a warm side temperature between 84-86°F. On the other side of the enclosure, the temperature should be around 73-75°F. Measure air temperatures in these locations with digital probe thermometers, with each probe placed in the desired area.
Provide heat for your snake by imitating the sun with a cluster of at least two halogen heat bulbs placed on one side of the enclosure, positioned over a sturdy basking branch or warm hide. Do not use ceramic heat emitters (CHEs), red bulbs, or blue bulbs, as these are not as effective.
Heating should be turned off at night. If your home gets particularly cold at night, you can use a CHE or radiant heat panel to maintain minimum ambient temps.
What humidity levels do rainbow boas need?
Rainbow boas dehydrate easily, and need an average humidity of 70-80%, as measured by a digital probe hygrometer placed in the middle of the enclosure. It’s essential to install a humid hide for your snake on the cool side of the enclosure, lined with moistened sphagnum moss, where they can access humidity levels of 90-100%.
Misting your snake’s enclosure with a sprayer first thing in the morning and again at night will help create the right humidity levels. If you need more, installing a cool mist humidifier connected to a hygrostat for use at night can be helpful.
These snakes also tend to like soaking, so make sure to provide a tub of water large enough to accommodate their entire body. Keep the water in this tub clean at all times, and scrub with animal-safe disinfectant once a week.
What substrate is good for rainbow boas?
Rainbow boas require a thick layer of moisture-retentive substrate to cushion their bodies and help maintain healthy humidity levels. As an added perk, it also tends to make the enclosure more attractive.
Ideally, this substrate should resemble what rainbow boas naturally live on in the wild: tropical soil. It should have small particles and hold moisture well. We recommend the following substrates for rainbow boas:
Layering clean, chemical-free leaf litter on top of the substrate can also help with humidity.
Substrate should be at least 4” deep and completely replaced every 3-4 months. Remove poop and urates daily, along with contaminated substrate.
What décor can you use in a rainbow boa terrarium?
It’s terribly boring for a snake to be stuck in an enclosure with nothing in it except substrate, a branch, and a water bowl. It doesn’t matter how big the enclosure is if you don’t put things in it for your pet to use and interact with.
Décor options include:
Whatever you choose to use, make sure that the snake has cover to hide in so it can feel secure in its environment.
What do rainbow boas eat?
Like other snakes, rainbow boas are carnivores, which means that they need to eat whole animal prey in order to get the nutrition that they need. Here is a basic feeding schedule based on snake age:
- Hatchlings and juveniles should be fed once every 5-10 days.
- Adults should be fed once every 14 days.
Prey items should be roughly the same width as the snake at its widest point. Prey options include mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, small guinea pigs, chicks, and quail.
Although live prey can be used, it’s safest and most humane to use frozen instead. Prey should be thawed in a plastic bag in warm water to approximately 100°F before offering with a pair of soft-tipped tweezers.
Snakes can survive without vitamin or mineral supplements, but occasionally using them can help prevent nutritional deficiencies and optimize your pet’s health. We recommend Repashy Calcium Plus LoD.
Do rainbow boas like to be handled?
Few reptiles actually “like” to be held, but once they’re past the nippy baby phase (lasts about a year), rainbow boas generally tolerate human interaction well, and handling them regularly helps keep them tame. Here are some basic rules for handling snakes:
Wait at least 2 weeks before attempting to handle a new boa. Babies and juveniles tend to be more nervous and defensive than adults. Be gentle, and pick up the snake from below rather than from above. Support as much of its body as possible, and NEVER pick a boa up by its tail! Keep handling sessions brief at first, and always end them on a positive note, with the snake acting calm.
*This care sheet contains only very basic information. Although it’s a good introduction, please do further research with high-quality sources to obtain additional information on caring for this species. | <urn:uuid:3ec027eb-62e6-45ac-a81b-1e66b45eff17> | {
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- Royal Botanic Garden & Domain
- Australian Botanic Garden
- Blue Mountains Botanic Garden
- Feature stories
- Quick links
The History of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah
The Garden takes its name from the mountain on which it is located. The original owners of the land were the Darug Aboriginal people. 'Tomah' is reputedly an Aboriginal word meaning tree fern.
In 1804 the naturalist and explorer George Caley was the first european to visit Fern Tree Hill, now Mt Tomah. In 1823 Archibald Bell, with Aboriginal guides, found the route across the northern Blue Mountains now known as Bells Line of Road. He was followed later that year by botanist Allan Cunningham (Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney 1837-1838).
The first land grant in the area was made in 1830 to Susannah Bowen. The property was subsequently used for dairying and resting paddocks for cattle. Three sawmills also operated at separate locations, milling Coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), Sassafras (Doryphora sassafras) and Brown Barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata). These species still dominate the rainforest sections of the mountain.
From 1934 the property now occupied by the Garden was acquired by by the French-born horticulturist Alfred Brunet and his Australian wife Effie. They operated it as cut-flower farm to supply Sydney florists, specialising in bulbs and other cool-climate plants. In the early 1960s the Brunets proposed that their land at Mount Tomah should be donated to become an annex of the Royal Botanic Gardens. They presented the land for the Garden in 1972. With State and Commonwealth Bicentennial funds for development, the Garden opened to the public on 1 November 1987.
Since 1993 the Garden has included 186 hectares of sandstone woodland and gullies to be maintained as a conservation area. In 2011 the name of the Garden was changed to the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah. | <urn:uuid:be0d62a3-55e9-48a2-a725-3b926d4f1ebb> | {
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Subsets and Splits