text
stringlengths 268
198k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| metadata
dict |
|---|---|---|
Updated on by
As gardening takes more and more of a foothold in the lives of homeowners, many are exploring the benefits of taking their home and yard waste and turning it into compost, a highly beneficial soil amendment
Through natural biological processes composting takes unwanted waste and breaks it down into organic matter particles full of nutrients and beneficial microorganisms
This guide explains the benefits of composting, the science behind it, the different ways it can be done, and how to effectively compost for yourself.
What is Compost?
To define it simply, composting is the biological process that takes home and garden waste — food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, etc. — and allows microbes to break the materials down into a rich soil amendment called compost. Decomposition occurs naturally, albeit, slowly over time; composting is the act of speeding up this process by providing ideal conditions needed for microorganisms to thrive.
The resulting product is amazingly rich in organic matter, nutrients, and beneficial microbes. The “black gold” created is used extensively in gardening but also in landscaping, and both commercial horticulture and agriculture applications. Any system where plants are grown in soil benefits from the addition of compost.
Benefits of Composting
The benefits of turning waste into compost and then applying it to the soil isn’t a secret. A quick internet search or a conversation with a composting aficionado provides plenty of information but the gains run far deeper for both your soil and the environment.
Compost helps to improve soil structure and drainage when added to garden soils, flowerbeds, and agricultural fields
Using compost as a soil amendment also aids in environmental sustainability by reducing erosion and nutrient leaching, and lessening the application of water as well as synthetic, chemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides
When it comes to composting, most people are aware of the following soil benefits:
- Improved soil structure. Adding organic matter results in lighter and more friable soil; preventing heavy clumps that are hard to break apart. Roots freely move through the soil profile, spreading out easily for improved water and nutrient uptake.
- Increased soil nutrient concentration and availability. Well rotted, or “finished” compost is a plentiful source of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and other nutrients essential for plant growth. Over time these nutrients are slowly released from the compost and made available for plant uptake. Compost also has an ionic charge that holds onto these nutrients and others that are in the soil from fertilizers sources, keeping them in the root zone for plant comsuption.
- Improved water holding capacity and drainage. In light soils, compost absorbs moisture, keeping more water in the root zone. This keeps soil from drying out quickly. In heavy soils that don’t drain well, adding compost improves the soil structure. Excess water moves through the root zone instead of saturating the soil.
- Adjusted and buffered soil pH. The organic material in compost attracts both negatively and positively charged ions in the soil; in both acidic and alkaline soils this ion attraction brings the soil closer to a neutral pH and buffers pH changes over time.
The environmental benefits aren’t as well known as the benefits of using compost as a soil amendment, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t as important
Composting has advantages that contribute substantially to environmental sustainability.
- Reduced nutrient leaching out of the soil. Nutrients are held to the compost particles through ionic attraction, reducing leaching through the soil profile and possible contamination of water sources.
- Reduced waste in landfills and resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste put into landfills breaks down slowly, producing methane gas during decomposition; composting waste at home reduces the overall contribution to landfills and methane emissions into the atmosphere.
- Less water consumption. An important benefit of adding compost to soils is how it increases water holding capacity. A soil that doesn’t dry out as quickly doesn’t require watering/irrigation as often, reducing overall water consumption.
- Decreased fertilizer use. Compost slowly releases plant essential nutrients into the soil and helps hold nutrients in the root zone. This reduces the need for fertilizer applications.
Science Behind Composting
At the most basic level, composting is the breakdown of yard and kitchen waste by microorganisms naturally found in the air, water, and soil. The breakdown of materials happens in 3 different stages and is driven primarily by two different classes of organisms.
The Stages of Composting
In the first stage, mesophilic organisms begin to physically break down the materials into smaller pieces. Mesophiles grow best in moderate temperatures between 68 and 113℉. This stage takes a couple of days and corresponds with increasing temperatures within the pile.
The second stage occurs when the temperature within a composting system is too warm for mesophilic organisms. At this point, thermophilic microorganisms take over
In the final stage, the thermophilic microorganisms use up the available supply of materials and the temperature of the pile begins to drop, allowing the mesophiles to resume control of the process again. They continue breaking down the organic materials into the usable, finished compost.
Microorganisms at Work
Within the different stages of composting, two types of bacteria are primarily at work: aerobic bacteria that need at least 5% oxygen to
Aerobic bacteria are the more efficient of the two and complete most of the work. They release nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium.
The anaerobes are less efficient and can release hydrogen sulfide, creating an undesirable smell.
These two types of bacteria make up 80 to 90% of the microorganisms in compost piles; the remaining percentage of microbes in compost is made up of fungi, including yeast and molds.
Carbon vs. Nitrogen
Most decomposable materials are carbon or nitrogen-based to varying degrees (for simplicity sake).
In order for microorganisms to decompose these materials, a compost pile needs to have the correct ratio of carbon to nitrogen to provide a balanced diet for the microbes.
Carbon-based materials provide energy for the microorganisms and give compost its light, fluffy nature. These “brown materials” consist of items that are more wood-based, or fibrous: dried leaves, branches, stems, sawdust, tree bark, corn stalks, pine needles
A simple rule of thumb is to make sure your compost pile has approximately 2/3 “brown” (i.e. carbon-based) materials and 1/3 “green” (nitrogen based) materials
Brown materials add bulk to the pile without adding weight. This encourages air circulation, allowing oxygen to penetrate the inner area of the pile. If there is more green material than the microorganisms can consume, the excess nitrogen is released as ammonia gas.
Hot vs Cold Composting
There are two different tenants of composting: hot composting and cold composting
Hot composting is the more active of the two processes
The conditions are carefully maintained to keep the process working efficiently. Ingredients are combined in a preferred 2 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen ratio
Cold composting is a passive, more laid-back process
Ingredients are piled together as they are available and let to naturally breakdown with little intervention.
A cold composting pile doesn’t reach the same internal temperature a hot composting pile does; due to this, it takes much longer — 1 to 2 years — to get a finished, usable product.
Different Types of Composters
One of the great things about composting is the flexibility it offers in regards to the different types of setups available
Open bins consist of a partial structure that allows for ventilation and aeration while keeping materials confined to a specific area
One side is easily accessible to add new materials and turn the pile as needed. Common systems have a single bin or a 3-part system where there is a bin for fresh materials waiting to be composted, a bin actively in the middle of hot composting, and a bin where the compost is allowed to finish
Pros: great for hot composting, easy to construct, keeps materials tidy and somewhat hidden, can hold a large amount of compost.
Cons: construction costs add up quickly depending on the materials used, 3 bin systems need a larger amount of space.
Enclosed compost bins offer homeowners with limited space an easy option for composting.
The composting bins are typically made from thick, recycled plastic and come in a variety of different sizes and shapes. The process is completely enclosed via a lid and eliminates both the sight of a compost pile and the smell.
On the downside though, the size of enclosed bins limits the
Pros: materials are kept out of sight, a minimal smell is given off, and the system is very neat and tidy.
Cons: cost, limited amount of space to work with, hard to harvest finished compost.
Tumblers are a unique — and the most efficient — type of enclosed compost bin
They are typically cylindrical in nature, almost drum-like, and have a handle that allows them to be “turned” or tumbled easily. This circumvents the need to stir the compost periodically with a shovel or pitchfork to provide aeration and mixing of ingredients
Pros: very easy to “stir” materials, keeps composting material completely out of sight, smells are minimized.
Cons: cost, limited space, not as easy to access finished compost.
Pit composting is just as the name implies: a pit or trench is dug and materials are thrown into it with little effort exerted
Pros: no money spent on materials, decomposing material is out of sight, no maintenance or effort needed.
Cons: takes a long time for finished compost, requires the manual labor of digging a pit or trench.
Piling works well for those interested in either hot or cold composting and don’t have space constraints or worry about camouflaging the smell
Pros: no cost, no need to build anything, easy to turn materials, easy to harvest compost.
Cons: compost pile is not concealed, the smell can be noticeable.
Worm bins (also known as vermicomposting) are a great option for apartment dwellers or people who have limited outdoor space as they work inside the home
Pros: great for small spaces, works year round, can be done indoors
Steps to Composting
If you choose to compost, the process entails more than throwing yard and table scraps into a heap
- Clear a space in your yard or garden with tiller or cultivator, exposing the bare soil. This allows earthworms and microorganisms to come up out of the soil into the compost pile, driving decomposition.
- Build a layer of straw or twigs. A couple of inches of material helps to aerate the pile and provides good drainage.
- Add layers of materials to be composted, alternating between wet and dry layers. Wet layers consist of food scraps, tea bags, etc. Dry layers can be straw, dried leaves, sawdust pellets, etc.
- Incorporate a nitrogen source. Manure or grass clippings work well and help activate the pile.
- Keep the pile moist. Water it occasionally, or let natural rainfall do its job.
- Cover your compost pile. You can use plastic sheeting or plywood to cover the top of the pile. This helps retain moisture while protecting it from the extra rainfall that would make it too wet.
- Turn the compost pile every couple of weeks with a shovel or pitchfork, or spin the tumbler if you are hot composting. This aerates the materials, providing oxygen to the aerobic bacteria involved in the decomposition and distributes fresh materials within the pile.
Maintaining a Compost Pile
If you choose to have a hot compost pile, it’s important to optimize the temperature, oxygen content, and moisture level within the pile to make the process efficient.
When conditions are sub-part composting slows and may stop completely.
Composting occurs when the ambient temperatures are above freezing
The process runs quicker the warmer the temperature of both the air surrounding the pile and the material within the pile
The internal temperature of the compost pile is the best way to know if the materials are breaking down
The bacteria primarily responsible for breaking down the materials need oxygen to work, making it important to supply oxygen to the entire compost pile.
It’s generally recommended to stir or tumble the pile every two weeks
There needs to be adequate moisture in the pile without being waterlogged. Microbes, like all other organisms, need water to survive. Too little and they die; too much water and they suffocate from lack of oxygen.
Ideally, your compost pile should have a moisture content of 50-60%. Experienced gardeners recommend the moisture in a pile be similar to that of a wrung-out sponge
Tips on Composting
No matter the type of composting system you choose to implement, the following tips are helpful.
- Think of your compost pile as a pet; it needs regular attention if you are hot composting.
- Build your own composting bin if you can’t find one you like.
- Put your composter in a dry, shady spot in close proximity to a water source.
- Add a variety of kitchen and yard waste.
- Follow a 2:1 brown to green ratio.
- Chop yard and garden materials into smaller pieces using a lawn mower or simple pruners/shears if feasible.
- Alternate a brown layer with a green layer to minimize odors and insects.
- Keep the pile moist but not saturated.
- Maintain the appropriate temperature within the pile.
- Turn the pile frequently to add oxygen and stimulate the microbes.
- Add in natural fibers from clothing, wine corks, coffee filters, and tea bags.
- Supplement an open pile with worms.
- Expect a small amount of odor as decomposition proceeds.
- Don’t add food waste (fish, meat, dairy products, bones, fatty foods or grease) since they do not break down easily. This slows the timeframe down and invites rodents and other small critters.
- Don’t let food waste accumulate at the top of the pile where it can attract vermin. Mix it in well.
- Don’t put worms in an enclosed bin or tumbler; they work best in a pile or pit where they easily move back into the soil underneath.
- Don’t include plant roots in the pile. Their nature is to take hold and if allowed to grow, it makes turning the pile incredibly difficult.
- Don’t add diseased plant tissue or weeds to the compost pile to reduce the risk of contaminating your compost. The internal temperature may be adequate for composting but not high enough to kill diseases or weed seeds.
- Don’t add pet feces or used litter.
- DON’T MAKE COMPOSTING HARDER THAN IT HAS TO BE! It is a natural process that shouldn’t cause you stress. Roll with the punches and figure out what works for you.
Knowing When Compost is Ready
When your compost has completed the decomposition process and is ready to use it will look, feel, and smell like really, dark, crumbly soil
The pile will have shrunk significantly – to approximately one-half of its beginning size – and none of the original materials will be recognizable
At this point, it is ready to be removed from your composter and used in your garden
Composting is increasingly becoming a do-it-yourself project for many gardeners because of its soil and environmental benefits
Knowing the science behind composting, and understanding the biological process helps you determine what system is best for you personally while minimizing problems you may have. The information included in this guide on composting will easily have you well on your way to creating your own black gold!
Do you plan on starting a compost pile or already have one going? I’d love to hear your thoughts below. | <urn:uuid:b65c76cb-500e-4345-b91b-f112282c626e> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-16",
"url": "https://www.yardcarelife.com/how-to-start-make-a-compost-pile-at-home/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370490497.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20200328074047-20200328104047-00204.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9135333299636841,
"token_count": 3355,
"score": 3.65625,
"int_score": 4
} |
Left: Detroit Waterfront Skyline 1920. Source: ebay.com Right: Detroit Waterfront Skyline 2012. Souce: matrixhumanservices.net
Detroit "They have had an enormous impact, It would be hard to imagine a family in America that has done more for a community than what the Fords have done for Detroit." -Robert McCabe(President of Detroit Renaissance 1971-1972) Detroit Free Press March, 12, 2003
The mark that Ford left behind on Detroit is perhaps the biggest legacy ever by a single person for a city.
His own personal name and family name is nearly everywhere in Detroit.
Software powered by POWr.
"This paper, however examines the moto-city of Detroit in Michigan, and how this region was developed
and transformed from simple to sophisticated, from an era of poverty to an era of many new industries, particularly the car- industry. It is important to show how fast this development happened and why it changed the lifes of so many people between the years of 1900 and 1920. Responsible for the enormous growth of the area around Detroit was Henry Ford who built his own car company and contributed to form a new middle class." -Thomas Dassler( Henry Ford's Model T and the Impact on the Lower Social Classes Before 1920 p.2) | <urn:uuid:98e0d10a-f867-4e02-9d54-e301d176dfb2> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-39",
"url": "http://36413702.weebly.com/detroit.html",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573570.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20190919183843-20190919205843-00059.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9532864689826965,
"token_count": 266,
"score": 2.984375,
"int_score": 3
} |
Posted by Myosource Kinetic Bands on May 26, 2016
This training video is about Speed Training with Kinetic Bands resistance for Rapid Response Time. It is important to remember to maximize ground contact to improve the central nervous system in order to fire the muscles into movement at a better rhythm to improve speed in all speed drills. .
Speed training is not only about moving fast but also about preparing the central nervous system to perform faster.
Speed drills / Speed training - In this video these athletes focus on:
The Kinetic Bands activate the muscles in the Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Hips, and Hip Flexors in each movement and provide an advanced level of cardiovascular muscle endurance by forcing the athlete to push through the resistance by working harder to perform each repetition during any training session. | <urn:uuid:f45d5ded-738a-4a7e-b2d6-9ba612d35090> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"url": "https://myosource.com/blog/speed-drills-with-resistance-bands-rapid-response-time/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218190134.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212950-00497-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9429429769515991,
"token_count": 165,
"score": 2.734375,
"int_score": 3
} |
Discovering The Truth About Savings
Most young adults begin a life of independence as they have fewer curfews and strict rules. They start living their own lives independently and making their own decisions. However, being independent is not about all the good things that come with freedom. Aside from making numerous decisions and assuming several opportunities, you also need to be independent which means that you will pay for stuff on your own.
Students will find themselves spending their money of things which most parents would not recommend in case they do not have the correct knowledge of managing their personal finances. The mistake which most college students make is the wrong notion that they could spend more money now and then pay the debts much later when they are successful later in life. How you survive college speaks volumes on your ability to survive when you go out into the real world. Most of the survival comes from the ability of the individual to deal with things well and personal finances tops that list.
In many cases, students spend more cash than the can afford. A typical student is either hanging by a thread or spending more. They might be spending their cash on textbooks, school supplies, financial aid, student loan and other expenses. After graduating from college, they see that they have to work extremely hard to repay their college debt.
A lot of the college students are taken by surprise by the rate at which expenses buildup. Before realizing it, they have a large debt from their credit card which is challenging to get out. A lot of these minor expenses are as a result of the coffee which they consume that costs between a dollar and three dollars each. Buying a venti which costs about two dollars before going to class gets to about $40 every month. It will cost them about $10 per person to eat out at any establishment, if they decide to eat out. This amount is even less when compared to a steak dinner which could cost about $25 per person.
A critical element of sound money management is finding ways of lowering one’ spending. Coming up with a spending plan and sticking to it is an excellent start. It is recommended that students track the money they spend and compare the prices so as to get the best deals. There is another method that students can spend less money and purchase more items which is to spend their cash prudently. There are several benefits of being a student and among them is finding special deals and student discounts. You can discover more about student discounts when you view here on this site. | <urn:uuid:fa23fc27-b062-4b29-a006-2cdfef190376> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-51",
"url": "http://vokrugmirov.info/discovering-the-truth-about-savings/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823009.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20181209185547-20181209211547-00501.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9840813875198364,
"token_count": 500,
"score": 2.6875,
"int_score": 3
} |
By Joann Digennaro
AT AN EDUCATORS’ meeting in Washington last fall, conversation turned to whether the federal government should support programming for this nation’s most gifted and talented high school students. Educators overwhelmingly said that top students in secondary schools need no assistance, much to my dismay. Priority must be given to those not meeting the minimal standards in science and math, they reasoned.
The ugly secret is that our most talented students are falling through the cracks. Not one program of such major governmental agencies as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation or NASA specifically targets the top 5 percent of students who have demonstrated academic excellence and have the greatest potential for becoming our inventors, creators and groundbreaking scientists. An international assessment of math problem-solving skills of 15-year-olds in 2004, along with more recent studies, found that the United States had the fewest top performers and the largest percentage of low performers compared with other participating countries. By the time students reach 12th grade in math and science, they are near the bottom or dead last compared with international competition, according to the Education Department. These are the critical years for supporting students in science and math, for it is when they make career-determining decisions for college studies.
During a trip to China last fall, I visited several Key High Schools, which are dedicated to preparing top young scholars for science and technology careers. The Chinese government has targeted upward of $20 million to support advanced learning and laboratories in each of the 34 Key High Schools. Some of these labs would make our universities envious. President Hu Jintao said in a July speech that the Chinese are placing a great emphasis on encouraging their brightest students in order to further their country’s economic and military development. By explicitly connecting its education policy to its national objectives, China has taken a long-term approach to training its talent for the next century. An analysis of Chinese development in science and technology published last year found that the country’s senior scientists and technology experts are expected to make training young people their first priority.
In November, Indian President Abdul Kalam announced that India’s economic plan will target support for young scholars as a means of reaching its national economic policy goals. As an emerging success in engineering subjects, particularly information technology, India is emphasizing its IT industries to students with Operation Knowledge, a national campaign to develop the country’s push to economic growth.
Our nation is wondering what will happen next. For the United States to compete globally and continue to lead in innovation, it should urgently do the following:
At the strategic level, the United States must establish a policy for nurturing its most talented science and technology students and integrate this policy with a long-term vision of U.S. economic and military development. The White House and State Department science advisers should make this task a priority.
The next step should be a thorough assessment of all government educational programs geared to science and math. Shockingly, there are few assessments and little coordination among governmental agencies for the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on educational programs from kindergarten through the undergraduate level. There is not even a comprehensive system that tracks what educational programs at agencies are sponsored for students from kindergarten through college, how many international students are in the United States under programs of the various government agencies, or what happens to international scholars when they complete their studies here.
Finally, some of the millions of dollars devoted to educational programs and policy must be reallocated for the most talented high school students. The government should support such efforts to enrich learning experiences for the highest-achieving students so that they can maximize their potential. A system of performance measurements would help determine which programs are least effective and could be canceled to provide the funds for this initiative, which would also be guided by performance metrics.
Our young scholars are key to America’s future competitive position. The government must provide the strategic support necessary for them, and the country, to excel.
Digennaro is president and co-founder of the Center for Excellence in Education, www.cee.org, in McLean, Va. | <urn:uuid:ba1ff042-f4ba-4e68-9f40-818ef95b4849> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2022-05",
"url": "https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/02/18/laws-should-maximize-potential-of-top-students/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303747.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122043216-20220122073216-00370.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9579750895500183,
"token_count": 845,
"score": 2.828125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Calories measure the quantity of energy found in food. The number of calories required per day for a 40-year-old woman depends on her height, weight, activity level and other factors.
Calories Per Day
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American woman is slightly taller and much heavier than women a few decades ago.
An average 40-year-old woman would be about 5 feet 4 inches tall and about 160 lbs. If she follows a sedentary lifestyle, she would need about 1,747 calories during a typical day to maintain her weight. If she becomes active, then she can eat up to 2,500 calories per day. These calculations do not take into consideration a woman who might be pregnant or nursing.
Each Woman Has Different Energy Needs
Consult with your health care provider to discuss the amount of calories required per day specifically for your body size, lifestyle and weight loss goals. A safe diet and exercise routine should be discussed with a doctor and tailored to personal health needs and special circumstances.
Fewer Calories to Promote Weight Loss
Women who want to lose weight should eat 500 fewer calories than the body needs each day while maintaining or increasing her exercise activity. Creating an energy deficit triggers the body to burn off excess fat. However, a woman should not eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day unless recommended as part of a medically supervised weight loss program. | <urn:uuid:fde3de60-1e43-4c83-ba68-ae5859e6401d> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-51",
"url": "https://www.livestrong.com/article/327408-the-amount-of-calories-required-per-day-for-a-40-year-old-female/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823785.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20181212065445-20181212090945-00171.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9497928023338318,
"token_count": 289,
"score": 2.796875,
"int_score": 3
} |
Long before there was wine or beer, there was mead. It was the drink of warriors and philosophers. Aristotle and the ancient Greeks relished it, the Danish soldiers made famous in “Beowulf” drank it with abandon, and in Norse mythology it was believed to be created by the “blood of the wise” — turning its drinkers into poets and scholars. Actually, mead, also known as “honey wine,” is made by fermenting honey and water, and humans have been doing ...
Subscribe To Digital Access
Why Subscribe To NRN Digital Access?
Digital Access gives you unlimited online access to our most premium news and analysis. This includes in-depth stories and insights from our team of editors and guest writers as well as free eNewsletters, blogs, real-time polls, archives and more.
Attention Print Subscribers: While you have already been granted free access to the NRN Digital and Print access package, for only a small additional amount, you can get NRN All Access, which includes premium reports such as the annual NRN Top 200 data.Either way, we ask that you register now.We promise it will only take a few minutes!
Questions about your account or how to access content? | <urn:uuid:e7ab94a7-dcad-4c35-9a30-f5d0517b5705> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-11",
"url": "http://nrn.com/print/wine/mead-s-modern-day-comeback",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936465487.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074105-00151-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9721147418022156,
"token_count": 260,
"score": 2.71875,
"int_score": 3
} |
| SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO A rare and mysterious polio-like illness may have afflicted up to 25 children in California, several of whom have suffered limb paralysis, and health experts were struggling to identify the cause of the ailment, medical researchers said on Monday.
Since 2012, between 20 and 25 previously healthy children from across California have shown signs of the illness, possibly caused by an infectious virus, the American Academy of Neurology said in a statement detailing the research of two California neurologists.
One of the children remains in serious condition but none have died from the syndrome, researchers said.
Stanford University pediatric neurologist Keith Van Haren said in a statement that the cases could indicate the possibility of an "emerging infectious polio-like syndrome in California," although federal health officials said there were too few cases to consider the spread of the ailment as an imminent threat.
Polio, eradicated in the United States over three decades ago, is an infectious virus that can permanently paralyze or kill victims within hours of infection. A vaccine, developed in the 1950s nearly wiped out the disease worldwide, although it remains endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
A study of five California children affected by the mystery ailment found they experienced the sudden paralysis of one or more limbs, with the symptoms reaching the height of severity within two days, according to findings of research by Van Haren and University of San Francisco neurologist Emmanuelle Waubant.
"Although poliovirus has been eradicated from most of the globe, other viruses can also injure the spine, leading to a polio-like syndrome," Van Haren said in a statement.
CHILDREN VACCINATED AGAINST POLIO
Scans of the bodies of the five children included in the study also showed white spots on their spinal chords, indicating undefined damage, according to the research that is set to be released at an American Academy of Neurology meeting in Philadelphia in April.
Despite the illness being similar to polio, all five of the children had been vaccinated against poliovirus before their symptoms began, the research showed.
The additional 15 to 20 children showing signs of the syndrome were not closely analyzed in the study, but initial blood tests and other information collected showed they had suffered from sudden paralysis or extreme limb weakness and possible spinal chord damage, Waubant told Reuters. All the children were between the ages of 2 and 16.
Two of the five children in the study tested positive for a strain of enterovirus, which has been linked to polio-like outbreaks in children in Asia and Australia over the past decade, while three tested negative, Waubant said.
She said the children who were negative could have had the virus but were not tested in time for it to show up in their blood.
The test results of the broader group of children with polio-like symptoms were pending, Waubant said. She said it was too soon to determine whether that particular virus had affected the bulk of the children.
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher Dr. Jane Seward said the center was aware of the study but said there were too few cases of the illness to suggest there was an imminent threat of the illness spreading across the state or the U.S.
The California Department of Public Heath said it would release a statement about the study and its investigation into the reported illnesses later on Monday, and declined comment ahead of the planned statement.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Ken Wills) | <urn:uuid:d268d160-4080-4569-9063-d7cc7bde1e53> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-09",
"url": "http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-california-illness-idUSBREA1O03V20140225",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501174163.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104614-00492-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9765875935554504,
"token_count": 717,
"score": 2.765625,
"int_score": 3
} |
The air-purifying planting of our ‘Living Wall’
Each houseplant produces oxygen, but not all house plants have an air purifying effect. However, there is a group of room plants that have been scientifically proven to contribute to cleaner air in the home. These plants absorb harmful substances and odors from the air through their leaves. Subsequently, these substances are stored and broken down in the plant or the root. For the catering industry we offer gardens with this planting.
Big advantage of plants that purify the air is that they can help against complaints such as reverberation, disturbing resonances, headaches and drafts. Because they improve the air and concentration, you often encounter certain species in closed spaces.
Our breathing wall consists of a combination of these plants that purify most effectively:
- Spathiphyllum “Mauna Lao”
- Aglaonema crispum
- Philodendron oxycardium
- Philodendron domesticum
- Chlorophytum elatum
- Scindapsus aureus
- Philodendron bipinnati dum | <urn:uuid:34bbbcdd-a63d-4b08-90c2-6039c8ff1ca6> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2022-40",
"url": "https://www.nada.be/project/green-walls-for-horeca/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337668.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005203530-20221005233530-00346.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9111119508743286,
"token_count": 233,
"score": 2.84375,
"int_score": 3
} |
The most optimistic people are not the happiest, especially because they find it harder to accept bad news. This is the conclusion of an 18-year study carried out by British researchers. The key to happiness is more likely to be found in realistic people.
Seeing the glass half full does not mean more happiness. This is the conclusion of a long study carried out over 18 years on 1,600 volunteers by British researchers at the University of Bath and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the results of which were published in the SAGE Journal. Participants were required to fill in regular personal development questionnaires, undergo psychological tests to assess their level of stress, and were tested for their standard of living and self-confidence.
80% of the population is too optimistic
The results of the study showed that optimistic people tend to expect good news rather than more realistic expectations, which leads to further disappointment. Similar results were observed with pessimistic people. “Plans based on inaccurate beliefs make for poor decisions and are bound to deliver worse outcomes than would rational, realistic beliefs, leading to lower well-being for both optimists and pessimists. Particularly prone to this are decisions on employment, savings, and any choice involving risk and uncertainty,” says Dr. Chris Dawson, Professor at the University of Bath and lead author of the study.
The key lies with the realists, who are in a very small minority, as researchers estimate that 80% of the population should be classified as unrealistic optimists. “I think for many people, research that shows you don’t have to spend time thinking positively can be a relief. It shows that looking realistically to the future and making good evidence-based decisions without having to dive into constant positivity can bring a sense of well-being,” says Dawson.
Optimists more susceptible to COVID-19
Researchers also investigated whether a person’s optimism, pessimism, or realism influences the response to the coronavirus pandemic. They found that optimistic people tend to feel invincible and have less respect for social distancing guidelines. “Optimists feel less susceptible to the virus than others. They are less likely to take the appropriate precautions. On the other hand, pessimists may be tempted to never leave home or send their children to school. It also does not seem to be an appropriate strategy for welfare. Realists take risks that can be measured by scientific understanding of the disease,” says Professor David de Meza, co-author, and researcher at LSE. | <urn:uuid:d7653112-ac47-403d-885f-6694a26632d8> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2022-21",
"url": "https://www.gilmorehealth.com/optimistic-people-cant-handle-bad-news-according-to-study/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662558015.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220523101705-20220523131705-00477.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9675890207290649,
"token_count": 527,
"score": 2.75,
"int_score": 3
} |
Behavior therapy recommended before medicine for young children with ADHD.
More young children 2 to 5 years of age receiving care for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could benefit from psychological services - including the recommended treatment of behavior therapy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) latest Vital Signs report urges healthcare providers to refer parents of young children with ADHD for training in behavior therapy before prescribing medicine to treat the disorder.
ADHD is a biological disorder that causes hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and attention problems. About 2 million of the more than 6 million children with ADHD were diagnosed before age 6. Children diagnosed with ADHD at an early age tend to have the most severe symptoms and benefit from early treatment. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that before prescribing medicine to a young child, healthcare providers refer parents to training in behavior therapy. However, according to the Vital Signs report, about 75% of young children being treated for ADHD received medicine, and only about half received any form of psychological services, which might have included behavior therapy.
"Parents may feel overwhelmed with decisions about their child's treatment for ADHD, but healthcare providers, therapists, and families can all work together to help the child thrive," said Anne Schuchat, MD (RADM, USPHS), Principal Deputy Director, CDC. "Parents of young children with ADHD may need support, and behavior therapy is an important first step. It has been shown to be as effective as medicine, but without the risk of side effects. We are still learning about the potential unintended effects of long-term use of ADHD medicine on young children. Until we know more, the recommendation is to first refer parents of children under 6 years of age with ADHD for training in behavior therapy before prescribing medicine."
The report looks at healthcare claims data from at least 5 million young children (2-5 years of age) each year insured by Medicaid (2008-2011) and about 1 million young children insured each year through employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) (2008-2014). In both groups, just over 75% of young children diagnosed with ADHD received ADHD medicine. Only 54% of young children with Medicaid and 45% of young children with ESI (2011) received any form of psychological services annually, which might have included parent training in behavior therapy. The percentage of children with ADHD receiving psychological services has not increased over time.
"Many families will benefit from behavior therapy. However, in some cases medicine may be appropriate," said Georgina Peacock, MD, director of the Division of Human Development and Disability in CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. "When healthcare providers and families know the benefits and risks of all available treatments, they are best prepared to make the most appropriate treatment choice for young children with ADHD."
Parents do not cause their child's ADHD, but parents can play a key role in the treatment of ADHD. In behavior therapy, parents are trained by a therapist during eight or more sessions, learning strategies to encourage positive behavior, discourage negative behaviors, improve communication, and strengthen their relationship with their child. When applied, these skills can help the child at school, at home, and in relationships by improving behavior, self-control, and self-esteem. Learning and practicing behavior therapy requires more time, effort, and resources than treating ADHD with medicine, yet research shows that there are lasting benefits making it worth the investment.
In behavior therapy, therapists help parents build skills in guiding their child's behavior. Skills may include, but are not limited to:
- Positive communication: When parents give children their full attention and reflect their words back to them, your child knows you are listening and care about what he has to say.
- Positive reinforcement: Praise the child when she does something right. The more parents praise a behavior, the more likely it is the child will behave the same way again.
- Structure and discipline: Children do better when their world is predictable. Set up routines and daily schedules to help the child know what to expect each day. Respond to the child's behavior the same way every time to help her learn more quickly.
CDC message to healthcare providers
CDC is calling on doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals who treat young children with ADHD to support parents by explaining the benefits of behavior therapy and referring parents for training in behavior therapy. This report recommends that healthcare providers:
- Follow clinical guidelines (American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) for diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in young children.
- Discuss with parents the benefits of behavior therapy and why they should get training.
- Identify parent training providers in the area and refer parents of young children with ADHD for training in behavior therapy first, before prescribing medicine.
The report highlights missed opportunities for young children with ADHD to benefit from behavior therapy. Increasing referrals and the availability of appropriate services could help many families with young children who have ADHD.
"We recognize that these are not easy treatment decisions for parents to make," said Dr. Schuchat. "We know that behavior therapy is effective, and the skills parents learn can help the whole family be successful. Building these skills in parents and children empowers families and helps young children with ADHD live up to their full potential."Vital Signs: National and State-Specific Patterns of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Treatment Among Insured Children Aged 2-5 Years - United States, 2008-2014, Susanna N. Visser, DrPH; Melissa L. Danielson, MSPH; Mark L. Wolraich, MD; Michael H. Fox, ScD; Scott D. Grosse, PhD; Linda A. Valle, PhD; Joseph R. Holbrook, PhD; Angelika H. Claussen, PhD; Georgina Peacock, MD, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), published online 3 May 2016. | <urn:uuid:d45dfba4-4fb6-4ea4-9725-fb7a34e6d468> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-04",
"url": "https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/309910.php",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547584431529.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20190123234228-20190124020228-00625.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9553632736206055,
"token_count": 1211,
"score": 2.859375,
"int_score": 3
} |
Science Purdue LED Us to More Efficient Lighting, Less Mercury
posted by July 21 at 15:19 PMon
Longtime readers know of my aversion to compact fluorescent lightbulbs:
The “mercury vapor” that fluorescent bulbs require is quite toxic. While new compact fluorescent bulbs are voluntarily limited to five milligrams of mercury each, as little as a tenth of a milligram per square yard will make you seriously ill. Shaking hands, drooling, irritability, memory loss, depression, weakness—sounds like fun. And that’s what happens to adults; kids can be permanently injured by mercury exposure. If you break one of these bulbs in your house—and think of all the times a bulb breaks—the current advice is to open a window and run, not to return for at least 15 minutes. Whereas if it’s a traditional bulb, you grab a broom and screw in a new one.
And even if you manage to not accidentally dump hazardous waste in your living room, what do you do with a fluorescent bulb when it just plain wears out? Most places cannot recycle fluorescent tubes.
There is another. LED (light emitting diodes) have a similar energy efficiency to fluorescent bulbs with a far friendlier environmental impact. In the least, they involve no mercury.
Great! Why not use them everywhere? Huge expense. Most LEDs are based upon a substrate of sapphire. Urk. Requiring a precious stone means LED lightbulbs are about twenty times more expensive than traditional lightbulbs.
Enter some clever researchers at Purdue University:
The Purdue researchers have solved this problem by developing a technique to create LEDs on low-cost, metal-coated silicon wafers, said Mark H. Oliver, a graduate student in materials engineering who is working with Sands.
(Who would think something good could come from Indiana?)
Replacing the sapphire with silicon (made from sand) makes the bulbs fantastically cheaper. Good work people. Expect the cheaper, environmentally sound and energy efficient bulbs in stores in about two years. | <urn:uuid:917e5101-6a0e-4f0d-a105-a6f1c5b021df> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-10",
"url": "http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/purdue_led_us_to_more_efficient_lighting",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1393999653202/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305060733-00057-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9230774641036987,
"token_count": 431,
"score": 2.75,
"int_score": 3
} |
Looking for some learning activities for you or your students this summer? Do you want to know more about Assistive Technology (AT)? Do your students need practice with their computer access skills? Support both math activities and computer skills by introducing your students to fun computer games that can be operated using a touch screen or mouse. Support your knowledge of assistive technology by reviewing these resources and webinars.
Considering Assistive Technology is a required part of the IEP Process in Virginia. But are you comfortable with what AT is and how to consider it? The Center for Technology and Disability provides articles and webinars on AT 101 and a Teacher’s View of AT. The VA Department of Education’s AT Network reviews Consideration and Assessment of Assistive Technology.
Learning computer access skills can help students (with sensory, cognitive and/or physical disabilities) who may need alternate strategies to hands-on manipulation and hand-written calculations. There are many free websites that are filled with multiple math and numeracy games that can also help make learning computer access skills fun. Math Playground has games listed by grade level and includes self-checking problems. Sheppard Software has a variety of math activities for students needing practice anywhere from foundational skills to mixed operations to geometry to probability. For students who cannot read, some games in the Preschool section will read the information on the screen.
These math activities reinforce touching/clicking on a screen, click and dragging information. Interactive Addition Chart on the Math Playground website encourages click and drag skills. Several Sheppard Software games support moving the cursor and/or clicking on or touching a specific target. There are many games on these two websites that encourage computer access skills while reviewing math skills. Explore to find the best ones for your students. Then share these engaging websites with your students to help them improve their math and computer access skills. They can learn while they are playing. | <urn:uuid:e3bc9828-ae35-45cc-a7bd-1340a2a810b1> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2023-06",
"url": "https://ttac.odu.edu/at/boost-your-at-skills-this-summer/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500140.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204142302-20230204172302-00473.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9442554712295532,
"token_count": 399,
"score": 4.03125,
"int_score": 4
} |
The Thursday before Easter, commemorating the Last Supper. Some churches include washing of the feet in the Holy Thursday service. Maundy Thursday, recalling the new commandment (mandatum novum in Latin) in John 13: 34 to love one another. The hand washing during this service symbolizes Christ’s new Commandment. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.”
According to John as Jesus and the disciples were eating their final meal before his arrest, Jesus washed their feet to illustrate humility and servanthood. When they finished their meal they walked into the night.
This service is a time of solemn reflection on Jesus’ last night with his disciples. Jesus becomes a servant to his followers – the ones who betrayed him, denied him, and ran away in the face of peril. Jesus is an example of faithful living in an age of unfaithfulness.
At this service we will remove the altar coverings after Eucharist is served. The stripping of the altar symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers.
The ancient practice of stripping the Lord’s table and sanctuary following communion is a vivid and dramatic way of showing the desolation and abandonment of the long night in Gethsemane and what followed. Designated persons pick up the cloths on the Lord’s table and the pulpit and other hangings, banners, candlesticks, and decorations and quietly carry them from the sanctuary. The church then remains bare.
DISMISSAL INTO SILENCE
Please leave the sanctuary in silence and keep vigil with Christ in your heart. Contemplate God’s great love for all flesh, and reflect on His Passion, which demonstrates God’s Love to us. As we await the power of His Resurrection, think about the reconciliation with God. Jesus worked for us on the cross, and be prepared to take up your cross to follow Him. | <urn:uuid:00461860-b823-41c0-b193-9051243e2341> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-16",
"url": "https://fbcgreensburg.com/thursday-april-16-holy-maundy-thursday-service",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370493121.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20200328225036-20200329015036-00559.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9607970714569092,
"token_count": 416,
"score": 2.53125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Influenza, commonly shortened to “flu,” is an extremely contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza A or B viruses. Flu appears most frequently in winter and early spring. The flu virus attacks the body by spreading through the upper and/or lower respiratory tract.
The common cold and flu are both contagious viral infections of the respiratory tract. Although the symptoms can be similar, flu is much worse. A cold may drag you down a bit, but the flu can make you shudder at the very thought of getting out of bed.
Congestion, sore throat, and sneezing are common with colds. Both cold and flu bring coughing, headache, and chest discomfort. With the flu, though, you are likely to run ahigh fever for several days and have headache, myalgia, fatigue, and weakness. Usually, complications from colds are relatively minor, but a severe case of flu can lead to a life-threatening illness such as pneumonia.
More than 100 types of cold viruses are known, and new strains of flu evolve every few years. Since both diseases are viral, antibiotics cannot conquer cold or flu. Remember: Antibiotics only treat bacterial infections
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has chosen the three influenza (flu) viruses for inclusion in the 2011-2012 seasonal flu vaccine based on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year, experts from FDA, WHO, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other institutions study virus samples collected from around the world to identify the influenza viruses that are the most likely to cause illness during the upcoming flu season so that people can be protected against them through vaccination.
TTY: (888) 232-6348, 24 Hours/Every Day [email protected] | <urn:uuid:375e1147-d531-4912-954c-4d93c9fc4fca> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-51",
"url": "https://www.wilmingtonurgentclinic.com/seasonal-flu-center",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948514113.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20171211222541-20171212002541-00682.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9429357647895813,
"token_count": 370,
"score": 3.921875,
"int_score": 4
} |
From October, 4th 2016 to January, 15th 2017, the Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac in Paris presented The Color Line: African-American artists and segregation. The exhibition concluded with an exciting day and half symposium bringing together eminent specialists in American art.
Helene Beade reviews this exhibition within the context of France/Paris.
THE COLOR LINE IN PARIS
An impressive catalog was created for the occasion as well as a documentary in English or French which I highly recommend because it brings valuable information not addressed in the exhibition. It gathers interviews of specialists like Richard Powell or Robert O’Meally , artists, but also important collectors who countered the invisibility of works of African American artists in the museums in the United States from the 1960’s to the beginning of the 1990’s. Indeed in the mid-1970’s one could rarely go into a museum or a gallery in the US and find works by African-Americans. It was also rare to get a chance to study them as there was little written on the subject at that time. Museums occasionally had shows of African-Americans but they didn’t display the works on a permanent basis. Pioneers like Walter Evans started collecting and fulfilled the usual role museums. Today, a market has grown up around fashionable galleries and popular auction houses. Museums and collectors are making acquisitions, recognizing that there is a history that precedes them and that today’s younger artists are part of a tradition. It’s impossible to look at the 20th century and to ignore prominent artists who happen to have been black. According to Richard Powell, ‘It is true that institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery are finally incorporating important works by important African-Americans artists in their galleries.”
The musée du Quai Branly wished to participate in this movement. Stéphane Martin, President of the museum, clearly stated that the main purpose of this exhibition was “to restore the works and their creators to their rightful place.”
AN EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A FRENCH AUDIENCE
I was surprised and delighted to learn of an exhibit devoted to African-American art in Paris. It offered a rare opportunity for me, passionate about jazz, art and the history of African-Americans. Today there is almost nothing in Paris representing art in general from the United States on a permanent basis. The American Museum of Giverny closed its doors in 2008, only the Mona Bismarck American Center and The Terra Foundation Paris Center promote a greater understanding of American’s artistic and cultural heritage for the benefit of a diverse audience.
So I explored this exhibition carefully, mindful of its extraordinary character.
The Octoroon Girl, 1926 (Courtesy Michael Resenfeld New York)
The exhibition was wide-ranging and ambitious. There were numerous exchanges between the curator, Daniel Soutif, a lecturer in philosophy and art critic, assisted by art historian Diane Turquety and distinguished American scholars like Richard J. Powell, author of works including Black Art: A Cultural History (1997 & 2002) and Cutting a Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture (2008), and Professor David Driscoll who made a brilliant presentation at the symposium on ‘Black aesthetics’.
The curator gathered 600 works and documents covering different artistic fields (visual arts, literature, cinema and music). Some of the artworks and documents were borrowed from private foundations, galleries, collections, and two museums in France: the Musée du Temps in Besançon and the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. The majority of the artwork came from the other side of the Atlantic, from galleries and museums in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Detroit. It was a joy to have access to rare historical documents and an impressive number of works by major African-American artists only rarely available to Europeans and never before shown in France.
THE ‘COLOR LINE’
The expression ‘color line’ was first coined by Frederick Douglass in an article published in the North American Review in June 1881, less than 20 years after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865) and the abolition of slavery (Emancipation Proclamation 1863/ 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution 1865). The term refers to the segregation of black people that began in the United States in 1877 after the Reconstruction period.
What is called ‘Black art’ in the United States thus emerged in a political context and its founding act was the staging of the emancipation of the black people in 1867.
Melvin G. Johnson, Self-Portrait, 1934.
Edmonia Lewis sculpted a piece called ‘Forever free’ that is now exhibited in a gallery of the historically black Howard University in Washington. It was presented to us, visitors in Paris, in a video. This piece is important as it is considered as the first major work created by a black American woman. The sculpture, made from white marble, represents a free man and woman breaking their chains. It was a shocking way to say that ‘this is our classical story as if this story of slavery belonged alongside stories of the Greek Gods’. The work is considered optimistic, depicting someone’s achievements.
Yet, it stands apart. The hope offered by the abolition of slavery did not last long. The segregation and disenfranchisement laws known as ‘Jim Crow’, a kind of codified apartheid, were introduced in 1890. These laws were to dominate the Southern United States for three quarters of a century. Under the Jim Crow system ‘colored people’ received ‘separate but equal’ (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) treatment under the law, upheld by local government officials and reinforced by civilian acts of terror. ‘Black art’ became more pessimistic in the late 19th century as rights were thus taken away.
The guiding line Daniel Soutif chose is in the exhibition’s title. The objective was to analyze the impact of the invention of ‘the color line’ on the creation of many African-American artists and on the writing of art history. The exhibit poses the question: how did African-American artists respond to this color line, this line establishing segregation in the United States? To do so, curator Daniel Soutif chose to cover the entire period from the abolition of slavery to today. The exhibition’s aim was to offer a tribute to the African-American artists and thinkers who, throughout a century and a half of struggle, contributed to blurring that line.
Bob Johnson, Stairway to the Stars, 1962.
Why an exhibition of both art and documentation?
A personal choice
When Daniel Soutif began work on this project, the initial mandate from the museum was for a documentary exhibit. The idea was not at first to place special focus on art’s contribution to this question. His idea was exhibit of artworks. His focus was above all on the curatorial, and he was anxious to see the artists and appreciate their work on its own as one is accustomed to doing today, presented in white spaces void of context. This may not be the best solution to appreciating the works, according to Daniel Soutif, but it is what we are accustomed to, the white cube inside the white cube.
The curator thought that the audience would be coming to the exhibit supported with documentation. Why? Simply because of the general social context of people likely to be interested in this kind of exhibit. In this view, the audience came for general information on American history.
Whitfield Lovell, Autour du Monde, 2008.
During the symposium, Daniel Soutif developed this view: ‘I think that current affairs are much more prominent than history. In France one might know Ferguson because the journals talk about him. If I mention Frederick Douglass I little chance of finding someone who knows who that is. If I mention Glenn Ligon, I have a chance that a curator of modern or contemporary art will know who that is. But if I mention Archibald J.Motley I’m almost sure no one will know who that is.’
So Daniel Soutif decided to contextualize all of this because terms like reconstruction or Jim Crow have little resonance in France. The audience may know something of the effects of segregation but not that there were laws, amendments, and almost a hundred years of struggle accompanying the period of legal and actual segregation.
As a consequence, the curator made the choice of a mode of exhibition with both documentation and art works in a purely museum context. Yet he wanted to propose to the audience two modes of visibility in the exhibit, without distractions or questions of intimacy. The solution he found was to concentrate the documentation on the walls in horizontal cases, except in the room on the Harlem Renaissance, where the original documents were not visible until one would approach them and turns ones back on twelve documentary walls in fourteen sections. There were only two rooms… one on the boxers and one on the First World War, and less successful solution on account of the overwhelming presence of documentation. The idea was to offer the audience the possibility to explore the exhibition as an art exhibition. The documentation being accessible in most cases only if you came close to the horizontal cases.
Benny Andrews (detail)
Faith Ringgold, American People Sries, 60’s.
Yet a polemic choice.
‘The Color Line’ exhibition is in a tradition of exhibits poorly known in the United States but it used to be more common in France. Daniel Soutif, coming from the tradition of the Centre Pompidou, was inspired by early exhibits at the Centre, points of reference for almost everyone in the world of art in Paris at the time. The exhibits Paris-Paris and Paris-NY or Paris-Moscow aimed to provide both documentation and artworks, and to contextualize and treat different objects differently. This could have been a utopia as this tradition never really lasted at the Centre Pompidou. Yet it is the choice Daniel Soutif made. Nevertheless, despite of all the valid justifications the curator offered, one can pose the question of the place of archival material and images. Indeed, was the purpose of showing cabinets of old catalogues really achieved? Why display so many documents?
Hank Willis Thomas, Amandla, 2014.
What is more, the debates around exhibits like “The Great Migration” at the MOMA, accompanied by documentation, which resembled the approach taken at the Centre Pompidou were not devoid of interest. Some said at the time that the MOMA had done this because it was a black artist, an artist located in the usual narrative. They further argued that the museum would never have done this for Jackson Pollock or Piet Mondrian.
Were all African American artists ‘political’?
According to Richard Powell, it is ‘almost certain that black artists must have realized that they had a particular burden and a particular challenge not just to do exceptional work but to show a new representation of black women and black men that might speak to humanity, to dignity, to beauty in a way that was really against the tide of popular culture.’ The chosen works were for the most part touched by the history of the ‘color line’, in very explicit and more subliminal ways. Nevertheless, African-American artists did not necessarily obsess with radicalism or the political. For instance, if the works of Glenn Ligon have an explicit link to the question of segregation and even discrimination, things are less simple in the work of Norman Lewis. The works shown in the exhibit may have been shown in that period but in a debatable way. I wish the exhibition had tackled some the following question: How did artists respond to this question and to each other?
1856-2016. WHY COVER SUCH A LONG PERIOD?
Daniel Soutif made the ambitious choice to cover a very long period as Mark Godfrey, Curator of
International art at the Tate Modern, underlined this challenge at the symposium. He is currently preparing an important exhibit due to open 12th July 2017, ‘Soul of a Nation. Art in the Age of Black Power’ (with Zoe Whitley). That show will attempt to tell a different story, that of the art made between 1963 and 1983, a much shorter period. It was a time of frustration, the beginning of black power, and the civil rights movement. A time of institutional and political turmoil. A time when there was a lot of pressure on artists to address questions like: is there such a thing as a black esthetic? Is there black art? Did they like being asked by journalists’ queries like, is there black art? Mark Godfrey would have also liked to answer the question: what does it mean to be a black woman artist? Yet, this question will be tackled soon in the Brooklyn Museum’s ‘We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-1985’ (April 21-September 17), curated by Catherine Morris with Rujeko Hockley.
Two interesting exhibitions that one should look at closely.
Robert Colescott, Knowledge of the Past is the Key to the Future (Saint Sebastian), 1986.
I left the museum with mixed feeling that persist today.
I appreciated the pioneering character of this exhibit. Daniel Soutif’s goal of introducing essentially unknown artists to a French audience was laudable and I think in the sense the curator succeeded.
I also felt relief after having seen the radical changes in the situation of black artists at the end of the 20th century. A new way of stating one’s identity has emerged. African-American contemporary artists, while still recognizing past combats, have started to allow themselves distance and humor. They are liberated from the political constraints which weighed down their predecessors. They do ‘not have the burden of being strictly tied to a political or an uplift positive agenda and that makes their work exciting but it also sometimes makes their work very provocative.” (Richard Powell).
I was interested in seeing how and what to create in such a context, as an African-American artist. How artists had to struggle against negative images. How they tackled on taboo topics or stereotypes head on without over-simplifications, and debunked them one after the other. But also how did these artists work to come out from their invisibility. For instance, in Horrace Pippin’s painting The End of War, white German soldiers are visible while black soldiers blend into the background and the earth. Or, part of what Whitefield Lovell attempts in his work Autour du Monde is to make the black soldiers visible, restoring visibility to men history forgot, acknowledging them as human beings who were more than just background.
I was pleased to see that it seems that at last we are witnessing a rewriting of the history of the 20th-century art to include black artists, as the New York Times would have us believe? (11/29/2015).
YET I could not help thinking that it it’s kind of late. I rather agree with Richard Powell: ‘These artists have been recognized by a cohort of scholars and patrons, art historians and collectors for a long time. And while you could not see that work at the National Gallery or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you could see that work at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and at historically black colleges and universities, so better late than never.’
Nonetheless, it was clearly shown in the documentary film that most of the artists presented in the show wanted to be recognized as artists, and not just as black artists. To quote one example among many others, ‘Why should the color of my skin (…) forever influence what I paint? Henry Ossawa Tanner asked.’
In keeping with this idea, one can understand certain artists’ refusal to participate in this kind of exhibit. I think of Adrian Piper, who refused to participate on two grounds: in a statement, she did not want to be considered either as a woman nor as an African-American; and, she also refused on account of the nature of the project, stating her disagreement with projects defining a group of artists on the basis of their appearance.
So I left the museum hoping that this kind of exhibit, organized around the skin color of an artist, would be the last. This ground is shifting below us today; consequently, let us hope that this exhibit will mark a larger movement with more monographic exhibitions in large French and international institutions. | <urn:uuid:00c988e8-6ba3-4941-ab0d-da428b330ce8> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-30",
"url": "http://africanah.org/the-color-line-in-paris/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500550975184.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20170728163715-20170728183715-00552.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9655857682228088,
"token_count": 3454,
"score": 2.53125,
"int_score": 3
} |
1946 Faroese independence referendum
The results of the referendum were slightly confusing, with 48.7% supporting complete independence from Denmark, 47.1% in favor of the present arrangement, and the rest simply writing "no". On September 18, the Faroese Løgting (parliament) declared independence, but on 20 September this act was annulled by the Danes and on the 24th King Christian X dissolved the Løgting.
After new elections were held and further negotiations were made, Denmark finally granted the Faroese more autonomy with the 1948 Home Rule Act.
- Wylie, Jonathan. The Faroe Islands: Interpretations of History. University Press of Kentucky, 1987.
- Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands in English from the official web site of The Prime Minister’s Office | <urn:uuid:c04136e7-e62c-4dc3-a54b-32c0e653f9c3> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-17",
"url": "http://www.conservapedia.com/1946_Faroese_independence_referendum",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917118740.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031158-00012-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9445897340774536,
"token_count": 173,
"score": 3.109375,
"int_score": 3
} |
People with a gambling addiction find that their urges to gamble grow stronger as their ability to resist decreases. In a vicious cycle, they gamble more to regain the money they lose. As they increase their frequency and play more often, their cravings grow stronger, resulting in a downward spiral. This habit is not only damaging to mental health, but can also affect their physical well-being. Here are some important signs of gambling addiction. Listed below are the most common symptoms and treatments for gambling addiction.
Various types of research have been conducted on the prevalence of problem gambling among adolescents. Although males are more likely than females to gamble, problem gambling in females is not necessarily a more severe condition. Adolescents from certain ethnic groups are also more likely to be affected by problem gambling, though this is not the sole explanation. Other factors, such as socioeconomic status, may also contribute to this disparity. Here are some of the more common symptoms and causes of problem gambling in adolescents.
Signs of a gambling addiction
If you notice these symptoms, you might be facing a gambling addiction. While you may be concerned about your loved one’s behavior, these behaviors should not be ignored. These behaviors can cause you to feel anxiety, lie, and change your lifestyle. If you suspect your loved one is having problems with gambling, the first step is to talk to him or her about the problem. While you cannot force your loved one to admit that he or she has a gambling problem, you can offer support and encourage him or her to seek professional help.
Treatment options for gambling include various types of therapy. Individuals with problems related to gambling often resist therapy. But these treatments can be effective for those who wish to regain control of their lives and to repair relationships that have been damaged by excessive gambling. Behavioral therapy, also known as cognitive behavioral therapy, is a useful form of treatment that focuses on identifying and replacing negative beliefs with healthier ones. Family therapy may also be beneficial. In some cases, individuals may require the services of a psychiatrist, who will conduct an assessment.
Medications used to treat a gambling addiction
Gambling addiction (GA) is a serious psychiatric disorder with associated costs to society and the individual. Listed in DSM-5, it lacks an approved treatment guideline. Medicines used to treat GD include fluvoxamine, antidepressants, and maltrexone. Although the effectiveness of these treatments is inconsistent, they may prove beneficial for some people. A discussion with a doctor is necessary to determine if a medication trial is appropriate.
Compared to traditional casino gambling, Internet gambling presents several unique benefits and challenges, ranging from the availability of anonymity and isolated contexts to the technological complexity of Internet-based systems. While it is possible to avoid Internet-based gambling in a casino or at a land-based betting office, problem gamblers may find it difficult to resist temptation and play online. In addition to the physical dangers, Internet gambling can also result in mental health problems, such as depression, suicidal behavior, and a higher risk of psychoactive substance misuse. | <urn:uuid:5890a5f5-4683-4863-86b1-b798b98d841d> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2023-23",
"url": "https://piaaladunia2018.games/symptoms-and-treatments-for-gambling-addiction/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224657720.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20230610131939-20230610161939-00363.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9532386660575867,
"token_count": 628,
"score": 2.5625,
"int_score": 3
} |
We’re asking residents to visit the sites of bearing trees and record information about remaining witness trees left in Illinois using an interactive map.
We’re looking for a special kind of tree: the historic trees that helped map the state of Illinois.
In the early 1800s, surveyors used “bearing trees,” which is commonly known as a type of witness tree, many of them oaks, as landmarks. We want to know: How many of these trees survived as witnesses to history? To help, all you need is a smartphone. You don’t need to know anything about trees or maps to become part of this living history project.
We’re asking Illinois residents to visit the sites of bearing trees on their property or on public property and record information about any remaining bearing trees. If there is no tree in that spot, what is there now? Look for witness trees near you!
Why do we want to find these trees?
Most of the bearing trees were oaks. Finding these old oaks (and other trees) is valuable to CRTI’s efforts to implement the Oak Ecosystem Recovery Plan. Finding out what has replaced them is just as valuable.
You can glimpse history; imagine what the land and the tree was like in the early 1800s.
Please do not enter private property unless you have permission nor hike off maintained trails!
Surveyor field notebooks contain a wealth of information about what the landscape was like before European settlers arrived in the region. | <urn:uuid:1f0e5865-17aa-4568-92f1-2cf2b957ed21> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2023-40",
"url": "https://chicagorti.org/program/witness-trees/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510334.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20230927235044-20230928025044-00289.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9595745801925659,
"token_count": 311,
"score": 3.546875,
"int_score": 4
} |
IMPASSIONED speeches pertaining to subjects that are political and outpourings of religious sentiment originating from events that are apparently affairs of the state are taking many by surprise. Religious zealotry of the undesirable kind is also uncomfortably visible. Religious leaders are venturing to occupy a larger part of the public space while mainstream political parties are trying to woo such elements with a view to garnering popular support in the not-too-distant general election.
Retracing the political history of the sub-continent one would find that religion was never totally detached from politics nor was it ever exclusively confined to private space. The issues that the Indian National Congress discussed and the reforms it recommended to various provincial organisations had strong religious implications. The revivalism of late 19th century and early 20th century was marked by a conceptualisation of a glorious Hindu past, believed to have been degenerated under Muslim rule and threatened by the British. This glorification of Hindu civilisation over Islamic or western often boiled down to attempts to exalt and rationalise Hindu institutions and practices.
Swami Vivekananda's evocation of Hindu glory mixed with patriotism which sought to restore the masculinity of the Indian nation denied to them by their colonial masters, had a tremendous impact on the popular mind. He became the “patron prophet” for a whole generation of extremist leaders and militant revolutionaries, dreaming the resurrection of a glorious Hindu India. Hinduism became a useful rhetoric for organising a more articulate and sometime even militant opposition to foreign rule.
In Bengal, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee portrays the mythical figure Krishna as the modern politician and a nation builder. It was in his novel Anandamath, published in 1882 that he invented an icon for the nation, the Mother Goddess, identified with the motherland. And the song Bande Mataram (hail mother) which he composed in exaltation of this once beautiful mother, became the anthem of nationalist movement in India. The imagination of this icon was clearly taken from the repertoire of Hinduism.
In Maharashtra Bal Gangadhar Tilak in alliance with the Poona revivalists frequently invoked Hindu, Brahman and Maratha glory. The use of orthodox Hindu religious symbols for political mobilisation took a more militant form in north India through the Arya Samaj and the cow-protection movement which led to widespread communal violence in 1893. This movement was later absorbed into the dominant pan-Hindu revivalist framework. Their propaganda was mainly directed against the Muslims and the Christians. The Arya Samaj developed the concept of "Suddhi", which aimed at reconversion from Christianity, Islam and Sikhism.
It was in late 19th century that Hindu community began to define their boundary more closely and began to display more communal aggressiveness. At this time Hindu mobilisation took place around the symbol of cow, which communicated a variety of cosmological constructs relevant to both the Brahmanical and devotional traditions of Hinduism.
The cow-protection movement became an issue of communal rivalry as the debate over the legal ban on cow slaughter arose. Cow slaughter had a political meaning for Muslims as it meant a symbolic assertion of freedom from Hindu supremacy. The cow was being used as a symbol for community mobilisation. There was an increasing necessity for mobilisation along community lines as constitutional questions were now being discussed, new competitive institutions were being created. This was necessary in order to register collective presence in the new public space, and the cow served as a handy symbol.
The cow-protection movement put an unmistakable Hindu stamp on the nationalist agitation. The Indian National Congress though not directly involved, remained silent and even patronising. Prominent cow protectionist leaders attended the Allahabad congress in 1893 and the Congress postures alienated the Muslims from Congress politics. Consequently, Muslim representation in Congress sessions declined drastically after 1893.
The lines drawn by cow protection were further reinforced by skilful manipulation of other available cultural symbols, such as language. In course of cultural campaign, Hindi came to be identified with the Hindus and Urdu with the Muslims. The association of political leaders with the campaign gave it an obvious political colour. The language henceforth became an important component of the cultural project of nationalism in India.
In the wake of cow-protection riots, there were also other more overt attempts to use Hindu religious and historical symbols for the purpose of political mobilisation. What followed in Maharashtra, was "the political recruitment of God Ganapati." Politics was clearly imbued in the Ganapati festival. Celebration of Hindu mythical or historical symbols became an accepted practice in Poona politics. The Hindus who previously participated in Muharram festivals in previous years, now largely flocked to the Ganapati festival. Added to this was the Shivaji festival to commemorate the coronation of Shivaji Maharaj, who was regarded as the champion of Hindu self-respect and was credited with giving particular direction to Hindu religion.
In Bengal leaders like Aurobindo Ghosh believed that the use of Hindu mythology and history was the best means to reach the masses and mobilise them in support of their politics. Religious revivalism was a main feature of new politics of early 20th century and 'Bhagavadgita' became a source of spiritual inspiration for swadeshi volunteers and Hindu religious symbols were frequently used to mobilise the masses. This alienated the Muslims in a very large measure.
Among the Bengal Muslims a distinct Muslim identity had been developing at a mass level from the early 19th century through various Islamic reform movements. These movements started purging the society of practices that were thought to be of un-Islamic origin. This gave the vast majority of Muslim peasants a sense of social mobility. Religious meetings and local associations that initiated the process had certainly helped in political mobilisation and in strengthening the argument about separate Muslim interest leading ultimately to the creation of Pakistan.
Historically speaking, the inspiration of Islam as a mobilising force for emancipation of Muslims in India cannot be ignored. The gradual Islamisation of Muslim politics in India became a necessity, notwithstanding the sufferings and dislocation of vast multitude. Political leaders, therefore, need to be circumspect to ensure that religion does not become a divisive force in the present political discourse, to the prejudice of a pluralist society.
The writer is a columnist for The Daily Star. | <urn:uuid:69c43d7f-2e62-4218-9712-0375d0cd6f80> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-30",
"url": "http://www.thedailystar.net/news/religion-in-sub-continental-politics",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257828286.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071028-00063-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9708230495452881,
"token_count": 1286,
"score": 3.046875,
"int_score": 3
} |
The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives (American Indian Saying)
In 1776 Adam Smith introduced the paradox of value: diamonds are much more expensive than water, even though water is essential to human survival. Smith’s paradox, at that time, appealed to his contemporaries as little other than a philosophical nicety – one which was readily disarmed by their belief in the virtually limitless supply of water. This natural abundance assumption, however, has today become fundamentally overturned by a series of local and international crises in the management of water recourses. Smith’s philosophical paradox, in other words, has become one of our most crucial economic and political predicaments.
On a planet where available freshwater constitutes an aggregate of less than 0.5% of all water (Barlow 2001), we need to acknowledge that the water supply is finite and that the availability of clean water per individual is similarly so. Although physical water scarcity has always existed, economic water scarcity is a specifically anthropogenic phenomenon. Rises in population, river pollution, climate change, inefficient/wasteful irrigation, lack of legislation and water mismanagement from a governmental, community and individual perspective are the main factors underpinning contemporary global water shortages. With over one billion people lacking adequate access to clean drinking water, almost 40 developing and developed countries declaring droughts, and 22 percent of the world’s GDP produced in water short areas, efficient water supply is more than likely to emerge as the 21st century’s single most urgent resource issue (Postel 2003).
Against the popular perception that water can only be traded as a consumer good within heavily branded bottles, we should observe the sheer diversity of contemporary water markets. In Texas, New Jersey, Florida and Australia, for example, the problems of water scarcity and distribution are primarily addressed through market-mechanisms. Israel and Turkey, for their part, have signed agreements for the sale and transfer of water resources (Pamukcu 2003). 70% of global water supplies are currently used in agriculture and, by 2020, it is estimated that we will need almost 20% more water to continue feeding the world (Kirby 2000). Furthermore, water banks have been established in semi-arid regions of the South-Western United States because water will become the “petroleum for the next century…by 2025 one third of the global population will not have access to adequate drinking water” (Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, 2008). Millions of gallons of freshwater are used on a daily basis to irrigate golf courses whilst, in Sub-Saharan Africa, 43% of children drink polluted water and consequently one in five dies before the age of four (Unicef Report 2005). Gigantic jacuzzis, swimming pools and water parks represent additionally audaciously conspicuous modes of display, use and consumption of this ever dwindling resource.
It isn’t just sold in bottles!
The commodification of nature in general and of water in particular requires marketing practitioners, social scientists and policy makers alike to elaborate upon how the increased scarcity of water resources stimulates the growth of private water marketing systems which are directly opposed to the sustainability of the resource and the interests of citizens. Although the twentieth century water expansion paradigm was dominated by an ethic of growth (Gleick, 1998), it is becoming increasingly subjected to the pressure of changing social values which are themselves heavily mediated by NGO interventions. Simultaneously, lobbying for the commercialization of water resources and private sector participation has been increasing, where the effort is to treat water like any other economic good – as a series of potential growth markets which might attract significant investment. The very existence of water rights, in other words, turns rivers, lakes and sources of groundwater into exchangeable and marketable private property.
The political dimension of water markets
A specifically political dimension of growing water scarcity can be observed within transnational conflicts between nations claiming authority over the same river, lake, basin, dam or water barriers. Long-lasting water conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, water problems in the Iberian Peninsula between Portugal and Spain, controversy for the La Plata Basin between Brazil and Paraguay, China’s tensions with downstream users of Mekong River such as Laos and Vietnam, and the sheer fact that more than 260 river basins are shared by two or more nations, all pave the way for waters’ having become a prevalent basis for military conflict. Water ‘wars’ and disputes stem from opposing and conflicting interests between individual, household, agricultural and industrial water consumers whose intentions, beliefs and actions have been shaped, since the 1980s, by those who promote water privatization and others in favour of public solutions (Bakker, 2007).
The fierce debate on the privatization of natural resources has so far been couched in terms such as “neo-liberalization of nature”, “green neoliberalism” or “liberal environmentalism” (McCarthy and Prudham, 2004). The use of such broad and somewhat confusing terminology, however, doesn’t really encapsulate the numerous water resource management policies and jurisdictions established across the world. By casting the debate antithetically: as public vs. private ownership, as state vs. market control, as regulation vs. deregulation or as equality vs. efficiency, for example, we ignore how community-based water management offers an alternative solution to market-based and state-based failures. Although the majority of governments around the world have chosen hybrid water supply delivery models, the role and importance of culture and community in sustainable market development has been woefully under-examined. By emphasizing the cultural dimensions of water, localist water governance contributes to the improvement of public health, along with the spread of a collectivist, sharing and gift-giving ethic of solidarity. Furthermore, despite the monstrous complexity which permeates the management and supply of water resources, cooperative alternatives have offered and will continue to offer viable solutions for the global South, especially in light of the fact that conventional delivery systems have tended to favour the interests of wealthy citizens and affluent neighbourhoods.
As it was in Smith’s time, water remains much more useful than diamonds. Everybody’s lives will increasingly come to depend, however, on how it comes to be exchanged.
Bakker, Karen (2007) Commons or Commodity? The debate over private sector involvement in water supply. In K. Baker (Ed.) Eau Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Barlow, Maude (2001) Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supply. San Francisco: International Forum on Globalization.
Gleick, Peter (1998) “Water in crisis: paths to sustainable use.” Ecological Applications, 8(3), 571-579.
Kirby, Alex. (2000) Dawn of a Thirsty Century. (Accessed 8April) available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/755497.stm
McCarthy, James and Prudham, Scott (2004), “Neoliberal nature and the nature of neoliberalism.” Geoforum, 35(3), 275-283.
Pamukcu, Konuralp (2003), “Water trade between Israel and Turkey: a start in the Middle East?” Middle East Policy, 10(4), 87-99.
Postel, Sandra (2003), Last Oasis: facing water scarcity. 2nd ed. New York: Norton Company Ltd.
Unicef, (2005), World Water Day 2005: 4,000 children die each day from a lack of safewater. (Accessed 2 September 2011) Available at http://www.unicef.org/wash/index_25637.html | <urn:uuid:12e819ac-f2c4-422e-9fa6-5bc07a2ce60d> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-34",
"url": "https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/business/2013/12/04/the-marketplace-of-life-the-political-economy-of-emergent-water-markets-2/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738746.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20200811090050-20200811120050-00533.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9351521730422974,
"token_count": 1620,
"score": 3.125,
"int_score": 3
} |
The carnivorous bladderwort, a mysterious aquatic plant has revealed its mysterious genome, which has fascinated scientists for a long time. Although smaller in size than most other plants, it is known to have many more genes than other plants. A new study has revealed that the aquatic plant has a smaller genome than most other plants, but it contains many more genes.
The Journal, Molecular Biology and Evolution, has published a detailed study of the intriguing aquatic plant, the carnivorous bladderwort. The study found out that the plant has a genome smaller than most other known plants, but the number of genes in it is greater than in them. Scientists explain it by comparing the plant’s genome to that of a grape genome.
The carnivorous bladderwort is made up of 80 billion DNA base pair. The grape genome, on the other hand, has size time more number of genomes. Nevertheless, the aquatic plant still has 28,500 genes while the grape has merely 23,600 genes.
The study author from the University of Buffalo, Victor Albert, after a thorough research on the plant, found out that it does not have as much “junk” DNA as other plants. These DNA are explained as those that are not responsible for immediate proteins coding. It contains merely 3% of such DNA, hence making more use of its genetic makeup than any other organism. It might be interesting to note than the human DNA contains 90% of “junk” DNA.
The study also claims that the carnivorous bladderwort has replicated its genome at least thrice in its entirety. Each time, it evaluates its DNA carefully and alters it to keep only the useful part of the composition. “It turned out that those rates of evolutionary turnover — especially the rate of loss — was incredibly high compared to other plants,” explained Albert. “The genome was subjected to some heavy duty deletion mechanisms.” | <urn:uuid:36ec6359-e505-4f79-8e49-0eba6b01b261> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-50",
"url": "https://thewestsidestory.net/the-carnivorous-bladderwort-plant-reveals-intriguing-genome-and-dna-editing-mechanism/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141708017.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20201202113815-20201202143815-00686.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9702514410018921,
"token_count": 393,
"score": 3.984375,
"int_score": 4
} |
THE earth continues to get warmer, yet it’s feeling a lot colder outside. Over the past few weeks, subzero temperatures in Poland claimed 66 lives; snow arrived in Seattle well before the winter solstice, and fell heavily enough in Minneapolis to make the roof of the Metrodome collapse; and last week blizzards closed Europe’s busiest airports in London and Frankfurt for days, stranding holiday travelers. The snow and record cold have invaded the Eastern United States, with more bad weather predicted.
All of this cold was met with perfect comic timing by the release of a World Meteorological Organization report showing that 2010 will probably be among the three warmest years on record, and 2001 through 2010 the warmest decade on record.
How can we reconcile this? The not-so-obvious short answer is that the overall warming of the atmosphere is actually creating cold-weather extremes. Last winter, too, was exceptionally snowy and cold across the Eastern United States and Eurasia, as were seven of the previous nine winters.
For a more detailed explanation, we must turn our attention to the snow in Siberia.
Annual cycles like El Niño/Southern Oscillation, solar variability and global ocean currents cannot account for recent winter cooling. And though it is well documented that the earth’s frozen areas are in retreat, evidence of thinning Arctic sea ice does not explain why the world’s major cities are having colder winters.
But one phenomenon that may be significant is the way in which seasonal snow cover has continued to increase even as other frozen areas are shrinking. In the past two decades, snow cover has expanded across the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Siberia, just north of a series of exceptionally high mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, the Tien Shan and the Altai.Continue reading the main story
The high topography of Asia influences the atmosphere in profound ways. The jet stream, a river of fast-flowing air five to seven miles above sea level, bends around Asia’s mountains in a wavelike pattern, much as water in a stream flows around a rock or boulder. The energy from these atmospheric waves, like the energy from a sound wave, propagates both horizontally and vertically.
As global temperatures have warmed and as Arctic sea ice has melted over the past two and a half decades, more moisture has become available to fall as snow over the continents. So the snow cover across Siberia in the fall has steadily increased.
The sun’s energy reflects off the bright white snow and escapes back out to space. As a result, the temperature cools. When snow cover is more abundant in Siberia, it creates an unusually large dome of cold air next to the mountains, and this amplifies the standing waves in the atmosphere, just as a bigger rock in a stream increases the size of the waves of water flowing by.
The increased wave energy in the air spreads both horizontally, around the Northern Hemisphere, and vertically, up into the stratosphere and down toward the earth’s surface. In response, the jet stream, instead of flowing predominantly west to east as usual, meanders more north and south. In winter, this change in flow sends warm air north from the subtropical oceans into Alaska and Greenland, but it also pushes cold air south from the Arctic on the east side of the Rockies. Meanwhile, across Eurasia, cold air from Siberia spills south into East Asia and even southwestward into Europe.
That is why the Eastern United States, Northern Europe and East Asia have experienced extraordinarily snowy and cold winters since the turn of this century. Most forecasts have failed to predict these colder winters, however, because the primary drivers in their models are the oceans, which have been warming even as winters have grown chillier. They have ignored the snow in Siberia.
Last week, the British government asked its chief science adviser for an explanation. My advice to him is to look to the east.
It’s all a snow job by nature. The reality is, we’re freezing not in spite of climate change but because of it.Continue reading the main story | <urn:uuid:99ac92df-e41a-4cda-8677-58a869c7226e> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-39",
"url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158609.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922162437-20180922182837-00208.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9485775232315063,
"token_count": 848,
"score": 3.390625,
"int_score": 3
} |
How Rock And Roll Started
By Kirk Wilson, President
Not related to education but interesting, Rock & Roll music has had a long, winding and story filled history. From it’s early beginnings to the many genres it has spawned, rock and roll has come a long way.There have been a lot of arguments as to where the original term rock and roll was first used. The term rock and roll was actually a euphemism. This term was in use as early as the 1900′s. We have a record done in 1922 by Trixie Smith entitled My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll. The first mention of Rock and Roll as a musical style was in 1951 by disc jockey Alan Freed.
Rock & Roll became a real force by the mid-50s when Elvis Presley began to play a version of music that became known as Rockabilly which combined rock and roll music with his country and western background. Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins were two other musicians who performed rockabilly while other performers like Fats Domino and Little Richard played a different type of rock and roll music that was highly influenced by rhythm and blues. Even Johnny Cash was a rockabilly performer with his song Folsom Prison Blues back in 1956. But no matter how it started, rock and roll was a style of music here to stay. There was a bit of a lull in rock and roll music into the early 60s but British bands were covering many American rock and roll music hits along with all of the rhythm and blues records they could get their hands on and before long the Beatles and the British invasion swamped America bringing with it a resurgence of rock and roll music.
Rock & roll music has had an amazing impact throughout the world. Everything from hairstyles, clothing styles and fashion, attitudes and lifestyles, patterns of speech and language have all been influenced in some way or the other by the varied iterations of rock and roll music. | <urn:uuid:a6841735-1049-4dc6-86a3-a905a05b4579> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-43",
"url": "http://www.knowlimitlearning.com/2012/04/how-rock-and-roll-started/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986682998.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20191018131050-20191018154550-00142.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9820114970207214,
"token_count": 395,
"score": 3.21875,
"int_score": 3
} |
Jun 22 2015
I recently saw the new Pixar movie, Inside Out, which follows the inner workings of a young girl’s mind. (I will be discussing the premise, rather than the plot, of the movie so only mild spoilers.) As a neuroscientist of course I was interested in the metaphors that the writers chose to represent the workings of the human brain. They made many good choices, but there was also some interesting elements missing or misplaced.
Of course, I understand this is a movie. The writers made choices to make the movie enjoyable to children as well as adults, which means they likely made some choices to keep things simple. Other choices may have been driven by the needs of the plot, and still others simply to be cute and entertaining. I get it – this wasn’t a neurology lesson. For example, IMDb notes:
“The writers considered up to 27 different emotions, but settled on five (Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger) to make it less complicated. Some of the major emotions that ended up being cut included Surprise, Pride, and Trust.”
But let’s explore the choices they did make, which to some degree reflect popular understanding of the basics of brain function (and is also just a fun way to talk about neuroscience). In the movie the writers use the metaphor of a command center with a control panel. For a newborn infant the control panel is a single button. As people mature the panel gets more elaborate, with more nobs and levers. The control panel is operated by different emotions. I like the metaphor of a specific emotion being “at the controls.”
The control panel itself, however, is not a good metaphor (and again, at this point I am talking about neurological accuracy, not the demands of the script and an entertaining movie). There does not appear to be any equivalent of a command center or control panel in our brains. There is no “seat of consciousness” or “global workspace.” Rather, consciousness appears to be highly distributed, with each part of the brain contributing its little bit.
The closest thing we have to a “command center” in our brains is the frontal lobes which provide executive function. These frontal networks allow us to inhibit our behavior, strategically plan our actions and goals, and act in our own long term interests. The emotions do not reside here. They live in the deeper (and more primitive) limbic system.
If I were designing a cutesy Inside Out – like metaphor for brain function, there would be multiple distributed “control panels.” There would be a raucous committee all simultaneously clamoring for control. On the lower deck would be the emotions, and next to them basic drivers like hunger. On the upper deck would be various aspects of executive function and the higher cognitive functions. These elements would be in frequent conflict, sometimes emotions winning out, at other times executive function controlling, or at least ameliorating, the emotions.
When different brain metaphors are in strong conflict then the environment could turn red with cognitive dissonance. Perhaps executive function, like a troubled monarch who has little control over their rebellious barons, has a slick adviser whispering in their ear (think Grima Wormtongue from LOTR, or a corporate attorney advising their client.) Wormtongue is the voice of rationalization, telling executive function how to make the cognitive dissonance go away by accommodating the emotions.
Executive function was completely missing from the Inside Out metaphor, and instead the emotions had direct access to the top-level control. This might have been a better metaphor for a reptile than a primate.
In the movie, personality was established by specific core memories and represented by “islands.” For example, the character had a core memory of making her first goal in hockey, establishing “hockey island” as a strong aspect of her personality. This metaphor was completely plot driven, and has no real analog in neuroscience. It is worth mentioning, however, because it is based on the assumption of the “blank slate” – the idea that people are born essentially blank and our personalities are crafted entirely out of our experiences.
This is an outdated concept. It is generally recognized within neuroscience that personality is strongly genetic and deeply coded in the brain. Obviously, there is no absolute “nature” or “nurture” and brain function is always a complex combination of inherent and learned factors. The brain is an organ that evolved specifically to interact and adapt to the environment. It also displays plasticity, meaning that it can slowly change its wiring over time based upon use and experience.
Core personality traits, however, seem to be very stable and resistant to change. They also seem to be more determined by genetics than memories.
A better metaphor for personality, therefore, could have been the architecture of the metaphorical “buildings” and structures in the brain. The design, functionality, decor, condition, tidiness and mood of the environment could convey personality, and also be stable but able to slowly change over time. Another way to represent personality could be the size and dominance of the various emotions. An angry person, for example, might have had a big hulking “anger” emotion, dominating the other emotions, and even bullying executive function.
The core memories and islands in the movie are a better metaphor for culture and ideology, which sits on top of personality. Culture and ideology are learned, and can experience a crisis which causes aspects to collapse. They also change and evolve over time more similar to the islands in the movie.
Memory was handled in a predictable way in the movie, with some good and bad aspects. I liked that memories were formed and tinted with specific emotions. I also like that memories were consolidated down to long term storage during sleep. Memories also faded over time and really faded memories were eventually dumped. One of the funniest bits in the movie was a memory of a commercial jingle, which was recalled up to central command at random times.
Otherwise, the memory metaphors did not really work. Each memory was a small glass globe, as if it were a discrete thing. In reality memories are highly networked and interconnected. They are also very malleable. In the movie a specific memory could be played back with absolute fidelity.
Rather than globes I would have used something far more transient and changeable, such as bubbles. The bubbles link up to other bubbles, fuse, morph, and also are changed by the act of trying to access them. The memories should not have been hard solid objects, but living changing interconnected things.
One funny moment in the movie is when a box of opinions and another box of facts spill and get all mixed up. One character says not to worry, just put them back all jumbled, it happens all the time. Indeed.
I loved the movie. It was very enjoyable, and I highly recommend it. If you have children the movie is especially sweet (which is usually the case with Pixar).
As a metaphor for brain function, the movie was highly problematic. Mostly accuracy was sacrificed for the plot and to keep the movie simple and entertaining. However, it is a very interesting thought experiment – how to design a metaphor that accurately captures brain function according to our best current knowledge. I do hope the movie motivates people to think about brain function, but I fear it will increase some poor brain metaphors in the public consciousness.
8 Responses to “Inside Out – A Neuroscience Metaphor”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:faeba746-2530-4104-a08f-b1e03ca1c543> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-26",
"url": "http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/inside-out-a-neuroscience-metaphor/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9677855968475342,
"token_count": 1575,
"score": 3.0625,
"int_score": 3
} |
Reflexology is an alternative therapy that uses pressure at various points on the feet with the aim of alleviating symptoms elsewhere in the body. Its proponents claim that the feet carry a map of the rest of the body, and that pressure, for example, on the big toe can have effects in the head. Each point on the foot is said to be a 'reflex' for another part of the body. The term 'reflex' indicates a kind of mirror image (a reflection), rather than a more specific reflex mediated by nerves. In fact, the direct physical connections between the feet and other areas of the body as proposed by reflexologists have no foundation in anatomy or physiology.
Neither is there any evidence to support the idea that 'energy channels' connect the areas; in fact, the whole notion of energy and its flows, as proposed by many alternative therapists, is completely meaningless from a scientific point of view. Of course the body uses energy, but it is described by transformations between chemical, thermal, electrical and mechanical forms, and not by mystic emanations.
Another mechanism suggested by reflexologists is that accumulations of calcium salts or uric acid in the feet relate to health problems elsewhere. There is no evidence to support this theory, either. Unusual thickenings of areas of the feet can be more easily ascribed to badly-fitting shoes.
But setting aside the how, does reflexology work? As with all such alternative therapies, fans of the technique believe sincerely and strongly that it does. Reflexology is claimed to have beneficial effects on many stress-related conditions such as headaches, and on other conditions with a more direct physical cause, such as kidney stones, asthma and cataracts. Some practitioners claim to be able to diagnose conditions simply by feeling the feet, although controlled trials carried out at the University of Exeter have shown that - unless the reflexologist can talk to the patient - their success rate is no higher than would be expected by chance. There have been a number of trials of reflexology, but their results have not supported any claims of a significant benefit of the technique. The one exception to this, reported by a group in North Carolina, may be the relief of premenstrual symptoms, although the evidence for this is not strong.
Yet practitioners and many clients firmly believe that reflexology does have beneficial effects. [Read reflexology practitioner Elizabeth Rabone's personal view of the history and mechanisms of her work] The mechanisms they propose to explain the effects do not stand up to scientific scrutiny, so if the effects that people claim are real, are there more plausible mechanisms to explain them?
The benefits of certain types of massage are well documented, and massage seems to be particularly good for relief of back pain, constipation, and for improving feelings of well-being. Our sense of touch is closely linked to many beneficial physical and psychological effects learned from infancy. It is possible that the effects of reflexology are simply the result of having the feet rubbed, a process considered by many people to be relaxing and 'stress-busting'.
This could certainly explain some of the pain relief reported anecdotally following reflexology. Moreover, reducing stress has several physical benefits such as lowering blood pressure and heart rate, and, even if only temporary, these changes can have many knock-on effects throughout the body. Feelings of anxiety and depression can be reduced, and this immediately makes us feel better, regardless of physical symptoms.
Another possibility is that what reflexology is really doing is tapping into the placebo effect. This is the effect seen when patients feel better after receiving treatment that is pharmacologically inactive, such as a sugar pill. Initially dismissed as an example of poor research practice and patients' gullibility, the placebo effect is now being seriously studied, with some surprising results.
When a patient believes that they will get better, specific changes in brain activity can be seen by scanning and other techniques, and the level of the changes seems to be linked to the amount of improvement reported by the patients. We are learning more and more about the body's ability to heal itself, and it may turn out that the placebo effect is an incredibly powerful one, and underlies not just reflexology but many other therapies too.
Leuchter AF, Cook IA, Witte EA, Morgan M, Abrams M (2002) Am J. Psychiatry 159: 122-129
Oleson T, Flocco W (1993) Obstet Gynaecol 82: 906-911
Stevinson C, Ernst E (2001) Am J. Obstet Gynecol. 185: 227-235
Wager TD, Scott DJ, Zubieta J-K (2007) PNAS 104: 11056-11061
White AR, Williamson J, Hart A, Ernst E (2000) Compl Ther Med 8: 166-172
What did Kathy discover?
In her film for the Alternative Therapies series, Kathy Sykes found very little to suggest that there is a scientific basis to many of the specific claims of reflexology. She found no reliable evidence to support its defining idea – that the entire body is mapped onto the soles of the feet and by pressing particular points you can affect the corresponding areas of the body. Nor could she find any robust evidence from medical trials to back up any specific health claims. However, she did find a doctor who was using it to help make cancer patients feel relaxed during treatment and this led her to investigate the importance of massage and touch and what roles they might play in modern medicine. Find out more about the reflexology programme.
This website is provided for general information only. You should not treat it as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional.
The BBC and the Open University are not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of the OpenLearn website.
The BBC and the Open University are not liable for the contents of any external internet sites listed, nor do they endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of the sites. Always consult your own GP if you are in any way concerned about your health. | <urn:uuid:281a16c2-eccd-4429-b777-cf79e96d81f0> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-22",
"url": "http://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/health/health-studies/reflexology-valid",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049275328.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002115-00231-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9543024897575378,
"token_count": 1253,
"score": 3.015625,
"int_score": 3
} |
On the day Barack Obama became President of the United States, the price of a barrel of crude oil was $42.50. Today, the price is $72.39 per barrel.
That’s an increase of 70 percent during the time Obama has been President.
Why the increase? We’ve seen the recession deepen, so energy demand ought to be down. Can anyone find an explanation for this? | <urn:uuid:5b0150fb-552b-4998-a313-b8fde0ea4e81> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-14",
"url": "http://irregulartimes.com/2009/08/31/oil-prices-continue-to-rise-under-obama-despite-recession/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131309986.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172149-00099-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9661728143692017,
"token_count": 86,
"score": 2.53125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Please see Electrical Contractor magazine for referenced Figures.
A periodic voltage sag on a single-phase line occurring approximately every 30 to 60 seconds, accompanied by a sharp increase in resistive current and/or a sharp increase in the neutral-to-ground voltage, is probably due to a laser printer, copy machine or similar type load.
One of the more typical power quality disturbances that originate within a facility is from loads that periodically turn on and off. These include such equipment as the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, cold beverage vending machines, and even coffeepots. As reviewed in last month’s rule, motors typically have a large inrush current when first energized, which results in a decrease in voltage or a sag at the load. The compressors used in the cooling portion of HVAC systems and vending machines have a similar effect.
The large increase in information technology equipment in offices and factories has introduced another type of load that can have a similar effect, though individually not as dramatic as one caused by a large horsepower motor. Some types of printing equipment, such as laser printers and copy machines, have heating elements within them that turn on periodically to keep the machine’s printing components “warm.”
These types of loads usually have two different power signatures. The first occurs when the heating element turns on, releasing a large increase in current into the resistive heating element, which has a lower impedance than the steady-state condition and is almost purely resistive. Therefore, the current waveform will be nearly sinusoidal, low distortion, and in phase with the voltage waveform (power factor close to 1). The period of the heating element turning on varies from product to product and is based on performance, but typically is once every 30 to 60 seconds for a second or so. This can be seen in the figures (below).
These devices also have electronics in them, so you may also see the classic single-phase, rectified-input, switching-power-supply signature. Since the bridge rectifier only conducts current when the input is larger than the output, it only conducts current in the middle portion of the cycle, when the input voltage sine wave is at a higher voltage than the voltage on the storage capacitor, which is fed by the bridge. This can be seen in the waveforms before the resistive load turns on and after it turns off.
Another lesson from these data is learned by comparing the neutral-to-ground voltage to the line current on a single-phase load. Most of the current in the line conductor flows back through the neutral conductor. (Some current may be diverted to ground, where there are filters and suppression devices on the equipment.) This current multiplied by the wiring impedance (mostly resistive) creates a voltage between neutral and ground. Hence, this voltage waveform and the current waveform have similar shapes. This can be clearly seen in Figures 1 and 2. In addition, since half of the voltage drop in the source impedance is in the line conductor and half is in the neutral conductor, the swell in the neutral-to-ground voltage is equal to half of the line-to-neutral sag, but much like the mirror image, as shown in Figure 1. EC
BINGHAM, manager of products and technology for Dranetz-BMI in Edison, N.J., can be reached at 732.287.3680. | <urn:uuid:24482005-60f6-440b-affe-4f30bb04584e> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-40",
"url": "http://www.ecmag.com/section/your-business/sags-laser-printers-copiers-and?qt-issues_block=1",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738660760.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173740-00165-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9431003332138062,
"token_count": 706,
"score": 2.953125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Stephen Scott on the Old Colony Mennonites:
People known as Old Colony Mennonites occupy large tracts in the state of Chihuahua near Cuatemoc and Casas Grandes and in Durango.
These German-speaking people emigrated from Manitoba and Saskatchewan in western Canada in the 1920s. They came to North America in the 1870s from Russia. The name, “Old Colony,” derives from their origin at Chortitza, the oldest Mennonite settlement in Russia. The Russian settlers were originally from Prussia and the Prussian Mennonites can be traced to Holland.
So, the Old Colony group represents the Old Order element of Dutch Mennonitism, a separate branch from the Swiss Mennonites from which the Amish and Old Order Mennonites descend. The Old Colony Mennonites emerged as a distinct group in the 1880s in Manitoba.
All photos were taken by Jordi Busque. The first three are from the Riva Palacios Colony in Bolivia. Starting in the 1950’s, large groups of Mennonites left the Mexican settlements and established communities in Bolivia, Belize, and Paraguay. Scott says that “this last emigration represents the ultra-conservative element among the Old Colonies”.
Scott explains that Old Colony Mennonites took advantage of discarded automobiles, stripping them down until only the chassis remained, and then converting them to two horse wagons known as “Karrenwagen” (auto-wagons).
I found these photos interesting because you can see the type of transportation used in this settlement. The vehicles seen in the first three shots look smaller than the ones Scott presents in his book, with more of a converted-golf cart appearance.
This family, parents and ten children, resides in Durango in Mexico.
Cheesemaking is an important occupation in some communities. Pinondi Colony.
Children on their way to school, Swift Current Colony in Chihuahua.
More of Jordi Busque’s Old Colony Mennonite photography.
Text source: Plain Buggies: Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren Horse-Drawn Transportation by Stephen Scott. | <urn:uuid:940ac7c7-938d-4db3-b181-6b60dce3ff8c> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-04",
"url": "http://amishamerica.com/old-colony-menn/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280308.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00189-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9443540573120117,
"token_count": 466,
"score": 3.3125,
"int_score": 3
} |
How many milliare in 1 fall [English]?
The answer is 4640.0541271989.
We assume you are converting between milliare [Rome] and fall [English].
You can view more details on each measurement unit:
milliare or fall [English]
The SI base unit for length is the metre.
1 metre is equal to 676.5899864682 milliare, or 0.14581510644503 fall [English].
Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results.
Use this page to learn how to convert between milliare [Rome] and falls.
Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units!
You can do the reverse unit conversion from fall [English] to milliare, or enter any two units below:
milliare to micrometer
milliare to caliber
milliare to marathon
milliare to thou
milliare to centimeter
milliare to micron
milliare to didot point
milliare to gnat's eye
milliare to bamboo
milliare to zoll
ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 100 kg, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more! | <urn:uuid:d73bd7dd-2041-4a95-a980-1fdd82683e16> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2021-49",
"url": "https://www.convertunits.com/from/milliare/to/fall+%5BEnglish%5D",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363418.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20211207201422-20211207231422-00542.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.814474880695343,
"token_count": 355,
"score": 3.015625,
"int_score": 3
} |
Click to view rendering of the Lab
Capture of wind, sun and rain.
Those were the critical elements of a sustainable Marine Biology Laboratory design that won a team of Carnegie Mellon University architecture students — Dan Addis (A'12), Eui Song Kim (A'13) and Jensen Ying (A'13) — first place in an international competition.
Their creative problem-solving skills were challenged with a weak electrical grid, unreliable septic systems and droughts affecting the proposed area for the lab off of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands.
"We were taught that the best sustainable design is simple and natural," said Kim.
They started by shaping the complex to capture wind from a courtyard area they proposed at the center of the place, which allows for natural conditioning in many of the lab spaces. Spray from the proposed courtyard fountain is picked up by the wind and cools people nearby. Hallways are positioned outside of the building naturally expelling hot air from the complex.
This orientation of the complex maximizes northern and southern exposure to take full advantage of solar power generation while allowing effective day lighting from the north.
The team addressed energy and domestic hot water demands via a photovoltaic solar-thermal array on most of the buildings.
"We knew we had to stay off the weak electrical grid, so knowing the strength of the sun in St. Croix, solar power generation was the obvious choice," said Addis. "Solar panels become inefficient the hotter they get. We were able to capture this energy and use it to heat domestic hot water."
Droughts and a limited groundwater supply along with unreliable septic tank systems presented a major challenge.
"Our design collects all of the rainwater that falls onsite. And all of our sewage is treated and cleaned. Our system uses plant life and microbial bacteria, snails, fish and different plant-like organisms to bring the water to near potable," he said. "We don't waste any water. Everything is recycled."
Along the way, the CMU team worked alongside experts in the field like Vivian Loftness, Gerry Mattern and Gary Moshier to find tangible solutions.
Ying's role in the project served to coordinate the team's vision and execution.
"It is my hope that the sustainability mindset becomes standard for all practicing architects and designers," Ying said. "Every site has its constraints and benefits. We as architects should be able to observe these constraints and turn them into opportunities that drive the design process."
Kim added, "If this center is going to be built, it's got to benefit a lot of people. And we wanted to make sure we were as seamless as possible at blending with the surrounding community of 50,000 people and a nearby national park."
The jury commented that the project shows a well-documented and thorough sustainable systems analysis and demonstrates a thoughtful, integrated approach to the design process, adding that the proposed lab systems, particularly the HVAC systems, are practical and site specific, while the design of the community space is creative and inviting.
"CMU is one of the best schools in the country for sustainable design," said Addis. "The architecture program has a strong foot in sustainability. It pushes the envelope."
He added, "Our project is a new frontier in architecture. With the economy and environmental concerns, ours are the kinds of solutions that need to happen." | <urn:uuid:030f811c-942b-4079-81cc-3fb0939e1635> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-35",
"url": "http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/environment/2012/summer/sustainable-lab.shtml",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500813241.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021333-00430-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9641684293746948,
"token_count": 700,
"score": 2.671875,
"int_score": 3
} |
The picture is of a documentary I watched last night. The documentary follows ten volunteers, half have a psychiatric disorder, and the other half do not. Over five days the group are put through a series of challenges under the observation of a panel of mental health clinicians. Can the clinicians correctly identify and diagnose the individuals within the group? Can you?
The idea behind this documentary comes from a psychological experiment conducted in the 1970s by psychologist David Rosenhan. The Rosenhan experiment asked some "pseudopatients" (healthy volunteers) to report that they heard voices to admissions clinics. All were admitted into a psychiatric clinic and given a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder. Despite telling hospital staff that they felt fine and no longer experienced auditory hallucinations, the pseudopatients were only released upon admitting that they had a mental illness and by agreeing to take antipsychotic medication. The average length of stay was 19 days (!)
Although there are plenty of scientific flaws in the documentary and the psychological experiment, they are both worthy social studies for showing the public, and reminding mental health professionals, how subjective our judgements on mental disorder can be.
Keen to hear your thoughts...
Click here to watch Part 1 of the documentary.
Click here to watch Part 2 of the documentary
Click here to read David Rosenhan's paper published in Science titled "Being sane in insane places". | <urn:uuid:632eaffb-e703-4180-b0c1-e4c7fe2c65b2> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-34",
"url": "http://www.morelandroadclinic.com.au/blog/category/videos",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221209562.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20180814185903-20180814205903-00300.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9526829123497009,
"token_count": 279,
"score": 2.5625,
"int_score": 3
} |
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A vitreous, usually opaque, protective or decorative coating baked on metal, glass, or ceramic ware.
- n. An object having such a coating, as in a piece of cloisonné.
- n. A coating that dries to a hard glossy finish: nail enamel.
- n. A paint that dries to a hard glossy finish.
- n. Anatomy The hard, calcareous substance covering the exposed portion of a tooth.
- transitive v. To coat, inlay, or decorate with enamel.
- transitive v. To give a glossy or brilliant surface to.
- transitive v. To adorn with a brightly colored surface.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. An opaque, glassy coating baked onto metal or ceramic objects.
- n. A coating that dries to a hard, glossy finish.
- n. The hard covering on the exposed part of a tooth.
- v. to coat or decorate something with enamel
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A variety of glass, used in ornament, to cover a surface, as of metal or pottery, and admitting of after decoration in color, or used itself for inlaying or application in varied colors.
- n. A glassy, opaque bead obtained by the blowpipe.
- n. That which is enameled; also, any smooth, glossy surface, resembling enamel, especially if variegated.
- n. The intensely hard calcified tissue entering into the composition of teeth. It merely covers the exposed parts of the teeth of man, but in many animals is intermixed in various ways with the dentine and cement.
- n. Any one of various preparations for giving a smooth, glossy surface like that of enamel.
- n. A cosmetic intended to give the appearance of a smooth and beautiful complexion.
- transitive v. To lay enamel upon; to decorate with enamel whether inlaid or painted.
- transitive v. To variegate with colors as if with enamel.
- transitive v. To form a glossy surface like enamel upon
- transitive v. To disguise with cosmetics, as a woman's complexion.
- intransitive v. To practice the art of enameling.
- adj. Relating to the art of enameling.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In ceramics, a vitrified substance, either transparent or opaque, applied as a coating to pottery and porcelain of many kinds.
- n. In the fine arts, a vitreous substance or glass, opaque or transparent, and variously colored, applied as a coating on a surface of metal or of porcelain (see def. 1) for purposes of decoration.
- n. Enamel-work: a piece or sort of work whose chief decorative quality lies iu the enamel itself: as, a fine piece of cloisonné enamel; a specimen of enamel à jour.
- n. Any smooth, glossy surface resembling enamel, but produced by means of varnish or lacquer, or in some other way not involving vitrification: as, the enamel of enameled leather, paper, slate, etc.
- n. In anatomy, the hardest part of a tooth; the very dense, smooth, glistening substance which crowns a tooth or coats a part of its surface: distinguished from dentin and from cement.
- n. Figuratively, gloss; polish.
- n. In cosmetics, a coating applied to the skin, giving the appearance of a beautiful complexion.
- To lay enamel upon; cover or decorate with enamel.
- To form a glossy surface like enamel upon: as, to enamel cardboard; specifically, to use an enamel upon the skin.
- To variegate or adorn with different colors.
- To practise the use of enamel or the art of enameling.
- n. The firm white substance which covers the bony scales of some ganoid fishes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. any smooth glossy coating that resembles ceramic glaze
- n. a colored glassy compound (opaque or partially opaque) that is fused to the surface of metal or glass or pottery for decoration or protection
- n. a paint that dries to a hard glossy finish
- v. coat, inlay, or surface with enamel
- n. hard white substance covering the crown of a tooth
When this is not applied the filing does not, by destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the whiteness of the teeth; but the use of betel renders them black if pains be not taken to prevent it.
Absolutely thick molar enamel is consistent with large body size estimates and dietary inferences about Gigantopithecus blacki, which focus on tough or fibrous vegetation.
And you get to pick from the popular stainless steel, to the porcelain enamel, stone blend, metal or any other fancy types.
- An almost 50% increase in enamel defects, which indicates malnutrition
Mijares, who has exhibited across the country and abroad, is well-known to Jerseyans for her four large scale porcelain enamel murals in Union City's Bergenline Avenue light-rail station.
Dental enamel is the hardest tissue produced by the body.
But I think what you are referring to are Italian style espresso cups in enamel, presumably more decorative than plain graniteware.
The inclusion of a glossary of terms may have given readers who were novice artists the confidence to discuss the aesthetics and expectations of different painting techniques; de Massoul includes clear descriptions of painting in enamel (most solid and durable but the most difficult), mosaic, fresco, gouache, miniature, watercolor, pastel, and crayon.
Mr. Grignion attended and gave an account that the Workman he had employed to examine the Enamel had acquainted him that the enamel is not so good as that produced the last year.
The painting with vitreous colours on glass depends entirely on the same principles as painting in enamel, and he manner of executing it is likewise the same, except that in this the transparency of the colours being indispensably requisite no substance can be used to form them but such as vitrify perfectly, since, without such vitrification, there can be no transparency. | <urn:uuid:093d4555-8a89-46ad-8a76-69dba603c8e7> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-40",
"url": "https://wordnik.com/words/enamel",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737934788.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221854-00178-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8693684935569763,
"token_count": 1414,
"score": 2.90625,
"int_score": 3
} |
Apples are versatile fruits.
In generally, it’s a common saying that apples are versatile fruits. There are 15 benefits. 1. Get whiter, healthier teeth 2. Avoid Alzheimer’s 3. Protect against Parkinson’s 4. Curb all sorts of cancers 5. Decrease your risk of diabetes 6. Reduce cholesterol 7. Get a healthier heart 8. Prevent gallstones 9. Beat diarrhea and constipation 10. Neutralize irritable bowel syndrome 11. Avert hemorrhoids 12. Control your weight 13. Detoxify your liver 14. Boost your immune system 15. Prevent cataracts. In the other hand, there some risks and precautions. No serious side effects are linked to apple consumption. Apple seeds contain cyanide, a powerful poison. Eating too many apple seeds can potentially be fatal. Apple seeds should not be consumed. | <urn:uuid:bac6b902-71a3-44b3-8428-9766158a56af> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2021-21",
"url": "https://showaelc.org/2014/06/09/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991252.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20210512035557-20210512065557-00506.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.765388011932373,
"token_count": 176,
"score": 2.640625,
"int_score": 3
} |
It takes a trained ear to hear the difference between *beep* and *beeep*, but that’s exactly how rangers at East Africa’s first community conservancy use audible frequencies from what is called “telemetry” to track critically-endangered black rhinos.
CNN and National Geographic Traveler recently featured the Sera Community Conservancy for their protection of the rhinos and it’s newly added rhino tracking experience. Sera has teamed up with a new camp in the area to offer a walking safari that allows guests to actively contribute to the protection of the iconic species.
Since the conservancy’s creation, they have had a 100% success rate of protection from poachers. Now, more than 700 black rhinos inhabit Kenya. The hard work of the communities in Sera has also shaped better rangeland management that has brought back several other wildlife species, including elephant and zebra.
Safari Experts seeks to fund suppliers who actively support conservation and sustainable community development. Contact us to learn how we can help you plan your rhino tracking experience! | <urn:uuid:662fd454-06a4-4905-96bb-ed6f0644068f> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-09",
"url": "http://safariexperts.com/east-africas-first-ever-black-rhino-tracking-experience/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247513222.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222033812-20190222055812-00008.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9354939460754395,
"token_count": 228,
"score": 2.6875,
"int_score": 3
} |
TORONTO - With swine flu viruses now showing they can infect humans, pigs and turkeys, scientists will be looking closely for genetic evidence of whether the viruses change in potentially dangerous ways as they pass from one species to another.
Unfortunately, the first known case where the virus likely passed from people to pigs back to people won't provide any answers.
The head of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory has revealed his lab couldn't isolate viruses from respiratory specimens collected from two federal employees who became infected while investigating an outbreak of the novel H1N1 virus on an Alberta pig farm.
Though the two Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors tested positive for the pandemic flu virus, lab technicians would have to have found live viruses in their specimens to be able to compare them to those of viruses isolated from pigs on the farm and from other humans.
"We weren't able to isolate virus from what we got. So we haven't really sequenced anything," Dr. Frank Plummer said in an interview Friday.
"It's too bad, but I think that's just the way it is."
It's not uncommon that specimens don't yield viruses for study. But in this case it is unfortunate. Scientists would have liked to have seen whether the cycling through different species created changes in the viruses - and what kind of changes.
"It absolutely would have been very interesting," said Plummer, who admitted without live viruses "there's nothing really more to be done."
The pandemic virus was first found in people in mid-April. Late this week officials in Chile announced they had found the virus in turkeys - a species known to be susceptible to influenza viruses.
Though it is largely comprised of swine influenza genes, there is no evidence the virus is spreading in pig populations or that pigs are fuelling the spread among humans. In fact, in the handful of cases where the virus was found in pig herds - in Canada, Argentina and Australia - the presumption has been that people have infected pigs, not the other way around.
The first such case occurred in mid-to-late April in Alberta, on a pig farm near Rocky Mountain House.
It's not known and may never be known who introduced the virus into the pig population, but CFIA believes the source was human. And the agency also believes two of its inspectors who investigated the outbreak and came down shortly thereafter with swine flu picked up the virus in the piggery. The men admitted they took off their protective equipment because they were hot.
As for the viruses isolated from the pigs, the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases - the animal counterpart to Plummer's lab - is continuing to study the genetic sequences of those viruses.
But the lab's director, Dr. Soren Alexandersen, said the isolates don't seem to contain any significant changes when compared to the genetic sequences of the viruses circulating in people.
"They are very similar and more than 99 per cent similar," Alexandersen said. "There's nothing that looks specific or interesting at this point."
The lab, which shares a campus with the National Microbiology Laboratory, is also sequencing virus samples taken from a pig herd in Quebec where the novel H1N1 virus was found.
That work isn't yet completed, but Alexandersen said the picture so far is much like the one seen with the Alberta pig isolates.
"Nothing interesting or particular. It's again very, very similar," he said. | <urn:uuid:36e86bd1-4aee-4c5b-890c-cb2429ffbcbe> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-44",
"url": "http://www.cumberlandnewsnow.com/Business/2009-08-24/article-368845/No-H1N1-viruses-isolated-from-CFIA-inspectors%2C-cant-compare-to-pig-viruses/1",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719638.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00073-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9792315363883972,
"token_count": 704,
"score": 3.03125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Understanding your body
Your reproductive health
Getting your period
Getting enough sleep
Looking and feeling your best
Getting help with your health
Links to more information
Croup is a viral infection in the upper airway, around the vocal cords and windpipe. Swelling in this area causes a barking cough. Croup, most often seen in the fall, can affect kids up to age 5.
Frequent hand washing and avoiding contact with people who have respiratory infections are the best protection against the spread of viruses that cause croup.
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: April 2014
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
This site is owned and maintained by the Office on Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Healthat the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
USA.gov | FindYouthInfo.gov | <urn:uuid:5711e2e4-939a-43c3-9a2b-3fc60d682ae4> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2014-41",
"url": "http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?lic=175&dn=GirlsHealthDotGov&article_set=74054&cat_id=20221",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1412037663218.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20140930004103-00197-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9041555523872375,
"token_count": 197,
"score": 3.640625,
"int_score": 4
} |
Around the world, governments are jostling to be at the forefront of new technologies. Policies range from tax breaks, research grants, and science parks to subsidising innovative start-ups and favouring domestic firms when buying technology. Some of this is undoubtedly helpful in driving technological development. However, adoption, not invention, is the main driver of economic growth in most countries.
True, the US economy is boosted by the new digital companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, but competitive pressures mean that the benefits of new technologies overwhelmingly go to the users rather than the producers. Especially for emerging markets (EMs), fast adoption is key and represents a massive opportunity for accelerated economic growth in the future. The rapid spread of mobile, the cloud, big data, the ‘internet of things’ and drones is leading a third wave of digitisation, following on from the personal computer and Internet in the 1990s and mainframes in the 1970s. Close behind are artificial intelligence systems (AI), 3D printing, robotics and driverless cars. Digital technology is a ‘general purpose technology’ or GPT, similar in its effects to earlier revolutions like the domestication of animals or electricity.
Technology will bring profound change
The three ‘Cs’ of computing, connectivity and copying are coming together to disrupt business models and bring profound economic change. If Moore’s Law holds, as most experts expect, computer power will be 32 times greater by 2025, doubling every two years. Connectivity has become ubiquitous, with Wi-Fi, mobile and other technologies linking people and machines on a real-time basis. Copying of software and content costs virtually nothing; information can be shared and transported with total ease, across the room or around the world.
As long as they embrace change, developed markets stand to gain from all of this, with a surge in business investment, which will boost lacklustre growth in productivity and GDP. In recent years, we have not seen much evidence of this effect, but the example of electricity in the early 20th century suggests that GPTs can slow productivity growth initially, until businesses figure out how to use them.
Fear of technology causing mass unemployment in the West is misplaced. Routine jobs will continue to be replaced by machines, but the experience of rapid technological change in the last 200 years tells us that new jobs will always be created. Moreover, such jobs tend to be better paid, safer and more pleasant.
Meanwhile, for many EMs, adoption poses a challenge, as well as an opportunity. Many are still struggling to spread older technologies, such as clean water and rapid transport, beyond the big cities: more than two-thirds of Africans still live without electricity. New technologies offer some scope for leapfrogging, as people and companies use innovations such as mobile banking instead of bank branches, delivery drones ahead of better roads, and solar power ahead of electricity grids. But all these still require higher investment, more trade and improved education.
For a full version of this article click here | <urn:uuid:85ce5aef-30fa-47b8-93ee-48c99cbbf7e7> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2021-17",
"url": "https://growthcrossings.economist.com/article/scperspectives-adoption-is-the-key-to-technology-success/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038878326.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20210419045820-20210419075820-00031.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9438121914863586,
"token_count": 617,
"score": 2.90625,
"int_score": 3
} |
Early Universe - The Research
KIPAC researchers are heavily focused on understanding the origin of the early universe, a period in which very different rules of physics were at play in the cosmos than those that govern it now. It is believed that the universe began with very high energies. To tease apart the forces that touched off the universe’s expansion – some 14 billion years ago -- KIPAC scientists are using an array of instruments such as telescopes and satellites to look as far away and as far back in time as possible.
Among the most important observational tools in KIPAC’s exploration of the early universe are instruments that measure irregularities in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, such as the WMAP and Planck satellites. By looking at the distribution of the irregularities in the Cosmic Microwave Background, for example, KIPAC researchers are attempting to reconstruct the quantum conditions of the early universe and understand the laws governing its dynamics at the beginning. By looking back, scientists may also deduce the existence of new particles, forces or dimensions in existence during the universe’s first moments and, in turn, gain a more comprehensive understanding of the laws of the present universe. | <urn:uuid:230872c8-2d92-4bea-9be4-cf64da847aec> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-11",
"url": "http://kipac.stanford.edu/kipac/early_universe_research",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936468536.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074108-00293-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9455280303955078,
"token_count": 240,
"score": 4,
"int_score": 4
} |
Populations on continental islands are often distinguishable from mainland conspecifics with respect to body size, appearance, behaviour or life history, and this is often congruent with genetic patterns. It is commonly assumed that such differences developed following the complete isolation of populations by sea-level rise following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, population divergence may predate the LGM, or marine dispersal and colonization of islands may have occurred more recently; in both cases, populations may have also diverged despite ongoing gene flow. Here, we test these alternative hypotheses for the divergence between wedge-tailed eagles from mainland Australia (Aquila audax audax) and the threatened Tasmanian subspecies (Aquila audax fleayi), based on variation at 20 microsatellite loci and mtDNA. Coalescent analyses indicate that population divergence appreciably postdates the severance of terrestrial habitat continuity and occurred without any subsequent gene flow. We infer a recent colonization of Tasmania by marine dispersal and cannot discount founder effects as the cause of differences in body size and life history. We call into question the general assumption of post-LGM marine transgression as the initiator of divergence of terrestrial lineages on continental islands and adjacent mainland, and highlight the range of alternative scenarios that should be considered.
|Journal||Proceedings of The Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences|
|Publication status||Published - 30 Oct 2013|
- Inbreeding depression
- Last glacial maximum
- Marine dispersal
- Sea level | <urn:uuid:8d05128f-eef0-4f67-ac72-3ec92ba86a4a> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-45",
"url": "https://researchnow.flinders.edu.au/en/publications/did-postglacial-sea-level-changes-initiate-the-evolutionary-diver",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107885126.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20201025012538-20201025042538-00056.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8570656776428223,
"token_count": 315,
"score": 2.828125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Was it last year? The year before? Guess when this international meeting was held:
What started as a routine international meeting of 300 scientists, government officials, climatologists and activists in Toronto turned into an urgent call for action on the threat of global warming and climate change.
‘Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to global nuclear war,’ said the conference summary statement. ‘Far-reaching impacts will be caused by global warming… as a result of the continued growth in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The best predictions available indicate potentially severe economic and social dislocation for present and future generations, which will worsen international tensions and increase risk of conflicts between and within nations. It is imperative to act now.’
Well actually it wasn’t last year or even last decade. The meeting was held in 1988 and it was reported in the special issue of the New Internationalist magazine Global Warming: how to turn down the heat.
Ahhhh. Did someone really say our action on climate change should be slowed?
The New Internationalist mini-eBook Climate Change Denial provides some memorable tools for debunking the myths of the climate change deniers. | <urn:uuid:d15f8b0c-28cf-48e6-ac16-b0ec26e86be7> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-39",
"url": "https://www.newint.com.au/blog/slowing-climate-change-slowly/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514572517.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20190916100041-20190916122041-00511.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9260900616645813,
"token_count": 256,
"score": 2.578125,
"int_score": 3
} |
Recently, studies have shown that people with musical training are better at picking out emotional cues in sound than people without the same musical background.
A team of neuroscientists at Northwestern University compared the auditory brainstem responses of musicians and non-musicians to different emotion-laden human sounds, like crying babies.
The results were not exactly what the researchers expected. They found that musicians’ brainstems paid attention to a more complex part of the sound known to carry more emotional elements. But their brains tended to de-emphasize the simpler part of the sound, which carries less emotional content. This wasn’t true for non-musicians.
The more musical experience and training a musician had, the more their nervous systems seemed able to process emotion in sound. The auditory centers in their brainstems showed a greater response than those of the non-musicians to these complex sound cues. | <urn:uuid:14fc9370-ab9c-40a7-bae1-627d9598a42b> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-40",
"url": "http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/musicians-biologically-identifying-emotion-sound/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736676381.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215756-00173-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9623597264289856,
"token_count": 184,
"score": 3.546875,
"int_score": 4
} |
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, long time school fellows of Hamlet. Hamlet's friends who would stand by him through thick and thin, or loyal subjects of a treacherous king that would turn on Hamlet at the drop of a hat. They are asked to the castle by the king and queen to find out what is troubling Hamlet. They are used by Claudius. And they bring Hamlet to his death.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern make their first appearance in the play when they are summoned by the king and queen. They are long time friends of Hamlet, and because of this the king and queen believe that they can find out what is troubling Hamlet. When they first appear we see them as loyal subjects to the king and as caring friends of Hamlet. When they first speak to Hamlet in the play he tells them that "Denmark's a prison." Or rather it is to him because of his bad dreams. When asked why they are at Elsinore. They say, "To visit you, my lord; no other occasion." They do not tell Hamlet that they were sent for by the king, or that they are here to find out what troubles him. However Hamlet knows that they were sent for, and when he asks them directly they hesitate before they answer.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by the king. They betray the trust of Hamlet by working for the king in return for a hefty reward. Hamlet is no longer fooled by their false friendship. He sees them as enemies, as "adders fanged". It is at this point in the play that we see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as loyal subjects as his majesty and not as friends of Hamlet. Hamlet describes them as, "[a sponge] that soaks up the King's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the King best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again." Hamlet knows that they are loyal to the king and for this reason he keeps his "antic disposition" when he is around them.
In the final scenes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern the king has them set off for England with Hamlet. Supposedly to get him away from Denmark after the killing of Polonius, but in actuality they are bringing him along with orders for his execution. This is the final proof that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are devoted to the king and do not care about Hamlet. However, all turns out o.k. when Hamlet switches the letter with one he forged telling England to execute Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He can do this with a clear conscience because he believes that they are guilty by association with Claudius.
Were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hamlet's friends, or were they merely pawns in Claudius' web of deceit? If they were truly Hamlet's friends and they wanted to help him they would have been honest from the beginning. However, perhaps they were just loyal subjects to the king and they did not know what they were doing was wrong. The truth is that Shakespeare is not very clear on the details of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and we can never be entirely sure of what they were thinking. | <urn:uuid:ba510872-955c-4de4-ab50-343daa5969ca> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2019-09",
"url": "http://jourdenuit.info/customessays/Plays/5956.htm",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247496694.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20190220210649-20190220232649-00119.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9883355498313904,
"token_count": 733,
"score": 2.796875,
"int_score": 3
} |
How to Measure Mobile Signal
It is always good to determine the signal you receive before you deploy your solution and compare it to the end result after implementation.
Measuring mobile signal is done in two ways, using the signal bars on your mobile device or obtaining exact readings.
The signal bars on your mobile device will offer a very basic interpretation of the mobile signal and also the signal quality. Each phone manufacturer calculates how many bars to display differently, resulting in different readings between phones in the same location.
It is important to stress that signal bars do not always mean you can make a call. Users will sometimes have signal bars, but cannot place a call due to network congestion.
The bars on your phone are a representation of both signal strength and the quality of the signal. As we have progressed from GSM, 3G and now 4G, the quality of the signal has become just an important as the signal strength level in determining your quality of service.
Users with five bars may have a low signal strength reading, but have excellent signal quality. iPhone – iOS 7 takes into account the signal strength, signal quality and also the number of people using the base station to determine how many bars are displayed.
This helps to prevent a user thinking they can place a call when they have several bars.
Other Phones – only takes into account the signal strength in dBm and the signal quality in determining how many bars to display.
The other way to measure signal is using exact readings from your phone. To access these readings you need either to put your phone into service mode or download a signal App. There are several measurements that determine the quality of your mobile signal:
Signal Strength – GSM & 3G/HSPA (RSSI) Applicable to GSM and 3G networks. The exact signal strength, often called Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), is measured in dBm. The dBm scale is roughly between -50 and -120dBm, with -50 being perfect signal and -120 being when you fall off the network. RSSI measures both the usable signal and the noise in a single figure.
- -50 to -75 dBm – High Signal
- -76 to -90 dBm – Medium Signal
- -91 to -100 dBm – Low Signal
- -101db to -120 dBm – Poor Signal
4G/LTE (RSRP) LTE signal strength is measured on a different scale than 3G/HSPA, it is measured in Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP). This often ends up being around -20dBm lower than RSSI, so - 100dBm (RSSI) would equate to around -120dbm (RSRP).
RSCP = RSSI + Ec/Io RSRP does a much more accurate job of measuring signal strength than RSSI, as it excludes noise and interference on the network, measuring just the usable portion of the signal.
Just because RSRP signals appear lower, it will not mean your signal is worse.
- -75dBm and -88dBm is a strong signal
- -89dBm and -96dBm is a very good signal
- -97dBm and -105dBm is good
- -106dBm and -112dBm is fair
- -113dBm and -125dBm is poor
SNR - The “Signal to Noise Ratio” is a measurement that compares the signal strength to the level of background noise. The higher the SNR the better your signal quality will be.
The SNR reading will be automatically calculated by the base station in dB. On the SNR scale 4 is poor and 25 is great.
ASU - "Arbitrary Strength Unit" is a value that is proportional to your RSRP. The higher the number the better your signal quality.
ASU = RSRP + 140, so if you have a RSRP of -100dBm, then the ASU will be 40.
Ec/Io - Very similar to SNR above, this measurement is the ratio of signal to interference. With the best being around -10 and the worst quality being around -40.
RSRQ - Reference Signal Received Quality is the ratio of usable signal to noise and interference measured in
Field Test, Service and Engineering Modes
To access the exact readings you need to go into your phones field test mode or into the phones settings to get the current network status.
Field test mode is entered by typing a code into the phones keypad, with each phone model having it’s own unique code.
iPhone - dial *3001#12345#* into the keypad and press call.
Android - You can view the db reading by going into Settings > About Phone. For service mode enter *#0011# into the keypad.
ZTE/Telstra Phones For service mode enter *983*3641# into the keypad. To exit service mode enter *983*3640# | <urn:uuid:7353ac15-37ef-4e02-a0c7-f8ed4ca2af20> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2020-16",
"url": "https://blackhawkantennas.com.au/how-to-measure-mobile-signal/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370505826.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20200401161832-20200401191832-00052.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9404283761978149,
"token_count": 1044,
"score": 3,
"int_score": 3
} |
If your PC or Laptop is password protected, you have to enter the password before enter in computer. And once if you admitted in computer by providing the correct administrator password, then you don’t need to provide old password to change the admin password. It can be possible only by using command prompt.
It is really a funny trick and may be useful for many users of PCs and Laptops. One thing here which you need to remember that without run as Administrator, you can not implement this trick.
Actually, it really seems funny when you want to change the password of someone’s PC but you don’t know the current password of that PC. In this condition ask for their PC or Laptop to run for a while. Now type the following commands in command prompt(cmd).
Open command prompt by run it as administrator.
Command Prompt>>Run as Administrator
Type command Net Users to see the user accounts of Windows.
Command prompt screen with net users command
Now if you want to change password of Administrator, type the command Net Users Administrator * and hit Enter. Now you will see new line to type a new password for administrator.
Command Prompt>>Type a new password
So,now type a new password to change the current password. Let’s see the last step of this funny trick of cmd.
Password changed successfully using cmd
At last,you have done! Two another things that’s my duty to tell you that whenever you type the password in cmd then you can’t see the numbers or characters you have entered. You have to keep in mind the letters and retype again. And if you not log in as Administrator, you will an error message like system error 5 has occurred…..Access is denied. So keep in mind you have to log in as Administrator. | <urn:uuid:631aae88-8131-437d-9a63-f0716630077b> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2015-22",
"url": "http://allusefulinfo.com/how-to-change-administrator-password-in-windows-7-using-cmd/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928907.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00293-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9117492437362671,
"token_count": 375,
"score": 3.140625,
"int_score": 3
} |
MAYAN BALLGAME HAD ASTRONOMICAL FUNCTION, EXPERTS DISCOVER IN THE YUCATAN’S RIVIERA MAYA
Experts: Mayan Ballgame Had Astronomical Function
MEXICO CITY – Restoration works at Chichen Itza, just a few miles away from world reknown Tulum in The Mayan Riviera, have confirmed the hypothesis that the ballgame played in that ancient Mayan city in southeastern Mexico had an astronomical function, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.
After almost two years of restoration and preservation work, the Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza, at 120 meters (130 yards) long the largest in Mesoamerica, is gradually recovering its original appearance with the reincorporation of different elements, including the five “passages” that the ancient Mayas built on the site.
The passages are structures that, according to recent studies, were used to observe the path of the sun during the equinoxes and solstices, INAH said in a communique.
Archaeologist Jose Huchim, coordinator of the Chichen Itza comprehensive conservation project, said that observers were possibly stationed in those structures to follow the game and see if the ball went through the vertical stone ring and make sure players hit the ball according to the rules of the ritual.
Huchim said that 25 years ago, when he was studying archaeology, he observed the site with his then-professor Victor Segovia, a pioneer in the study of pre-Colombian astronomy, because both were convinced that the passages were oriented to the equinoxes and solstices.
“We found that the central passage did have an orientation that permitted a view of the equinoxes – that’s why we thought it important to restore all five to determine whether all of them were built in line with the extreme (nearest and farthest) distances of the sun from the equator,” he said.
Last year, as part of the comprehensive restoration project of the ballcourt, which dates back to 864 A.D., “we returned the five passages to 90 percent of their original form,” the INAH researcher said.
“I began making astronomical observations and could prove that one of them marks the winter solstice, while the central passages marked the equinoxes, and those toward the north, the summer solstice,” he said.
He recalled that for pre-Colombian Mayas, the sun was a vital element in their rituals for marking the change of seasons and to begin preparing the land for growing maize – the ball is an analogy of the sun and the movements of the game are an analogy of the sun’s trajectory.
“The arc of the sun, which rises in the east, reaches its zenith and disappears in the west, at a certain moment was reproduced with the movement of the ball during the ritual,” Huchim said. EFE | <urn:uuid:2a108bde-ada0-451c-9b3e-6a6f12c3598e> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-26",
"url": "https://beachtulum.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/mayan-ballgame-had-astronomical-function-experts-discover-in-the-yucatans-riviera-maya/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320243.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170624082900-20170624102900-00184.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9618518948554993,
"token_count": 634,
"score": 2.921875,
"int_score": 3
} |
Glossary of "Ecology (6th ed.)" by Krebs (2009)
- organism that obtains energy from the sun and materials from inorganic sources; contrast with heterotroph. Most plants are autotrophs.
Glossary of "Plant Biology (1st ed.)" by Graham et al. (2003)
- An organism that is capable of producing its own organic food from inorganic materials.
Glossary of "Biology (3rd ed.)" by Hardin & Bajema (1978)
- an organism that can use CO2 as its only source of carbon.
Glossary of "Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet (2nd ed.)" by Botkin & Keller (1998)
- An organism that produces its own food from inorganic compounds and a source of energy. There are photoautotrophs (photosynthetic plants) and chemical autotrophs.
- Botkin, D. B. & Keller, E. A. 1998. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet, 2nd ed. -xxxxii + 649 pp. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
- Graham, L. E., Graham, J. M. & Wilcox, L. W. 2003. Plant Biology. -xxxv + 497 pp. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River.
- Hardin, G. & Bajema, C. 1978. Biology, its Principles and Implications, third edition. -x + 790 pp. W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
- Krebs, C. J. 2009. Ecology, 6th ed. -xvi + 655 pp. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco. | <urn:uuid:fae3eb63-7de6-4cdb-ab6e-f166de074ba0> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2023-50",
"url": "http://digital-museum.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~main/index.php/Autotroph",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100381.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20231202073445-20231202103445-00604.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.7668094038963318,
"token_count": 368,
"score": 2.984375,
"int_score": 3
} |
Definitions of upland
n. - High land; ground elevated above the meadows and intervals which lie on the banks of rivers, near the sea, or between hills; land which is generally dry; -- opposed to lowland, meadow, marsh, swamp, interval, and the like. 2
n. - The country, as distinguished from the neighborhood of towns. 2
a. - Of or pertaining to uplands; being on upland; high in situation; as, upland inhabitants; upland pasturage. 2
a. - Pertaining to the country, as distinguished from the neighborhood of towns; rustic; rude; unpolished. 2
The word "upland" uses 6 letters: A D L N P U.
No direct anagrams for upland found in this word list.
List shorter words within upland, sorted by length
All words formed from upland by changing one letter
Browse words starting with upland by next letter | <urn:uuid:d40736fb-1d37-4b80-aecc-aeccc1c9f7c0> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2016-44",
"url": "http://www.morewords.com/word/upland/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718303.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00272-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9620127081871033,
"token_count": 207,
"score": 2.765625,
"int_score": 3
} |
Curtis Clark, ASC
A Controversial Beginning
As anyone involved with feature film and/or TV production knows, cinematography has recently been experiencing acceleration in the routine use of digital motion picture cameras as viable alternatives to shooting with film. The beginning of this transitional process started with George Lucas in April 2000.
When Lucas received the first 24p Sony F900 HD camera to shoot Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones, cinematography was introduced to what was the beginning of perhaps the most disruptive motion imaging technology in the history of motion picture production. The initial marketing hype that accompanied 24p 8-bit 4:2:2 HD video claiming "film is dead” effectively and prematurely undermined any potential that digital cinematography might have had back then for establishing an early beach head toward industry acceptance.
What was missing at that time was a clear understanding of the requirements for a ‘digital motion picture camera’ that would be able to go beyond the imaging constraints of broadcast TV-based HD toward the image capture capabilities of motion picture film.
The majority of filmmakers recognized that the claim of imaging parity with 35mm film capture was preposterous. It wasn’t primarily the limitation of its 1920 x 1080 spatial resolution, but rather its limited dynamic range and color bit depth within the restrictive Rec.709 gamut, along with the camera’s 2/3 in. sensor size which significantly altered depth of field and necessitated using lenses designed for the world of HD video. Establishing a convincing "film look” was generally elusive and the prevailing non-DI (Digital Intermediate) post workflows of that time presented further challenges with film-outs for theatrical distribution. Also, it’s worth remembering that, at that time, Digital Cinema was not yet on the horizon. | <urn:uuid:d30337ae-9da0-432d-852e-6798f2fa6a61> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2021-25",
"url": "https://theasc.com/reports/smpte-progress-report-2011",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487586239.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20210612162957-20210612192957-00537.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9555788636207581,
"token_count": 367,
"score": 2.71875,
"int_score": 3
} |
Website evaluation can be a new concept for elementary and early middle school students. As they move into eighth grade, the CRAAP Test (pdf) works well for them. Younger students, however, need something simpler. According to Amy Gillespie, “Almost all of my students arrive at my school with one simple rule for choosing online sources: Don’t use Wikipedia. But beyond that, they tend to assume that if it’s online, it must be true. So in the middle school information skills class, we now teach the FART Test.”
The FART Test Evaluation tool for websites:
For specific details on the FART Test evaluation, click here.
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/mhroxam, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 | <urn:uuid:ba9ed2da-6c68-4098-96b0-7f44af220b0f> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"url": "http://cmle.org/2016/03/09/the-fart-test-and-website-evaluation/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218187144.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212947-00432-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.8704121112823486,
"token_count": 164,
"score": 3.203125,
"int_score": 3
} |
In this chapter, Dr. Norman Doidge introduces us to a very interesting individual – an important piece in the quest to use neuroplasticity to help people.
Barbara Arrowsmith Young, a rare individual, had a defect and though of a way to fix the problem. “Asymmetry” describes Barbara because there are areas of superior function -auditory and visual memory, having a driven determination due to a well-developed frontal cortex.
On the other hand, there were areas of very low functioning. Barbara’s mother joke, “The obstetrician must have yanked you out by your right leg,’ which was longer than her left, causing her pelvis to shift. Her right arm never straightened, her right side was larger than her left, her left eye less alert. Her spine was asymmetrical and twisted with scoliosis.” P. 27, 28
Learning difficulties included:
- She had difficulty pronouncing words due to damage in Broca’s Area of the brain.
- Her spatial reasoning was impaired. Our brain constructs an imaginary pathway before we execute movements. This is required for crawling which, in turn, promotes development.
- Spatial reasoning allows us to make a mental map, which allows us to organize our space. She was always getting lost outside as well.
- Kinesthetic perception, which allows us to be aware of where our body or limbs are in space, was also impaired. She was very clumsy.
- Her visual disability kept her from seeing more than a few letters at a time – her field of vision was very narrow.
- Relationships were difficult for her. Grammar, math concepts, logic and cause / effect were affected.
- Reversals (b, d, q, p, saw, was) and mirror writing contributed to a dyslexic diagnosis.
- Since she did not understand real time, she had to go over and over things to understand things from the past.
In those days (the 50s), there were no special education teachers. “You were either bright, average, slow, or mentally retarded. If you were mentally retarded, you were in the ‘opportunity classes.’ However, there were no opportunities for challenging a mind that had excellent visual and auditory memory. Her mother, Mary said, “You will succeed; there is no doubt and if you have a problem, fix it.” p. 31 In college and graduate school she studied child development, hoping to sort herself out. A fellow graduate student who also was learning disabled, Joshua Cohen ran a small clinic for struggling students. She did her research on the compensation skills used in the clinic. Her study showed that they did not work. Cohen suggested she look at the work of Aleksandr Luria (Basic Problems of Neurolinguistics, A Man With A Shattered World ) Reading about Luria’s patien, Barbara saw herself in his life What Luria failed to give Barbara was a treatment. She understood herself and her disability, but she became depressed for want of a treatment.
Then she read about research by Mark Rosenzweig of UC of Berkeley did on rats. In a stimulating environment, rats had more neurotransmitters. This became one of the first to demonstrate neuroplasticity. P. 35
Realizing that the brain could be modified, Barbara began developing exercises that would modify her brain and increase her function. First, she had Joshua Cohen right the correct time on the back of cards with clock faces. She spend hours over weeks reviewing these and using real clocks to understand that 2:45 was 45 minutes after 2:00 and 15 minutes to 3:00.
Barbara and Joshua married and opened the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. They developed a number of activities that modified brains and provided improvement in function. Applicants of the school go through 40 hours of assessment to determine precisely where the brain functions are weak. Students who were easily distracted can now focus. Some children patch the left eye to force visual input to the correct part of the brain.
Issues Addressed by the Arrowsmith School:
- Speech – our brains the sequence of symbols of speech(words and letters) into a sequence of movements (lips and mouth).Barbara and Luria believe this to be the managed by the left premotor cortex. P. 38 Difficulties here disrupt fluent speech.
- Written language – our brain converts symbols (words and letters) into movements of the fingers and hands. Difficulties here disrupt fluency in writing. Printing is easier because you write one stroke / letter at a time. With cursive we ‘run the letters together.’ P. 38-39
- Reading is also difficult for these individuals with damage in the premotor cortex. Reading can be slow and the reader will skip words.
One boy with all three of these problems. One of his brain exercises was to tracing complex lines to stimulate his neurons in the weakened premotor area – helping in speech, writing and reading. P. 39 By the time he graduated, he was reading above grade level and speaking longer, fuller sentences as well as his writing was improving.
For low auditory processing – difficulty following directions, spacing out when overloaded – some students listens to CDs and memorize poems and other exercises in rote memory.
“The Arrowsmith approach, and the use of brain exercises generally, has major implications for education. … When ‘weak links in the chain’ are strengthened, people gain access to skills whose development was formerly blocked, and they feel enormously liberated.” P. 41 | <urn:uuid:056cc123-0b28-4fdc-ac76-568b7ae0a325> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2018-13",
"url": "https://unlockinglearningpotential.com/2012/04/27/the-brain-that-changes-itself-chapter-2-building-herself-a-better-brain-a-woman-labeled-retarded-discovers-how-to-heal-herself/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647649.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180321121805-20180321141805-00272.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9768797755241394,
"token_count": 1161,
"score": 3.421875,
"int_score": 3
} |
Pedro II was succeeded by João V (r.1706-50), a youth of seventeen. He was an energetic king who introduced absolutist rule into Portugal, copying the style of the royal court of Louis XIV of France. Brazilian gold allowed João V to spend lavishly on major architectural works, the greatest being the royal palace at Mafra, begun in 1717, which sought to rival the Escorial in Spain. He also endowed the University of Coimbra with an elegantly decorated library, and built the Aqueduct of Free Waters (Aqueduto das Águas Livres) that brought water to Lisbon. João encouraged the development of decorative arts such as furniture design, clockmaking, and tapestry weaving. He pursued mercantilist policies to protect indigenous industries, including papermaking at Lousã, glassmaking at Marinha Grande, and textile weaving at Covilhã . He subsidized the publication of notable works such as Caetano de Sousa's História Geneológica da Casa Real. All in all, João V animated what has been called Portugal's second renaissance.
João V died in 1750 and was succeeded by his son José I (r.1750-77) who was indolent and placed the reins of government into the hands of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, later the Marquês de Pombal. A petty noble who managed to surmount Portugal's rigid class system by a combination of energy, intelligence, good looks, and a shrewd marriage, Pombal became the veritable dictator of Portugal. Once Portugal's ambassador to Britain and Austria, Pombal had been influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. Realizing how backward Portugal was, he sought through a ruthless despotism to reform it and create a middle class.
On the morning of November 1, 1755, a violent earthquake shook Lisbon and demolished most of the city. Thousands were killed in the subsequent fire and tidal wave. Pombal, who was at Belém at the time, energetically took appropriate measures. He improvised hospitals for the injured, controlled prices for various services, requisitioned food from the countryside, and organized public security. He decided to rebuild the city after a survey of the ruins. Under the direction of the architect Eugénio dos Santos and the engineer Manuel da Maia, a master plan for a new city was drawn up. The old city center was cleared of rubble and divided into squares of long avenues and cross streets. New buildings conforming to a standard architectural style were quickly erected using the latest construction techniques. Lisbon thus emerged from the earthquake as Europe's first planned city. Flanked by the Praça do Rossio at one end, and the Praça do Comêrcio at the other, this quarter of the city is known today as the Baixa Pombalina.
For his prompt and efficient action, Pombal was elevated to chief minister, which allowed him to consolidate his power. Desiring to destroy all forces within the society that could oppose his plans for modernizing Portugal, he began to systematically annihilate them, beginning with the nobility. An attempt on the life of the king on September 3, 1758 provided Pombal with a pretext to take action against the nobility. He accused many nobles of responsibility for the attempt and arrested about 1,000 individuals. Many confessed under brutal torture and were executed.
Pombal also attempted to rid Portugal of the Jesuits, whom he accused of taking part in the attempt on the king's life. He searched the houses belonging to the Jesuits, confiscated their belongings, closed their schools, and, in 1759, expelled them from the kingdom and its overseas possessions. In an effort to restrain the church, Pombal broke diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1760 and imprisoned the bishop of Coimbra.
Pombal's economic policies were inspired by the protectionist doctrines of Colbert, which gave royal companies monopolies in certain fields. Following the initiatives in this regard established by the count of Ericeira, Pombal prohibited the export of gold and silver. In order to increase cereal cultivation, he prohibited the growing of grape vines in certain areas of the country. He protected the winemaking industry by founding, in 1756, a company with a monopoly on exporting port wine. Pombal created other companies with exclusive rights to commercial activities in various regions of Brazil, as well as a fishing and processing company for sardines and tuna in Portuguese waters. He transformed the silk industry into a textile industry and turned over the operation of the glassmaking factory at Marinha Grande to a British manager, who introduced new manufacturing techniques.
Pombal also made notable changes in the area of education. After expelling the Jesuits and confiscating their schools, he took the first steps toward establishing a system of public instruction. He founded a commercial school and established schools, paid for with a special tax, in the major cities. In addition, Pombal instituted numerous reforms of the university, whose decline he blamed on the Jesuits. He created two new departments--mathematics and philosophy--and increased the number of professors in the already existing departments. He put forward new methods of instruction based on the writings of Luís António Verney and António Nunes that stressed observation and experience, and set up laboratories, a natural history museum, a botanical garden, and an observatory.
José I died in 1777 and was succeeded on the throne by his daughter Maria I (r.1777-92), who dismissed Pombal and banished him to the village of Pombal. She immediately freed hundreds of prisoners, restored the old nobility to it former status, reestablished relations with the Holy See, revoked laws against the clergy, abolished many of the state companies, and generally dismantled Pombal's dictatorship. The strong, secular society that Pombal hoped to create did not materialize, and the old social and economic order quickly restored itself.
|Country Studies main page | Portugal Country Studies main page| | <urn:uuid:2756e098-159c-43a0-8a0d-1990c9429e7d> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-13",
"url": "http://country-studies.com/portugal/absolutism.html",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188962.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00602-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9695664644241333,
"token_count": 1266,
"score": 3.4375,
"int_score": 3
} |
If you’re new to the idea of preparing fresh food for your dog, you may be wondering, “Well, if dogs are descendents of wolves, and wolves in the wild survive off of meat, then why don’t we just feed our dogs a diet of 100% meat? Why do they need veggies added at all? Isn’t that unnatural?”
The answer is simple. Dogs are not wolves, and don’t have the same environmental conditions and genetic predispositions of normal wolves. Dogs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years, and their diet has varied dependent on the climate, location, and cultural inclinations of the people they have been raised around. We have also done amazing things in breeding our modern-day dogs to look drastically different from their wolf cousins, and a proper diet should also take into consideration the body structure and specific nutritional needs of each individual animal.
The modern dog is a descendent of the wolf, which crossed with the ancient Aureus dog in many different climates, conditions, and parts of the world. The evolutionary transition from the wolf to the Chihuahua, is due to selective breeding and selective feeding. It’s hard to imagine a pack of Chihuahuas bringing down caribou in the wilds of Canada! In fact, the Chihuahua was a sacred dog to the Toltecs and Mayans and historically enjoyed a “people food” diet of vegetables, corn, and a little meat.
When you think about it, it makes sense that a Chihuahua is going to have a different diet than a German Shepherd or other large dogs. As dedicated working dogs, German Shepherds would need more meat or protein than a Chihuahua, or any other kind of “toy breed.” Protein is needed to restore body cells, facilitate healing, and to help regenerate the biggest organs of the body: the muscles. One way to gauge what would be appropriate for your dog to eat is to examine your dog’s morphology and historical evolution.
If your dog fits these characteristics, then a diet higher in protein is probably correct (and vice versa).
- Large head and/or strong jaws
- Large body mass
- Actively working – hunting dogs, working dogs, herding dogs, etc.
An All-Meat Diet in the Wild?
Did you know that Mastiffs were historically used in war, and these dogs evolved into the large sizes we see today because they ate a 100% raw meat (BARF) diet? They still absorbed some nutritional properties from plants, by way of ingesting the intestines of game animals (like deer), which contained digested vegetables and grains, but got their bulk from the large amount of protein they ate.
This brings us to the next point, there is no such a thing as an all-meat diet in the wild. Wild wolves inevitably digest a fair amount of plant matter too – as they benefit from the plant diet of the prey animals they hunt.
Other Factors to Consider for a Balanced Diet
Another consideration when determining protein amounts in the diet is your dog’s age and activity level. As your dog ages and becomes less active, it is better to reduce protein. A 20-30% protein range (by volume) would be ideal for an older dog 8 years and up. Aging dogs require better quality proteins with high biologic values (which do not stress the kidneys) such as: eggs, fermented dairy products, organ meats, fresh tuna, and chicken breast and lamb, along with an assortment of cooked grains and vegetables.
The activity level of your dog, condition, age, breed, temperament, and the climate of where you live are some of the factors to consider when formulating a diet for your pet. Sick or weak animals may need more energy and thus require more protein. In other cases, some dogs may be ingesting too much protein, which can sometimes be indicated by increased aggression. Diet plays a very important role in all aspects of your dog’s health, and even the simplest change can create significant differences in behavior and health.
Hints for this Upcoming Holiday Season
Traditional Oriental Herbal Medicine theory emphasizes the medicinal properties of food. When weather is cold, damp, and windy, the diet needs to be adjusted to help the body improve resistance to infections, improve digestion and metabolism, and manage the temperate changes in the environment.
Warming foods are recommended to eat during times of cold, windy, and wet winter weather. Some of these foods include:
- Green beans
To learn more about how to formulate a balanced, breed-appropriate diet, please check out my new nutrition book “Fresh Food & Ancient Wisdom: Preparing Healthy & Balanced Meals for Your Dogs.” Or, email us to arrange a diet consultation, and I will prepare a diet plan specifically for your dog’s age, breed type, condition, lifestyle, and needs. | <urn:uuid:659a1f3a-0b3f-4383-88fe-d5f8af225d78> | {
"dump": "CC-MAIN-2017-34",
"url": "http://www.drbasko.com/site/dogdietquestion/",
"file_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105955.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20170819235943-20170820015943-00535.warc.gz",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.9434311389923096,
"token_count": 1030,
"score": 2.765625,
"int_score": 3
} |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
No dataset card yet
- Downloads last month
- 26