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Constructed between 532 and 537
Claim to Fame: Built under Emperor Justinian’s direction from 532-537 and named the Church of the Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia’s dome is still among the largest in the world.
The church | Constructed between 532 and 537
Claim to Fame: Built under Emperor Justinian’s direction from 532-537 and named the Church of the Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia’s dome is still among the largest in the world.
The church of Hagia Sophia (literally "Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople, now Istanbul, was first dedicated in 360 by Emperor Constantius, son of the city's founder, Emperor Constantine. Hagia Sophia served as the cathedra, or bishop's seat, of the city. Originally called Megale Ekklesia (Great Church), the name Hagia Sophia came into use around 430. The first church structure was destroyed during riots in 404; the second church, built and dedicated in 415 by Emperor Theodosius II, burned down during the Nika revolt of 532, which caused vast destruction and death throughout the city.
Immediately after the riots, Emperor Justinian, who ruled from 527 - 565, ordered the church rebuilt. The new building was inaugurated on December 27, 537. Architects Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletos most likely were influenced by the mathematical theories of Archimedes (ca. 287-212 B.C.) and Heron of Alexandria's writings on vaults and arch support (first century A.D.).
Anthemios was born in the ancient city of Tralles in Asia Minor (in the area encompassed by modern Turkey) and probably studied in Alexandria, speaking Greek. An experimental scientist and theoretician, he easily assumed mastery over the technical aspects of architecture. Isidoros was born in Miletus (in the area encompassed by modern Turkey) and presumably received his education in Constantinople. An architect, engineer, and scholar, he probably worked as an architect-engineer with Anthemios assuming the role of senior partner. Although the two probably worked on several projects together, their only certain conglomeration occurred with the Hagia Sophia. They designed and built the major monument of Byzantine architecture.
The vast, airy central basilica, with its technically complex system of vaults and semi-domes, culminates in a high central dome with a diameter of over 101 feet (31 meters) and a height of 160 feet (48.5 meters). Its weight is carried by four great arches, which rest on a series of tympana and semi-domes, which in turn rest on smaller semi-domes and arcades. This complicated structural system was prone to problems: the first dome collapsed in 558, to be rebuilt in 562 to a greater height. Earthquakes and earth subsidence have also taken their toll on the building over the centuries. However, the surviving main structure is essentially that which was first built between 532 and 537.
The Hagia Sophia is a major monument of Byzantine architecture. All the traditional churches of the Byzantine, Slavic, Orthodox worlds, built over the past 1400 years descend in some form or other from this original design.
1. Mainstone, R.J. Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure, and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church, thames and Hudson, 1997.
2. Mark, Robert and Ahmet Ş Çakmak (eds). Hagia Sophia from the Age of Justinian to the Present, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
3. Placzek, Adolf K. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. Vol. 1 & 2, London: The Free Press, 1982. p. 84-87, p. 467-468. |
Genetic engineering uses DNA technology to alter the genetic makeup of a cell. The most common method involves transfer of genes from one species to another in order to confer specific new desired trait(s) present in the donor species onto the recipient species. After | Genetic engineering uses DNA technology to alter the genetic makeup of a cell. The most common method involves transfer of genes from one species to another in order to confer specific new desired trait(s) present in the donor species onto the recipient species. After the transferred genes are incorporated into the DNA of the recipient cells, the resultant organism generated from these transgenic cells is a genetically modified organism (GMO). If the genetic modification has been successful, the genetically modified organism will express the desired trait(s).
Genetic engineering has been used widely to confer specific new traits on plants. Genetically
engineered plants were first commercially grown in the 1990’s and are most often engineered to be herbicide tolerant and/or insect resistant. Within a decade after introduction, a significant percentage of the corn, soybean, and cotton crop grown in the US was genetically engineered. Under normal circumstances, the process of developing new plant strains with desirable traits using conventional cross breeding methods can take many years. Genetic engineering not only vastly reduces the time it takes to produce new varieties of crops but also allows insertion of traits that can only be obtained from another species. |
Parkfield in California is given prominence in your article describing the project to drill into the slip zone of the San Andreas fault (5 February, p 42). The place is interesting because of the supposed regularity of quakes every 22 years | Parkfield in California is given prominence in your article describing the project to drill into the slip zone of the San Andreas fault (5 February, p 42). The place is interesting because of the supposed regularity of quakes every 22 years. But as the article mentions, a quake in September 2004 "arrived 16 years later than expected".
In 1992, you reported the US Geological Survey predicting a significant chance of the earthquake at Parkfield in that year. The media and scientists from around the world flocked there to witness this even |
Jan. 17, 2009 Patients with dementia and diabetes appear to display a different pattern of injuries in their brains than patients with dementia but without diabetes, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the March print issue of Archives | Jan. 17, 2009 Patients with dementia and diabetes appear to display a different pattern of injuries in their brains than patients with dementia but without diabetes, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the March print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"The association between diabetes mellitus and increased risk for dementia in the elderly is well documented," the authors write as background information in the article. Several possible mechanisms have been proposed for this association, including the direct effects of high blood glucose and insulin, the build-up of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain and the effects of diabetes-related vascular disease on blood vessels in the brain.
Joshua A. Sonnen, M.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues studied 196 individuals who were part of the Adult Changes in Thought Study, a community-based investigation of dementia. After the participants died, their brains were autopsied and their cases were divided into four groups based on clinical information: those with diabetes and dementia, those with diabetes but not dementia, those with dementia but not diabetes and those without either disease.
In the 125 patients without dementia, neuropathological and biochemical factors did not differ based on diabetes status. However, among the 71 with dementia, two patterns of injury emerged based on whether the patients had diabetes and received diabetes treatment. Those without diabetes had larger amounts of beta-amyloid buildup and greater free radical damage, whereas those with diabetes had more microvascular infarcts (microscopic injury to small blood vessels in the brain known as arterioles) and more inflammation in neural tissue. This pattern was related to diabetes treatment, in that patients with dementia receiving treatment for diabetes had more microvascular infarcts, and untreated diabetic patients with dementia had beta-amyloid build-up similar to non-diabetic patients with dementia.
"These novel characterizations of two apparently different patterns of injury in dementia depending on diabetes mellitus status may have important etiologic and therapeutic implications," the authors conclude.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health; by |
IAQ Tools for Schools
Improved Academic Performance
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q1: Why is the Physical Environment of a School So Important?
- Q2: What Environmental Factors Are Important and Practical to Address?
- Q3: What | IAQ Tools for Schools
Improved Academic Performance
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q1: Why is the Physical Environment of a School So Important?
- Q2: What Environmental Factors Are Important and Practical to Address?
- Q3: What Actions Have Real School Districts Taken and What Results Have They Seen?
- Q4: How Much Improvement Can You Expect in Academic Performance and Health?
Why is the Physical Environment of a School So Important?
A healthy school environment is one of the keys to keeping young minds and bodies strong. In fact, a healthy school environment is one of eight core components in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, model “Healthy Youth! Coordinated School Health Program".
Factors that influence the physical environment include:
- The school building and its surrounding area.
- Any biological or chemical agent that is detrimental to health.
- Physical conditions, such as temperature, noise and lighting.
Environmental factors in schools can cause serious health problems for children.
Poor maintenance of school environments can cause or intensify illnesses among children and their teachers, resulting in higher rates of absenteeism, less time in the classroom, and ultimately, reduced academic achievement. But programs that promote healthy indoor air quality, or IAQ, can improve health, increase students’ ability to learn, improve test scores, and improve adult productivity in the school system. Maintaining physical conditions and good environmental quality in schools can yield a high rate of return on academic outcomes.
The price of neglect is high, but the investment in maintenance need not be.
School districts can integrate no-cost and low-cost activities that safeguard the school environment and achieve significant health and performance improvements. School districts with proactive facility maintenance programs have demonstrated a strong business case for coordinating activities to improve the physical environment, as well as student health, in an integrated program focused on improved academic achievement.
What Environmental Factors Are Important and Practical to Address?
School districts face tough choices in deciding how to allocate resources. However, funds invested in facility maintenance to prevent and fix problems that impact health and learning are both sound and necessary. So, how should schools invest their money?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Program was launched in 1995 to help school districts effectively manage IAQ and improve the health and academic performance of students. Since its inception, thousands of school systems have adopted IAQ management plans based on IAQ Tools for Schools guidance.
In 2007, EPA conducted an in-depth evaluation of three school districts that had implemented IAQ Tools for Schools management programs to identify the programs’ impacts and the key drivers of improved outcomes. Before the programs were implemented, common IAQ challenges at all three sites included HVAC system problems; cleanliness issues; unsafe storage of chemicals and chemical-based products; signs of dampness and mold; and pest management and food storage issues. After program implementation, all three cases showed positive IAQ outcomes resulting from improved policies for HVAC maintenance, cleaning, use of smooth flooring (e.g., tile) rather than carpet, construction and renovation management, and plant and animal policies.
The weight of the scientific research combined with this field experience suggests that effective IAQ management plans will focus on the following:
- Maintain the HVAC System
- Control Moisture to Avoid Dampness and Mold
- Clean Thoroughly and Control Allergen Sources
- Select Products and Materials with Low Emissions
- Control Pests Using an Integrated Pest Management Program
- Source Control
Maintain the HVAC System
Maintenance and control of the HVAC system is perhaps the most critical component of any school district IAQ strategy designed to improve health and academic performance. Features of the HVAC system most associated with health and learning include:
- Compliance with American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE, outdoor air ventilatio |
Targeted metagenomics and ecology of globally important uncultured eukaryotic phytoplankton.
Among eukaryotes, four major phytoplankton lineages are responsible for marine photosynthesis; prymnesiophytes | Targeted metagenomics and ecology of globally important uncultured eukaryotic phytoplankton.
Among eukaryotes, four major phytoplankton lineages are responsible for marine photosynthesis; prymnesiophytes, alveolates, stramenopiles, and prasinophytes. Contributions by individual taxa, however, are not well known, and genomes have been analyzed from only the latter two lineages. Tiny "picoplanktonic" members of the prymnesiophyte lineage have long been inferred to be ecologically important but remain poorly characterized. Here, we examine pico-prymnesiophyte evolutionary history and ecology using cultivation-independent methods. 18S rRNA gene analysis showed pico-prymnesiophytes belonged to broadly distributed uncultivated taxa. Therefore, we used targeted metagenomics to analyze uncultured pico-prymnesiophytes sorted by flow cytometry from subtropical North Atlantic waters. The data reveal a composite nuclear-encoded gene repertoire with strong green-lineage affiliations, which contrasts with the evolutionary history indicated by the plastid genome. Measured pico-prymnesiophyte growth rates were rapid in this region, resulting in primary production contributions similar to the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus. On average, pico-prymnesiophytes formed 25% of global picophytoplankton biomass, with differing contributions in five biogeographical provinces spanning tropical to subpolar systems. Elements likely contributing to success include high gene density and genes potentially involved in defense and nutrient uptake. Our findings have implications reaching beyond pico-prymnesiophytes, to the prasinophytes and stramenopiles. For example, prevalence of putative Ni-containing superoxide dismutases (SODs), instead of Fe-containing SODs, seems to be a common adaptation among eukaryotic phytoplankton for reducing Fe quotas in low-Fe modern oceans. Moreover, highly mosaic gene repertoires, although compositionally distinct for each major eukaryotic lineage, now seem to be an underlying facet of successful marine phytoplankton. |
|Scientific Name:||Pipistrellus hesperus|
|Species Authority:||H. Allen, 1864|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Least Concern ver 3.1|
|Assessor/s: | |Scientific Name:||Pipistrellus hesperus|
|Species Authority:||H. Allen, 1864|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Least Concern ver 3.1|
|Assessor/s:||Arroyo-Cabrales, J. & Ticul Alvarez Castaneda, S.|
|Reviewer/s:||Medellín, R. (Chiroptera Red List Authority) & Schipper, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)|
This species is listed as Least Concern in because of its wide distribution, presumed large population, occurrence in a number of protected areas and because it is unlikely to be declining at nearly the rate required to qualify for listing in a threatened category.
|Range Description:||Washington to Southwestern Oklahoma (USA), and Baja California, south to Hidalgo and Guerrero (Mexico) (Simmons 2005).|
Native:Mexico; United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington)
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||Western pipistrelles begin their foraging flights very early in the evening hours, making them one of the most diurnal of North American bats. They may also be encountered later in the evening (4 hrs after sunset), or closer to the morning. Occasionally, individual bats have been observed on wing during mid-day, during which time the |
Originally posted by Andrikos
ANYTHING is more efficient than laser diodes. LASER needs a LOT of power and cooling.
Why does everyone here think LED's are more efficient than laser diodes? According to the graduate electrical engineering class | Originally posted by Andrikos
ANYTHING is more efficient than laser diodes. LASER needs a LOT of power and cooling.
Why does everyone here think LED's are more efficient than laser diodes? According to the graduate electrical engineering class I just took, laser diodes are always more efficient than the equivalent LED.
A laser diode is just an LED with special properties: frequency is tuned to the size of the resonant cavity in the silicon, cavity has mirror surfaces, etc.
The reason an LED is more inefficient than its equivalent laser diode: most of the light never leaves the silicon, it is reabsorped and turns into heat, where as in a laser diode, almost all of the light travels in a single path out of the mirror faces.
Also, the way coherent light emission is stimulated by other photons is more efficient than the way non-coherent light just randomly "occurs" in an LED.
I'm not saying all lasers are efficient, just that an LED tuned to be a laser is more efficient than the LED. |
|Home > Entertainment > Music > Article|
Nina Simone, who died yesterday at age 70 at her home in the south of France, never hid her intense rage, or her immense passion.
On stage, she was the embodiment of the | |Home > Entertainment > Music > Article|
Nina Simone, who died yesterday at age 70 at her home in the south of France, never hid her intense rage, or her immense passion.
On stage, she was the embodiment of the combustible artist, ready to rail at inattentive audiences, inarticulate critics, deceitful promoters and thieving label owners.
In performance, and on her albums, Simone offered shimmering testimonials to the power of love as well as blistering social commentaries, most, but not all of them, rooted in America's shameful legacy of racism.
Sometimes those two worlds were joined, as in To be Young, Gifted and Black, the uplifting anthem Simone wrote with Weldon Irvine. Inspired by a posthumous collection of writings by the pioneering African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, the song captured the empowerment of racial pride:
"Young, gifted and black
How I long to know the truth
There are times when I look back
And I am haunted by my youth
Oh but my joy of today
Is that we can all be proud to say
To be young, gifted and black
Is where it's at."
Simone was a crucial voice in the civil rights era, when some of her most striking work addressed the horrors and injustices attending blacks in the South - incendiary tracts like Mississippi Goddam (inspired by the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls), Old Jim Crow and Backlash Blues (based on a poem written for Simone by Langston Hughes). Like the jazz artists Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach and Charles Mingus, Simone used her populist platform to shine a bright light into ugly corners of American society.
There was a time when Nina Simone was dubbed "the high priestess of soul", a term she hated, not only because it smacked of marketing hype but because it tried to put her in a box she'd never have fitted in comfortably.
While Simone invested all her work with soul, she blurred boundaries and jumped genres, embracing jazz, pop, blues, spirituals, folk, French chansons, African song and the works of contemporary songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, the Bee Gees and the Beatles. Simone's reading of Here Comes the Sun remains a transcendent moment of elegance and joy.
Simone was also one of the first African-American artists to embrace traditional African garb, adding regal bearing to her already dramatic presence.
Ironically, Simone's first and only American hit came early in her career, with a luminous reading of George Gershwin's I Loves You Porgy, r |
Gray goo (or, in British spelling, "grey goo") is a term used to describe what life on our planet might become if self-replicating robot s or nanomachine s got out of control and began to use up life | Gray goo (or, in British spelling, "grey goo") is a term used to describe what life on our planet might become if self-replicating robot s or nanomachine s got out of control and began to use up life forms for their own energy needs in some unstoppable way. The term was first used in K. Eric Drexler in his seminal book about nanotechnology, Engines of Creation. Michael Crichton's Prey is one of several science fiction novels about gray goo catastrophes. The possibility of all of us becoming a lifeless conglomeration of gray goo, whether by accident or by robotic intent, is considered exceedingly unlikely. However, it has been taken seriously enough by one researcher, Robert Freitas, to suggest some public policy recommendations.
In self-replication at the "nano" or molecular level, some source of energy would be needed and it would seem that these would be the same sources used by life forms or from life forms themselves (just as human beings derive energy from eating other animals that have obtained their energy from lower life forms). In the competition for energy with nanomachines, human beings might find themselves unable to adapt quickly enough through natural evolution, ultimately falling prey to their own intellectual creations.
A significant argument against the possibility of a gray goo situation is that engineers should be able to build in limiting conditions for self-replication. One writer, Chris Phoenix, says that it is as unlikely that a molecular manufacturing system could degenerate into unstoppable self-replication as that a drill press or lathe might self-replicate. Phoenix refers to nanorobots that self-replicate only for the limited purpose of a specific task, such as cleaning and closing a wound, as paste.
Variations on this term include:
- Black goo or red gloo, the use of nanomachines by terrorists or nihilist to destroy all or some segment of humanity
- Pink gloo, or a view of humanity itself, which can be seen as a self-replicating entity with a tendency to fill up existing space
- Green gloo, the idea of some antidote to the tendency of pink gloo to spread, perhaps limiting its ability to reproduce |
Taking 400 mcg of folic acid daily is well-regarded as a powerful way to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects (spina bifida) and protect your baby from harm but lesser know benefit is the ability of folic acid | Taking 400 mcg of folic acid daily is well-regarded as a powerful way to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects (spina bifida) and protect your baby from harm but lesser know benefit is the ability of folic acid to speed conception. Yet another reason not to skip your dose of this valuable fertility nutrient.
In an eight-year study of over 18,000 women folic acid - when taken regularly - was found to reduce the risk of ovulatory infertility (annovulation) by 40%. Taking the folic acid only 3-5 days a week reduced the risk by only 30% and taking it only twice a week was as good as not taking it at all.
Ovulatory infertility is a leading cause of infertility and is typically treated with fertility medications to induce ovulation. Lead researcher, Dr. Jorge Chavarro - of Harvard School of Public Health - stated that:
"The beneficial ef |
There is still not much sign of a time machine being invented yet, is there? In fact, some people will tell you that if one had been invented at any point in history we would already know about it, which kind of makes sense.
| There is still not much sign of a time machine being invented yet, is there? In fact, some people will tell you that if one had been invented at any point in history we would already know about it, which kind of makes sense.
Anyway, we are talking about time machines because investigators are looking at a way of finding out what will happen in the future. They won’t be relying on the sports almanac which Marty McFly brought back from the future, though.
Instead, the answers could, perhaps surprisingly, lie in old newspapers. The idea is that a new type of software will analyse old editions of the New York Times and website like Wikipedia.
A High Rate of Accuracy
The information is then used to predict the future and the likelihood of outbreaks of diseases and such like. Unlike McFly’s almanac this way of seeing what will happen next has an accuracy of less than 100%, although the reported 70% – 90% accuracy is still pretty impressive.
The work has been carried out by Microsoft Research and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
A research paper has been released and the boffins reveal in it that they use a combination of real time reports and old news stories to find links been droughts, storms and cholera in different parts of the world.
A good example comes with the details of how a cholera epidemic in 1974 followed a drought in Bangladesh in 1973. The same thing happened in the same order a decade later and the scientists point out that a warning of the risk of cholera could have been given in the second case by using their approach. |
Advanced Photogrammetry Techniques as a Tool for Evaluating Sediment Gradations
Hydraulic and sediment modeling efforts and monitoring programs in gravel and cobble dominated rivers almost always require the collection of bed material sediment samples through a variety of intensive field methods | Advanced Photogrammetry Techniques as a Tool for Evaluating Sediment Gradations
Hydraulic and sediment modeling efforts and monitoring programs in gravel and cobble dominated rivers almost always require the collection of bed material sediment samples through a variety of intensive field methods, including pebble counts and volumetric sampling of surface and subsurface materials. Recent advances in photogrammetric techniques for evaluating grain size distributions may significantly reduce the costs and time associated with field sampling and offsite laboratory sieving. This proposal addresses the following question:
* Can photogrammetric methods accurately predict bed material gradations to better represent physical conditions of the river while saving time and money in modeling and monitoring programs?
Without additional research into advanced photogrammetric techniques, Reclamation-wide efforts to understand sediment issues and improve water delivery can not benefit from application of the potentially most efficient and lowest cost methods.
Need and Benefit
Bed material is a key component of sediment transport modeling, evaluating downstream changes in sediment sizes, incipient motion analyses, and sediment size monitoring. Bed material sediment samples are frequently used in Reclamation studies to address questions related to:
* Sedimentation of irrigation canals and its impacts on water delivery
* Restoration and maintenance of spawning gravels
* Aggradation and degradation of river beds
* Local scour around irrigation infrastructure
* Sustainability of in-stream structures
At present, the most common methods for sediment sampling in gravel and cobble dominated streams include collecting pebble counts and volumetric sampling of the surface and subsurface material. Pebble counts offer a tedious means of evaluating surface sediment size and are limited in the spatial distribution within which they can represent the size gradations of bar and bed material. This method poorly represents true conditions and may incorporate bias into the analysis. Volumetric samples in gravel and cobble dominated streams often require onsite sieving of the largest materials and re |
- Chromosome dynamics during cell divisions in Drosophila melanogaster: The role of Rad21 in meiotic cohesion and dynamic analysis of the condensin subunit CapG in early embryonic mitotic divisions (2010)
- | - Chromosome dynamics during cell divisions in Drosophila melanogaster: The role of Rad21 in meiotic cohesion and dynamic analysis of the condensin subunit CapG in early embryonic mitotic divisions (2010)
- Faithful segregation of genetic material is an essential hallmark of cell division. In eukaryotic cells, the DNA is replicated during S phase into two identical copies, which reside intimately paired (cohesed) in the nucleus as dispersed and entangled interphase chromatin fibers. At the onset of mitosis, the chromatin fibers start to resolve and by the end of metaphase they are compacted and individualized into a pair of cylindrical structures called sister |
Bottom up synthesis of nanowires through metal catalyzed vapor phase epitaxy is a very attractive process to generate high quality nanowires thus providing an additional degree of freedom in design of innovative devices that extend... - Read More
By introducing | Bottom up synthesis of nanowires through metal catalyzed vapor phase epitaxy is a very attractive process to generate high quality nanowires thus providing an additional degree of freedom in design of innovative devices that extend... - Read More
By introducing individual silicon atom 'defects' using a scanning tunnelling microscope scientists at the London Centre for Nanotechnology have coupled single atoms to form quantum states Share This See Also Physics Graphene Quantum Physics Quantum... - Read More
A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low cost environmentally friendly fuel source to... - Read More
Engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to kill deadly pathogenic bacteria including listeria in food handling and packaging This innovation represents an alternative to the use of antibiotics or chemical... - Read More
One often ignored consequence of global climate change is that the Northern Hemisphere is becoming warmer than the Southern Hemisphere which could significantly alter tropical precipitation patterns according to a new study by climatologists from... - Read More
Jose Ramon Sarasua and Aitor Larrañaga researchers in the materials engineering department of the UPV EHU University of the Basque Country have been studying new materials or implants that are of interest in medicine and... - Read More
Industrial chemists working toward new drugs and other goals as well as organic chemistry students now have a unique new resource to guide them through chemical challenges A trio of scientists from The Scripps Research... - Read More
Increases in ground level ozone especially in rural areas may interfere not only with predator insects finding host plants but also with pollinators finding flowers according to researchers from Penn State and the University of... - Read More
NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment SORCE satellite has been providing data on the sun's irradiance for 10 years SORCE measures electromagnetic radiation produced by the sun and the power per unit area of that... - Read More
The recipe and process for preparing Maya Blue a highly resistant pigment used for centuries in Mesoamerica were lost We know that the ingredients are a plant dye indigo and a type of clay known... - Read More
Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality So reports a new Ecological Applications paper which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the... - Read More
Surface appearances can be so misleading In most forests the amount of carbon held in soils is substantially greater than the amount contained in the trees themselves Share This See Also Soil Types Organic Nature... - Read More
Clumps of proteins that accumulate in brain cells are a hallmark of neurological diseases such as dementia Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease Over the past several years there has been much controversy over the structure... - Read More
Researchers with the joint program between IRB Barcelona and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center BSC have devised a new strategy to study the shape of proteins Share This See Also Molecular Biology Cell Biology Biology Biochemistry... - Read More
Wouldn't it be convenient if you could reverse the rusting of your car by shining a bright light on it It turns out that this concept works for undoing oxidation on copper nanoparticles and it... - Read More
Two University of Calgary researchers have developed a ground breaking way to make new affordable and efficient catalysts for converting electricity into chemical energy Share This See Also Fuel Cells Energy Technology Solar Energy Wind... - Read More
The first observation of massive swelling and shrinkage of inorganic layered materials like a biological cell provides insights into the production of two dimensional crystals Share This See Also Materials Science Civil Engineering Weapons Technology... - Read More
When blessed with a resource in overwhelming abundance it's generally a good idea to make valuable use of that resource Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant organic material on Earth For thousands of years it... - Read More
Chemists at the California Institute of Technology Caltech and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory believe they can now explain one of the remaining mysteries of photosynthesis the chemical process by which plants convert sunlight into... - Read More
Tell us what you think of Chemistry 2011 -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problem |
Introduction to Theatre Online Course
Last Update: November 16, 2007
Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 13
Objectives for this lesson:
Students will examine:
Before 1642 – the royalty supported the theatre | Introduction to Theatre Online Course
Last Update: November 16, 2007
Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 13
Objectives for this lesson:
Students will examine:
Before 1642 – the royalty supported the theatre.
In 1642, a civil war – the Puritan Revolution. Charles I was beheaded and the country’s leadership taken over by Oliver Cromwell (the Lord Protectorate – the only time in British history that England was not run by a monarch??).
From 1642 - 1660, called "the interregnum." Theatre was outlawed; it was connected with the monarchy and with "immoral," non-Puritan values.
Music, however, was allowed, and William Davanant (a writer of masques) produced some operas with Italianate stagings (with perhaps some illegal performances).
The monarchy was restored in 1660. Charles I’s son, Charles II, restored to the throne. He had been in France during the Interregnum, in the court of Louis XIV, who loved theatre. Charles II helped bring Italianate and French styles and staging to England.
The Drury Lane and Covent Gardens became the first theatres officially licensed during this period.
The type of theatre brought back resulted in a sort of protest against the Puritan ideal, and was designed primarily for the aristocracy. And then this form of theatre was in turn rebelled against.
Use of "transparency" names: "Sparkish, Fidget,
Mrs. Malaprop ("mal= French for "ill" -- therefore, "ill-appropriate")
William Congreve (1670-1729) – The Way of the World (1700)
William Wycherly (1640-1715) – The Country Wife (1675)
George Etheridge (c. 1637-1691) – She Would If She Could (1668)
The rise of Puritanism after the Puritan Revolution.
By the early 18th century (1700’s), these aristocratic and amoral plays became unpopular and the Neoclassical precept of teaching morals returned.
You can take short study quizzes based on textbook materials by going to the Student Online Learning Center page for our textbook...
This page and all linked pages in this directory are copyrighted © Eric W. Trumbull, 1998-2007.
Page last updated : November 16, 2007 |
Until the year 1555 the rules of ballgames were passed on orally. It can be taken for granted that their interpretation occasionally caused heated arguments. Not in the least when money had been put on the outcome of the match. It was essential | Until the year 1555 the rules of ballgames were passed on orally. It can be taken for granted that their interpretation occasionally caused heated arguments. Not in the least when money had been put on the outcome of the match. It was essential that play was regulated. In 1555 a young theologian at the court of Ferrara, Antonio Scaino, published a manual on how the various ballgames were to be played in a refined, courtly manner. His Trattato del Giuoco della Palla includes a comprehensive account of the game of tennis (giuoco della corda) and the publication was dedicated to Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Scaino never fails to emphasise what his Most Illustrious Prince's favourite ballgame was: palla a corda, either played with a racket or with the bare hand.
In Scaino's days there were separate tennis tournaments played for the two categories, so we read in the Trattato. The Italians and Spaniards played mainly with their bare hands. The French champions mentioned by Scaino, Verdelôt and Laches, struck the ball with a racket. Scaino's book was to spark a genuine boost of interest at all the Italian courts as well as among the urban elite. The aristocracy were eager to adopt the new regulations. In this way they could draw a line between themselves and the lower orders who played ballgames in the streets. The princely tennis courts were increasingly regulated in their layout. The disorderly was made orderly; the aristocracy had created a wonderful elitist recreation.
The different diagrams of tennis courts in Scaino's book make clear that there were two major types:
Of the two types the smaller court with the two galleries was the more popular in Italy until about 1580. This preference may well be attributed to the fact that, as far is now known, the racket came into vogue in Italy at a later stage than in, for example, France. This was probably the reason why Scaino chose the Louvre tennis court as the best example of the Jeu a Dedans variety and had included a plan of this major court in his treatise. According to Scaino the Louvre tennis court was built in the grand architectural style worthy of a king. He does not identify the architect involved, but it is not unlikely that the Louvre tennis court plan in his book was inspired by Sebastiano Serlio.
In 1540 King Francis I of France had employed Serlio's
services especially to advise on the Louvre renovation project. The second of
Serlio's Libro VI manuscripts includes two tennis courts for the Louvre
design. Serlio was the leading North Italian architect of his time, and he had a close
relationship with Duke Alfonso II d'Este's predecessor, Ercole II.
The second French project featuring a tennis court (of the jeu ´ dedans type)
which Serlio was involved in was Le Grand Ferrara, Cardinal
Ippolito II d'Este's (ErcoleII's brother) classical residence in Fontainebleau.
In 1571 Ippolito had written his nephew Alfonso, the commissioner of Scaino's book,
informing him that he was to create a tennis court
(= jeu ´ dedans) at his Villa d'Este in Tivoli and that he would appreciate
to have the Duke's advice on how to arrange the galleries alongside the walls of the court.
The period 1560-1580 saw a flurry of princely tennis court construction. Renaissance
princes constantly sought to outshine each other in all forms of recreational facilities,
also in the field of tennis court building. Ippolito's arch-rival to the papal
throne, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, commissioned the famous architect Vignola
with the erection of a beautiful 'pallacorda' at his favourite Villa Farnese in
Caprarola, not far from Tivoli. Alfonso II d'Este had a 'pallacorda' built
at both the Belfiore and the Belvedere villa, whereas he could still play a game at
Belriguardo, the court where young Galeazzo Maria Sforza played as early as 1457.
Another convert to the game, Grandduke Cosimo I de Medici, had tennis courts
(called pallatoio in Tuscany) erected at the Palazzo Pitti and at his Villa
at Poggio a Caiano. The building still stands in the north-east corner of
the villa gardens. Although the interior is not in its original state, this
'pallacorda' building is the only Renaissance tennis monument that has survived in Italy.
For the rest only the name
pallacorda remains in present-day streetnames, a
clear indication of how popular the game of tennis used to be. |
The word Shavuot means 'weeks' in Hebrew, and the festival marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. The holiday commemorates when the Jewish people received | The word Shavuot means 'weeks' in Hebrew, and the festival marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. The holiday commemorates when the Jewish people received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai declaring them as a nation.
The holiday is also known as the Festival of Harvest for agriculturally this is when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple. This is one of the many reasons we read The Book of Ruth on this holiday, since it occurred during the harvest season.
Though how Shavuout is known throughout the world and mainly celebrated is by preparing and eating decedent dairy dishes. Check out our Pintrest board here to get some ideas for recipes! |
Those looking for an antidote to holiday overindulgence may have added "drink more tea" to their lists of New Year's resolutions, given past studies linking the drink to health benefits. But new research indicates this could all be in vain | Those looking for an antidote to holiday overindulgence may have added "drink more tea" to their lists of New Year's resolutions, given past studies linking the drink to health benefits. But new research indicates this could all be in vain if you add a splash of milk.
German researchers have found that the relaxing effect of a few cups of ordinary black tea on the arteries is completely wiped out by milk.
After water, tea is the most widely drunk beverage in the world, and is increasingly popular in countries such as the US after reports that people who drink more tea have less cardiovascular disease and cancer. But these effects have been seen most clearly in east Asia, not in tea-loving countries such as the UK.
"That could be because there they almost always drink tea with milk," says Verena Stangl of the Charité Hospital in Berlin. She and her colleagues found that when middle-aged women drank half a litre of black Darjeeling, their arteries relaxed much more in response to artificially increased blood flow than without the tea. This ability prevents cardiovascular problems, and depends on eNOS, an enzyme that synthesises the chemical messenger nitrous oxide.
They found that tea also relaxed rings of rat aorta in the lab, and increased the activity of eNOS in cultured arterial cells fourfold. But when the tea had 10% of skimmed milk in it, it had none of these effects in women, rat aortas or cells.
Dissecting this further, the team found that casein proteins from milk blocked the effect of tea all by themselves. These proteins bind specifically to tea chemicals which cause rat aorta to relax, and especially a catechin called EGCG. Catechins are a kind of polyphenol, a group of chemicals long thought to underlie tea's healthful effects.
Researchers in the past have claimed that milk had no effect on tea because it does not change overall concentration of polyphenols in the blood. But, Stangl told New Scientist, what is important are specific polyphenols, such as EGCG - and milk does block those. "It probably also blocks tea's effect on other things, such as cancer," she says.
The group is now looking at whether green or black tea is better for you. Previous studies may have been confounded by the fact that black tea is often drunk with milk, while green tea is not.
Journal reference: European Heart Journal (DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehl442)
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to. |
A bill that would more than double renewable energy requirements for Colorado’s rural electric co-ops is being rushed through the Legislature and appears headed for the governor’s desk.
The bill requires the co-ops to get 25 percent of their energy from | A bill that would more than double renewable energy requirements for Colorado’s rural electric co-ops is being rushed through the Legislature and appears headed for the governor’s desk.
The bill requires the co-ops to get 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, up from the 10 percent by 2020 currently mandated.
We support efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and think renewable energy requirements should be increased. Harnessing the wind and sun to provide energy makes good sense.
But Senate Bill 252 goes too far, too fast, and would create a financial hardship for Colorado’s rural ranchers and farmers. The members are the owners of the nonprofit electric co-ops and would have to pay significantly higher rates to raise the estimated $3 billion that would be needed to comply with SB 252.
In Weld County, the unintended consequences of this legislation would be acute. Dairies rely heavily on electricity to power their automated operations, and the federal government sets the price of milk. If dairy operators must pay substantially increased electric bills, they can’t pass that on to their customers. Those increased costs would needlessly complicate the process of expanding Weld’s dairies to meet the growing demands of the new Leprino Foods cheese plant in Greeley.
Officials of the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, an electricity wholesaler that provides energy to 18 of Colorado’s 22 co-ops, say they are on track to meet the 10 percent renewable energy requirement by 2020 that they negotiated with the governor’s office in 2007.
From a practical standpoint, they say it would be nearly impossible to build enough wind farms and transmission lines — plus natural gas plants to provide backup power when the wind isn’t blowing — to meet the 25 percent requirement by 2020.
A reasonable compromise would be to lower the renewable energy mandate to 15 percent by 2020 or perhaps 20 percent by 2025. The co-ops could be given until 2030 to reach the 25 percent goal.
As renewable energy technology improves, it will become cheaper and easier to generate wind and solar power and the ranchers and farmers of rural Colorado would face smaller rate hikes spread out over many more years.
If the Legislature and governor decide that electric co-ops must hit the 25 percent renewable energy mark by 2020, they should let Tri-State — which currently gets 12-18 percent of its energy from large-scale hydropower projects managed by the federal Western Area Power Administration — count hydropower toward the 25 percent requirement.
Hydropower isn’t currently considered a renewable resource by the state but it is a cheap and renewable source of energy and has zero greenhouse gas emissions. If hydropower is factored in, the rural electric co-ops would be much closer to the 25 percent renewable energy goal and could reasonably get there by 2020.
As it stands now, SB 252 is a hasty, flawed and onerous bill that should not be approved by the Legislature or signed by the governor.
We urge the legislature and governor to negotiate a more reasonable renewable energy requirement for rural electric co-ops and give them the time they need to achieve it. |
Piriformis syndrome is one of the causes of sciatica, or irritation of the sciatic nerve. The piriformis is a deep muscle of the buttocks that lays beneath the gluteal muscles. It runs from the sacrum | Piriformis syndrome is one of the causes of sciatica, or irritation of the sciatic nerve. The piriformis is a deep muscle of the buttocks that lays beneath the gluteal muscles. It runs from the sacrum, the fused vertebrae at the bottom of the spine to the femur, or thigh bone. In most people, the sciatic nerve lays underneath the piriformis, but in up to 25 percent of people, the sciatic nerve will actually pass through the muscle.
The function of the piriformis is external rotation or rotation of the leg out as well as assist in abduction, or bringing the leg outward and away from the other leg. Of course, the piriformis isn’t a lone player in these movements and there are other muscles that work to rotate and abduct the leg.
When ice skating, the hip is slightly externally rotated so the toes point outward as the leg pushes off. The piriformis helps maintain efficient walking, running and skating strides. More females are affected by piriformis syndrome than males.
Symptoms of piriformis syndrome include pain in the buttock, decreased mobility and tightness of the hip, low back pain and pain radiating or shooting down the back of the leg. Because there is radiating pain, called radicular pain, it is important to differentiate simple sciatica from more serious problems such as herniated or ruptured vertebral disks, however piriformis syndrome usually does not cause numbness or tingling in the affected leg. The sciatic pain from piriformis syndrome usually worsens with sitting or squatting. In some women, piriformis syndrome can cause pain in the vulva area and pain with intercourse. Likewise, men may complain of scrotal pain.
The pain of piriformis syndrome can be reproduced by palpation or pushing on the gluteal area (mid-buttock), pain with elongation or stretching the piriformis by adduction of the hip or by flexion at the hip. The most common cause of piriformis syndrome is trauma to the buttock, through a fall or by blunt force, but other causes include overuse or anatomic variations where the sciatic nerve passes through the muscle. When the piriformis muscle suffers trauma, it begins to swell and put pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sometimes the muscle will go into spasms to help protect itself from further trauma and restrict motion in the pelvis.
Overuse of the muscle may include overtraining or training after a period of inactivity or a period of sudden activity increase like weekend tournaments. The athlete may be well-trained and well-conditioned; however the sudden increase in stress can cause the muscle to go into spasm. Sports that focus on explosive speed and quick acceleration may have a higher incidence of strain of the piriformis, such as a football running backs or hockey players.
Pregnant women are also prone to this because a hormone, relaxin, is released to help relax the ligaments and joints of the pelvis to accommodate a growing baby and childbirth. The widening of the pelvis can put an increased strain on the sacrum at the bottom of the spine where the piriformis attaches.
Piriformis syndrome is largely a diagnoses of exclusion, which means that other possibly diagnoses are explored and ruled out before the diagnosis of piriformis syndrome is made.
Once the diagnosis is made, treatment and rehabilitation can begin. Of course, the best treatment is prevention, including maintaining flexibility of the groin and hip through stretching, however physical therapy will help to ease muscle spasm and pain, and increase strength and flexibility. Heat is usually used in the form of warm whirlpool, hot packs and/or ultrasound heat. Other methods utilized at therapy include tissue mobilization, stretching, and eventually muscular strengthening.
Other methods of treatment include cortisone injection to reduce inflammation around the sciatic nerve, muscle injection with lidocaine to temporarily relax the muscle, or injection of botulism toxin, similar to botox, to actually paralyze the piriformis muscle. Botulism toxin is temporary and only lasts a couple of months, but sometimes if the muscle is paralyzed it is easier to manipulate and stretch
Surgical treatment is used as a last resort only and involves releasing or cutting the tendon of the piriformis where it attaches to the thigh bone or actually cutting a portion of the muscle to ease pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Disclaimer: Information on found in RICE & MICE on flyersfaithful.com is not intended to be medical advice. Any information or materials p |
In today’s Programming Praxis exercise, our task is to generate the Look and Say sequence (1, 11, 21, 1211, etc.). Let’s get started, shall we?
A quick import:
The algorithm is pretty | In today’s Programming Praxis exercise, our task is to generate the Look and Say sequence (1, 11, 21, 1211, etc.). Let’s get started, shall we?
A quick import:
The algorithm is pretty straightforward: convert the number to a string, replace each sequence of identical digits with the length followed by the digit and convert the result back to an integer. Repeat indefinitely.
lookAndSay :: Integer -> [Integer] lookAndSay = iterate (read. f. group. show) where f = (>>= \x -> show (length x) ++ take 1 x)
A test to see if everything is working properly:
main :: IO () main = print $ take 10 (lookAndSay 1) == [1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221, 1113213211, 31131211131221, 13211311123113112211]
Yup. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a Haskell Package that does run-length encoding, or I might have been able to do it in one line. |
Contrary to popular belief, a child’s tantrums are not always about a need to control a parent. “Many tantrums are the result of genuine emotional pain, which should be taken seriously: the pain of impotence, deep frustration, | Contrary to popular belief, a child’s tantrums are not always about a need to control a parent. “Many tantrums are the result of genuine emotional pain, which should be taken seriously: the pain of impotence, deep frustration, loss, disappointment, and feeling misunderstood. Only some tantrums are primarily motivated by a wish to have control over a parent” (Sunderland 120).
According to Sunderland, children display two types of tantrums, each of which requires very different handling responses. Sunderland identifies the two types of tantrums as a “distress tantrum” and the “little nero tantrum”. It is important to be able to identify the two types of tantrums because “with little Nero tantrums you need to move away from the child, and with distress tantrums you need to move towards the child with comfort and solace” (Sunderland 121).
In a distress tantrum, the alarm systems in a child’s lower brain are activated sending the child into a hyperaroused state with waves of stress hormones coursing through his body. When distressed, the child is unable to talk or listen and he needs sensitive handling from a caring parent who can meet his intense feelings of loss, frustration, or acute disappointment with sympathy and understanding. “Repeatedly getting angry with a child’s genuine distress can mean that the child never develops inhibitory mechanisms in his higher brain” (Sunderland 123).
A child experiencing a distress tantrum is calling for help from a parent to help her handle the strong emotions that she is unable to deal with.
How do you handle a child who is experiencing a distress tantrum?
A parent’s role is to provide a sense of safety, comfort and reassurance. Sunderland offers the following techniques to help calm a child:
- use simple calm actions or provide a simple choice – “for example if your child is upset about getting dressed, ask him whether he wants to wear his blue or brown trousers”
- use distraction – it activates the seeking system in the lower brain which can naturally “override the brain’s rage or distress systems. It also triggers a high level of dopamine” which is a chemical messenger in the brain that helps “reduce stress and triggers interest and motivation“
- hold your child tenderly – it is important that you feel calm and in control because your child needs to be near a calm person to help bring her “overaroused body and brain systems back into balance” (Sunderland 125)
- some children may feel safe and contained just by having a calm adult sit by them and talking gently
- avoid using “time out” – just as “you wouldn’t walk away from your best friend… if she is writhing and sobbing on the floor, so this is certainly not appropriate for children, who have far fewer emotional resources than adults”
- avoid putting a child in a room on her own – in such a case, a child who is put into a room alone may stop crying but research has shown that there is more cause for concern from this reaction because the child continues to cry internatlly. “Vocal crying is a request for help, silent, internal crying is a sign that the child has lost faith that help will come. In some people, this tragic loss of faith can stay for life”
- remember that a child’s distress is geniune – “a two year old who is screaming because his sibling has snatched a toy car is not just making a fuss. Research shows that a sense of loss activates the pain centers in the brain, causing an agonising opioid withdrawal. Because small children have been in the world for only a few years, they don’t have a clear perspective on life. As adults we have a backdrop of events and experiences that tell us that the loss of a toy car is a minor disappointment. But for a small child this loss can mean everything” (Sunderland 126).
How do you distinguish a distress tantrum from a little nero tantrum?
“When a child has a distress tantrum, you can see real anguish in his face” (Sunderland 123). Sunderland provides a couple of examples, such as “2-year-old Ben who is writhing on the shop floor because he had set his heart on shoes that did not fit” (123) and James who is disappointed by the fact that his “family has run out of his favourite breakfast cereal”. Neither child is being naughty, they are both extremely disappointed. The distress tantrum is a means of discharging the bodily arousal caused by frustration. What they require is a compassionate response from an understanding parent (122).
“During a distress tantrum, your child can’t think or speak rationally because his upper brain functions are hijacked by primitive emotional systems in his lower brain” (Sunderland 128).
“The little Nero tantrum is very different from a distress tantrum in that it is about the desire to control and manipulate. A child having a little Nero tantrum doesn’t experience or show the anguish, desperation, and panic that characterises the distress tantrum, and he doesn’t have stress chemicals flooding his brain and body.”
With a little Nero tantrum, a child is using “his frontal lobes… to produce behaviour that is calculated and deliberate” (Sunderland 128).
With a little Nero tantrum, “there is usually an absence of tears and the child is able to articulate her deman |
Salmon Virus Fears Voiced, Caution Advised
Scientists and fishermen are following news of a deadly fish virus found in British Columbia salmon. It’s a scary situation, but it may not be as bad as it sounds, at least | Salmon Virus Fears Voiced, Caution Advised
Scientists and fishermen are following news of a deadly fish virus found in British Columbia salmon. It’s a scary situation, but it may not be as bad as it sounds, at least for now. And it’s not a threat to people who eat salmon.
Infectious salmon anemia has badly damaged populations of farmed Atlantic salmon. So when scientists found the virus in a pair of wild, Pacific sockeyes, they were worried.
Should they be?
“It’s not a time to panic or overreact. I think some folks have been a little bit overly concerned about it,” says Ted Meyers, chief pathologist for Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game.
If confirmed, he says the virus, found in two central British Columbia fish, needs to be watched, and understood. That’s because it is a deadly disease that affects the blood and internal organs of salmon.
“Basically, they develop an anemia and they hemorrhage. And it can kill market-size fish,” he says.
The virus has badly damaged captive Atlantic stocks in Chile, Norway, Scotland and eastern Canada.
Pacific salmon are different, and Meyers says several thousand earlier tests by the British Columbia government showed no presence in wild fish.
But he warns this disease adapts.
“It’s possible that some of these viruses could mutate to potentially affect Pacific salmon. But that would probably occur under situations where there’s a selective pressure, like a hatchery situation or a pen farming situation or something of that nature,” Meyers says.
That’s what happened to farmed Pacific cohos in Chile in the late 1990s. Infectious salmon anemia spread quickly through cohos raised in net-pens along with Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the power of viruses,” says Dale Kelley, who heads up the Alaska Trollers Association.
The Juneau-based group is among commercial fishing organizations that want action.
“It’s a pretty scary situation for us all and we want to put it into context. We would like to continue to urge the Canadians and other fisheries professionals to make sure that they’re doing as much as fast as they can,” she says.
Some politicians agree. Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich have joined Washington Senator Maria Cantwell to ask Congress to require U.S. agencies to become involved. They want an emergency research effort to calculate how much of a threat the virus may pose.
Canadian officials have stepped up their interest. But they say they will decide on an action plan after they confirm identification of the virus.
Kelley says the initial diagnosis came from a lab that specializes in infectious salmon anemia. So, she asks, why wait?
“What we’ve seen out of Canada is a press release that says, if our tests, a few weeks down the road, come up with a finding of ISA, then we’ll be bring people together and then we’ll talk about what to do,” Kelley says. “It seems like there’s probably some information they could be gathering up, before winter hardens everything up, to at least give them a boost on sorting out the extent of the problem.”
Those concerned assume the virus came from Atlantic salmon in British Columbia fish farms. It appears to be the same European str |
Help needed! Suggestions on primary sources on prepositions!
I'm going to do a c-essay on prepositions, and I want to know if there is anyone who can suggest a novel, a short story or any text that is interesting when | Help needed! Suggestions on primary sources on prepositions!
I'm going to do a c-essay on prepositions, and I want to know if there is anyone who can suggest a novel, a short story or any text that is interesting when it comes to this grammatical feature?
My own suggestion is to look at prep. regarding how concrete prep. at some time in history also became usable and useful in the abstract sense as well (or was it the other way around?). "I long for you", "I have been thinking of you", "I'm caught with this unpleasant thought... " etc. are a few ex. of this linguistic phenomenon. I'm thinking of taking a look at some reasons for and/or distinctions between the concrete and the abstract. How did the preps. get abstr. in English and how did the corresponding preps. get abstract meaning in Swedish; and why do these abstract preps. differ in Swedish and English? Are the main research questions that my essay hopefully will find the answers to.
Another thing I'm not sure of is what primary material I'm going to use. It must, however, be material that is written in English and translated to Swedish. |
In 1915 Francis Picabia abandoned his exploration of abstract form and color to adopt a new machinist idiom that he used until about 1923. Unlike Robert Delaunay or Fernand Léger, who saw | In 1915 Francis Picabia abandoned his exploration of abstract form and color to adopt a new machinist idiom that he used until about 1923. Unlike Robert Delaunay or Fernand Léger, who saw the machine as an emblem of a new age, he was attracted to machine shapes for their intrinsic visual and functional qualities. He often used mechanomorphic images humorously as substitutes for human beings; for example, in Here, This is Stieglitz, 1915, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz is portrayed as a camera. In Very Rare Picture on the Earth a self-generating, almost symmetrical machine is presented frontally, clearly silhouetted against a flat, impassive background. Like Picabia’s own Amorous Parade of 1917 or Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even of 1915–23, the present work might be read as the evocation of a sexual event in mechanical terms. This dispassionate view of sex is consonant with the antisentimental attitudes that were to characterize Dada. The work has also been interpreted as representing an alchemical processor, in part because of the coating of the two upper cylinders with gold and silver leaf respectively.¹
Not only is Very Rare Picture on the Earth one of Picabia’s earliest mechanomorphic works, but it has been identified as his first collage.² Its mounted wooden forms and integral frame draw attention to the work as object—the picture is not really a picture, making it “very rare” indeed. Thus, an ironic note is added to the humorous pomposity of the inscription at upper left.
1. Ulf Linde, et al. Francis Picabia, exh. cat. (Paris: Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, 1976), p. 24.
2. William A. Camfield, Francis Picabia: His Art, Life and Times (Princeton: Princeton Universi |
Using a database to create a diet to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis
It is believed that sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Use the filter tool in Excel to determine which foods should be avoided because they | Using a database to create a diet to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis
It is believed that sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Use the filter tool in Excel to determine which foods should be avoided because they contain high concentrations of all of these substances. Include a printout of your report in your portfolio.
Download and open nutrition.xls (an Excel file). Use File/Open to open the nutrition.xls file if it does not open by double-clicking. Turn on AutoFilter (Data/Filter/AutoFilter). When it is on, small arrows appear in the field(column) headings. To sort the database, place the cursor in the first cell within a category (e.g. vit. C (mg), not in the category coordinate (e.g. A,B,C etc.). To perform record selection, use Data/Sort/SortBy and select the appropriate criteria to answer the question. |
Amid Big Promises, Plans Proceed For First GMO Foodcrop Release In India
India - India is about to serve as host to a newly developed genetically modified eggplant, the first ever GMO foodcrop for India. The plant has been genetically | Amid Big Promises, Plans Proceed For First GMO Foodcrop Release In India
India - India is about to serve as host to a newly developed genetically modified eggplant, the first ever GMO foodcrop for India. The plant has been genetically modified to contain a pesticide that will make it, proponents say, resistant to the fruit and shoot borer. Researchers admit they don't know if the GMO eggplant will continue to resist the target insect in the field and for how long; whether the Bt eggplant cross pollinates with other eggplants in the field and how far the Bt plants should be from other eggplant fields and whether nontarget insect populations are affected in the long term.
The GMO plant underwent preliminary tests in the environment. No human trials have been conducted in the US or India. Eggplant is a popular crop in the subtropics and tropics, especially in India and Bangladesh, where it is grown on about 1.5 million acres.
The GMO eggplant was developed in a joint effort between Cornell university, Sathguru Management Consultants of India and funding from the US Agency for international development. The developers of the genetically modified food anticipate that the eggplant will be under cultivation in India by 2009. While it is the first food crop, it isn't the first GMO crop. Farmers have grown a highly controversial, and commercially problamatic genetically altered cotton in India since 2002.
The GMO cotton has been the center of controversy and unexpected crop failures. A leading Indian newsmagazine, Frontline, reported in 2006 that farmers were promised that GMO cotton would make a huge difference in yields and profits. Instead they found a 'difference' they neither wanted nor expected: "The `difference', an unexpected one: the fields stand desolate; much of the cotton crop died prematurely. Many farmers have not even bothered to remove the skeleton of the crop that promised "white gold". The cotton farmers of Madhya Pradesh's Nimar region are known to be a prosperous lot. This year, however, they are feeling betrayed by the seed companies that sold them Bt cotton."
(See full article: http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127007013100.htm/ )
The engineered eggplant expresses a natural insecticide derived from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), making it resistant to the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), a highly destructive pest. The tiny larvae account for up to 40 percent of eggplant crop losses each year in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, and other areas of South and Southeast Asia.
Cornell researchers collaborated on the development of the Bt eggplant in 2002. A partner, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds, is hopping to commercialize the genetically modified fruit by 2009.
Some tests for the Bt eggplant have been conducted in India, in greenhouses and presently field trials. Preliminary tests suggest the eggplant appears nontoxic to fish, chickens, rabbits, goats, rats and cattle. Company representitives say it is nonallergenic. Promoters say future tests will see if the plant will continue to resist the target insect in the field and for how long; whether the Bt eggplant cross pollinates with other eggplants in the field and how far the Bt plants should be from other eggplant fields; whether nontarget insect populations are affected in the long term; and how yields compare with those of other eggplant varieties.
Similar to the promises of the promoters of the Bt cotton, promoters of the GMO food speculate that the Bt eggplant will reduce insecticide use by 30 percent while doubling the yield of marketable fruit.
India and Bangladesh together claim they'll plant 110,000 acres of the FSB-resistant eggplant commercially by the end of 2010 and 650,000 acres by 2015.
Some economists involved with the project speculate that Bt eggplant could result in lower prices for consumers, higher yields for farmers and, by 2015, boost the Indian economy by $411 million and the Bangladeshi economy by $37 million. Similar optimistic projections were made for Bt cotton. |
Stories @CSI: Green is definitely the new black - the brains behind Fashion Takes Action
By Charlotte Bondy, CSI Reporter
It’s safe to say that most of us wear clothes. In fact, I might even go so far as to | Stories @CSI: Green is definitely the new black - the brains behind Fashion Takes Action
By Charlotte Bondy, CSI Reporter
It’s safe to say that most of us wear clothes. In fact, I might even go so far as to suggest that the donning of garments is, for everyone, a quotidian task. This might seem like a banal observation, but for Kelly Drennan, founding executive director of Fashion Takes Action, it provides the foundation of her initiative.
Like so many wonderful things in life, the conception of FTA was relatively unplanned. Its initial seed was the 2007 Green Gala, a fundraising event in support of Environmental Defence that featured ten leading Canadian designers showcasing three outfits made from sustainable fabrics. With the enormously positive feedback from the event and a growing need for an organization to support the sustainable fashion movement in Canada, FTA rapidly evolved into what it is today. That is, Canada’s premier non-profit organization that focuses on sustainability in the fashion industry and changing the way we create and consume fashion.
I had the opportunity to speak with the brains behind Fashion Takes Action: Kelly Drennan herself. Kelly told me a bit about the genesis of the organization, their mission and vision, and the reasons she has to look at the textile-industry-glass as half full.
In 2009, FTA launched officially as a members-based organization. They began to offer a number of services to their members: from business mentoring and capacity building to hosting online tutorials and networking events. So who are these members? Drennan says that although they tried to penetrate corporate brands and multi-nationals in the early years, those companies weren’t yet willing to make major movements towards being more sustainable. The bulk of their member base right now is comprised of smaller independent designers and boutiques that are deeply committed to promoting ethical and sustainable fashion.
The social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry are wide-ranging: labour practices and waste disposal, energy and water usage, and life-threatening toxic chemicals. However, Drennan cites consumer awareness as FTA’s biggest challenge to overcome. “From a waste perspective,” she says, “we are simply over consuming.” Drennan rattles off an appalling statistic to back this up: “the textile industry pollutes 5,640,000 Olympic sized swimming pools per year.”
“Unfortunately,” says Drennan, “fashion seems to fall off the end of the priority spectrum. In some people’s minds it seems like an almost luxury.” FTA is trying to promote the exact opposite message: in the same way that food and water are an integral part of our daily lives, so too is clothing. FTA isn’t at all about haute couture. “We have the word fashion in our name because Fashion Takes Action had a much better ring than Apparel Takes Action,” Kelly tells me, laughing.
Drennan worries that when people hear the term “eco-fashion” their minds wander immediately to scratchy hemp pants and t-shirts made from recycled burlap sacks. This is not at all what they’re about. As Drennan articulates, “that’s why we offer eco-fashion shows. We want to show people that eco-fashion looks awesome, is affordable, and why its important.”
Drennan believes that the entire face of mainstream fashion is going to change within the next 5 years. “More and more companies are signing up to improve the standards and conditions in their factories. Especially after the tragedy in Bangladesh.” She also describes the work of the Better Cotton Initiative; a European-funded organization that is serving to revolutioniz |
By Marsha Ternus, Michael Streit and David Baker
Iowa justices are required to take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the state of Iowa. Yet, once again, a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court is being targeted for | By Marsha Ternus, Michael Streit and David Baker
Iowa justices are required to take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the state of Iowa. Yet, once again, a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court is being targeted for doing just that.
America’s system of justice is based on the rule of law, a process of governing by laws that are applied fairly and uniformly to all people. The rule of law protects the civil, political, economic and social rights of all citizens — not just the rights of the most vocal, the most popular, or the most powerful. Applying the rule of law is the duty of the courts.
Our Founding Fathers considered judicial independence an indispensable part of the rule of law. “Judicial independence” means a judiciary that is committed to the rule of law, independent of — free of — outside influence, whether that influence is from a political party or politician, a private interest or popular opinion.
Alexander Hamilton stated in the Federalist Papers that “[t]he complete independence of the courts of justice [was] essential.” He recognized it was the duty of courts “to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.” “Without this,” he said, “all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.”
Our Constitution says
The Iowa Constitution expressly adopted this view: “This constitution shall be the supreme law of the land,” and “any law inconsistent therewith, shall be void.”
Constitutional provisions are given meaning when the courts resolve disputes between citizens and their government, including claims by citizens that the government has violated their constitutional rights. Regardless of whether a particular result will be popular, courts must protect the supremacy of the constitution by declaring an unconstitutional statute void. That is what the Iowa Constitution requires and that is what justices promise to do in their oath of office.
In Varnum v. Brien, a group of Iowans claimed a provision of Iowa’s marriage statute was inconsistent with the Iowa Constitution. Iowa’s marriage statute states: “Marriage is a civil contract,” but “[o]nly a marriage between a male and a female is valid.” Relying on this provision, the Polk County recorder refused to issue marriage licenses to six same-sex couples. They sued the recorder, claiming this statutory prohibition violated the equality clause in the Iowa Constitution, which states: “[T]he general assembly shall not grant to any citizen or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.”
Many marriage benefits
More than 200 benefits and privileges are given to married couples under Iowa law. The court considered the constitutionality of the Legislature’s restriction of these benefits and privileges to a limited class of citizens, using the same analysis the court had applied in many prior cases. The court unanimously concluded in 2009 that the statutory restriction violated the Iowa Constitution’s equality clause. Because the Io |
In 1948, George Gamow, using the big bang model, predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), sometimes referred to as the cosmic background radiation (CBR or CMBR). In 1965, Ar | In 1948, George Gamow, using the big bang model, predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), sometimes referred to as the cosmic background radiation (CBR or CMBR). In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered what had been predicted, and for their CMB findings, they received the Nobel Prize in physics (1978).
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) supposedly arises from an era that took place about 400,000 years after the big bang, when matter had cooled to a temperature of approximately 3,000 K, which allowed electrons and protons to combine to form stable hydrogen atoms for the first time. Prior to this hypothetical “age of recombination,” photons of light could not travel far before they were absorbed by the electrons. This made the universe opaque. After this time, the universe would have been transparent, allowing photons to decouple from matter and pass mostly unhindered through space. Today, we see the radiation from the “age of recombination” coming from all directions after it had traveled billions of light years, but since the universe has expanded about a thousandfold since, this distant radiation h |
4. Gigantochloa verticillata (Willdenow) Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London. 26: 123. 1868.
花巨竹 hua ju zhu
Bamb | 4. Gigantochloa verticillata (Willdenow) Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London. 26: 123. 1868.
花巨竹 hua ju zhu
Bambusa verticillata Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 2: 245. 1799; Arundo maxima Loureiro (1790), not Forsskål (1775); B. maxima (Loureiro) Poiret; B. pseudoarundinacea Steudel; Gigantochloa maxima (Loureiro) Kurz; G. pseudoarundinacea (Steudel) Widjaja.
Culms 8–15 m, 7–10 cm in diam.; internodes yellow striate, 28–42 cm, white or brown hispid; wall ca. 1.6 cm thick. Branches several, central dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, green, yellow striate initially, later brown, leathery, initially densely white hispid, margins ciliate; auricles minute, inconspicuous; oral setae absent; ligule ca. 3 mm, irregularly serrate or fimbriate; blade reflexed. Leaf sheath initially pubescent; ligule 5–10 mm, entire; blade 24–47 × 3.5–7 cm. Inflorescence unknown.
Tropical rain forests; 500–800 m. Hong Kong, S Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].
The application of names to this bamboo has been contentious and it is widely known as Gigantochloa pseudoarundinacea. Further study of types is required.
This species is widely planted as an ornamental. |
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ROOFING INSPECTION & REPAIR
AMERICAN CEMWOOD ROOFING
BEST ROOFING | Question? Just ask us!
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ROOFING INSPECTION & REPAIR
AMERICAN CEMWOOD ROOFING
BEST ROOFING PRACTICES
BUILT UP ROOFS
CATHEDRAL CEILING VENTILATION
CERTIFICATIONS for ROOFING CONTRACTORS
CHIMNEY FLASHING Mistakes & Leaks
COLD WEATHER ROOF TROUBLE
DECKS, ROOFTOP CONSTRUCTION
EPDM, RUBBER, PVC ROOFING
EXTRACTIVE BLEEDING on SHINGLES
FIRE RETARDANT PLYWOOD
FLASHING on BUILDINGS
FLASHING, ASPHALT SHINGLE VALLEYS
FLASHING, CHIMNEY Mistakes & Leaks
FLASHING, CLAY TILE ROOFS
FLASHING MEMBRANES PEEL & STICK
FLASHING for METAL ROOFS
FLASHING ROOF WALL DETAILS
FLASHING ROOF-WALL SNAFU
FLASHING SIDING DETAILS
FLASHING WALL DETAILS
FLASHING WINDOW DETAILS
FLASHING WOOD ROOF DETAILS
FLAT ROOF MOISTURE & CONDENSATION
Green House or Solarium Roof Leaks
HEAT TAPES & CABLES on Roofs for Ice Dams
ICE DAM PREVENTION
MASONITE WOODRUF FIBERBOARD ROOFING
NOISE CONTROL for ROOFS
PLASTIC ROOFING TYPES
PVC, EPDM, RUBBER ROOFING
ROOF ARCHITECTURAL STYLES - PHOTO GUIDE
ROOF CLEANING RECOMMENDATIONS
ROOF COLOR RECOMMENDATIONS
ROOF DORMER TYPES - PHOTO GUIDE
ROOF INSPECTION SAFETY & LIMITS
ROOF JOB PROBLEMS, RESOLVING
ROOF LEAK DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR
ROOF NOISE TRANSMISSION
ROOF REPLACEMENT SNAFUs
ROOFING FELT UNDERLAYMENT REQUIREMENTS
ROOFING MATERIALS, Age, Types
ROOFING TILE SHAPES & PROFILES
ROOFING UNDERLAYMENT BEST PRACTICES
SADDLE CONSTRUCTION at CHIMNEYS
SNOW GUARDS & SNOW BRAKES
STANDARDS for ROOFING
STRESS SKIN INSULATED PANELS
TEST LABS - ROOF SHINGLE
TREES & SHRUBS, TRIM OFF BUILDING
TRUSSES, Floor & Roof
UNDERLAYMENT REQUIREMENTS on ROOFS
VENTILATION in BUILDINGS
WALK-ON ROOF SURFACES
WARRANTIES for ROOF SHINGLES
WORKMANSHIP & ROOF DAMAGE
Roof measurement methods: here we describe various methods for measuring all roof data: roof slope or pitch, rise, run, area, and other features. We include on-roof measurements, roof measurements or estimates that can be made from ground level, and several neat tricks using a folding ruler to measure roof angle or slope. This article shows how simple measurements can give the roof area without having to walk on the roof surface.
This article series gives clear examples just about every possible way to figure out any or all roof dimensions and measurements expressing the roof area, width, length, slope, rise, run, and unit rise in inches per foot.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved.
Here are examples of every method we can think of for measuring the pitch or slope of a roof from various positions on the roof, near the roof, and from ground level.
There are several neat tricks that allow you to just a carpenter's rule to get a close approximation of the roof slope or pitch. We describe all of them here. All of these examples work best for a simple gable end roof. Additional measures may be needed for hip roofs, mansards, and intersecting gables.
How to Measure Roof Slope from On the Roof
To use the direct roof slope measurement procedure shown just abofe, in addition to safe access to a roof that won't be damaged by touching or walking on it, you need: a tape measure and a carpenter's level. This procedure to measure roof slope can be performed on the roof or from a ladder at roof edge. [Click to enlarge the image].
You need: a tape measure and a carpenter's level. The procedure is like the on-roof example above, but flipped upside down.
As with measuring roof slope on the roof, inside the attic allw e need is a simple carpenter's level and a tape measure. We use the level to measure out from |
Capital Punishment and the Bible
The Bible is the written Word of God. Within its pages, we find the wisdom of God. We find what is best for the human race—how God intends for life to be conducted. What is God | Capital Punishment and the Bible
The Bible is the written Word of God. Within its pages, we find the wisdom of God. We find what is best for the human race—how God intends for life to be conducted. What is God’s view of capital punishment? Both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament address this subject.
OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING
Very early in human history, God decreed that murderers were to forfeit their own lives: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he the man” (Genesis 9:6). This standard continued into the Mosaic period (cf. Numbers 35:33). As a matter of fact, the law God gave to Moses to regulate the Israelite nation made provision for at least sixteen capital crimes. In sixteen instances, the death penalty was to be invoked. The first four may be categorized as pertaining to civil matters.
1. Under the law of Moses, the death penalty was required in cases of premeditated murder (Exodus 21:12-14,22-23; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:16-21). This regulation even included the situation in which two men might be fighting and, in the process, cause the death of an innocent bystander or her unborn infant. It did not include accidental homicide, which we call “manslaughter.”
2. Kidnapping was a capital crime under the Old Testament (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7). One movie, which was based on an actual incident, depicted the kidnapping of a seven-year-old boy as he was walking home from school. The man who stole him kept him for some seven years, putting the child through emotional and sexual abuse, before the boy, at age fifteen, was finally returned to his parents. He was a different child, and never again would be the same. God would not tolerate such a thing in the Old Testament, and much of the same would be stopped in America if such crimes were taken more seriously.
3. A person could be put to death for striking or cursing his parents (Exodus 21:15,17; Leviticus 20:9). Jesus alluded to this point in Matthew 15:4 and Mark 7:10.
4. Incorrigible rebelliousness was punishable by death (Deuteronomy 17:12). For example, a stubborn, disobedient, rebellious son who would not submit to parents or civil authorities was to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
The next six capital crimes can be identified as more specifically pertaining to religious matters.
5. Sacrificing to false gods was a capital crime in the Old Testament (Exodus 22:20).
6. Violating the Sabbath brought the death penalty (Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36).
7. Blasphemy, or cursing God, warranted the death penalty (Leviticus 24:10-16,23).
8. The false prophet, specifically one who tried to entice the people to idolatry, was to be executed (Deuteronomy 13:1-11), as were the people who were so influenced (Deuteronomy 13:12-18).
9. Human sacrifice was a capital crime (Leviticus 20:2). The Israelites were tempted to offer their children to false pagan deities, like Molech. But such was despicable to God.
10. Divination, or the dabbling in the magical arts, was a capital crime. Consequently, under Mosaic law, witches, sorcerers, wizards, mediums, charmers, soothsayers, diviners, spiritists, and enchanters were to be put to death (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26,31; 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:9-14).
The next six crimes pertain to sexual matters.
11. Adultery was punishable by death under the Old Testament (Leviticus 20:10-21; Deuteronomy 22:22). Can you imagine what would happen in our own country if adultery brought the death penalty? Most of Hollywood would be wiped out, as well as a sizeable portion of the rest of our population!
12. Bestiality, i.e., having sexual relations with an animal, was punishable by death (Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:15-16).
13. Incest was a capital offense in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:6-17; 20:11-12,14).
14. Homosexuality was a capital crime (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13).
15. Premarital sex brought the death penalty (Leviticus 21:9; Deuteronomy 22:20-21).
16. Rape of an engaged or married woman was a capital crime in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). Again, imagine what would happen in this country if rape brought the death penalty! Much of the unconscionable treatment of women now taking place would be terminated.
Capital punishment was written into God’s will for the Jewish nation in the Old Testament. The death penalty was a viable form of punishment for at least sixteen separate offenses. Some people have misunderstood one of the Ten Commandments which says, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). They have assumed that the |
CDC's HIV Prevention Programs in South Africa:
Most At-Risk Populations
Developing New Strategies to Prevent the Spread of HIV
South Africa s HIV epidemic is generalized among the population, but a subset of groups is at particularly higher risk for | CDC's HIV Prevention Programs in South Africa:
Most At-Risk Populations
Developing New Strategies to Prevent the Spread of HIV
South Africa s HIV epidemic is generalized among the population, but a subset of groups is at particularly higher risk for HIV transmission. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) defines most-at-risk populations (MARPs) those groups that have higher than average HIV prevalence when compared to the general population. At-risk populations are among the most marginalized and most likely to be stigmatized. In addition, resources and national HIV-prevention campaigns are not necessarily geared to their specific HIV prevention, treatment and care needs. The definition of MARPS, however, varies from country to country, and in South Africa, the HSRC defines MARPS as:
- African females aged 20 34
- African males aged 25 49
- Men who have sex with men (MSM)
- High-risk drinkers
- People who use drugs for recreational purposes
- People with disabilities
These groups are more vulnerable to HIV infection due to a variety of factors such as;
more frequent exposure to the virus, involvement in risky behaviors, potentially weak
family and social support systems, marginalization, lack of resources, and inadequate
access to health-care services.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in South Africa (CDC South Africa), through its Global AIDS Program (GAP), is working to develop, support, and strengthen HIV prevention and treatment interventions aimed at these most at-risk populations (MARPs). CDC South Africa is conducting a systematic review of activities targeting MARPs, including MSM, Recent data from three studies presented at the 4th South African AIDS conference show HIV prevalence rates among MSM ranging from 12.6% to 47.2%.
The NDOH has called for a concerted effort to provide comprehensive prevention services to this hard to reach target population. MARPs are a relatively new focus area under the U.S. President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through which GAP initiatives are implemented. Future prevention efforts will place more emphasis on key risk populations and drivers of the epidemic. CDC South Africa s priorities for the prevention of HIV transmission among MARPS include:
- Implementing community-based approaches to behavior change, including
peer education and outreach targeted at hard-to-reach groups
- Distributing condoms and lubricants and promoting correct and consistent
- Supporting innovative initiatives to promote counseling and testing and HIV
rapid testing in non-clinical settings
- Promoting sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening and treatment for all persons at high risk for HIV and STIs as part of HIV prevention, treatment and care
- Promoting and supporting substance abuse prevention and treatment programs that target HIV-infected individuals
- Strengthening linkages between HIV prevention and HIV treatment and care services
Crucial to the success of HIV prevention strategies targeting MARPs will be effective mapping of service coverage and coverage gaps, attention to sustainability, and improvement of surveillance and epidemiological data for MARPs. Many of these populations remain hidden and can be difficult to reach. Researchers are considering respondent-driven sampling methodology, in which members of the at-risk population refer their peers for participation in the survey.
Two key CDC South Africa partners currently conducting MARPs research are:
- The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) developing a national surveillance system for MSM and working with organizations who have access to this |
Certain options are available in all of these programs. Rather than writing identical descriptions for each of the programs, they are described here. (In fact, every GNU program accepts (or should accept) these options.)
Normally options and operands can appear in | Certain options are available in all of these programs. Rather than writing identical descriptions for each of the programs, they are described here. (In fact, every GNU program accepts (or should accept) these options.)
Normally options and operands can appear in any order, and programs act as if all the options appear before any operands. For example, ‘sort -r passwd -t :’ acts like ‘sort -r -t : passwd’, since ‘:’ is an option-argument of -t. However, if the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set, options must appear before operands, unless otherwise specified for a particular command.
A few programs can usefully have trailing operands with leading ‘-’. With such a program, options must precede operands even if POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set, and this fact is noted in the program description. For example, the env command's options must appear before its operands, since in some cases the operands specify a command that itself contains options.
Most programs that accept long options recognize unambiguous abbreviations of those options. For example, ‘rmdir --ignore-fail-on-non-empty’ can be invoked as ‘rmdir --ignore-fail’ or even ‘rmdir --i’. Ambiguous options, such as ‘ls --h’, are identified as such.
Some of these programs recognize the --help and --version options only when one of them is the sole command line argument. For these programs, abbreviations of the long options are not always recognized.
A single ‘-’ operand is not really an option, though it looks like one. It stands for standard input, or for standard output if that is clear from the context. For example, ‘sort -’ reads from standard input, and is equivalent to plain ‘sort’, and ‘tee -’ writes an extra copy of its input to standard output. Unless otherwise specified, ‘-’ can appear as any operand that requires a file name. |
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that all children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that all children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. Prior to IDEA, over 4 million children with disabilities were denied appropriate access to public education. Many children were denied entry into public school altogether, while others were placed in segregated classrooms, or in regular classrooms without adequate support for their special needs (Katsiyannis, Yell, Bradley, 2001; Martin, Martin, Terman, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 2010).
IDEA has four distinct sections; sections A, B, C and D. Part A of IDEA lays out the basic foundation for the rest of the Act. This section defines the terms used within the Act as well as providing for the creation of the Office of Special Education Programs, which is responsible for administering and carrying out the terms of IDEA (IDEA, 1997).
Part B of IDEA is the section which lays out the educational guidelines for school children 3-21 years of age. By law, states are required to educate students with disabilities (Martin, Martin, & Terman, 1996). IDEA provides financial support for state and local school districts. However to receive funding, school districts must comply with six main principles set out by IDEA:
- Every child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE).
- When a school professional believes that a student between the ages of 3 and 21 may have a disability that has substantial impact on the student's learning or behavior, the student is entitled to an evaluation in all areas related to the suspected disability.
- Creation of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The purpose of the IEP is to lay out a series of specific actions and steps through which educational providers, parents and the student themselves may reach the child's stated goals.
- That the education and services for children with disabilities must be provided in the least restrictive environment, and if possible, those children be placed in a "typical" education setting with non-disabled students.
- Input of the child and their parents must be taken into account in the education process.
- When a parent feels that an IEP is inappropriate for their child, or that their child is not receiving needed services, they have the right under IDEA to challenge their child's treatment (due process). (DREDF, 2008; Kastiyannis, Yell, Bradley, 2001; Turnbull, Huerta, & Stowe, 2004).
Part C of IDEA recognizes the need for identifying and reaching very young children with disabilities. This portion of IDEA provides guidelines concerning the funding and services to be provides to children from birth through 2 years of age. Families are entitled to several services through part C of IDEA (IDEA, 1997).
- Every family is entitled to appropriate, timely, and multidisciplinary identification and intervention services for their very young child. These services must be made available to all families with infants and toddlers.
- Families are required to receive an Individualized family Service Plan (IFSP). This plan lays out the priorities, resources and concerns of the family. In addition it describes the goals of the child, the services to be provided to the child, and steps for eventual transitioning of the child into formal education.
- Families have a right to participate in the creation of the IFSP, and must give consent prior to the initiation of intervention services.
- Lastly, parents are entitled to timely resolution of all conflicts or complaints regarding the evaluation or services provided to their child.
The final section of IDEA, part D, describes national activities to be undertaken to improve the education of children with disabilities. These activities include grants to improve the education and transitional services provided to students with disabilities. In addition this section provides resources to support programs, projects and activities which contribute positive results for children with disabilities (IDEA, 1997).
In 2010 the U.S. Department of Education published a report acknowledging the 35th anniversary of IDEA. The report highlighted many of the achievements gained as a result of this legislation including the increase in college enrollment and decrease in high school dropouts.
- Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. (2008). A guide for California parents: Special education due process meeting and the resolution meeting. Retrieved from http://www.dredf.org/special_education/dueprocess.pdf
- Individuals with Disability Education Act Amendments of 1997 [IDEA]. (1997). Retrieved from http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php
- Katsiyannis, A., Yell, M., & Bradley, R. (2001). Reflections on the 25th anniversary of the individuals with disabilities education act. Remedial and Special Education, 22, 324-334.
- Martin, E., Martin, R., & Terman, D. (1996). The legislative and litigation history of special education. The Future of Children, 6, 25-39.
- Turnbull, H. (2005). Individuals with disabilities education act reauthorization: Accountability and personal responsibility. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 320-326.
- Turnbull, H., Huerta, N., & Stowe, M. (2004). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as Amended in 2004. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
- U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Thirty-five Years of Progress in Educating Children With Disabilities Through IDEA. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/idea35/history/idea-35-history.pdf
- Yell, M., Rogers, D., & Rogers, E. (1998). The legal history of special education: What a long strange trip it's been. Remedial and Special Education, 19, 219-228.
For more information, please contact Stefanie Reeves in the Public Interest Government Relations Office at (202) 336-606 |
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The Tibetan word bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or "liminal state". In Sanskrit the concept has the name ant | |Part of a series on|
The Tibetan word bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or "liminal state". In Sanskrit the concept has the name antarabhāva. It is a concept which arose soon after the Buddha's passing, with a number of earlier Buddhist groups accepting the existence of such an intermediate state, while other schools rejected it.
Used loosely, the term "bardo" refers to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. For the prepared and appropriately trained individuals the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality, while for others it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth.
The term bardo can also be used metaphorically to describe times when our usual way of life becomes suspended, as, for example, during a period of illness or during a meditation retreat. Such times can prove fruitful for spiritual progress because external constraints diminish. However, they can also present challenges because our less skillful impulses may come to the foreground, just as in the sidpa bardo.
Intermediate state in Indian Buddhism
From the records of early Buddhist schools, it appears that at least six different groups accepted the notion of an intermediate existence (antarābhava), namely, the Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila and late Mahīśāsaka. The first four of these are closely related schools. Opposing them were the Mahāsāṃghika, early Mahīśāsaka, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda and the Śāriputra Abhidharma (possibly Dharmagupta) (Bareau 1955: 291).
Some of the earliest references we have to the “intermediate existence” are to be found in the Sarvāstivādin text the Mahāvibhāṣa 《阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論》. For instance, the Mahāvibhāṣa indicates a “basic existence” (本有), an “intermediate existence” (中有), a “birth existence” (生有) and “death existence” (死有) (CBETA, T27, no. 1545, p. 959, etc.). Bareau (1955: 143) provides the arguments of the Sarvāstivāda as follows:
The intermediate being who makes the passage in this way from one existence to the next is formed, like every living being, of the five aggregates (skandha). His existence is demonstrated by the fact that it cannot have any discontinuity in time and space between the place and moment of death and those of rebirth, and therefore it must be that the two existences belonging to the same series are linked in time and space by an intermediate stage. The intermediate being is the Gandharva, the presence of which is as necessary at conception as the fecundity and union of the parents. Furthermore, the Antarāparinirvāyin is an Anāgamin who obtains parinirvāṇa during the intermediary existence. As for the heinous criminal guilty of one of the five crimes without interval (ānantarya), he passes in quite the same way by an intermediate existence at the end of which he is reborn necessarily in hell.
Deriving from a later period of the same school, though with some differences, Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa explains (English trs. p. 383ff):
What is an intermediate being, and an intermediate existence? Intermediate existence, which inserts itself between existence at death and existence at birth, not having arrived at the location where it should go, cannot be said to be born. Between death-that is, the five skandhas of the moment of death – and arising – that is, the five skandhas of the moment of rebirth-there is found an existence-a "body" of five skandhas-that goes to the place of rebirth. This existence between two realms of rebirth (gatī) is called intermediate existence.
He cites a number of texts and examples to defend the notion against other schools which reject it and claim that death in one life is immediately followed by rebirth in the next, without any intermediate state in between the two. Both the Mahāvibhāṣa and the Abhidharmakośa have the notion of the intermediate state lasting "seven times seven days" (i.e. 49 days) at most. This is one view, though, and there were also others.
Similar arguments were also used in Harivarman’s *Satyasiddhi Śāstra, a quasi-Mahāyāna text, and the Upadeśa commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, both of which have strong influence from the Sarvāstivāda school. Both of these texts had powerful influence in Chinese Buddhism, which also accepts this idea as a rule.
The Saddharma-smṛty-upasthāna Sūtra (正法念處經) classifies 17 intermediate states with different exper |
by Tom Kenworthy
Changing water temperatures and stream flows combined with drought and increasing wildfires from global warming are creating a bleak outlook for trout in the western U.S., according to a new study.
“Despite the best intentions, we will not be | by Tom Kenworthy
Changing water temperatures and stream flows combined with drought and increasing wildfires from global warming are creating a bleak outlook for trout in the western U.S., according to a new study.
“Despite the best intentions, we will not be able to preserve all populations of native trout in the Rocky Mountains this century,” concludes a paper that has been published in the December issue of the journal Fisheries. The study looked at five river basins in the West and was conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Colorado State University.
Though the study does not look at the economic implications of these changes, they could be large. Trout fishing is a significant part of the West’s recreational economy. According to a 2006 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nearly 1.6 million anglers pursue trout in the Mountain West. Nationally, trout fishermen spent $4.8 billion in 2006 — generating about $13.5 billion in economic activity, sustaining more than 109,000 jobs, and yielding more than $1.8 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues.
Numerous earlier studies have predicted big declines in trout populations under climate change; this most recent one looks at how coldwater fish habitats have already been changing in recent decades in some of the region’s most important river basins, including the Flathead in northern Montana, the Boise in Idaho, the Green in Wyoming, the Rio Grande in Colorado, and the Greater Yellowstone region of northwest Wyoming and southwest Montana.
The warming trend of recent decades — a mean increase in temperatures of.8 degrees Celsius during the 20th century — has raised stream temperatures and altered normal water flows. For fish like trout that depend on cold water, this has brought on a range of effects: less summer habitat, migrations to higher altitudes and cooler waters, greater competition with non-native species and more hybridization, and less reproduction success.
“Many [trout] populations and species will retain enough flexibility to adapt … but others are likely to be overwhelmed by future changes,” the report concludes.
Tom Kenworthy is a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund. |
Wind Energy Development Map: FAQ
The map displays both pending and authorized wind testing areas as well the many natural resource considerations that influence wind energy development on BLM administered lands in eastern Oregon. The BLM provides this map of potential wind energy development | Wind Energy Development Map: FAQ
The map displays both pending and authorized wind testing areas as well the many natural resource considerations that influence wind energy development on BLM administered lands in eastern Oregon. The BLM provides this map of potential wind energy development information and key regional natural resource information to foster collaborative solutions in the planning and siting of infrastructure projects on public lands.
The map highlights where there are opportunities for wind energy development and also where there are areas of potential conflict between wind energy development and high value natural resources.
The colored areas represent public lands with important natural resource values and indicate the potential degree of complexity wind energy development will likely face within those areas. Where there are high concentrations of important resource values, there would be a higher level of complexity in the development of wind energy. If an area has one or more colors this indicates there may be an increased potential of conflict for wind energy development, and more research and discussion is needed.
The "BLM Special Emphasis Areas" are the only mapped areas that are currently restricted or disqualified from wind energy development consideration. The "ODFW Sage-grouse Core Area and Low Density Area GIS layers" indicate areas that could also be challenging and complex for wind energy development proposals. Both the "BLM Special Emphasis Areas" and "ODFW Sage-grouse Core Area and Low Density Area GIS layers" are discussed in detail below.
The scale of the map is regional and covers the vast landscape of eastern Oregon. The regional information provided in this map does not necessarily include site level information. All potential wind energy development projects are subject to site level analysis and verification.
The Oregon/Washington BLM district offices east of the Cascades have experienced a several-fold increase in the number of applications for Right-of-Ways (ROWs) for possible wind development and other forms of renewable energy in the last five years, primarily in sagebrush habitat. In response to this application increase, the BLM map focuses on sagebrush obligate species including Greater Sage-grouse habitat, pygmy rabbit habitat, and mule deer winter range because these species or their habitats are important from a regional conservation perspective where cumulative effects can become a major issue; they occupy habitat upon which numerous additional sagebrush obligate species rely, the BLM administers a substantial portion of the species habitat; they have economic significance; they are regulated under existing law (Endangered Species Act, Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act), or they have the potential to be listed as threatened or endangered.
BLM manages a substantial portion of the mule deer's winter range. Mule deer winter ranges transcend jurisdictional boundaries requiring coordination among the BLM District Offices. The "Challenges & Opportunities" map uses Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) generated geospatial statewide coverage data to show important winter ranges.
Mule deer habitats are facing unprecedented threats from a wide variety of human-related developments and Federal agencies such as the BLM are integral to the conservation of the remaining tracts of mule deer habitat. A 2001 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reports that over 4 million people hunted mule deer in the 18 western states. Mule deer are valued as an integral part of the western landscape by hunters and non-hunters alike. According to the same FWS survey, 22.5 million residents in 18 western states spent 102.6 million days "watching wildlife" in 2001.
Pygmy rabbits were selected for the map because the BLM administers a vast majority of their remaining habitat. Like the mule deer, the pygmy rabbit's habitat transcends jurisdictional boundaries and there is a need for landscape scale management to conserve the species. The existing range and location of known sites and areas of influence are depicted in the Maps and are the result of surveys completed by Oregon BLM and are based on the known science for this species, which is limited at this time.
The pygmy rabbit is considered a sensitive species/species of concern by the BLM in Oregon. The pygmy rabbit has a broad distribution within Great Basin sagebrush communities but current populations are scattered due to habitat loss (Weiss and Verts 1984, Gabler et al. 2000). This species is known to occupy less than 5 to 10 % of its former geographic range and was listed by Washington State as an endangered species by emergency rule on November 30, 2001. A current petition seeks listing for the rabbit over its entire range.
Greater Sage-grouse were selected for the map because of their importance as a sagebrush ecosystem health indicator species and because of the recent FWS, March 15, 2010 "warranted but precluded" decision relative to the listing of Greater Sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act (see question 6 for more information). Federal lands make up about 72% of the remaining North American Greater Sage-grouse habitat. Of that total, 52% is managed by the BLM. Oregon Greater Sage-grouse populations make up at least 20% of the total North American population and the Oregon/Washington BLM manages 70% of the remaining Greater Sage-grouse habitat in the state. As an active partner in Federal, state, and local Greater Sage-grouse conservation planning efforts and as the primary Federal manager of Greater Sage-grouse habitat, the BLM is in a key position to contribute to Greater Sage-grouse habitat conservation from the range wide geographic scale to the local level. (See questions 5, 6, and 7 for additional Greater Sage-grouse related information.)
While there may be exceptions, in general |
Wake Forest Baptist Research Sheds Light On Cancer Of The Appendix
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have demonstrated that cancer of the appendix is different than colon cancer, a distinction that could lead to more effective treatments for both diseases.
The study by | Wake Forest Baptist Research Sheds Light On Cancer Of The Appendix
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have demonstrated that cancer of the appendix is different than colon cancer, a distinction that could lead to more effective treatments for both diseases.
The study by Edward A. Levine, M.D., professor of surgery and chief of the surgical oncology service at Wake Forest Baptist, is the result of gene analysis of cases covering a 10-year period. It appears in the early online edition of the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Cancer of the appendix, which is part of the colon, affects approximately 2,500 people in the United States annually and has the propensity to spread throughout the peritoneal cavity, the space within the abdomen that contains the intestines, stomach and liver.
“Our treatment program, which was the catalyst for this research, is one of the largest worldwide and consists of aggressive surgery coupled with heated chemotherapy placed directly into the abdominal cavity at the time of surgery,” Levine said. “Given the uncertainty of predicting outcomes in patients with disseminated appendiceal cancer, we sought to use the tools of gene expression profiling to better understand these rare malignancies at a molecular level in order to better predict oncologic outcomes. We’ve looked at the genes that make these cancers tick, and we actually started to pick them apart for the first time.”
For the study, the researchers examined tumor samples from Wake Forest Baptist’s tissue bank for patterns of expression of different genes.
“By looking at these genetic signatures, we found that the genes active in cancer of the colon and those active in cancer of the appendix are very different,” Levine said. “For years, however, cancer of the appendix, which is part of the colon, has been treated with the same chemotherapy treatment used for colon cancer. This study shows that we need a fresh approach to how we treat appendix cancer.”
On the Net: |
Origin of Gold
By: Trent S.
South Dakota, Age 13
Once upon a time, there was a little old man who lived in a little wooden hut. He had lived there his whole life. Behind his house was a giant | Origin of Gold
By: Trent S.
South Dakota, Age 13
Once upon a time, there was a little old man who lived in a little wooden hut. He had lived there his whole life. Behind his house was a giant apple tree that he got his food from. But one day, the apple tree died. The old man now had no food. He asked Mother Nature to plant another apple tree.
“You have lived for too long on apples. It is time for you to try something new,” she said. And with that she gave him a small yellow coin. “Plant the coin and water it, and it will supply you with food.”
As soon as the old man got home, he planted the coin in the ground. He watered it and then went to bed. The next day when he awoke, there was another tree there with golden leaves. He picked the leaves and tasted one. It tasted like a rock. There was no way he was gonna eat those for the rest of his life. He decided to sell the leaves.
He went to the market to sell the leaves. He found out that they were quite valuable and that they were worth a ton of money. He used the money to buy all different kinds of fruit and vegetables. He was surprised to find that they tasted just as good as apples. And for the rest of his life, the little old man ate the new foods in his little wooden hut, under his big golden tree. |
Posted 2 years ago
These are bronze replicas of 'Ballot Disks' which date from Aristotle's time and are inscribed as <<official ballots>>, the originals were found among the ruins of a lawcourt in the Athenian Agora | Posted 2 years ago
These are bronze replicas of 'Ballot Disks' which date from Aristotle's time and are inscribed as <<official ballots>>, the originals were found among the ruins of a lawcourt in the Athenian Agora; they are now in the Museum of the Agora, the Stoa of Attalos, in Athens.
Aristotle, writing about 325 B.C., describes wheel-shaped ballots of bronze, half with solid axles and half with hollow. The solid were to record a vote for the defendant, i.e. for acquittal, the hollow a vote for the plaintiff, i.e. for condemnation. Having been provided with a pair of ballots, each juryman on leaving the courtroom dropped the one which he wished to count in a bronze urn, the other in a wooden urn. He kept his vote secret by pressing the ends of the axles with his finger tips.
I came upon these at an estate clean-up/sale when I lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The lady had been a world traveler and collector herself. I care about these because of the history and I that they are 'different'!
I did not know what 'category' to list, could be a tool? (of the court?) |
Kids with 'wandering eye' shunned by peers
Researchers suggest discrimination seems to emerge around the age of 6.
Fri, Aug 20 2010 at 11:24 AM
Kids with a wandering eye are less likely to | Kids with 'wandering eye' shunned by peers
Researchers suggest discrimination seems to emerge around the age of 6.
Fri, Aug 20 2010 at 11:24 AM
Kids with a wandering eye are less likely to be invited to birthday parties than their peers with normally aligned eyes, a new study suggests.
The researchers suggest such findings support the idea that corrective eye surgery should be performed no later than the age of 6, which is when the discrimination seems to emerge.
Strabismus, also called wandering eye, deviating eye, eye squint and crossed eyes, is different from lazy eye and is caused by a lack of coordination between the eyes, resulting in the eyes looking in different directions rather than focusing on a single point, according to the National Institutes of Health. Parents sometimes notice the disorder because children will squint or cover one eye when looking at an object, according to Merck, the online medical library.
The findings suggest such an eye disorder can have a lasting psychological impact on the individual, and that "visible differences in general have a negative impact on how children are perceived by peers," the researchers note in a report published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
The researchers digitally altered photos of six children from six identical twin pairs to create inward and outward types of strabismus to compare against normally aligned eyes. Then, 118 children ages 3 to 12 who had normally aligned eyes looked at the images and had to select which of the identical twins they would invite to their birthday party. The participants were patients at an eye clinic or the siblings of patients.
The kids were shown four pairs of pictures, giving them the chance to select the faces of up to four children with a squint. If the eye disorder were to make no difference in their selection, the researchers would expect the kids to choose to invite two children with squints on average.
The children under 6 didn't make any distinction between the twins with and without a squint. But children ages 6 and older were significantly less likely to choose pictures of children with a visible squint.
Among the 48 children ages 6 to 8, 18 didn't "invite" any child with a squint; 17 chose a child with a squint once; 11 did so twice; two did so three times. None did so four times.
This compares with 31 children ages 4 to 6, one of whom didn't select any child with a squint, and 21 of whom did so once or twice. Nine did so three or four times.
When asked if they had noticed anything particular about the twins, around 19 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds commented on eye alignment, a figure that rose to 39 percent after being asked to pay attention to the eyes. Among 6- to 8-year-olds, 48 percent noticed the squint, which rose to 77 percent after being asked t |
- Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child's? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education, one would obtain the adult brain [...] Our hope | - Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child's? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education, one would obtain the adult brain [...] Our hope is that there is so little mechanism in the child brain that something like it can be easily programmed. The amount of work in the education we can assume, as a first approximation, to be much the same as for the human child. (Turing, 1950, pp.456)
Developmental robotics (also known as epigenetic robotics or ontogenetic robotics) is a highly interdisciplinary subfield of robotics in which ideas from artificial intelligence, developmental psychology, neuroscience, and dynamical systems theory play a pivotal role in motivating the research. The main goal of developmental robotics is to model the development of increasingly complex cognitive processes in natural and artificial systems and to understand how such processes emerge through physical and social interaction. Robots are typically employed as testing platforms for theoretical models of the emergence and development of action and cognition – the rationale being that if a model is instantiated in a system embedded in the real world,a great deal can be learned about its strengths and potential flaws. Unlike evolutionary robotics which operates on phylogenetic time scales and populations of many individuals, developmental robotics capitalizes on “short” (ontogenetic) time scales and single individuals (or small groups of individuals).
Human intelligence is acquired through a prolonged period of maturation and growth during which a single fertilized egg first turns into an embryo, then grows into a newborn baby, and eventually becomes an adult individual – which, typically before growing old and dying, reproduces. The processes underlying developmental changes are inherently robust and flexible as demonstrated by the amazing ability of biological organisms to devise adaptive strategies and solutions to cope with environmental changes and guarantee their survival. Because evolution has selected development as the process through which to realize some of the highest known forms of intelligence, it is reasonable to assume that development is mechanistically crucial to emulate such intelligence in machines and other human-made artifacts.
History and Early Theorizations
The idea that development might be a good avenue to understand and construct cognition is not new. Already Alan Turing suggested that in order to build “intelligent machines” one might want to start by “simulating the child’s mind” (see epigraph). In the context of robotics, many of the tenets underlying developmental robotics can be traced back to at least three conceptual breakthroughs in research on intelligent systems: (a) embodied artificial intelligence (embodied AI), that is, the notion that intelligence (e.g. common sense) can only be the result of learned experience of a body living in the real world (e.g. Brooks et al., 1998; Pfeifer and Scheier, 1999; Pfeifer and Bongard, 2007); (b) synthetic neural modeling, i.e. a technique in which large-scale computer simulations are employed to analyze the interactions among the nervous system, the phenotype, and the environment of a designed organism as behavior develops (Edelman et al., 1992; Reeke et al., 1990); and (c) the notion of enaction according to which cognitive structures emerge from recurrent sensorimotor patterns that enable action to be perceptually guided (Varela et al., 1991). These three breakthroughs share the assumption that intelligence and intelligence-like processes might be best understood by studying the dynamical and reciprocal interaction across multiple time scales between brain and body of an agent, and its environment. Not surprisingly, many of the early theorizations of developmental robotics discussed the emergence and development of sensorimotor intelligence in the context of embodied systems (e.g. Ferrell and Kemp, 1996; Rutkowska, 1994; Sandini et al., 1997).
Aspects and Areas of Interest
Developmental robotics differs from traditional robotics and artificial intelligence in at least two crucial aspects. First, there is a strong emphasis on body structure and environment as causal elements in the emergence of organized behavior and cognition requiring their explicit inclusion in models of emergence and development of cognition (Asada et al., 2001; Blank et al., 2005; Lungarella et al., 2003; Weng et al., 2001; Zlatev and Balkenius, 2001). Although some researchers use simulated environments and computational models (Kuniyoshi and Sangawa, 2006; Mareschal et al., 2007; Westermann et al., 2006), more often developmental robots are embedded in the real world as physical analogues of real organisms (e.g. Arbib et al., 2007; Kozima and Nakagawa, 2007; Metta and Fitzpatrick, 2003; Pfeifer et al., 2007; Sporns, 2007; for examples, see Figs. 1 and 2). Second, the idea is to realize artificial cognitive systems not by simply programming them (e.g. to solve a specific task), but rather by initiating and maintaining a developmental process during which the systems interact with their physical environments (i.e. through their bodies, tools, or other artifacts), as well as with their social environments (i.e. with people, other robots, or simulated agents) – cognition, after all, is the result of a process of self-organization (spontaneous emergence of order) and co-development between a developing organi |
The Aurora Australis is Australia's Antarctic flagship. It was named after the southern hemisphere atmospheric phenomenon – Aurora Australis.
Designed as a multi-purpose research and resupply ship, the Aurora was built by Carrington Slipways in Newcastle for P& | The Aurora Australis is Australia's Antarctic flagship. It was named after the southern hemisphere atmospheric phenomenon – Aurora Australis.
Designed as a multi-purpose research and resupply ship, the Aurora was built by Carrington Slipways in Newcastle for P&O Polar and launched in September 1989. The ship is 94.9 metres long and 3911 tonnes in weight. It has a cruising speed of 13 knots, and accommodates 116 passengers. It is capable of breaking ice up to 1.23 metres thick. The ship is also fitted with a helipad and hangar facilities for three helicopters.
The Aurora regularly sails across the Southern Ocean where storms can generate 10 metre high seas and winds of 120–150 km/h. The ship has been known to roll up to 45 degrees in big swells. In these situations the angle of the deck is far steeper than any streets in Australia. The Aurora Australis is painted a very bright orange, thus allowing it to be easily seen in ice-strewn waters.
The Aurora Australis is well equipped with a trawl deck, purpose designed for marine science and oceanographic work. A wide range of science is conducted in onboard laboratories. This includes biological, oceanography and meteorological experiments and observations.
On a six week voyage, the ship's kitchen can go through 4500 eggs, 1000 kg of potatoes and 280 litres of ice cream. The ship can produce up to 45,000 litres of fresh water per day for use on board for both drinking and other uses.
With satellite communications, people on the ship can phone anywhere in the world at any time. Expeditioners are also able to stay in contact with friends and family via email.
Expeditioners are accommodated in small cabins that sleep three or four people on bunk beds. The beds fold away into couches to save space, and each cabin has its own bathroom and toilet. The ship also has a gym, library and recreation areas. Everybody eats together in a large communal mess. |
Presented by Jeffrey M. Lacker, President Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
- The Federal Reserve was created to solve “the currency problem”: The supply of currency did not expand and contract appropriately with the needs of the economy, for example, | Presented by Jeffrey M. Lacker, President Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
- The Federal Reserve was created to solve “the currency problem”: The supply of currency did not expand and contract appropriately with the needs of the economy, for example, during seasonal increases in the demand for money or during banking panics.
- Several features of the banking system at the time contributed to the currency problem. First, it was very cumbersome to issue bank notes. Second, the banking system was highly fragmented. Finally, in order to make commerce possible, banks were connected through an intricate system of clearinghouses and correspondent banks. When individual banks were unable to meet the demand for money, the strains spread throughout the system, and interest rates would spike.
- The Federal Reserve was created by the Federal Reserve Act in December 1913 with the intent to “furnish an elastic currency.” After considerable debate, policymakers eventually settled on a system modeled after the cl |
Gwen is disappointed in her summer visit to Granny's. Granny challenges Gwen to use her "tools" and teaches her some lessons about boredom and luck. Includes multiple choice and short answer questions. Writing prompt challenges students to write their own ending to | Gwen is disappointed in her summer visit to Granny's. Granny challenges Gwen to use her "tools" and teaches her some lessons about boredom and luck. Includes multiple choice and short answer questions. Writing prompt challenges students to write their own ending to the story |
A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure. Find accurate definitions of words and phrases.
A truth or fact, known to one or few persons, that should be kept concealed from others. Secrets may be natural, promised, or entrusted | A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure. Find accurate definitions of words and phrases.
A truth or fact, known to one or few persons, that should be kept concealed from others. Secrets may be natural, promised, or entrusted. The obligation to confidentiality is binding by natural or revealed law. (Etym. Latin secretus, separate, out of the way, secret, from secernere, to put apart, separate.)
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. |
Compound dissolves HIV on contact
TEXAS A&M (US) — Researchers are closer to developing a topical compound that stops HIV by dissolving the virus on contact.
The ability of the synthetic compound known as “PD 404,182″ | Compound dissolves HIV on contact
TEXAS A&M (US) — Researchers are closer to developing a topical compound that stops HIV by dissolving the virus on contact.
The ability of the synthetic compound known as “PD 404,182″ to break apart the AIDS-causing virus before it can infect cells was discovered by Zhilei Chen, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, and her team of researchers. Their findings appear in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
“This is a virucidal small-molecule compound, meaning that it has the ability to kill a virus; in this case that virus is HIV,” Chen says. “Basically, it acts by breaking the virus open. We found that when HIV comes in contact with this compound, it breaks open and loses its genetic material.
“In a sense, the virus ‘dissolves,’ and its RNA becomes exposed. Since RNA is pretty unstable, once it is exposed it’s gone very quickly and the virus is rendered non-infectious.”
In other words, the compound works by quickly ripping open the virus before it can inject its genetic material into a human cell. What’s more—and perhaps even more important—the compound, Chen explains, achieves this by acting on something within the virus other than its viral envelope protein, meaning that the virus can’t alter its proteins to bolster its resistance—something that’s made HIV notoriously difficult to treat.
“We believe this compound is not working on the viral protein of the viruses but on something else common in all the viruses on which we tested it—some cellular material common in these viruses,” Chen notes. “Because this compound is acting on a component that is not encoded by the virus, it will be difficult for the virus to evolve resistance against this compound.”
While not |
Grandparents, an increasingly important source of child care in the United States, vary greatly in the kind of care they provide, depending on their age, resources, and the needs of their children, research at the University of Chicago shows.
A new | Grandparents, an increasingly important source of child care in the United States, vary greatly in the kind of care they provide, depending on their age, resources, and the needs of their children, research at the University of Chicago shows.
A new UChicago study, based on a National Institute on Aging survey, shows that 60 percent of grandparents provided some care for their grandchildren during a 10-year period, and 70 percent of those who did provided care for two years or more.
The results mirror recent U.S. Census data showing the importance of grandparents in child care. The 2010 Census reported that 8 percent of grandparents live with their grandchildren, and 2.7 million grandparents are responsible for most of their grandchildren's needs. In 2006, 2.4 million grandparents had that responsibility.
Additionally, grandparents are the primary source of child care for 30 percent of mothers who work and have children under the age of five, a Census survey showed. The UChicago study explores the diversity in the kinds of care provided by grandparents.
"Our findings show that different groups of grandparents are likely to provide different types of care. Importantly grandparents with less income and less education, or who are from minority groups, are more likely to take on care for their grandchildren," said Linda Waite, the Lucy Flower Professor in Sociology at UChicago and an expert on aging.
The study found that while minority, low-income grandparents were more likely to head households with grandchildren, most grandparents provided some kind of care for their grandchildren.
The research is based on one of the most comprehensive surveys done on grandparenting, the 1998-2008 Health and Retirement Study supported by the National Institute on Aging. The longitudinal study interviewed 13,614 grandparents, aged 50 and older, at two-year intervals over the period to determine their level of care-giving.
The results are published in the paper, "Grandparents Providing Care to Grandchildren: A Population-Based Study of Continuity and Change," published in the September issue of the Journal of Family Issues. Waite is an author of the paper.
The paper looks at a variety of forms of grandparent care - multi-generational households, in which a grandparent lives with a child and grandchildren; and skipped generation households, in which a grandparent heads the household caring for grandchildren without their parents being present.
Among the paper's findings are: |
Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 7:18AM
March 20, 2008
World Water Day -The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations | Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 7:18AM
March 20, 2008
World Water Day -The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.This day celebrates the value and importance of water in our everyday lives.
This year, World Water Day coincides with the International Year of Sanitation, challenging us to spur action on a crisis affecting more than one out of three people on the planet. More than 40 per cent of the world’s population continue to live without improved sanitation. It is estimated that 88% of the global burden of disease is attributable to unsafe water supply, lack of sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. Every day, this contributes to the deaths of 5,000 children from largely preventable causes, including diarrhoeal diseases and parasites.
People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the world’s sanitation challenges.
Stand Up for Those Who Can't Sit Down
World Water Day Celebration in New York, 20 March 2008 - Come make a |
(Science: endocrinology) a condition that results from the excess production of growth hormone in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Acromegaly is characterised by enlarged facial features, enlarged jaw, enlarged frontal bone of | (Science: endocrinology) a condition that results from the excess production of growth hormone in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Acromegaly is characterised by enlarged facial features, enlarged jaw, enlarged frontal bone of skull, widely spaced teeth and enlargement of the bones of the extremities |
When we're looking at Migraine and headache information, whether it's from our doctor, a book, or an online article, we sometimes come across medical terms that can be confusing.
Sometimes, it's easy enough to substitute another word or | When we're looking at Migraine and headache information, whether it's from our doctor, a book, or an online article, we sometimes come across medical terms that can be confusing.
Sometimes, it's easy enough to substitute another word or a short phrase for the medical term. At other times, substituting just doesn't convey quite the same meaning or takes more than a few words.
Some of you have expressed an interest in learning more of the medical terminology that comes up when discussing Migraine disease and other headache disorders. So, I'll be posting a "term of the day," probably a couple of times a week. If there are terms you'd like to have defined, please leave a comment to let me know what it is.
Today's term: Pathophysiology.
Pathophysiology is functional changes associated with or resulting from disease or injury and the study of those changes.
When related to Migraine attacks, the pathophysiology of a Migraine attack would mean the changes in how the brain and central nervous stem function when a Migraine is triggered and during the Migraine attack. We could discuss the pathophysiology of how the triggers themselves work -- what changes occur when we encounter a trigger. We could discuss the pathophysiology of a Migraine attack -- what happens to the blood vessels, the nerves and tissues surrounding the blood vessels, the levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine.
All of these discussions would be about the pathophysiology of Migraine, something that is still not fully understood. Researchers are making advances, however. The most recent article we published about Migraine research that was related to pathophysiology is Why Hangovers May Be Worse for Migraine Sufferers. |
Friday June 24 2011
Many people with diabetes monitor blood glucose at home
“A crash diet could end the misery of type 2 diabetes for millions of sufferers,” reported the Daily Mirror. It said a study has found that a “ | Friday June 24 2011
Many people with diabetes monitor blood glucose at home
“A crash diet could end the misery of type 2 diabetes for millions of sufferers,” reported the Daily Mirror. It said a study has found that a “special 600-calories-a-day eating plan cuts fat in the pancreas and prompts insulin cells to wake up after just eight weeks”.
Many newspapers covered this study, and most claimed that it has found a “cure”. However, this was a very small, preliminary study in only 11 obese people with type 2 diabetes. Referring to this diet as a cure exaggerates the significance of the findings.
The study tested the theory that severely restricting the amount of energy in the diet can reverse the body’s resistance to insulin, which occurs in type 2 diabetes, and halt the progressive decline in function of pancreas cells that produce insulin.
Very limited conclusions can be drawn from the study’s findings, and much further research is required. Alone, this study provides no evidence of a cure for diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes should continue to follow the dietary advice given to them by their doctor. The participants in this study were all given medical supervision throughout, and people with the condition are advised not to try this diet on their own.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from the Human Nutrition Research Centre at Newcastle University. Fundjng was provided by Diabetes UK. The study was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Diabetologia.
Many of the news stories have exaggerated the implications from the findings of this very small, preliminary study.
What kind of research was this?
This research investigated whether an energy-restricted diet had an effect on the biochemical signs of type 2 diabetes in people with the condition. Type 2 diabetes occurs when not enough insulin is produced by the pancreas for the body to function properly, or when the body’s cells do not react to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps the body use glucose for energy. The condition is progressive as the increased demand on the pancreas to create more insulin leads to further decline in function of the insulin-producing beta cells. Many people who have type 2 diabetes for a long time have to start injecting insulin as their condition worsens.
The researchers wanted to see whether their diet could reverse the resistance of the body’s cells to the actions of insulin, and prevent progressive decline in function of beta cells.
This research was a non-randomised, study in 11 people with type 2 diabetes. For comparison, the researchers also conducted one-off measurements in nine people without diabetes who did not receive the dietary intervention. However, this was not a controlled study as there was no comparison group of people with diabetes who received a comparison intervention (such as an alternative diet) or no dietary intervention.
The researchers say that previous studies have found that weight-loss surgery can help reverse diabetes. This gave them the idea that a sudden negative energy balance, taking in fewer calories than the body burns, could have a profound effect on metabolism (the rate at which the body turns food into energy). Excess concentrations of fatty acids are also said to inhibit the function of beta cells, so it was expected that a decrease in fatty acid levels would improve the function of these cells.
What did the research involve?
The researchers recruited 15 people with type 2 diabetes. Their average age was 49.5 and they had an average body mass index (BMI) of 33.6 (which is classed as obese). The participants had had type 2 diabetes for less than four years. In the weeks leading up to the study, their diabetic medications (metformin in seven people and sulfonylurea in two) were withdrawn. Eleven people with diabetes and eight without the condition completed the study, and the researchers reported the findings for these people only.
Laboratory methods were used to assess insulin sensitivity of the liver and other body tissues at the start of the study, in addition to the level of glucose output from the liver. A special type of MRI scan was used to measure the fatty acid (triacylglycerol) content of the liver and pancreas. The people then began a diet of nutrient drinks (46.4% carbohydrate, 32.5% protein and 20.1% fat, plus vitamins, minerals and trace elements), which supplied 510 calories a day (kcal/day). This was supplemented by three portions of non-starchy vegetables to give a total energy intake of 600 kcal/day. Further measurements were taken at one, four and eight weeks after starting the diet. At eight weeks, the participants returned to normal eating, but MRI scans were carried out again at 12 weeks.
The comparison group of nine people without diabetes were matched to the people with diabetes in terms of their age, sex and weight. One |
Brain fitness is the capacity of a person to meet the various cognitive demands of life. It is evident in an ability to assimilate information, comprehend relationships, and develop reasonable conclusions and plans. Brain fitness can be developed by formal education, being actively | Brain fitness is the capacity of a person to meet the various cognitive demands of life. It is evident in an ability to assimilate information, comprehend relationships, and develop reasonable conclusions and plans. Brain fitness can be developed by formal education, being actively mentally engaged in life, continuing to learn, and exercises designed to challenge cognitive skills. Healthy lifestyle habits including mental stimulation, physical exercise, good nutrition, stress management, and sleep can improve brain fitness. On the other han |
Marine Animal Encyclopedia
East Atlantic Red Gurnard Aspitrigla cuculus
The East Atlantic red gurnard could be said to be a “walking-talking” fish. The first three rays of the pectoral fins are | Marine Animal Encyclopedia
East Atlantic Red Gurnard Aspitrigla cuculus
The East Atlantic red gurnard could be said to be a “walking-talking” fish. The first three rays of the pectoral fins are shaped as separate, thick, finger-like feelers, which are covered with sensory organs. These feelers are used to “walk” over the seabed and probe for shrimp and crabs. The East Atlantic red gurnard has a large head protected by hard, bony plates and spines and two separate dorsal fins.
These gurnards sometimes form shoals, and as the fish move around, they make short, sharp grunting noises by vibrating their swim bladder with special muscles and so stay in contact with other gurnards nearby. East Atlantic red gurnards spawn in spring and summer and the eggs and larvae float freely near the surface. Adults live for at least 20 years. Although caught commercially, the East Atlantic red gurnard is not a main target for fishing. |
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. See paten.
- n. A thin greenish layer, usually basic copper sulfate, that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, | from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. See paten.
- n. A thin greenish layer, usually basic copper sulfate, that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, as a result of corrosion.
- n. The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use.
- n. A change in appearance produced by long-standing behavior, practice, or use: a face etched with a patina of fine lines and tiny wrinkles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A paten, flat type of dish
- n. The color or incrustation which age and wear give to (mainly metallic) objects; especially, the green rust which covers works of art such as ancient bronzes, coins and medals.
- n. A green colour, tinted with grey, like that of bronze patina.
- n. A gloss or superficial layer.
- adj. Of a green colour, tinted with grey, like that of bronze patina.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A dish or plate of metal or earthenware; a patella.
- n. The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art; especially, the green rust which covers ancient bronzes, coins, and medals.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bowl; a patella.
- n. An incrustation which forms on bronze after a certain amount of exposure to the weather, or after burial beneath the ground.
- n. By extension, the surface-texture or -color which other works of decorative art, as a wooden cabinet or the like, gain through the action of time.
- n. The surface, produced partly by accretion, partly by discoloration and the effects of acid in the soil, given to marble by long inhumation.
- n. [capitalized] [NL.] In conch., a genus of gastropods.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a fine coating of oxide on the surface of a metal
Medieval Latin, from Latin, plate; see paten.
Italian, from Latin, plate (from the incrustation on ancient metal plates and dishes); see paten.(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
From Latin patina ("dish, pan"). (Wiktionary) |
Top 10 Risks and Misconceptions about Vaccines
In most developed nations across the globe, it is required for infants and certainly adults to be immunized against a variety of diseases. Really – who wants measles? Or how about chicken | Top 10 Risks and Misconceptions about Vaccines
In most developed nations across the globe, it is required for infants and certainly adults to be immunized against a variety of diseases. Really – who wants measles? Or how about chicken pox? These vaccinations were created to stem the tide of deaths that occurred throughout history from these diseases. Face it – medical practices from even a century ago were not what they are today in terms of effectiveness and they were certainly more barbaric in some cases.
That said vaccines are not all that they are cracked up to be. Like almost all medical procedures, there are risks involved. According to some people (read Jenny McCarthy), vaccinations can cause autism and other problems. And there are certainly cases where the vaccination has created other medical issues. There is a strong contingent of medical professionals that have supposedly spoken out about the serious hazards to governments around the world – and many of the anti-vaccination groups have said they have done nothing about it and are actively sweeping any health hazard connections under the carpet.
So starting with the misconceptions (of which there are more), here are the Top 10 Risks or so-called “Risks” of Vaccines.
10. Religious beliefs against vaccinations (possible misconception)
Everyone has a right to believe what they believe and if the tenets of their religion prohibit them from potentially life-saving measures, then so be it. Some religions tout that it’s against the will of God, while others object to vaccinations derived from certain animals. One of the earliest incidents of religious objections include a statement from English theologian Rev. Edmund Massey who claimed that disease was sent to Earth from God as an indictment against humans sinning.
9. Improved sanitation better than vaccinations (possible misconception)
There are still many staunch anti-vaccine advocates that contend that improved sanitation and medical practices have much more to do with decreased outbreaks of disease than vaccinations do. While it is hard to debate whether this is the case, improved sanitation and medical practices have certainly helped combat outbreaks. However, it would be hard to conclude that without vaccinations that polio and smallpox would have been nearly eradicated since their introduction. That said there are studies that point toward those third-world countries whose population don’t have near the issues with allergies that most developed countries due (see No. 3) – and those non-industrial countries are certainly not among the most sanitary places in the world.
8. MMR vaccines can cause Autism (possible misconception)
While there is no actual data that says that vaccinations cannot cause autism (through vaccine overload see No. 5), the medical paper that spurred Jenny McCarthy to spout off against vaccinations has been debunked. In 1998, former doctor Andrew Wakefield published a medical paper that claimed that the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine could be linked to autism and bowel disease. About six years later, it was shown to be fraudulent through some investigative journalism, he was stripped of his ability to practice medicine and it was also revealed that he planned on profit |
Anarchist FAQ/What is Anarchism?/2.5
A.2.5 Why are anarchists in favour of equality?
As mentioned in above, anarchists are dedicated to social equality because it is the only context in which individual | Anarchist FAQ/What is Anarchism?/2.5
A.2.5 Why are anarchists in favour of equality?
As mentioned in above, anarchists are dedicated to social equality because it is the only context in which individual liberty can flourish. However, there has been much nonsense written about "equality," and much of what is commonly believed about it is very strange indeed. Before discussing what anarchist do mean by equality, we have to indicate what we do not mean by it.
Anarchists do not believe in "equality of endowment," which is not only non-existent but would be very undesirable if it could be brought about. Everyone is unique. Biologically determined human differences not only exist but are "a cause for joy, not fear or regret." Why? Because "life among clones would not be worth living, and a sane person will only rejoice that others have abilities that they do not share."
That some people seriously suggest that anarchists means by "equality" that everyone should be identical is a sad reflection on the state of present-day intellectual culture and the corruption of words -- a corruption used to divert attention from an unjust and authoritarian system and side-track people into discussions of biology. "The uniqueness of the self in no way contradicts the principle of equality," noted Erich Fromm, "The thesis that men are born equal implies that they all share the same fundamental human qualities, that they share the same basic fate of human beings, that they all have the same inalienable claim on freedom and happiness. It furthermore means that their relationship is one of solidarity, not one of domination-submission. What the concept of equality does not mean is that all men are alike." Thus it would be fairer to say that anarchists seek equality because we recognise that everyone is different and, consequently, seek the full affirmation and development of that uniqueness.
Nor are anarchists in favour of so-called "equality of outcome." We have no desire to live in a society were everyone gets the same goods, lives in the same kind of house, wears the same uniform, etc. Part of the reason for the anarchist revolt against capitalism and statism is that they standardise so much of life (see George Reitzer's The McDonaldisation of Society on why capitalism is driven towards standardisation and conformity). In the words of Alexander Berkman:
"The spirit of authority, law, written and unwritten, tradition and custom force us into a common grove and make a man [or woman] a will-less automation without independence or individuality... All of us are its victims, and only the exceptionally strong succeed in breaking its chains, and that only partly."
Anarchists, therefore, have little to desire to make this "common grove" even deeper. Rather, we desire to destroy it and every social relationship and institution that creates it in the first place.
"Equality of outcome" can only be introduced and maintained by force, which would not be equality anyway, as some would have more power than others! "Equality of outcome" is particularly hated by anarchists, as we recognise that every individual has different needs, abilities, desires and interests. To make all consume the same would be tyranny. Obviously, if one person needs medical treatment and another does not, they do not receive an "equal" amount of medical care. The same is true of other human needs. As Alexander Berkman put it:
"equality does not mean an equal amount but equal opportunity... Do not make the mistake of identifying equality in liberty with the forced equality of the convict camp. True anarchist equality implies freedom, not quantity. It does not mean that every one must eat, drink, or wear the same things, do the same work, or live in the same manner. Far from it: the very reverse in fact."
"Individual needs and tastes differ, as appetites differ. It is equal opportunity to satisfy them that constitutes true equality."
"Far from levelling, such equality opens the door for the greatest possible variety of activity and development. For human character is diverse... Free opportunity of expressing and acting out your individuality means development of natural dissimilarities and variations." [Op. Cit., pp. 164-5]
For anarchists, the "concepts" of "equality" as "equality of outcome" or "equality of endowment" are meaningless. However, in a hierarchical society, "equality of opportunity" and "equality of outcome" are related. Under capitalism, for example, the opportunities each generation face are dependent on the outcomes of the previous ones. This means that under capitalism "equality of opportunity" without a rough "equality of outcome" (in the sense of income and resources) becomes meaningless, as there is no real equality of opportunity for the off-spring of a millionaire and that of a road sweeper. Those who argue for "equality of opportunity" while ignoring the barriers created by previous outcomes indicate that they do not know what they are talking about -- opportunity in a hierarchical society depends not only on an open road but also upon an equal start. >From this obvious fact springs the misconception that anarchists desire "equality of outcome" -- but this applies to a hierarchical system, in a free society this would not the case (as we will |
How to replicate the squishy sophistication of the human brain in hard metal and silicon? IBM thinks it's found a way, and to prove it has built and tested two new "cognitive computing" microchips whose design is inspired by | How to replicate the squishy sophistication of the human brain in hard metal and silicon? IBM thinks it's found a way, and to prove it has built and tested two new "cognitive computing" microchips whose design is inspired by the human brain.
In the mammalian brain, neurons send chemical signals to each other across tiny gaps called synapses. A neuron's long "tail", the axon, sends the signals from its multiple terminals; the receptive parts of other neurons – the dendrites – collect them.
Each of IBM's brain-mimicking silicon chips is a few square millimetres in size and holds a grid of 256 parallel wires that represent dendrites of computational "neurons" crossed at right angles by other wires standing in for axons. The "synapses" are 45-nanometre transistors connecting the criss-crossing wires and act as the chips' memory; one chip has 262,144 of them and the other 65,536. Each electrical signal crossing a synapse consumes just 45 picajoules – a thousandth of what typical computer chips use.
Because the neurons and synapses are so close together, the pieces of hardware responsible for computation and memory are also much closer than in ordinary computer chips. Conventionally, the memory sits to the side of the processor, but in the new chips the memory – the synapses – and the processors – the neurons – are on top of each other, so they don't need to use as much energy sending electrons back and forth. That means the chips can perform parallel processing far more efficiently than conventional computers.
In preliminary tests, the chips were able to play a game of Pong, control a virtual car on a racecourse and identify an image or digit drawn on a screen. These are all tasks computers have accomplished before, but the new chips managed to complete them without needing a specialised program for each task. The chips can also "learn" how to complete each task if trained.
Fewer watts than Watson
Eventually, by connecting many such chips, Dharmendra Modha of IBM Research – Almaden, in San Jose, California, hopes to build a shoebox-sized supercomputer with 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses that consumes just 1 kilowatt of power. That may still sound a lot – a standard PC uses only a few hundred watts – but a supercomputer like IBM's Watson uses hundreds of kilowatts. By contrast, the ultra-efficient human brain is estimated to have 100 billion neurons and at least 100 trillion synapses but consumes no more than 20 watts.
Kwabena Boahen of Stanford University, California, says scale is one of the key issues. Until the chips contain as many synapses as the human brain, it will be difficult to distinguish their accomplishments from those of other computers.
The chips are sponsored by a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project to create computers whose abilities rival those of the human brain.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to. |
A smart phone or a computer can be a wonderful thing. They keep you connected, keep you entertained and even keep you busy. However, they can also be a pain, quite literally.
"The problems were headaches. And I really didn't know | A smart phone or a computer can be a wonderful thing. They keep you connected, keep you entertained and even keep you busy. However, they can also be a pain, quite literally.
"The problems were headaches. And I really didn't know where the headaches came from. Then my shoulders were tight," said patient Celeste Gill.
Slumping over, to get a closer look at that phone screen or computer screen has created a new wave of neck and back issues known among medical professionals as "text neck."
"That can cause short muscles in the front, where these muscles from being down in this position," explained physical therapist Eric Strahan. "It can cause the spin to get out of its natural curve and straighten which puts a lot more pressure on the spin."
Many physical therapists believe the rise of technology has created a rise in the number of patients they see with neck and back pain. But, the root of the problem actually lies in how you hold you phone or sit at a desk - basically bad posture.
"People tend to get in these postures and hold these postures for a long time and it causes neck pains and neck problems. Over repeated use, it can manifest into a neck problem like disc herniations or early onset arthritis."
Between cooking and fielding calls for her catering business Chef Celeste Gill gets a double dose of the so called text neck.
"If the phone rings, you're going to answer the phone," said Gill. "I'm on the phone at the stove and doing everything and chopping."
Over time she developed pain in her shoulders and then unbearable headaches. That's when she began physical therapy and learned a surprising lesson.
"I knew part of it was the cell phone but I would not have imagined that the posture was the main cause," said Gill.
Whether it's from being bent over a phone, a computer or a stove, physical therapists have several different ways to combat text neck including stretches and strength building exercises.
"The damage can be corrected with exercise, with physical therapy," said Strahan.
Bozant says the best advice is listen to what your mother said and practice good posture by holding your shoulders back, your back straight and your head up. He also suggests that if you spend a lot of time at a desk to take a break and walk around every hour or so.
Copyright 2013 WAFB. All rights reserved. |
A scientist working with rare wild camels in northwest China has told of research showing the animals are increasing in number but are coming under threat from drought.
The camels, among the most endangered large mammals on Earth, undergo seasonal migration of several hundred | A scientist working with rare wild camels in northwest China has told of research showing the animals are increasing in number but are coming under threat from drought.
The camels, among the most endangered large mammals on Earth, undergo seasonal migration of several hundred km through the sandy Annanba Nature Reserve.
There are only 420 to 470 of them in China, even fewer than the number of wild pandas.
Bai Shengxuan, a research director with the Annanba reserve, said research had shown their number in the area has increased because of protection efforts.
However, research also found a current severe water shortage is a worry, even for animals which can famously survive long periods of thirst.
Bai said more pools would be built, and weather modification technologies would also be adopted to bring more precipitation.
The research director urged people to help with the camels’ rehabilitation by not interfering with them or their habitat. “Every single detail in the Gobi desert is closely related to the fate of China’s wild camels,” he said.Xinhua |
The spinal cord is the nerve superhighway that connects the brain to the body. A car accident or a bad fall can partly or fully sever the spinal cord and paralyze the person below the site of injury. In the United States, more | The spinal cord is the nerve superhighway that connects the brain to the body. A car accident or a bad fall can partly or fully sever the spinal cord and paralyze the person below the site of injury. In the United States, more than 10,000 people sustain a spinal cord injury each year, but treating these injuries principally relies on intensive rehabilitation that usually provides only modest improvements. Many experimental therapies are being tested on animals and in a few patients in phase I clinical trials. These include stem cell transplantation, administration of growth factors or antibodies against growth inhibitors, electrostimulation of the spinal cord injury site, and deep brain stimulation of brain centers controlling movement. None of these experimental therapies has yet been approved for treating patients with spinal cord injury, and many questions remain unanswered. Where and how should the treatments be delivered? Should combinations of these treatments be used together with extensive rehabilitation? And how soon will these therapies be available in the clinic?
Please join Science Translational Medicine and special guests neurosurgeon Michael Fehlings, chair in neural repair and regeneration at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada, and research scientist Martin Schwab, |
What is the Latitude and Longitude on Switzerland? I would love to know a lot more about this stunningly beautiful country.
Latitude of Switzerland is:47 and Longitude of Switzerland is: 8
Nestled between a backdrop of sparking lakes, | What is the Latitude and Longitude on Switzerland? I would love to know a lot more about this stunningly beautiful country.
Latitude of Switzerland is:47 and Longitude of Switzerland is: 8
Nestled between a backdrop of sparking lakes, breathtaking landscapes and magnificently scenic mountains, the country of Switzerland has been touted as the most beautiful place on earth and one can see why. The tumbling waterfalls, beautiful lakefronts and marvellous modern architecture in the cities of the country are just an insight into what the country beautified by the God himself has in store for us.
The capital city of Bern, the north central city of Lucerne and Zurich count among the favourite destinations of tourists from all over the world. Walking through the streets of Bern, one can feel the surreal effect of the history associated the city. Catching a train from Lauterbrunnen is one of its kind experiences. The Jungfraubahn rail network in Lauterbrunnen has been declared as one of the famed UNESCO World Heritage site. A visit to Trummelbach falls in Lauterbrunnen can be a hauntingly beautiful experience with the steep falls and sight of the falls from the caves built through the mountains. Lauterbrunnen is also a starting point for the cruises to Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.
Talking about Switzerland in terms of statistics, it is located at the geographical coordinates of 47 North and 8 East. Spread over an area of 41,285 square kilometres, it is home to a population of around 7,866,500 inhabitants. Switzerland also has a notable contribution in the field of literature, science, art and music. There are cultural festivals held annually showcasing the rich and diversified cultural heritage of the country.
Debate has been raging for centuries about the existence of hell and heaven, one visit to the country and all doubts about the first part of the debate are erased.
View Latitude and Longitude on Switzerland in other units. |
Art therapists from the United States are often called upon to work and share their knowledge internationally, but cross cultural therapy is a complex undertaking and becomes increasingly so when dynamics of power and privilege are considered. The Western worldview and the devastating effects of colonialism | Art therapists from the United States are often called upon to work and share their knowledge internationally, but cross cultural therapy is a complex undertaking and becomes increasingly so when dynamics of power and privilege are considered. The Western worldview and the devastating effects of colonialism can easily create an authoritative type of assistance that flows in one direction, from those who are perceived as 'haves' to those who are perceived as 'have nots', which fails to take into account the knowledge, values and understanding inherent in other, non-dominant ways of being. This presentation explores these concepts through an art therapy program developed in a collaboration between SVA MPS Art Therapy Department, Asociacion Artistica Para Niños (ASART) a non-profit based in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and a public elementary school in the barrio of La Victoria in Liberia, Costa Rica.
*Information presented in these videos is property of the presenter. The School of Visual Arts posts these lectures for educational pu |
GRAPHICAL VERSION | Home | Webmail | Student Information System | Library | Policies | Jobs
|About | Academics | Admissions | Campus Offices | Library | Campus Life | Athletics | Directory|
-- Finding Books
-- Finding Articles
-- | GRAPHICAL VERSION | Home | Webmail | Student Information System | Library | Policies | Jobs
|About | Academics | Admissions | Campus Offices | Library | Campus Life | Athletics | Directory|
-- Finding Books
-- Finding Articles
-- Finding Websites
-- Using Reference
-- Citing Sources
-- Library of Congress Subject Headings
About Old Westbury
Majors & Minors
Life On Campus
Visiting Old Westbury
Marcus Avenue Daycare
Listed below are some general guidelines to consider when evaluating information resources.
Is it Relevant to your topic? The title of a book or article is a good first indication, but you often need to look further to fully evaluate relevancy. Abstracts (brief summaries) and keywords are often provided with articles and can usually give you a good indication of relevancy. For books you can scan the preface, table of contents and index of a work to get a good overview.
What is the author's purpose? Some works are clearly intended as either an opinion piece (e.g., editorial) or an objective study ( e.g. |
XSL-FO speak-numeral Property
Definition and Usage
The speak-numeral property is used only in Aural Stylesheets.
The aural rendering of a document combines sounds and voices to go through the content of a document. Aural | XSL-FO speak-numeral Property
Definition and Usage
The speak-numeral property is used only in Aural Stylesheets.
The aural rendering of a document combines sounds and voices to go through the content of a document. Aural presentation occurs often by converting the document to plain text and then feeding this to a screen reader.
Situations and markets for listening to information could be:
- for blind people
- in the car
- help users learning to read
The speak-numeral property specifies how numerals will be spoken.
- Inherited: yes
- Percentages: N/A
- Media: aural
|digits||Numerals will be spoken as individual digits (e.g "145" is spoken "one four five")|
|continuous||Default. Numerals will be spoken as a full number (e.g "145" is spoken "one hundred forty five")|
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Cubmaster: This month we celebrate Scouting's (formula is CURRENT YEAR minus 1930) birthday in the United States. Everywhere Scouts are taking time to listen to the story of Scouting and to rededicate themselves to the aims | Cubmaster: This month we celebrate Scouting's (formula is CURRENT YEAR minus 1930) birthday in the United States. Everywhere Scouts are taking time to listen to the story of Scouting and to rededicate themselves to the aims and purposes of our movement. Scouting was started in England by Lt. General Robert Baden-Powell, a British war hero. Guided by his experience in training Army scouts, Baden-Powell made Scouting for boys an outdoor program with ideals... a way of thinking and living, a way of doing things.
Today Scouting is still a program filled with fun and adventure. It is learning worthwhile skills that train us to be responsible citizens. It is the Spirit of All who worked to make our nation great. More than 4 million boys and leaders are registered in Scouting in the U.S. today. Men who earned badges as Scouts now sit on the Supreme Court bench and in Chambers of Congress. Others hold important offices in our government, business and industry. Former President John F. Kennedy was the first president who had been a Boy Scout. Former President Gerald Ford is an Eagle Scout. Many of our astronauts were Scouts. More and more men, trained as Scouts, are taking their places in today's world as responsible adult leaders. This (#) anniversary of Scouting and (#) anniversary of Cub Scouting is a time to recommit ourselves to the goals of Scouting... character, citizenship, and personal fitness.
Will you all stand with me now and repeat the Cub Scout Promise as we rededicate ourselves to the purposes of Scouting. |
Earth & Environmental Sciences
Tulane University of Louisiana
Geomorphology in the news part of Cutting Edge:Geomorphology:Activities
The activity requires students to present a current news story that has a geomorphic component. The students must | Earth & Environmental Sciences
Tulane University of Louisiana
Geomorphology in the news part of Cutting Edge:Geomorphology:Activities
The activity requires students to present a current news story that has a geomorphic component. The students must relate course material to current events and society.
Rainfall patterns and drainage density part of Cutting Edge:Geomorphology:Activities
The students use ARC GIS to make maps of the island of Hawaii to identify the locations of river channels. The students are also given a map of precipitation so that they can relate drainage density to rainfall patterns.
Geomorphology part of Cutting Edge:Course Design:Goals Database
Course Description: Geomorphology is the study of landforms and the processes that shape landforms. Historically, geomorphology has focused on identifying landforms, but the goal of this course is for you to gain a quantitative understanding of surface processes. Once you understand how surface processes work, you will have a better idea of how a landscape evolved to its' present state, and how the landscape could change in the future. Both climate and tectonics play an important role in shaping the earth's surface, and in turn, surface processes can affect climate and tectonics. Increasingly, humans are also becoming an important "geomorphic agent", and human influences on surface processes may rival the importance of climate and tectonics. |
|The Senate had a different character from the House. It was smaller, more intimate and often thought of as more genteel than the larger body. When there were differences between bills that the Senate and the House passed, a committee of conference was | |The Senate had a different character from the House. It was smaller, more intimate and often thought of as more genteel than the larger body. When there were differences between bills that the Senate and the House passed, a committee of conference was selected with three members from the Senate and three members from the House to work out a compromise version of the bill.|
I always thought the difference between the two chambers was that in the House of Representatives you could get up and give an impassioned speech and make a difference. You could sway votes. In the Senate, obviously, when it’s a lot smaller, …the idea of pounding your chest and tearing your garments and giving this William Jennings Bryant speech in the Senate, that’s nice for the television cameras, but it generally doesn’t produce a lot of votes.
Gregory L. Sharrow
Over the last half-century the most obvious changes in the Vermont legislature took place in the House, which after reapportionment shrank from 246 members to 150--but the Senate, too, had its own particular character.
The Senate is more genteel in its exterior, but it’s driven by some very dominant personalities. There’s the old line that house members love, the problem with running for the Senate is that if you win, you’re in the Senate.
I was seven years in the House and sixteen years in the Senate. And it’s an interesting comparison between the two bodies, as far as that goes, too. Some people like the bigger body, but I enjoyed the Senate very much. It’s a little more intimate. You get a little closer to the people you’re working with you. It’s in many ways more informal. It’s like a great big committee. |
Does your cat nibble your wool sweaters down to fuzzy nubs? If he does, you’re not alone. Enough animals eat nonfood materials that the behavior has been given a name—pica. While pica generally isn’t dangerous | Does your cat nibble your wool sweaters down to fuzzy nubs? If he does, you’re not alone. Enough animals eat nonfood materials that the behavior has been given a name—pica. While pica generally isn’t dangerous, it can cause intestinal obstructions if your cat eats too much. It also can mean the destruction of blankets, clothing, furniture, and more if it’s not controlled.
Pica is defined as an abnormal compulsion to eat things that aren’t usually eaten. It occurs rarely in humans, usually kids who eat the occasional handful of dirt. It’s also a relatively rare phenomenon in dogs. Some cats, however—particularly Oriental breeds like Siamese and Burmese—will repeatedly chow on everything from phone cords to shower curtains, though their most common snack is wool and other fabrics.
There are several theories on why cats like to chew on wool and other materials. Some behaviorists and veterinarians believe that it starts when kittens are weaned too early or too abruptly. The kittens then suck on fabric to soothe themselves; the sucking gradually turns into chewing. Other veterinary specialists think that dietary deficiencies, such as a lack of fat or insoluble fiber, drive cats to seek the missing nutrients in strange foods. Eating inappropriate things may also be a result of stress, anxiety, or boredom. Neurological disorders and illnesses such as pancreatitis can also cause this behavior. Pica may even be caused by a combination of two or more of these factors.
How to save your sweaters
Though you may never know exactly why your cat snacks on your favorite blazer, there are ways you can discourage him.
- Deter him. You can make chewed objects unattractive by spraying them with vinegar, hot-pepper sauce, or bitter apple, a bitter-tasting liquid you can buy at most pet stores. You can dab a certain brand of cologne or air freshener on everything you spray; soon your cat will associate the smell of the cologne with the bad taste and will avoid chewing any object you’ve put cologne on. The bad news is that deterring your cat from chewing one kind of material—your wool sweaters for example—may simply drive him to find a new favorite food—such as your leather shoes or your cotton sheets. You may also need to try one of the ideas below to help end the behavior itself.
- Keep your cat occupied. A bored cat is much more likely to start gnawing than a busy one. Make sure he has plenty to play with, both when yo |
Infant and toddler health (24)
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New | Infant and toddler health (24)
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- Language development: Speech milestones for babies
- Childhood vaccines: Tough questions, straight answers
- see all in Infant and toddler health
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Solid foods: How to get your baby started
Solid foods are a big step for a baby. Find out when and how to make the transition from breast milk or formula to solid foods.By Mayo Clinic staff
Is your baby suddenly interested in what you're eating? It might be time to start introducing solid foods.
Is your baby ready for solid foods?
Breast milk or formula is the only food your newborn needs. However, by ages 4 months to 6 months, most babies are ready to begin eating solid foods as a complement to breast-feeding or formula-feeding. It's during this time that babies typically stop using their tongues to push food out of their mouths and begin to develop the coordination to move solid food from the front of the mouth to the back for swallowing.
In addition to age, look for other signs that your baby is ready for solid foods. For example:
- Can your baby hold his or her head in a steady, upright position?
- Can your baby sit with support?
- Is your baby mouthing his or her hands or toys?
- Is your baby interested in what you're eating?
If you answer yes to these questions and you have the OK from your baby's doctor, you can begin supplementing your baby's liquid diet.
What to serve when
Continue feeding your baby breast milk or formul |
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By melanie mock
January 11, 2011
For readers not much interested in science and medicine, the concept of Rebecca Skloot’s first book might seem a bore, the | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By melanie mock
January 11, 2011
For readers not much interested in science and medicine, the concept of Rebecca Skloot’s first book might seem a bore, the text merely one to trudge through as required reading for a biology class. At its essence, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about the HeLa cell line and about a tissue sample, taken in 1951, that led to extraordinary breakthroughs in medicine. The HeLa cells helped scientists create a polio vaccine, study cancer and viruses, and develop advances in gene mapping and cloning. Amazing stuff, we might conclude, good reading for a small population of scientifically minded people.
Except: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has been named one of the best books of 2010 by countless publications, and critics have lauded Skloot, who will no doubt receive nominations for national-level book awards. The book skyrocketed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in mid-2010, and HBO is planning a based-on-the-book movie, with Oprah Winfrey producing.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is clearly about more than the history of a cell line and its influence on medicine and science. Indeed, the book argues—richly, compellingly—that behind every scientific discovery is a story worth telling. And the story of the HeLa cell line, a tissue sample turned to gold, is a powerful tale of injustice, race, class, belief, loss and reconciliation. Not only for the scientifically minded, then, Skloot’s book is for readers longing to seek justice, for readers who love mercy, for readers challenged by Christ’s call to serve “the least of these.”
The book’s namesake, Henrietta Lacks, was a poor African-American woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. She had five children: her eldest, Elsie, was institutionalized for “idiocy”; her youngest, Joe, was not yet a year old when his mother died. Without her knowledge or consent, doctors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore—where she was being treated for cancer—removed a tissue sample from her cervix, and cells from this sample were delivered to the lab of scientist George Gey. Gey was trying to grow cancer cells—a means by which to study the causes and find a cure for the deadly disease—but until 1951 had he been unsuccessful in his endeavors. For some reason, though, Lacks’ cells continued to replicate outside her body, and at impressive speed. Soon, Gey was shipping test tubes of Lacks’ cells all over the world for other scientists to study, and within a few years, HeLa cells were being marketed by businesses who gained millions from the continually replicating revenue source.
Meanwhile, Henrietta Lacks’ descendants received nothing. Nothing but grief, that is. While their mother’s cells contributed to medical breakthroughs and made significant fortunes for several companies, Lacks’ husband and children lived in poverty, unable to afford medical care at the very hospital—Johns Hopkins—that had first treated their mother. Until the early 1970s, they also lived unaware that Henrietta’s cells were being studied by scientists worldwide. When Lacks' descendants discovered their mother’s role in history, they were given a confusing morass of information by people who disregarded them because they were poor, African-American and uneducated. So while Henrietta’s children knew their mother’s cells continued to replicate and were helping scientists find medical cures, they didn’t know what that meant. (Henrietta’s daughter believed her mother had been fully cloned, for example, and copies of Henrietta were walking the streets of London.) The Lacks family was easily exploited by those wanting more information about Henrietta’s past, or more details about Henrietta’s illness, or more tissue samples from Henrietta’s descendants.
The Lacks family story is the most compelling part of Skloot’s book. Skloot masterfully gives presence to the obscure woman whose short life—and death—subsequently transformed 20th-century science. More than merely a tissue sample, Henrietta Lacks was a complex character shaped by a culture still mired in segregation, a victim of racism and poverty, and a woman who loved being a mother to her five children, all who grew up knowing little about the person who nurtured them into being. Reading the story of Henrietta Lacks should arguably inform our understanding of scientific and medical research, especially that done with human subjects whose own lives, and life stories, reflect what Christians know to be the unique imprint of God.
Equally striking, the narrative of Henrietta Lacks’ cell line—and of her family—starkly shows the ways institutional racism and sexism, class and poverty, continue to plague our culture. Because Henrietta was a poor African-American woman, she did not receive proper medical treatment for her cancer, and doctors felt justified to take tissue samples without her consent or |
The Solution on our Dinner Plates
|Total global emissions are the equivalent of 31.6 gigatonnes of CO2 annually.|
|The world’s agricultural meat industry contributes 5.7 gigatonnes of that, and 6 | The Solution on our Dinner Plates
|Total global emissions are the equivalent of 31.6 gigatonnes of CO2 annually.|
|The world’s agricultural meat industry contributes 5.7 gigatonnes of that, and 6.3 gigatonnes comes from forest destruction.|
|Eight |
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Politically Correct refers to a very particular type of social constraint placed on an individual. It is best understood by its antonym, politically incorrect, also known as Inappropriate, and can be utilized in | From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Politically Correct refers to a very particular type of social constraint placed on an individual. It is best understood by its antonym, politically incorrect, also known as Inappropriate, and can be utilized in a variety of methods (i.e. Politically Incorrect speech, Politically Incorrect behavior, or Politically Incorrect touching).
Politically Incorrect is boldly exemplified by the articles contained within the website titled Uncyclopedia. In fact, Uncyclopedia seems to take a perverse pride in the publishing any and all observations no matter how rude, offensive or blasphemous. The website is currently under fire from the prestegious organizations, Libertarian Interests and Corporate Know-How (LICK), Misogynists Yoo-nite! (MY), and Clubs Unifying Nerds Together (CUNT).
edit Please Try Our Examples
An example of Politically Incorrect behavior (and, coincidentally, Politically Incorrect speech) would be to blithely point out the pink elephant in the middle of the living room (see also swept under the carpet). Political Incorrectness is exacerbated in the details, for instance not only is the pink elephant in the middle of the living room identified, but also the exact length and circumference of its trunk, the fact that it is pink, if its breath is bad, and whether or not it has poo stuck to its anus.
An extremely specific example would be to refer to an African American as someone who plays basketball well, or to talk about his expected enormous penis, or to call him a Nigger, unless, of course, you are an African American speaking with another African American in which case you can use the term Nigger time and time again, over and over, redundantly, repeatedly, with impunity, and without punishment. Another faux pas would be to refer to a person of Asian background as slanty-eyed, even if you believe slanty-eyes to be remarkably beautiful and are someone afflicted with the Politically Incorrect Yellow Fever. Ditto for admiring tightly curled hair and bee stung lips indicating your obvious proclivity for Chocolate Love. By these examples, we can see the rules of political incorrectness are inconsistently applied, can be the universal judgment of the receiver rather than the intended communication of the sender.
Politically Incorrect touching is basically anything scatological in nature (i.e. has my poo part touched your poo part). Ditto for pee part touching pee part, pee part touching poo part, or poo part touching pee part. Unmentionably Politically Incorrect touching is poo part or pee part touching speech part.
Politically Incorrect also serves as the name of a TV show hosted by Bill Maher and is famous for not only naming the pink elephant in the middle of the living room but also declaring the exact nature of his erectile dysfunction and masturbatory therapies.
edit The Effect of Gamma Rays on Human Interaction
Politically Incorrect behavior has its roots during the 60s when sun-worshipping and tanning reached its apex. White people (now called Caucasians) were no longer white, they were brown, in some cases browner than the Blacks (now called African Americans). Then during the 70s, the so-called Diversity Marriages (i.e. interracial marriages) became popular creating a race of Blacks who were lighter than their tanned White contemporaries. All this created a skin color conundrum. It was inconvenient, to say the least, and unpopular, to say the most, to refer to tanned Whites as Brown-White and mixed-race-Blacks as Black-Lite. People were confused: What if you were both mixed race and had a suntan? What if you had a dark tan? Does the one-drop rule still hold? Would a tanned Oriental person be referred to as Yellow-Brown? Should Homos be called Rainbows? Would a Jew be Blue? Out of this morass, this swirling vortex of questions, labels, and euphemisms, was spat Political Correctness.
edit I’m Ok, You’ve Got a Disorder
By the 80s, peoples sensitivities were running at an all time high and personal responsibility hit a new low. Gone was the childhood mantra, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me!”. One could not make an observation about any physical characteristic, like “Golly, you’re obese,” or even the more covert behind-the-back observation, “Golly, she’s obese,” without suffering social shunning.
Aiding this new trend were scientific discoveries describing any human characteristic as a social disorder, psychosis, or DNA inherited chemical imbalance. So, if you are someone who is hot headed, if you lose your temper easily, or if you take pride in your assault record, it is not because you are weak with your emotions or can’t deal with your issues. You probably are afflicted with Inherited Douchebag Disorder. And in no way are you responsible for any irresponsible outbreaks as they are a symptom of a disease. Anyone holding you responsible for your behavior is not only demonstrating poor taste but a lack of compassion.
Since people with too much “junk in their trunk” are victims of a chemical imbalance in their brain that not only causes the stomach to turn food into fat, but impels them to eat the Big Party package of Puffy Cheetos in one sitting, to refer to them as Fat or Obese became an insensitivity of the highest order. More positive words like People Who Are Girth Enhanced became the norm. Similarly, dwarves and midgets went from Little People to People With Optimal Center of Gravity. The main trick in knowing how to refer to an individual’s characteristic is to limit the semantic ac |
Virgin of the Rocks
|Artist||Leonardo da Vinci|
|Type||Oil on panel (transferred to canvas)|
|Dimensions||199 cm × 122 cm (78.3 in × 48.0 in)|
| | Virgin of the Rocks
|Artist||Leonardo da Vinci|
|Type||Oil on panel (transferred to canvas)|
|Dimensions||199 cm × 122 cm (78.3 in × 48.0 in)|
|Artist||Leonardo da Vinci|
|Type||Oil on panel|
|Dimensions||189.5 cm × 120 cm (74.6 in × 47.25 in)|
|Location||National Gallery, London|
The Virgin of the Rocks (sometimes the Madonna of the Rocks) is the name used for two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, and of a composition which is identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, that is the earlier of the two, hangs in The Louvre in Paris and the other in the National Gallery, London. The paintings are both nearly 2 |
The Jews, hundreds of years after Moses's death created Mishnah and Gemarrah and uphold them and the invented laws in them rather than the TORAH (revealed word of God). Thus, the Jews give up on the Old Testament and | The Jews, hundreds of years after Moses's death created Mishnah and Gemarrah and uphold them and the invented laws in them rather than the TORAH (revealed word of God). Thus, the Jews give up on the Old Testament and never recognize the New Testament.
In the city of Nicene 300 years after the death of Jesus, the pagan Trinity was accepted, and is now the primary source of a Christian's belief in defiance of the Bible which advocates the absolute worship of God Alone. By believing in trinity the Christians denied the Father and the Son. They forbid the Holy Scripture and “speak great words against the most High … and changed times and laws… (Dan 7:25) So, the Christians ignored the Bible and went astray.
The Muslims 150- 200 years after the death of Muhammed created another source of their religion with the Qur’an, "Hadith and Sunnah", falsely attributed to the prophet Muhammed, and in defiance of the Qur’an. Today most Muslims have discarded the Qur’an in favor of Hadith and Sunnah. Some Muslims claim that the "Hadith & Sunnah" are divine revelations. Obviously, they are not aware of the criterion of divine revelations. Since the so-called Hadith & Sunnah of the Prophet have been vastly corrupted, they can never meet the criterion of divine revelation. It is an acknowledged fact that the vast majority of Hadiths are false fabrications. With small research and study you will find that as much as 99% of the Hadiths alleged for the prophet were lies and fabrications.
Among the books of hadith regarded as 'Sahih' (authentic), we read the following:
"The prophet said : "Do not write down anything from me except the Quran. Whoever wrote other than that should delete it." [Sahih Muslim, Book 42, Number 7147, also Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 171]
Abu huraira said that the prophet said, "The 'Ummam' (nations/peoples) that preceded you have gone astary when they wrote books and upheld them besides God's scripture" (Ahmed Ibn Hanbal).
The same message is documented in other Islamic references of repute:
"Abu Huraira said : The messenger of God came to us while we were writing his sayings and said: "What is it you are writing?" we said "sayings (hadith) we hear from you messenger of God" he said, "A book other than God's book?" then Abu Huraira said, "so we gathered what we had written and burnt it all" (Taqyeed Al-Ilm, by Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdady) also (Oloom Al-Hadith, by Ibn Salah).
Most of the Muslims ignore many verses in the Qur’an talk about the veracity of the Bible and believe that the Bible has corrupted and they suppose to keep away from it. And I even witnessed a Turkish Imam ask Muslims in one of his preach not to read the Bible. He said; “reading the Bible is sin, for the Bible has undergone substantial changes”. And he even claimed to be said so in the Qur’an! However, the Qur'an does not support this claim unanimously! We see in Qur'an 3:61 and 3:64 Muslims are asked for a discussion with people of the Book and invited to investigate ways to the truth. And here we see the Muslims also ignore what the Qur’an teaches about the Bible and walk hand in hands with the Jews and the Christians and so they all agreed NOT to follow the Bible.
Let us leave the Jews and the Christians a side and see what the early Muslims think about the veracity of the Bible.
Tabari (he died in 923 AD), was one of the greatest Muslim scholars. He has written many Qur'an commentaries. Tabari asks: what were Ibrahim's faults? He sums up three lies of Ibrahim (Abraham):
“By saying: 'I am ill' to avoid worshipping idols (Qur'an 37:89).
Isn't this a white lie?
When he denied that he destroyed statues of idols, because he said God did it (Qur'an 21:63).
Again an innocent lie.
When he said that Sar'ai was not his wife, but his sister.”
You will not find event number three in the Qur'an. It is in the Bible, in Genesis 12:11-13. The great Muslim scholar was reading the Bible to answer the question!
Like Tabari, some Muslims read the Bible, because it gives a much fuller knowledge. There is a call in the Qur'an to examine and an opening to use the Gospel as source (Qur'an 10:94). We can not say the Qur'an claims to give the absolute truth about Jesus, the whole story of his life, or a definitive pronouncement. Yes, indeed, the Qur'an propounds statements of faith about Jesus, but with the intention to stimulate human study, not to give the final answer. In other words: every Muslim should overestimate his capacity by saying he has the absolute truth about Jesus. Even Mohammed was asked to question those who received the Scriptures before him:
“If you (Mo |
Socialist Revolutionary party
Socialist Revolutionary party, in Russian history, an agrarian party founded by various Populist groups in 1901. Its program, adopted in 1906, called for the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment | Socialist Revolutionary party
Socialist Revolutionary party, in Russian history, an agrarian party founded by various Populist groups in 1901. Its program, adopted in 1906, called for the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of a classless society, self-determination for national minorities, and socialization of the land, which was to be distributed among the peasants on the basis of need. Viktor Chernov was a party leader. A secret "combat organization" within the party arranged political assassinations, notably that of V. K. Plehve (1904) and Grand Duke Sergei (1905). Originally made up of students and intellectuals, the party later gained support from the peasantry. In 1917 some Socialist Revolutionaries participated in the |
DIFFERENT fertility treatments affect the ratio of boy babies to girls, and this could have serious consequences as artificial fertility treatment becomes more common.
So says Michael Chapman at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, following a study that compared | DIFFERENT fertility treatments affect the ratio of boy babies to girls, and this could have serious consequences as artificial fertility treatment becomes more common.
So says Michael Chapman at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, following a study that compared different kinds of assisted fertility treatment (AFT). His team recorded the sex of all 13,368 babies born in Australia and New Zealand between 2002 and 2006 using AFT.
They compared two types of reproductive technology: IVF, which involves placing an egg on a dish with up to 1000 sperm, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which sperm are injected directly into the egg - an approach used for low-quality, immotile sperm. They also compared the stage an embryo was at when transferred to the womb.
IVF raised the proportion of boys to 53 per cent, while with ICSI it fell to 50 per cent. The...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content. |
"For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.... You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a | "For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.... You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?"
Ronald Reagan, 1981, Inaugural address
Ronald Reagan (b, February 6, 1911 - d, June 5, 2004), who became the 40th president of the United States in 1980, declared "debt" to be one of his major campaign issues.
Reagan and his advisors were adherents of Milton Friedman (b. July 31, 1912 - d. November 16, 2006), an American Nobel Laureate economist, a promoter of "economic liberalism," and an intellectual renowned for his theories of "consumption analysis." Friedman advocated minimizing the role of government in a free market as a means of creating political and social freedom. This "laissez-faire" style of economics allowed "the market" to set prices and interest rates.
Between 1980 and 1990, the debt more than tripled as the government borrowed money to fund military build-ups and many elaborate new policies, such as "the war on drugs." Americans began relying more and more on credit cards and jumbo mortgages, and being "in debt" became a new way of life in America.
And yet, as the Cold War drew to a close, the economy of the United States remained essentially healthy. How could this be? It is said that the Cold War was fought not by armies, but by banks. From the 1950s through the 1980s, both sides built massive debt during their international shadow-boxing match. Western powers "won" this match not by the size of their debt, but by the nature of that debt, according to a 1995 article in USA Today. "The U.S. financed its battles in the Cold War by borrowing against the future, constraining, but not really limiting, social spending," the article posits. "The Eastern bloc financed its Cold War battles the only way it could: by taking shortcuts on every imaginable count, saving a ruble here... and a ruble there." Thus, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the U.S., guided by policy car |
The study was conducted by Professor Hamdi Aytekin from the Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine and Dr. İlknur Vatan, a public health specialist at the local health authority. The study was conducted with 2,871 primary | The study was conducted by Professor Hamdi Aytekin from the Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine and Dr. İlknur Vatan, a public health specialist at the local health authority. The study was conducted with 2,871 primary school students from various schools in Bursa province.
The children filled out questionnaires given by the doctors in order to gain information about the children's nutritional habits, socioeconomic status and sporting or physical activities. The children filled out the questionnaires together with their parents. The doctors measured the children's height and weight and calculated each child's percentage of body fat.
The doctors found that 12 percent of the children were obese while 23 percent were overweight.
According to the doctors' analysis, children whose parents are overweight are more likely to be obese. Going to school by bus or any other vehicle and not getting enough exercise are factors which cause the likelihood of children developing obesity to be 1.5 times that of children who engage in regular exercise. Children from families with a high economic status are 1.7 times more likely and children whose birth weight was over four kilograms are 1.8 times more likely to become obese than other children. |
Inference is required now more than ever. Students must know how to read between the lines, put clues together and fathom meanings that are not self-evident. They must look past the words. For more on this essential skill, take | Inference is required now more than ever. Students must know how to read between the lines, put clues together and fathom meanings that are not self-evident. They must look past the words. For more on this essential skill, take a look at "Reading Between Digital Line" at http://fno.org/mar09/digitallines.html
Almost all of the curriculum documents from groups such as ISTE, the AASL and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills emphasize the importance of students learning to create products that are fresh, novel and full of value, whether they be photographs, poems, mousetraps or solutions to pressing problems in the community.
Closely related to invention, innovation requires that students know how to challenge and then modify what has been done in the past. Changing times place a premium on adaptability, flexibility and resourcefulness. Central to innovation is a firm g |
More than a dozen Native American scholars have taken part in a University of Illinois workshop to learn about extracting and analyzing DNA. Anthropology professor Ripan Malhi is director of the program. He says one of its goals is to train more Native American | More than a dozen Native American scholars have taken part in a University of Illinois workshop to learn about extracting and analyzing DNA. Anthropology professor Ripan Malhi is director of the program. He says one of its goals is to train more Native American scientists to conduct research in indigenous communities. He says the best way to establis |
Loud noise affects hearing loss differently
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dr. Rick Friedman with the House Ear Institute is trying to understand why loud noises affect people differently. So they're studying mice because how noise affects mice ears is | Loud noise affects hearing loss differently
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dr. Rick Friedman with the House Ear Institute is trying to understand why loud noises affect people differently. So they're studying mice because how noise affects mice ears is very close to what happens in human ears.
"We know that there's a genetic component to noise-induced hearing loss. There are people who have been exposed to terrible noise levels who don't have hearing loss or tinnitus at all. There are others who get it out of proportion to the average," said Friedman.
Ear-ringing, or tinnitus, is one of the first signs of hearing loss. Dr. Friedman says the theory is that loud noises damage nerve fibers responsible for hearing. The brain goes into overdrive trying to make up for this loss. It's like a "phantom limb": the brain thinks it's there even though the nerves are lost. So tinnitus may be the brain making up for lost hearing.
"Hearing aids seem to be the best thing in the world for tinnitus," said Friedman. "Unfortunately some patients, they don't have enough hearing loss to warrant hearing aids, so they're in a tough position.
"It's hard to treat noise-induced hearing loss. Prevention is really the treatment," said Friedman.
Prescription custom earplugs can suppress a lot of noise or a little as necessary.
health, health care, healthy living, denise dador
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Slug Ecology And Management In No-Till Field Crops
As acreage of row crops managed with conservation tillage increases, more growers are encountering slugs, elevating their importance as crop pests. Slugs can eat virtually all crops, and | Slug Ecology And Management In No-Till Field Crops
As acreage of row crops managed with conservation tillage increases, more growers are encountering slugs, elevating their importance as crop pests. Slugs can eat virtually all crops, and they are challenging to control because of the limited number of management tactics that are available.
In “Slug (Mollusca: Agriolimacidae, Arionidae) Ecology and Management in No-Till Field Crops, With an Emphasis on the mid-Atlantic Region,” a free, open-access article appearing in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management, the authors discuss the species of slugs that are commonly found in mid-Atlantic field crop production and discuss their natural history, ecology, and some of the factors limiting their populations.
The authors |
Climate change was major cause of mass mammal extinction
Climate change has been a significant factor in mass mammal extinction over most of the last fifty thousand years, according to an international team.
The team used global data modelling to build continental 'climate | Climate change was major cause of mass mammal extinction
Climate change has been a significant factor in mass mammal extinction over most of the last fifty thousand years, according to an international team.
The team used global data modelling to build continental 'climate footprints' and map them on to extinction data.
"Between 50,000 and 3,000 years before present (BP), 65 percent of mammal species weighing over 44kg went extinct, together with a lower proportion of small mammals," says lead author Dr David Nogues-Bravo from the University of Copenhagen.
"Why these species became extinct in such large numbers has been hotly debated for over a century."
Over most of the last 50,000 years, the global climate became colder and drier, reaching full glacial conditions 21,000 years ago.
Since then, it's has become warmer, leading to colonization of new regions by humans - and many believed that it was this human colonization that cause the mass extinctions.
The study shows that climate change had a global influence over extinctions throughout the late quaternary, but the level of extinction seems to be related to each continent’s footprint of climate change.
In Africa, for example, where the climate changed relatively little, there were fewer extinctions. However, in North America, which experienced more climate change, more species suffered extinction.
A key piece of evidence in the humans versus climate debate is the size of the extinct mammals. It has always been assumed that humans mainly impacted on large mammals, while if climate change played the key role there should be evidence of major impacts on small mammals as well.
The team’s results show that continents which suffered most climate change suffered larger extinctions of small mammals and vice versa.
"While climate change is not the only factor behind extinction, past, present or future, we cannot neglect in any way that climate change, directly or indirectly, is a crucial actor to understand past and future species extinctions," said Miguel Araújo, a co-author of the paper from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Spain.
Their paper appears in Evolution. |
Q: Do the spacecraft we have sent to investigate the universe carry any identification of their human and earthly origin?
In 1972 and 1973, the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were launched on long-distance space journeys with plaques | Q: Do the spacecraft we have sent to investigate the universe carry any identification of their human and earthly origin?
In 1972 and 1973, the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were launched on long-distance space journeys with plaques intended to show where they came from and who made them, in case they encountered any intelligent life.
The plaques include drawings of nude male and female figures; a simple map of the solar system; and a diagram showing its location in relation to 14 quasars, or very bright objects in deep space. The transition between two states of the hydrogen atom is also shown schematically.
The two Voyager spacecraft, both launched in 1977, carry more elaborate messages – the so-called Golden Record, etched on gold-plated copper disks that offer recordings of diverse earthly sounds and 115 analog images. Needles and playing instructions are included.
Voyager 1, launched by NASA and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is now humankind’s most distant object, about 11.5 billon miles away from the sun.
Many other spacecraft carry depictions of American flags, and some have microchips etched with the names and signatures of members of the public. Whether any would be understood remains to be seen.
Q: Why are some of our internal organs on one side rather than the other? Does anyone ever get an organ on the “wrong” side?
Organ placement is “the result of millions of years of evolution,” said Dr. Jean Emond, chief of transplant services at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
The organs are perfectly arranged to carry out their tasks, Emond said, including the asymmetrically arranged ones like the liver and heart.
“During very early development,” he said, “the organs originate from the single row of cells in the fetus and through an elaborate choreography that is programmed in the DNA, grow and rotate and eventually reach the ideal position at birth.”
In a process that is still incompletely understood, some organs result from double embryonic buds, some from a single one. The left-right asymmetry |
Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism –by Neil L Thomas
Black Clouds - 2250 BC - World Chaos
Sodom and Gomorrah - Brimstone and Fire
Ancient beliefs in Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, | Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism –by Neil L Thomas
Black Clouds - 2250 BC - World Chaos
Sodom and Gomorrah - Brimstone and Fire
Ancient beliefs in Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France and Germany included a Stonehenge Sun calendar: sixteen months a year, four week months, five day weeks.
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: ISBN 978-0-9878282-5-4
Trim size: 219 x 297 mm pbk
Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism reveals the Bible’s Old Testament tale of the disappearance of Sodom and Gomorrah actually occurred about 2250 BC. Founded upon scientific atmospheric data, glacier ice cores and petroleum industry records, see why India, China, the Americas, Britain, Malta, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Sumeria all suffered starvation, cold and drought conditions about the same time. Empires collapsed and humanity reverted to a basic frugal existence.
The sea-linked peoples of the north-west: Ireland, Britain and western Europe have much in common. Pre-historic deities, legends and myths, Sun and Moon calendars, feet fathoms and furlongs, all are revealed in Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism.
Stonehenge Sun Calendar
The pre-historic peoples of Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France and Germany exhibit similar elements of ancient beliefs and a Sun calendar: sixteen months, four weeks a month, five days a week, 365 days a year. Days could have been named for the ancient deities Sun, Moon, Woden, Thor and Freyr.
In the twenty-first century, we continue to mark eight annual events in the ancient Sun calendar:
Two solstice = summer winter
Two equinox = spring autumn
Llew = harvest,
Samain = Halloween,
Imbolc = lambing and
Beltane = Mayday.
Stonehenge Moon Calendar
The Stonehenge Moon calendar featured two rings of pits dug into the subsoil. Back-filled with white chalk lumps, thirty Z Holes formed the outer ring, twenty-nine Y Holes formed an inner ring.
A Moon month is 29½ days, 59 days in two months. From the centre, imaginary lines drawn between the trilithons form six segments equal to six weeks of five days, perhaps given the same day names as the Sun calendar. Alternate months had only four days in the fourth week. Six counts around fifty-nine Y and Z Holes equalled 354 days, a twelve-month Moon year.
Literacy & Numeracy
Ireland’s ancient monuments at Knowth and Newgrange c.3500 BC show the earliest comprehensive writing and arithmetic abilities in mankind’s history, thirty-six or so symbols employed in petroglyphs demonstrated the Sun and Moon calendars. Counts of thirty-three had symbolic meaning. The world's four major religions continue to employ thirty-three to imply or infer a sacred state or an ultimate heavenly situation.
Right-angled triangles, Pi or π = 22/7, odd numbers and their symbolism were employed in the north-west during the fourth millennium BC. The first millennium BC Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Archimedes and Euclid probably inherited their mathematical knowledge from the Stonehenge people of ancient Britain.
England’s largest ancient monument at Avebury was built about 2500 BC. Three times thirty-three massive stones enclosed a fertility shrine, a justice court, a good health symbol. Four entrances crossed the encircling ditch and embankment. These features are mirrored in the Icelandic Creation Of The World myth told in written form about 1200 AD.
The Long Man of Wilmington
Linear measures, the Celtic foot, the short yard and faethm [fathom] the furlang [furlong] were known throughout history and in Stonehenge times. The prehistoric Long Man of Wilmington figure on a hillside in Sussex, England is thirty-three faethms equal to one furlang from head to toe. The first cricket game pitch was ten faethms long. Baseball and cricket have this common origin on the south coast of England.
Author Dr Neil L Thomas, a chartered engineer in the Australian oil and gas industry, made field trips to Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, the Middle East, Egypt, India, China, Canada and the USA. Years of research led to an understanding how the myths and folklore of north-west European peoples complement prehistoric monuments, the evidence fits together like a jigsaw.
OTHERS SAY: -
“In 1977 Dr Thomas like many Australians with Celtic surnames before him, went searching for his ancestors, only to stumble across an entirely pre-Celtic civilisation. His casual interest rapidly deepened, after twelve years of intensive scholarship he presented a brilliant PhD thesis – perhaps even definitive – |
Mood disorders including depression and bipolar disorders are a major cause of morbidity in childhood and adolescence, and hospitalizations for mood disorders are the leading diagnosis for all hospitalizations in general hospitals for children age 13 to 17. We describe characteristics | Mood disorders including depression and bipolar disorders are a major cause of morbidity in childhood and adolescence, and hospitalizations for mood disorders are the leading diagnosis for all hospitalizations in general hospitals for children age 13 to 17. We describe characteristics of these hospitalizations in the U.S. focusing on duration of stay, charges, and geographic variation.
The Kids' Inpatient Database was analyzed to calculate hospitalization rates for 2000, 2003, and 2006. For each year, information was available for over 2 million hospitalizations, representing 6.3 to 6.5 million hospital stays annually in acute care, non-psychiatric hospitals.
The rate of pediatric hospitalizations with a principal diagnosis of a mood disorder was 12.4/10,000 in 2000, 13.0 in 2003, and 12.1 in 2006. In the same period, the incidence of hospitalizations for depressive disorders decreased from 9.1 to 6.4/10,000 children while the incidence of hospitalizations for bipolar disorders increased from 3.3 to 5.7/10,000 children. The mean length of stay increased from 7.1 to 7.7 days, while inflation-adjusted hospital charges increased from $10,600 in 2000, to $13,700 in 2003, to $16,300 in 2006. The proportion of mood disorder stays paid by government increased from 35.3% to 45.2%. The Western region experienced the lowest rates (9.9/10,000, 11.6 and 10.2 in 2000, 2003 and 2006) while the Midwest had the highest rates (26.4, 27.6, and 25.4).
Mood disorders are a major reason for hospitalization during development, especially in adolescence. Mood disorder hospitalizations remained relatively constant from 2000-2006, but diagnoses of depressive disorders decreased while diagnoses of bipolar disorders increased. Hospitalization rates vary widely by region of the country.
The impact of mood disorders in children has been described with respect to morbidity and mortality, with reports that, by age 18, 14.3% of adolescents will have experienced a mood disorder, that depression affects 1-2% of children 6-12 years old and 4-6% of adolescents 13-17 years old over a 12-month period, that depression is a primary risk factor for suicide, which is the third leading cause of death in adolescence, and that bipolar disorders have been increasingly diagnosed among children and adolescents [1-5]. While mood disorders in children are widely recognized to be associated with utilization of a full range of outpatient mental health services, it is less widely recognized that mood disorders are one of the leading diagnoses associated with children's admissions to general hospitals. In the United States, mood disorders were the second most frequent primary discharge diagnoses at age 10-14, and ranked first at age 15-17 out of all children's hospitalizations in general hospitals in 2000 [6,7]. We here report on the most recent trends in the rate of mood disorder hospitalizations in general non-psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. with the purpose of further documenting the relevance of these common disorders to child health.
Efforts to describe the burden of mental health conditions in children in the United States and the resources used to address this burden must rely on a variety of data sources reflecting the breadth of mental health services used to care for children with mental health problems. Mental health services are provided in specialty mental health facilities, the general |
On this day in 1921, Nathanael West officially flunks out of Tufts, where he had been admitted after faking his high school transcripts.
West, the son of Jewish immigrants, was born in New York in 190 | On this day in 1921, Nathanael West officially flunks out of Tufts, where he had been admitted after faking his high school transcripts.
West, the son of Jewish immigrants, was born in New York in 1903. He spent a year and a half in Paris as a young man, during which time he wrote his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, about disgruntled characters inside the Trojan Horse. Only 500 copies of the book were printed when it was published in 1931.
West returned to New York, where he took a job managing a hotel. He frequently gave free or cheap rooms to struggling fellow writers, including Dashiell Hammet and Erskine Caldwell. In 1933, he published his novella, Miss Lonelyhearts, about a male reporter who becomes increasingly troubled by the pitiful letters he answers in his advice column.
In the 1930s, West moved to Hollywood to write screenplays, and in 1939 he published The Day of the Locust, considered one of the best novels written about early Hollywood. West and his wife, Eileen McKenney, were killed in an automobile accident in California in 1940. Although West was not widely read during his lifetime, his popularity grew after World War II and after the publication of The Complete Works of Nathanael West in 1957. |
Curricular Resources in Aboriginal Studies
Below are the CLN "Theme Pages" which focus on specific topics within Aboriginal
Studies. CLN's theme pages are collections of useful Internet educational resources
within a narrow curricular topic and contain links to | Curricular Resources in Aboriginal Studies
Below are the CLN "Theme Pages" which focus on specific topics within Aboriginal
Studies. CLN's theme pages are collections of useful Internet educational resources
within a narrow curricular topic and contain links to two types of information.
Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...)
to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are links to instructional
materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this
- This page contains some resources which look at the exploration of the
New World from the First Nations' perspective.
Nations History Theme Page
Nations Treaties, Law, and Land Claims Theme Page
Folklore, and Fairytales Theme Page
- See especially the section "First Nation Stories and Legends."
General Aboriginal Studies Resources
Here are a number of links to other Internet resources which contain information
and/or other links related to Aboriginal Studies. Please read our
Aboriginal Star Knowledge: Native American Astronomy
- A meta-list of annotated links to Native American Astronomy sites.
Youth Network (Canada)
- This network displays youth art, reports news, and provides links to Internet
search clients and other sites that are related to youth and aboriginal issues.
- British Columbia Archives presents 11 curricular units (galleries) drawing
heavily from archival information on BC History. Each gallery has teacher
guides and each is targeted for a specific grade range. Check out First
Nation's Art in BC (Gr. 4) to learn more about 3 First Nation's Artists
from British Columbia - Judith Morgan, Francis Batiste, and George Clutesi.
First Nations in BC (Gr. 9) has aboriginal accounts as well as European
ethnographic collections of stories in an attempt to describe certain historical
aspects of British Columbia.
an Expert: Aboriginal Studies
- For other sources of curricular content in this subject, check out the
CLN "Ask an Expert" page.
Columbia Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs
- Browsers can increase their understanding about the Ministry's organization
and mandate, BC First Nations, and the treaty negotiation process.
- This section of the National Atlas Information Service provides maps showing
areas covered by treaties from pre-Confederation to 1923. A table gives details
of treaties, including parties involved. The map is at scale 1:7 500 000.
Contemporary Aboriginal Issues (Schoolnet)
- This site enables secondary school teachers and students to explore contemporary
Canadian aboriginal political and social issues (urban aboriginals, images
in literature, self government, the Inuit, aboriginal women, residential schools,
administration of justice, the Metis, images in media, health issues, Indian
reserves, and land claims). SchoolNet offers students additional research
data to complement the background material which is presented with each theme.
Student activities are also included.
First Nations Website (Schoolnet)
- An extensive meta-list of annotated links to resources for Canadian aboriginal
studies. Topics covered include curricular resources (check this out!), youth
resources, nations in Canada, cultural resources, and elder teachings.
- This is an online national publication that focuses on the issues and subjects
of concern and interest to First Nations.
Nelson Aboriginal Project
- Developed in partnership between School district #81 (Fort Nelson), local
First Nations people, and the North East region, this comprehensive web site
explores the people, places, culture and environment in the traditional territory
of the Cree and Dene (Slavey) people of the northeast region of B.C. In addition,
there are pages of links to activities and resources for grade 4-7 students
organized under B. C. curriculum headings.
Index of Native American Resources on the Internet
- This "meta-list" site has links to many other WWW sites, categorized by
such topics as cultural, art, music, education, history, video and government
and Northern Affairs, Canada
- This Canadian federal government site contains information about the department,
its publications, and branches. It also has links to other Native Studies
oriented WWW sites, including the Aboriginal Super-Highway and the Fourth
World Documentation Project.
- Browse through the "Atlas of Cultures" to see mask images from cultures
around the world. Images are indexed by continent, by culture area, and by
culture. This site also contains a virtual museum showing the work of featured
mask makers and links to other mask sites.
Access to Engineering: Teachers Lounge
- The Native Access to Engineering Programme at Concordia University seeks
to address the problem of under-representation of Aboriginal people in the
engineering profession by combining research; curriculum development; networking
and promotional activities; and public education. In their Teachers Lounge,
you'll find aboriginal focused curriculum for students (worksheets) along
with guides for teachers for five scientific units: Structures, Simple Machines,
Environment, Communication, and Chemistry.
- There is a variety of information resources at this site, organized by
subject categories, geographical regions, nations/people, and languages.
West Coast Printmakers
- The University of Victoria's Maltwood Museum and Art Gallery presents a
sample of its collection of 2000 Northwest Coast First Nations prints in the
form of an interactive educational art game. In addition, students may access
more specific information about the cultures of the The Six Nations (Coast
Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit).
Northwest Connection: Gallery of Native Art
- This BC art gallery offers a wide variety of information about Northwest
Coastal art and artists. In addition to profiles on native artists (including
pictures of their work) organized by genre, there are articles |
Originally posted by Raghven k b: Hi, Thanks for opening.
I have a basic question, like when do we need to sign a jar? what is the purpose?
Signing a jar is basically used to verify a trusted source. When | Originally posted by Raghven k b: Hi, Thanks for opening.
I have a basic question, like when do we need to sign a jar? what is the purpose?
Signing a jar is basically used to verify a trusted source. When you sign a jar with your digital signature (based on your private key), you place a mark into the jar file that could not have been done by anyone but you.
The signature is also a checksum of the Jar file, so if the jar get corrupted or modified in transit, the signature is invalid.
On the other side, your public key is placed into the keystore of the system that trust you. This will be used to verify your signature.
Currently, I believe this is mainly used for applets. Using signed jar files, and setting security properties on client b |
In the US space industry, "go fever" is an informal term used to refer to the overall attitude of being in a rush or hurry to get a project or task done while overlooking potential problems or mistakes. "Go fever" results from both | In the US space industry, "go fever" is an informal term used to refer to the overall attitude of being in a rush or hurry to get a project or task done while overlooking potential problems or mistakes. "Go fever" results from both individual and collective aspects of human behavior. It is due to the tendency as individuals to be overly committed to a previously chosen course of action based on time and resources already expended (sunk costs) despite reduced or insufficient future benefits, or even considerable risks. It is also due to general budget concerns and due to the desire of members of a team not to be seen as the one who is not equally committed to the team's goals or |
Geographical Index > United States > Utah > Box Elder County > Report # 1436|
Submitted by witness Michael Steven Rauth on Saturday, August 16, 1997.
Sighting by Grouse Hunters
(Show Printer-friendly | Geographical Index > United States > Utah > Box Elder County > Report # 1436|
Submitted by witness Michael Steven Rauth on Saturday, August 16, 1997.
Sighting by Grouse Hunters
(Show Printer-friendly Version)
COUNTY: Box Elder County
NEAREST TOWN: Brigham City & Logan
OBSERVED: First encounter was east of Brigham City, Utah, above a place called upper docs flat. Had been hiking with a friend. His name is Kenny A. I do not wish to use his last name without his permission. We had been hiking all morning going higher and higher through the valleys, zigzagging back and forth. At one point we went up a spine or ridge, and at the top of this spine was an old cabin. I think it was referred to as the old sheep herders cabin. In front of the cabin was a small pond. Hiking our way towards the cabin I stopped at the pond. The water was clear and suitable for drinking, maybe fed by a natural spring. My friend started to cup his hands to drink, and did so. I started looking around the pond which had a smooth dirt skirting around it. I then asked Kenny if he noticed anything wrong with the pond, and he said no. I said, “look were you knelt—you left tracks.” I said, “do you see any other tracks around the pond?” At such a location there should be tracks everywhere, but there wasn’t—not even bird tracks. We also noticed that there were no sounds, birds, squirrels etc. Kenny was starting to get nervous at my finds. Although he was a friend, he didn’t have the outdoor curiosity that I do.
After about 15 min., we decided to start heading back. About half way down the spine we had hiked up, Kenny heard grouse, or sage hens, in some pines and trees on the opposite side from where we were. He decided he wanted to hunt that side on the way down to the flats. I agreed and told him to stay opposite of me on the other side so we knew where each other was at in case he fired the shotgun. He agreed and I took the disassembled single shot shotgun that I had in my backpack put it together for him, gave him some shells, and told him I would stay in place till he was even with me on the other side. I sat and watched him descend to the bottom of the draw between the two spines. He was moving very slow and quiet. When he was ready to start up the other slope he encountered heavy brush with thorns that he had to get through.
It was 7-8' and I could see him unsticking the branches of thorns that were catching his clothes as he made his way. I could see that he was almost out of the thorns. He leaped forward and must have had a branch snag his arm he screamed with pain. At that moment I heard a loud crash higher up than Kenny. It sounded like a 1-ton rock was dropped from the sky. I started scanning the area where it came from. Kenny was still making noise from his injury and didn’t hear what I heard. What I'm about to describe is something that I have never forgotten because of the impression it has left with me. Have any of you taken a large rock and dropped it in deep water the sound it makes is "thunk"? That’s what i heard—thunk,thunk,thunk—very fast.
At this time my eyes are racing all over that hillside and then I saw it. It was about 400 yards above Kenny and running towards him. I'll admit my heart was in my throat. I started yelling at Kenny to get |
I just don't understand the terminology, can someone explain what it means, please & fairly simply. Thanks.
Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
(1) If you have a question, post it in the appropriate forum. The lobby | I just don't understand the terminology, can someone explain what it means, please & fairly simply. Thanks.
Follow Math Help Forum on Facebook and Google+
(1) If you have a question, post it in the appropriate forum. The lobby is for introductions.
(2) When you do post in the proper forum, it might help to be more specific about the "terminology" that confuses you...
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Is U.S. income tax invalid because Ohio wasn't legally a state when the 16th amendment was ratified?
Do Americans really have to pay income tax? I have been told the 16th Amendment, which authorized the income tax, is | Is U.S. income tax invalid because Ohio wasn't legally a state when the 16th amendment was ratified?
Do Americans really have to pay income tax? I have been told the 16th Amendment, which authorized the income tax, is invalid because Ohio was not legally a state at the time of ratification. So far I haven't had the nerve to actually try this argument out on the IRS, but with Christmas coming I could use the extra cash. What do you think, Cecil, is it worth a shot?
This is my absolute favorite anti-income-tax argument. Most claims that Americans aren't required to pay income tax rely on legal interpretations so tortured only a tax resister could possibly believe them. But the Ohio thing has just enough plausibility to give even sane people pause.
It all started when Ohio was preparing to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its admission to the Union in 1953. Researchers looking for the original statehood documents discovered there'd been a little oversight. While Congress had approved Ohio's boundaries and constitution, it had never passed a resolution formally admitting the future land of the Buckeyes. Technically, therefore, Ohio wasn't a state.
Predictably, when this came to light it was the subject of much merriment. One senator joshingly suggested that his colleagues from Ohio were drawing federal paychecks under false pretenses.
But Ohio congressman George Bender thought it was no laughing matter. He introduced a bill in Congress to admit Ohio to the Union retroactive to March 1, 1803. At a special session at the old state capital in Chillicothe, the Ohio state legislature approved a new petition for statehood that was delivered to Washington on horseback. Congress subsequently passed a joint resolution, and President Eisenhower, after a few more jokes, signed it on August 7, 1953.
But then the tax resisters got to work. They argued that since Ohio wasn't officially a state until 1953, its ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1911 was invalid, and thus Congress had no authority to enact an income tax.
Baloney, argued rational folk. Enough states voted for ratification even if you don't count Ohio.
OK, said the resisters, but the proposed amendment had been introduced to Congress by the administration of William H. Taft. Taft had been born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. The Constitution requires that presidents be natural-born citizens of the United States. Since Ohio wasn't a state in 1857, Taft wasn't a natural-born citizen, couldn't legally be president, and couldn't legally introduce the 16th Amendment. (Presumably one would also have problems with anything done by presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, B. Harrison, McKinley, and Harding, who were also born in Ohio.)
Get off it, the rationalists replied. The 1953 resolution retroactively admitted Ohio as of 1803, thereby |
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47-55cm. Brown upperbellies and contrasting grey flight feathers. The head and underparts are paler brown, with streaking from the breast down.
Europe and Asia. Rare in | Join for FREE
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47-55cm. Brown upperbellies and contrasting grey flight feathers. The head and underparts are paler brown, with streaking from the breast down.
Europe and Asia. Rare in eastern Europe breeding in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary, northern Yugoslavia, south Romania and north Bulgaria, and in Moldova, the Ukraine and southern Russia east to Central Asia breeding as far east as northern China. Also breeds in central and eastern Turkey and in northern Iraq. No longer breeds in Greece or Austria and generally decreasing throughout Western Palearctic range. However, successful breeding has recently occurred in Germany in 2000 and 2001 and in Poland in 1998.
Northern breeders are mainly migratory, those further south and west are partial migrants or resident. More widespread in winter occurring in Sardinia, Sicily and Italy, Turke |
Biodiversity patterns are strongly connected to land use by herbivores and human activity. Africa occupies one-fifth of the global land surface and here live a quarter of the World's approximate 4,700 mammal species and 1, | Biodiversity patterns are strongly connected to land use by herbivores and human activity. Africa occupies one-fifth of the global land surface and here live a quarter of the World's approximate 4,700 mammal species and 1,600 bird species which are endemic (existing only in this area.) A great number of these species are endangered or critically endangered, due to various stresses on the environment.
In Kenya the National Parks include the World famous Masai Mara, bordering the Serengeti in Tanzania, home to a number of these endangered species. Between July and October unimaginable numbers of wilderbeest, zebra, gazelles and big cats make the journey from the Serengeti in Tanzania into the Masai Mara in Kenya, crossing the border to reach grazing sites which are lush after the rains. The proposal to build a highway through the Masai Mara/Serengeti has raised grave concerns from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and The World Heritage Centre as it would cut off these migration routes, encourage poaching and desturb the habitat for these animals. |
His list of natives goes on and on, but we were particularly drawn to the aptly named rams horn. It usually grows as a bush but Shores’ specimen has become a tree, with seed pods that curl like the horns of a | His list of natives goes on and on, but we were particularly drawn to the aptly named rams horn. It usually grows as a bush but Shores’ specimen has become a tree, with seed pods that curl like the horns of a ram.
With the living fence in place, the yard still has plenty of sun to accommodate palms, rare shrubs and native wild flowers.
To propagate his wildflowers, Shores waits for them to go to seed and then each time he walks by he drags his fingers along a stem. The seeds fall to the ground and many germinate naturally.
Shores points out the native petunia with purple flowers that come out to play in the morning. Bright yellow-orange cosmos cover the ground. And the gaillardias or Indian blanket sport a few red flowers whose petals are tipped with yellow. By summer these will carpet the yard. And h |
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